Understanding Time Entry
Oracle's PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management provides rapid data entry and assignment specific pay rates by integrating with PeopleSoft Time and Labor. This topic discusses:
Rapid templates.
Rules templates.
Taskgroups and workgroups.
Rapid time entry.
Billable indicator.
Time processes.
See the product documentation for PeopleSoft HCM: Time & Labor.
The setup for rapid time templates is discussed in the Configuring Your PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management System topic.
Integrating with PeopleSoft Time and Labor provides you with access to over forty rules templates. Use these templates to create rules for the Time Administration program to execute when processing reported or scheduled time. For example, you can create compensation rules for overtime and holidays, notification rules for irregular attendance, and rules for any other time reporting situation that requires special processing.
See the product documentation for PeopleSoft HCM: Time & Labor, “Creating Rules in Time Administration”.
A taskgroup represents a group of time reporters with similar time and task reporting requirements. Taskgroups identify the default time reporting template, task template , and task profiles that are valid for members of the taskgroup. The task template that you link to the taskgroup determines which task profiles you can attach.
A workgroup is a group of time reporters who share identical compensation requirements. For example, a workgroup can include all time reporters:
In the same business enterprise.
At the same work site location.
In the same type of job assignment.
Each time reporter who reports time through PeopleSoft Time and Labor must belong to a workgroup. In addition, the Time Administration process applies rules by workgroup. A workgroup must be created before any process that uses it.
See the product documentation for PeopleSoft HCM: Time & Labor, “Defining Task Reporting Requirements, Defining Taskgroups” and “Establishing Workgroups”.
The Pay/Bill Rapid Time page enables you to enter time for multiple time reporters quickly and efficiently. Few online edits or rules are applied during data entry so that you can enter data rapidly.
Be aware of the impact of changing job and time reporter information when the information references active assignments. Oracle strongly recommends that you restrict update access to the core HCM Job and Time Reporter component so that changes can only be performed by Payroll and Time and Labor specialists. Permitting users without full Payroll and Time and Labor training to update core job and time reporter information can easily result in unexpected data.
PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management uses the Time and Labor Override Rate field to tell PeopleSoft North American (or Global) Payroll how to pay the employee for the hours reported. When you set up assignments in the Financials database, you capture the pay rates (for each time reporting code) that should apply for work performed in the assignment. PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management sends the assignment rates to HCM. When you enter time for an hourly employee to a project and activity using a specified Time Reporting Code, the system looks up the associated assignment pay rate and populates the override amount. When you enter time for a salaried employee, depending on how you configure the system, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management does not use the override rate field, but relies on the salary specified in the employee job record to determine the compensation (the PeopleSoft Time and Labor distribution process then allocates the payroll costs to the hours reported in PeopleSoft Time and Labor).
Refer to the Configuring PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management topic for information on how to setup rate elements and rate profiles, how the system perform rate lookups and overrides and how the system handles FLSA requirements.
You can enter either elapsed or punch time for your employees or contractors. Punch time reports start and stop times in precise entries of date and time. Record these values in minutes, hours, day, month, year, and time zone. Elapsed time reports time in number hours or partial hours worked in a day.
Online time entry in punch format is labor intensive and unlikely to be used. Usually time entered via Time Collection Devices such as Time Clocks is interfaced into PeopleSoft Time and Labor in punch format.
The available fields on the PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Rapid Time page vary depending on your type of time entry and on the selections that you made when setting up your rapid entry templates.
Elapsed Time
For elapsed time, the Pay Rate (override rate) field on the Pay/Bill Rapid Time page is populated with information from the assignment rate tables for the specific time reporting code (TRC). If the system cannot find a specific rate for the corresponding TRC, the pay rate remains blank and you can enter one on the Pay/Bill Rapid Time page. If no override rate is passed to payroll, the compensation rate on the job record is used with the earnings factor for this TRC.
Punch Time
For punch time, the system does not automatically populate the TRC field. The Time Administration process in PeopleSoft Time and Labor can determine the TRC code based on the rules setup. When you setup your PeopleSoft Time and Labor rules, you can define the default TRC code.
When you utilize punch time, the assignment specific rates are populated during the Time Administration process.
For punch and elapsed time entry, if no rate was specified or found, payroll rules calculate pay as follows:
Note: In addition to entering punch and elapsed time through PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management, you can also enter time through other PeopleSoft Time and Labor methods. However, these other PeopleSoft Time and Labor methods will not automatically populate the override rate or other fields such as the employee job record number, the HR business unit and the department (which PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management does automatically populate in its Rapid Time component).
See the product documentation for PeopleSoft HCM: Time & Labor, “Processing Payroll”.
Clear the Billable Indicator field on the Pay/Bill Management Rapid Time page to make a transaction that would otherwise be priced and billable to the customer, not priced and not billable. The rate element configuration determines whether a rate captured in an assignment is pay only, bill only, pay and bill, or markup. The billable indicator enables overriding the rules for a particular time entry transaction that based on the rate element would be priced and billable, to make it not priced and not billable.
Once you input time into the Rapid Time entry pages, you submit the time through a time validation process. This process inserts the time into payable time tables and creates exceptions if there are any invalid values reported.
Processing Employee Time
To process employee time:
Enter and submit employee time.
