Understanding Off Cycle Processing

This topic discusses:

  • Differences between on cycle and off cycle runs.

  • Types of off cycle transactions.

  • Features of off cycle processing.

  • Steps for entering off cycle requests.

  • Processing and postprocessing steps.

  • Off-cycle batch processing.

  • System elements for developing off cycle rules.

Field or Control

Definition
Element Selection

The option that is selected determines the resolution of primary elements (earnings and deductions) on the process list. Values are:

All: Select to have the system follow the same resolution as if this were an on cycle payroll process.

Elements with Positive Input: Select to have the system resolve only those elements that are entered in positive input.

Note: Regardless of which selection you make the system will always process positive input entries.

Limited Element Set: Select to process only selected earning and deduction elements on the process list. Enter the element group to process. Use the Element Group component (GP_ELEMENT_GROUP) to define a limited element set.

For example, to specify that the system also process an employer contribution when you enter positive input for a payee, you can create an element group that includes the elements for the employer contribution and select this element set when entering the payment instructions.

Including an element in a limited element set does not override general eligibility rules. Limited element sets provide an additional filter that can further narrow the elements that get resolved.

See Defining Element Groups.
Off Cycle Group

Identifies a set of off cycle transactions to process. The name of an off cycle group is user-defined. You can use any value.
Payment Date

The date that the system uses to determine:

  • The period for updating accumulators for those accumulators that are defined to accumulate based on payment date.

  • The element definitions to retrieve during processing for those elements that use payment date as the definition as of date.
Payment Method

Values are Cash, Check, Postal Order, Use Normal Distribution, and Pay Primary Account Only. This field applies to all transaction types except manual payments. The selected payment method determines the payment method that might be assigned through rules during the calculation process.
Period Begin Date and Period End Date

Dates the system use to determine:

  • The period for updating accumulators for those accumulators that are defined to accumulate based on period begin date or period end date.

  • The element definitions to retrieve during processing for those elements that use period begin date or period end date as the definition as of date.

Manual payments, corrections, and additional payments inherit these dates from the target calendar; you can override the default dates. Advance payments inherit these dates from the source calendar, the calendar that is being advanced; you cannot override these dates for advances.
Supporting Element Overrides

Click the Supporting Element Overrides button to access the Payee Calendar SOVR page, where you can override the value of a bracket, date, duration, formula, or variable element for a specific payee and calendar.
Target Period ID

Affects the period for which balance accumulators are updated. The target period provides the default values for the period begin date and period end date for all transaction types except advances. For advances, the target period determines the process begin date and process end date.

On cycle processing refers to performing regularly scheduled runs. In Global Payroll, these are recurring runs for which a period, calendar, and calendar group have been predefined. A pay group with a monthly frequency has twelve regularly scheduled on cycle payrolls each year.

Off cycle payroll processing refers to processing payments and making corrections to finalized results outside of the normal payroll schedule. Off cycle transactions are typically made to correct prior payments or to make early termination payments that can't wait until the next scheduled on cycle payroll.

Note: Quarterly bonuses, commission payments, and other regularly recurring transactions that are processed less frequently than regular payroll runs often involve large groups of payees, and can be managed most efficiently as on cycle processes.

With the exceptions that are explained in this topic, the concepts that apply to on cycle processing also apply to off cycle processing: retroactivity, segmentation, calendars and calendar groups, running calculations, banking, and general ledger. The primary difference between on cycle and off cycle processing is the way in which you enter instructions for what and who to process.

Global Payroll supports four types of off cycle transactions:

  • Manual payments

    You can record payments for items that you calculate and pay outside of the system, such as cash or check payments.

  • Corrections

    These are transactions that correct the results of a finalized payroll. Examples include paying a new hire who was not included in the regular run and reversing a bonus payment that was made to a payee in error.

  • Additional payments

    These are one time payments, such as a special bonus or expense reimbursement that fall outside of the on-cycle process and for which calendars would not ordinarily be defined.

  • Advances

    Advances are the processing of segments before they are normally scheduled, such as the early payment of wages due to termination, or the processing and pay of leave in advance.

With off cycle processing, you can:

  • Override a payee's normal payment method.

