Defining Interactions Between Positive Input Entries and Element Assignments with User Field Sets
This topic discusses how Global Payroll processes competing overrides when there are element assignment and positive input entries for the same earning or deduction, and the earnings and deductions have associated user fields.
It explains how Global Payroll:
Defines user field sets.
Fills out user field sets.
Matches earning/deduction assignments with positive input entries.
Defines the processing order of earning/deduction assignments and positive input entries.
The concepts discussed here are critical to understanding the interaction between positive input entries and element assignments when user fields have been defined.
Important! This topic supplements information in the Setting Up Overrides topic on the interaction between positive input entries and element assignments. You should review the Setting Up Overrides topic before reading this topic.
Global Payroll defines all of the values of the user fields for a given positive input entry or element assignment as a user field set. An earning or deduction can have multiple element assignment and positive input instances, each with its own set of user field values.
For example, the following element assignment and positive input instances for a loan payback deduction are each associated with a different user field set:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assignment, and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
Earning/Deduction Definition |
E/D Assignment |
PI (Override) |
PI (Override) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
|
Instance Number |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Amount |
350 |
175 |
225 |
|
User Field (Loan Purpose) |
College |
Car |
Boat |
|
User Field (Loan Type) |
Family |
Personal |
Personal |
When an earning/deduction has user fields, the user field values normally come from earning/deduction assignments or positive input entries. Before the system resolves the element, it populates the user fields based on the values entered on the positive input or element assignment pages.
However, if user field values are not defined on the element assignment or positive input pages, the system can retrieve the values from other sources. For example, these values can come from other supporting element overrides (calendar level overrides, or pay group overrides), as well as arrays, formulas, and brackets.
If an earning or deduction with user fields is sliced or segmented, the user fields are populated by slice or segment and may differ from one slice or segment to another.
In Global Payroll you can enter multiple element assignment and positive input overrides for the same element within a single pay period, slice, or segment. To manage the competing instructions contained in these overrides, the system matches earning and deduction assignments with their corresponding positive input entries within the same slice or segment, and then determines which elements to resolve and which instructions to follow based on the processing rules described in the Setting Up Overrides topic of this product documentation. In addition, when there are user fields associated with the assigned elements and positive input, the system matches element assignments with positive input entries based on common user field sets.
Note: The system treats element assignments and positive input entries as matching if they are for the same element and occur in the same slice or segment of the pay period and have the same user field sets.
For example:
Within a given slice or segment, if the user field set of a positive input override matches the user field set of an earning/deduction assignment, the system processes the positive input and not the element assignment.
Within a given slice or segment, if the user field set of a positive input override does not match the user field set of an earning/deduction assignment, the system processes both the positive input and the element assignment.
In other words, the system treats positive input overrides and element assignments as different elements unless they have matching user field sets; if the user field sets match, the system follows the same processing rules that apply to identical elements without user fields.
Example 1: Partial Matching Between Element Assignments and Positive Input
The deduction LOAN PAYBACK has two user fields:
User Field 1 = Loan Purpose.
User Field 2 = Loan Type.
This table lists the positive input entries and element assignments for the deduction:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assignment, and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
E/D Assignment |
E/D Assignment |
PI (Override) |
PI (Override) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
LOAN PAYBACK |
LOAN PAYBACK |
LOAN PAYBACK |
LOAN PAYBACK |
|
Instance Number |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Amount |
100 |
350 |
175 |
225 |
|
User Field 1 (Loan Purpose) |
Car |
College |
Car |
Boat |
|
User Field 2 (Loan Type) |
Personal |
Family |
Personal |
Personal |
The system resolves three instances of the deduction:
|
Instance Number |
Amount |
Loan Purpose |
Loan Type |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
175 |
Car |
Personal |
Positive Input Override |
|
2 |
350 |
College |
Family |
Element Assignment |
|
3 |
225 |
Boat |
Personal |
Positive Input Override |
In this example, the system matches positive input Instance 1 with element assignment Instance 1 based on identical user fields and processes only the positive input entry. Because there is no match between positive input Instance 2 and element assignment Instance 2, it processes both instances.
Example 2: Full Matching Between Element Assignments and Positive Input
Deduction A has two user fields:
User Field 1 = State.
User Field 2 = City.
This table lists the positive input entries and element assignments for this deduction:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assignment, and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
Rule Definition |
E/D Assignment |
E/D Assignment |
PI (Override) |
PI (Override) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
Deduction A |
Deduction A |
Deduction A |
Deduction A |
|
|
Instance Number |
N/A |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Base |
200 |
300 |
|||
|
Percent |
Payee Level |
25% |
50% |
75% |
100% |
|
User Field 1 (State) |
N/A |
New York |
California |
New York |
California |
|
User Field 2 (City) |
N/A |
New York |
Los Angeles |
New York |
Los Angeles |
The system resolves two instances of the deduction:
|
Instance Number |
Base |
Percent |
State |
City |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
300 |
75% |
New York |
New York |
Positive Input Override |
|
2 |
200 |
100% |
California |
Los Angeles |
Positive Input Override |
In this example, the system matches positive input Instance 1 with element assignment Instance 1, and positive input Instance 2 with element assignment Instance 2. It resolves the positive input entries rather than the element assignments.
