Understanding Positions

Human Resources helps your organization keep an effective-dated history of all positions, regardless of whether they are filled. If jobs and their scope change less often than the employees filling them in your organization, Human Resources enables you to structure human resource data by position. You can track organizational reporting relationships independently of the employees in the positions. To do this, enable the Manage Positions business process on the HCM Options - Installation page.

These topics discuss how to:

  • Set up tables.

  • Manage position data.

  • Manage position data security.

When the system assigns position defaults, it uses information stored in the system general tables. The system uses this same information when you structure your human resources system by employee. However, with Position Management you set up all the data in advance, so when you hire an employee, all you do is assign them to a position, and the system uses the position information to complete the rest of the job data record.

Before you start working with the pages described in these topics, you must set up information in the following tables:

  • Installation Table

    Note: In addition to the general application controls on the Installation table, you must select Position Management in order to engage the functionality across the application.

  • Department Table

  • Company Table

  • Job Code Table

  • Location Table (USF)

  • Sub-Agency Table (USF)

  • POI Table (USF)

If you have implemented multiple business units and set IDs in your Human Resources system, the information that you use and create will be determined by how business unit and set ID functionality has been set up for your user ID.

When you create new positions, Human Resources uses data that you entered in the Department Table, Job Code Table, and Location Table and inserts the default values in several position data fields. You can override some defaults when you need to enter exceptions for a particular position.

Note: If you override a default, the system carries the default forward when a new row is inserted.

When you change the department ID, job code, or location, the system will change the default values of the salary plan, grade, and step fields. The system uses the default salary plan from the source you enter last, from the department that's associated with a location, the location, or the job code, provided you associated salary plans with both locations and job codes. The system provides the default salary grade and step that is associated with the job code; however, grades and steps are not associated with a location.

When you change the Job Code, Department, or Location values, the system inserts new default values into select fields even if the fields are populated. Default field values are derived from the source codes and tables.

Updated Field

Defaulted Fields

Source Table

Job Code

Manager Level

Job Code Table: Manager Level

Job Code

Reg/Temp

Job Code Table: Regular/Temp

Job Code

Union Code

Job Code Table: Union Code

Job Code

Title

Job Code Table: Job Title

Job Code

Short Title

Job Code Table: Short Job Title

Job Code

Detailed Position Description

Job Code Table: Job Description

Department

Company

Department Table: Company

Department

Location

Department Table: Location

Department

Reports To

Department Table: Manager Position

Job Code

Service

Job Code Table: Service

Job Code

Rank

Job Code Table: Rank

Job Code

Department

Location

Salary Admin Plan

Job Code Table: Salary Admin Plan

Location Table: Salary Admin Plan (when changing a location or department that is associated with a location)

Job Code

Grade

Job Code Table: Grade

Note: The system only updates this field when the Include Salary Plan/Grade check box is selected on the Position Data – Description page.

Job Code

Step

Job Code Table: Step

Job Code

Location

Standard Hours

Job Code Table: Standard Hours

Salary Admin Plan Table: Standard Hours (when changing the location)

Job Code

Location

Work Period

Job Code Table: Standard Work Period

Salary Admin Plan Table: Work Period (when changing the location)

Job Code

Mon-Sun

Job Code Table: Standard Hours/5, populated as Mon-Fri

Job Code

(E&G) Calc Group (Flex Service)

Job Code Table: Service Calculation Group

Job Code

(USA) FLSA Status

Job Code Table: FLSA Status

Note: If you change the default values in the Job Code, Department, or Location components after creating the position, the system does not update the values in the Position Data component.

Updating Position Changes in the Job Data Component

Several fields in the Position Data component match fields in the Job Data component. When you modify information on the position data pages, the system can maintain matching fields in the position incumbent's job data record if:

  • The position is active.

  • You have selected the update incumbent option for the position.

  • The incumbent's job data record does not have the Override Position Data option selected.

When you change fields in the Position Data component, the Update Incumbent process may run, thereby updating fields in the incumbent's job record.

Note: The system updates the Department Entry Date and Job Entry Dt fields with the position data's effective date.

Updated Field In Position Data Component

Updated Field In Incumbent's Job Record

Adds to FTE Actual

Adds to FTE Actual (E&G only)

Business Unit

Business Unit

Department Set ID

Location Set ID

Salary Set ID

Jobcode Set ID

Classified Indicator

Classified Indicator (E&G only)

Company

Company

Department

Department ID

Department Entry Date

FLSA Status

FLSA Status

Full or Part Time

Full or Part Time

Grade

Grade

Jobcode

Jobcode

Job Entry Dt

Location

Location

Reg/Temp

Reg/Temp

Regulatory Region

Regulatory Region

Labor Agreement Set ID

Reports to

Reports to

Salary Admin Plan

Salary Admin Plan

Standard Hours

Standard Hours

Shift

Shift

Step

Step

Union Code

Union Code

Work Period

Work Period

Note: The system only updates the Grade, Salary Admin Plan and the Step fields when a user selects the Include Salary Plan/Grade check box on the Position Data – Specific Information page.

If you try to create a position (using the Add action) that already exists in Human Resources, the system displays a message informing you that a position already exists with that number and enables you to access the existing record. If you access the record for the position, the system allows you to update the data for the existing position, even if it belongs to a department for which you don't have security access. This is because:

  • You won't create duplicate positions in the system, so the system won't issue lower level SQL errors when you create new positions.

  • The system enables you to make departmental transfers.

    For example, if a position is moving to your department from another department for which you aren't cleared for security access, you can still make the transfer using the Add action, provided you know the exact position number.

Position data is less sensitive than employee data because no salary data appears in the Position Data pages. Thus viewing position data briefly when the system generates the error message is less critical than being aware of a position's existence in the system. You can modify the system so that users can't see position data even briefly using the Add action.

To prevent users from viewing position data using the Add action:

  1. In PeopleSoft Application Designer, access the POSITION_DATA component.

  2. Highlight the DESCR field and select View PeopleCode.

  3. For the POSITION_DATA component, select the Row Select PeopleCode.

  4. Read the instructions for commenting the code out that restricts this situation.

  5. Open the POSITION_DATA component Properties and change the search record for the Add action to POSITION_SRCH.

See the product documentation for PeopleTools: Application Designer Developer's Guide