Understanding Time Administration
This section discusses:
The create rules component
The batch processing component
The online processing component
Although the Time Administration processes are complex and varied, the Time Administration business process has these main components:
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
Create Rules |
The Create Rules component consists of the online tools that enable you to create, compile, and apply rules to reported and scheduled time. You can create rules for the batch process only or for both batch and online rules processing. |
Batch Processing |
The Time Administration batch processing component applies the rules to time reporter data and generates payable time from reported and scheduled time. |
Online Processing |
From the Timesheet, the Apply Online Rules process immediately applies your online rules to the time for a specific time reporter. |
The Create Rules component has these online tools for defining rules:
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
Templates |
Use templates to create a variety of rules for the Time Administration program to execute when processing reported and scheduled time. Create compensation rules for overtime and holidays, notification rules for irregular attendance, and rules for other time reporting that requires special processing. There are more than 40 delivered rule templates. |
Actions and Conditions |
Use Actions and Conditions to define actions and conditions independently of one another and then join them to create rules. You cannot perform select actions or subqueries with Actions and Conditions, so if your rule requires either of these, use SQL objects. |
SQL Objects |
SQL objects are the most flexible Time and Labor rule creation tool. You can use SQL objects to create rules using Select statements, Insert statements, Update statements, Delete statements, table joins, and subqueries. |
User Exits |
With delivered rule templates and rule objects (Actions, Conditions, and SQL objects), you can build rules that address most business needs. Use a user exit when a particular business rule cannot be accommodated by delivered rule templates or rule objects. With user exits, you can add PeopleCode and PeopleSoft Application Engine (AE) sections to regular processing. Also, to build a complex Time and Labor rule, you can create the rule in AE and add a user exit that calls the rule during processing. When you write user exits, you must add AE sections to the AE program TL_TA_RULES. You can use all the AE constructs supported by PeopleTools (SQL, PeopleCode, looping constructs like Do When, Do While, and so on). |
The batch process in Time and Labor generates payable time. It executes the rules defined using the Time and Labor online tools for rule creation, selects the appropriate time reporters for processing, combines time reporters into batches for efficient processing, determines the period to process, and calculates prior period adjustments.
Time and Labor enables you to define online rules and immediately estimate the effect of applying these rules to weekly elapsed and punch time. You can invoke the Apply Online Rules process from the Timesheet page. When you do, the system executes an abbreviated version of the Time Administration process for a selected time reporter, applying only those rules that are defined for both batch and online processing. (You specify the maximum number of online rules that can be added to a rule program when you complete the Time and Labor Installation page during implementation.)
The system begins by looking at the transactions entered on the Time Reporting page. Depending on your rule definitions, it may pull in and process time for a day, week, or specified time period and will display the results accordingly.
When you define a rule for both online and batch use, be sure the time period that the rule evaluates will handle day, week and time periods that may be defined on the timesheet. Templates for attendance rules, such as templates 360, 360A, 360B as well as templates for exception rules 300, 310, and 320 may be better suited for batch processing.
To create actual payable time, run your rules as part of the Time Administration batch process; however, online processing enables you to preview the effect of weekly elapsed and punch time rules directly, online, in advance of the batch run. In addition, you can detect and resolve user-defined exceptions that result from the application of online rules.
Online Processing Steps
The Apply Online Rules process bypasses these phases of processing, which are executed during the batch Time Administration run:
Attendance processing.
Offset processing.
Compensatory time balance validation.
Calculation of estimated gross for rule override transactions.
Update of TA_STATUS and EARLIEST_CHGDT.