Note: Because the value of the base component is not specified in the positive input entries or in the second element assignment, the system goes back to the element assignment and the rule definition for the value of the base.
Example 3: Matching When User Field Values Are Assigned By Another Element
Earning E1 is defined with the user field of State.
The value of State is set by an array and the current value returned by the array is Nevada.
The value of the user field may also be entered as a supporting element override using the element assignment or positive input pages.
This table lists the element assignments and positive input entries for E1:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assignment, and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
E/D Assignment |
E/D Assignment |
PI (Override) |
PI (Override) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
E1 |
E1 |
E1 |
E1 |
|
Instance Number |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Amount |
1000 |
2000 |
3000 |
4000 |
|
User Field (State) |
None |
California |
None |
Arizona |
The system resolves three instances of E1:
|
Instance Number |
Amount |
State |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
3000 |
Nevada |
Positive Input Override |
|
2 |
2000 |
California |
Element Assignment |
|
3 |
4000 |
Arizona |
Positive Input Override |
Example 4: Matching with Additional Type Positive Input
Deduction D1 has a calculation rule of Base x Percent.
It has two user fields:
User Field 1 = State.
User Field 2 = City.
This table lists the element assignments and positive input entries for D1:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assignment, and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
E/D Assignment |
PI (Additional) |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
D1 |
D1 |
|
Base |
Gross Pay |
Gross Pay |
|
Percent |
10% |
None provided |
|
User Field 1 (State) |
New York |
New York |
|
User Field 2 (City) |
New York |
New York |
The system resolves two instances of D1:
|
Instance Number |
Base |
Percent |
State |
City |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Gross Pay |
10% |
New York |
New York |
Element Assignment |
|
2 |
Gross Pay |
10% |
New York |
New York |
Positive Input Additional |
Because the positive input entry has an action type of Additional, the system resolves the additional instance as well as the deduction assignment; however, the positive input entry does not include a percentage amount, so the system goes to the matching deduction assignment to retrieve the missing percent.
The processing order of an earning or deduction is determined by two factors:
The element's location and sequence number in a process list or section.
Process lists and sections help to control the relative order in which different elements are processed.
The element's process order number.
The process order is the order in which the system resolves instances of the same element when there are multiple earning and deduction assignments.
Note: You define the relative processing order of multiple instances of the same earning or deduction by using the Process Order field on the Element Assignment By Payee or Payee Assignment By Element pages.
For example, consider these deductions located in the same section of a process list with the following sequence numbers:
|
Sequence Number |
Element Name |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Main Loan Payback |
|
2 |
Supplemental Loan |
When these deductions are assigned to a payee, they are given the following process order:
|
Entry Type |
Element Name |
Instance |
Process Order |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Deduction |
Main Loan Payback |
1 |
2 |
|
Deduction |
Supplemental Loan |
1 |
1 |
|
Deduction |
Main Loan Payback |
2 |
1 |
During payroll processing, the system resolves the main loan deduction before the supplemental loan, because it has the highest priority in the process section. However, there are two instances of the main loan payback deduction. To determine which one to calculate first, the payroll program uses the process order number. In this example, Instance 2 of Main Loan Payback has the highest priority (the lowest process order number), so the system processes it first.
Defining the Process Order in Complex Situations
In the preceding example, the method used to determine the process order is straightforward, because the system is processing only element assignments; however, when element assignments combine with positive input entries, it becomes more difficult to establish a processing sequence.