    You can override the payment method that's defined for a payee on the Net Distribution page or that is defined through rules during the calculation process. For example, you can issue a check to a payee for a one time bonus, even though the payee's regular monthly salary is paid through a direct deposit.

    See Defining Payee Net Pay Elections.

  • Limit which elements are resolved.

    For all off cycle transactions except advances, you can use two features to limit the primary elements (earnings and deductions) on the process list that the system resolves. The Element Selection section enables you to select which primary elements you want resolved, with the exception of any retroactive or positive input for those elements. You can select all elements, elements with positive input, or a limited set of primary elements to process.

  • Override supporting elements.

    For all off cycle transactions except advances, you can override the values of brackets, dates, duration, formulas, and variables for a given payee and calendar. Advances will take these overrides from the calendar definitions of the calendars being advanced.

You can enter multiple off cycle requests for the same pay group and target period.

To enter requests for off cycle transactions:

  1. Create an off cycle group using the Off Cycle On Demand (GP_ONDEMAND) component.

    An off cycle group is a group of payees and payments that are processed together. It identifies which off cycle transactions to process and the processing instructions, including who and what to pay (pay group) and when to pay it (target calendar ID). Its purpose is similar to a calendar in an on cycle process, except that you enter specific instructions for each payee. Name the off cycle group on the Off Cycle On Demand page.

  2. Enter individual requests for payments.

    The Off Cycle On Demand component prevents you from performing off cycle steps out of order. You will enter a request by clicking either the Create Request or Edit Request button. If at least one request has been created, the button is labeled Edit Request.

    When the button is selected, you are transferred to the main request page, which includes the valid off cycle types for your organization. On this main page, you indicate the payee ID by type of transaction. Next, select the detail link and you are transferred to the individual detail page for the transaction type.

    Note: Use the Off Cycle Configuration page to configure the fields that are displayed on each detail page for each off cycle transaction. By configuring these pages, you can greatly reduce the fields and options that appear when creating an off cycle transaction.

    See Understanding Off Cycle Configurations.

  3. Create a calendar group for the off cycle run.

    A calendar group for an off cycle run identifies the off cycle groups to process together (whereas a calendar group for an on cycle process identifies the calendars to process together). Use the same page to create all calendar groups, completing the fields that pertain to off cycle processing.

    You can create a calendar group for an off cycle run from the Off Cycle On Demand page of the Off Cycle On Demand component by clicking the Create Calendar Group button. When you create the Calendar Group through the dashboard, the system uses the name of the off cycle group (one of the keys) as the name of the calendar group. Also, the system populates the Calendar Group page with the other information required to generate the off cycle calendar group.

    Note: When processing a correction request, ensure retro triggers exist to recalculate the payments requested for correction.

To process requests for off cycle transactions:

  1. Initiate the off cycle run.

    Use the Off Cycle On Demand page of the Off Cycle On Demand component to initiate off cycle runs by clicking the Calculate button. The calculation is performed as a remote call. The remote call causes the browser to remain on the Off Cycle On Demand page for the duration of the calculation process. Any pertinent messages are displayed upon completion. Each time the calculation is run, the system cancels the payees, identifies the payees that are eligible for calculation, and calculates all elements for the payees.

    Note: Off cycle processing can also be run using the Calculate Absence and Payroll page as it would for an on cycle process.

    When the calculation finishes, it opens the Payee Status page. From this page, you can access the Results by Calendar Group page as well as the Payee Messages page. The Payee Status page reflects whether the results are calculated. From this page, you can review:

    • Payee Calculation Status.

    • Payee Results.

    • Payee Messages.

      Note: When the calendar group is created, you can access the Payee Status page at any time by clicking the View Status and Results link.

  2. When you review the processing results, you can choose to:

    • Cancel the calculation. Click the Cancel button on the Off Cycle On Demand page.

    • Calculate again due to changes made to the off cycle transactions. Click the Calculate button on the Off Cycle On Demand page.

    • Finalize the end the payroll calculation. Click the Finalize button on the Off Cycle On Demand page. Once this is done, move on to Step 3.

  3. Run all post processes, such as Banking, General Ledger, Send Cost to TL, and reports.

    Each post processing step needs to be run with the same sequence as on cycle. You must initiate these steps using the same navigation as in an on cycle payroll.