To do this, the system applies these rules:
|
Rule |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Rule 1 |
Element assignments are calculated first within each user field set and dictate the processing order of matching positive input entries. For example, the system processes the element assignment with the lowest process order number first, followed by any positive input entries with matching user fields. It then processes the element assignment with the next lowest process order number, followed by any matching positive input entries, and so on. In other words, the positive input entries inherit the process order of their matching element assignments. This is the case even where positive input entries override element assignments. Note: If there are multiple element assignments with the same user field set as a positive input entry, and the element assignments have different process order numbers, the system uses the lowest process order number among the element assignments to determine the processing order of the user field set. |
|
Rule 2 |
When an element assignment with a given user field set has more than one matching positive input entry, the entire group of matching positive input entries inherits the process order of the element assignment (see Rule 1 above). Within the group of positive input entries, however, the system determines the process order as follows: it processes individual entries one after another in order of their instance number, regardless of the action type (override, add, or resolve to zero). In other words, the system processes one group of positive input entries before it processes another based on the process order of the matching element assignments, but within a given group, it processes positive input in instance number order. |
|
Rule 3 |
The system processes positive input instances without matching earning/deduction assignments after entries with matching user field sets. These entries are processed in order of their instance numbers. |
|
Rule 4 |
When a user does not enter a process order number, the process order defaults to 999. Entries with a process order number of 999 are processed last, after the other entries. |
|
Rule 5 |
When multiple earning/deduction assignments have the same process order number, the entries are processed in the order of their begin dates (ascending). |
|
Rule 6 |
When multiple earning/deduction assignments with the same process order have the same begin date, the entries are processed in the order of their instance number (ascending). Note: Multiple earning/deduction assignments are processed in order of their process order, followed by begin date, followed by instance number. |
Note: The same processing order rules that apply to element assignment and positive input entries in an unsegmented calendar apply in the case of segmented calendars, except that the rules apply per slice or segment. However, there are some additional factors to consider in the case of sliced/segmented calendars. We discuss these later in this topic.
See Understanding Segmentation with Multiple Resolutions.
The examples in this topic illustrate these rules.
Note: These examples show how the system establishes a processing order when there are competing element assignments and positive input entries. The situations represented here occur very infrequently.
Example 1: Defining the Process Order for Multiple Element Assignments and Positive Input Entries
A loan payback deduction has two user fields:
User Field 1 = Loan Purpose.
User Field 2 = Loan Classification.
This table lists the element assignments and positive input entries for the loan deduction:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Ass., positive input is abbreviated PI, and the positive input action types of override and additional are abbreviated Over and Add.
|
E/D Ass. |
E/D Ass. |
E/D Ass. |
PI (Over) |
PI (Over) |
PI (Over) |
PI (Add) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
|
Instance Number |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Process Order |
30 |
10 |
40 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Amount |
100 |
350 |
175 |
500 |
225 |
600 |
3000 |
|
User Field 1 |
Car |
College |
Bike |
Car |
Stove |
Car |
College |
|
User Field 2 |
Personal |
Family |
Personal |
Personal |
Family |
Personal |
Family |
The system resolves six instances of the loan, in the following order:
|
Resolution Number |
Amount |
User Field 1 |
User Field 2 |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
350 |
College |
Family |
Element Assignment |
|
2 |
3000 |
College |
Family |
Positive Input Additional |
|
3 |
500 |
Car |
Personal |
Positive Input Override |
|
4 |
600 |
Car |
Personal |
Positive Input Override |
|
5 |
175 |
Bike |
Personal |
Element Assignment |
|
6 |
225 |
Stove |
Family |
Positive Input Override |
Following Rule 1, the system resolves the element assignment for 350 first, because it has the lowest process order number (10). It then processes the matching additional positive input entry for 3000.
Note: When an element assignment has a matching additional positive input instance, Global Payroll resolves the element assignment first.
Following Rule 2, the system then processes the positive input entries with the user field set of Car and Personal based on the process order number (30) of the matching element assignment.
In keeping with Rule 2, the system processes the positive input for 500 before the positive input for 600 based on the instance numbers of the positive input entries.
In keeping with Rule 3, the system processes positive input instances without a matching earning/deduction assignment (the positive input entry with the user field set of Bike and Stove) after the entries with matching user field sets.
Example 2: Multiple Earning/Deduction Assignments with the Same User Field Set For More Than One Assignment
A loan payback deduction is defined with these user fields:
User Field 1 = Loan Purpose.
User Field 2 = Loan Classification.
This table lists the earning/deduction assignments and positive input entries for the loan deduction:
Note: In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assign., and positive input is abbreviated PI.
|
E/D Assign. |
E/D Assign. |
E/D Assign. |
PI (Override) |
PI (Add) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Element Name |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
LOAN |
|
Instance Number |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Process Order |
30 |
40 |
35 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Amount |
100 |
250 |
175 |
500 |
200 |
|
User Field 1 |
Car |
Car |
Motorcycle |
Car |
Motorcycle |
|
User Field 2 |
Personal |
Personal |
Personal |
Personal |
Personal |
The system resolves three instances of the loan payback deduction, in the following order:
|
Resolution Number |
Amount |
Loan Purpose |
Loan Classification |
Override Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
500 |
Car |
Personal |
Positive Input Override |
|
2 |
175 |
Motorcycle |
Personal |
Element Assignment |
|
3 |
200 |
Motorcycle |
Personal |
Positive Input Additional |
In keeping with Rule 1, the process order of the element assignments determines the process order of the positive input entries (thus the element assignment with a process order number of 30 drives the resolution of positive input Instance 1, and so on).