With off cycle processing, the system automatically suspends affected payees from other runs in which they are active so that they can be included in the off cycle process. (A payee can be active only in one run at a time.)

Here's what the system does when you submit an off cycle request:

  • Checks whether the payee is associated with an open calendar group.

  • If yes, suspends the payee in the calendar group so that the payee can be calculated immediately in the off cycle group.

    Note: If the Calculation status is set to Frozen, the system suspends the payee in the off cycle calendar group.

Transaction processing varies depending on the type of off cycle request being processed.

Manual Payments

With manual payments, batch validation checks whether the calculated gross-pay and net-pay accumulator amounts match the gross-pay and net-pay amounts input. A message is issued, and payee is placed in error if these calculated gross and net do not match the input gross and net amounts. The amounts must match to finalize the payroll.

During batch processing, the process list that is associated with the run type that was entered is used.

Here's what the system processes when manual payments are being processed:

  • Earnings and deductions that are entered on the manual payment request:

    • Are only resolved if on the process list.

    • Are not checked for eligibility, including generation control.

    • Have pre and post process formulas are resolved; however any post-process formula attempts to modify the earning or deductions value will not be applied.

    • Do not have individual components resolved. But if the user adds a component, it is stored and added to any accumulator in which it belongs. For example, if units are entered as hours, the amount is not used to calculate an amount, just to update this unit balances.

  • Other earnings and deductions will resolve dependent on the element selection. .

  • Supporting elements are always resolved if they are on the process list.

  • Both period and element segmentation triggers are ignored.

  • Entries from PeopleSoft Time and Labor and the Manage Variable Compensation application of PeopleSoft HR are not picked up.

Corrections

Off cycle corrections are based on retroactive processing similar to the retroactive corrections that take place during on cycle runs:

  • A trigger must exist on or before the pay period end date for the calendar that is being corrected or reversed.

  • The type of correction is one of two choices to process:

    • Replacement: Replaces an existing payment that was paid incorrectly.

    • Forced Reversal: Reverses an existing payment that should not have been paid regardless of whether the payee is still eligible.

  • One of two types of retroactive methods are available to process:

    • Use Existing Retro Rules: Follows retroactive method based on the triggers and rule setup.

    • Forced Corrective: Corrective retroactive method is forced.

  • For the calendar that is being corrected or reversed, the earnings and deductions resolve based on normal processing and eligibility.

  • New calendars are created and will be processed. If delta's exist and are to be forwarded, these new off cycle calendars that are automatically generated will receive these deltas:

    • Earnings and deductions resolve depending on the presence of positive input that is entered in the off cycle request, as well as the element selection.

    • All supporting elements on process lists are resolved.

    • Segmentation triggers are ignored.

    • Entries from PeopleSoft Time and Labor and the Manage Variable Compensation application are not picked up.

Additional Payments

During batch processing, the process list that is associated with the run type that was entered is used.

  • Earnings and deductions that are entered on the additional payments request follow on cycle batch processing logic:

    • They are resolved only if they are on the process list.

    • Eligibility is considered, including generation control.

    • Pre process and post process formulas are resolved.

    • Individual components are resolved, as needed.

  • Earnings and deductions resolve depending on the presence of positive input that is entered in the off cycle request, as well as element selection.

  • Supporting elements will always be resolved if they are on the process list.

  • Both period and element segmentation triggers are ignored.

  • Entries from PeopleSoft Time and Labor and the PeopleSoft Manage Variable Compensation application are not picked up.

Advances

For advances, calendar groups are processed with the applicable calendars. Batch processing follows the same logic as on cycle processing.

The following table provides information about delivered system elements that are used during off cycle processing:

System Element

Description

Values

GP TX TYPE

Identifies the transaction type.

  • R (Correction).

  • M (Manual Payment).

  • U (Additional Payment).

  • A (Advances).

  • Blank (on-cycle runs).

OFF CYCLE

Identifies whether calendar is off cycle or on cycle.

  • Y (Yes) = off cycle calendar.

  • N (No) = on cycle calendar. (Any run with a defined calendar is considered on-cycle, including semi regular runs.)

GP CORR TYPE

Identifies the correction type.

  • N (Normal Retro).

  • R (Replacement — Normal Retro).

  • V (Reversal - Normal Retro).

  • W (Reversal — Replacement).