Check the Process Scheduler to make sure that the submit process (TL_ST_LIB) finished successfully.
Run the Time Administration Application Engine process.
The Time Administration process inserts rapid time records into the Payable Time table. Depending on your settings, the records may need to be approved.
Time Administration executes defined rules against reported and scheduled time. When these rules are applied to elapsed time, it may create additional time rows which may need an override rate (pay rate) entered. When the rules are applied to punch time, it determines the TRC for the time entered. In both cases, a pay rate may be blank after the Time Administration process runs. For this reason, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management delivers an extra step in the Time Administration program to perform a lookup on the assignment rates table for any payable time records that have a blank override rate. If no pay rate is sent to payroll, the system uses the compensation rate on the job record along with the earnings factor to determine the pay rate.
Manage exceptions.
Exceptions are generated when time is reported and either an aspect of the time is incorrect, or the time does not comply with a user-defined rule. Exceptions may be system-generated through validation processes or generated as a result of Time Administration rules.
To resolve an exception, determine if an error exists with reported time or if there is an invalid value in a setup table. If the error is due to reported time (non-setup exception), correct the time and then process the time again by submitting the time and/or running Time Administration. If the error is setup-related, you may need to change the reported time or change a value in one of the setup tables. To resolve the exception, you correct the time or value and then run Time Administration.
Approve time.
PeopleSoft Time and Labor normally finalizes time when it is sent to payroll. However, if time is not being sent to payroll for processing, such as in the case of non-employees (contractors), Time and Labor must finalize the time by approving it. You must ensure that salaried employee time is approved so that it is automatically closed out and sent to PeopleSoft Project Costing. If salaried time is not approved, it is re-sent to PeopleSoft Project Costing as an estimate each time the estimate process is run.
Run the Publish Estimated Payable Time Application Engine process (TL_PUB_TM_AE).
The Publish Estimated Payable Time (TL_PUB_TM_AE) Application Engine process calls the Estimated Time Batch Publish (ESTIMATED_TIME_BATCH_ADD) message, which sends the estimates for payable and billable time to PeopleSoft Project Costing. These estimated costs are sent before payable time is sent to the payroll system, and they replace any previous payable time estimates in the PeopleSoft Project Costing.
Note: The Estimated Time Batch Publish (ESTIMATED_TIME_BATCH_ADD) message must be activated in Enterprise Components Batch Publish Rules before this process is run.
Estimated cost rows can also be used to bill customers for the time worked by company resources. When a row from PeopleSoft Time and Labor matches the analysis type, TRC, and other source criteria in the rate set configuration for a contract line, a billable row is created in the PROJ_RESOURCE table of PeopleSoft Project Costing. This row is then selected by the CA_BI_INTFC process when it sends billable rows to PeopleSoft Billing to invoice the customer.
Run the Load Time and Labor to Payroll Application Engine process.
The Load Time and Labor to Payroll Application Engine process loads payable time from PeopleSoft Time and Labor into PeopleSoft Payroll for North America paysheets. Salaried employees are paid out of regular time using the compensation specified in the employee's job record. Hourly employees are paid based on the time entered in PeopleSoft Time and Labor and the rate override field automatically populated by PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management based on rates specified in the assignment.
Once time data is in the payroll system, run the Pay Calculation and Pay Confirmation processes, and these tasks:
Run a preliminary calculation.
Check for payroll errors.
Run a final calculation.
Check for payroll errors.
Run pay confirmation.
Run the Extract Time and Labor Costs process.
The Extract Time and Labor Costs process distributes and dilutes the actual payroll costs in the paychecks among the payable time records in PeopleSoft Time and Labor.
Run the Publish Actual Payable Time Application Engine process.
The Publish Actual Payable Time (TL_PY_PUB_TM) Application Engine process sends data for the actual hours and costs (after the Extract Time and Labor Costs process has been run) from PeopleSoft Time and Labor to PeopleSoft Project Costing.
Note: The payroll must be confirmed before actuals can be published to PeopleSoft Project Costing. Actuals are automatically published when the Extract Time and Labor Costs process is completed.
Processing Non-Employee (Contractor) Time
To process non-employee (contractor) time:
Enter and submit non-employee (contractor) time in the Pay/Bill Rapid Time component.
Run the Time Administration Application Engine process.
The Time Administration process inserts rapid time records into the Payable Time table. These records require approval.
Time Administration executes defined rules against reported and scheduled time. When these rules are applied to elapsed time, it may create additional time rows which may need an override rate (pay rate) entered. When the rules are applied to punch time, it determines the TRC for the time entered.
Manage exceptions.
Exceptions are generated when time is reported and either an aspect of the time is incorrect, or the time does not comply with a user-defined rule. Exceptions may be system-generated through validation processes or generated as a result of Time Administration rules.
To resolve an exception, determine if an error exists with reported time or if there is an invalid value in a setup table. If the error is due to reported time (non-setup exception), correct the time and then process the time again by submitting the time and/or running Time Administration. If the error is setup-related, you may need to change the reported time or change a value in one of the setup tables. To resolve the exception, you correct the time or value and then run Time Administration.
Approve time.
PeopleSoft Time and Labor normally finalizes time when it is sent to payroll. However, if time is not being sent to payroll for processing, PeopleSoft Time and Labor must finalize the time by approving it. This is important when sending costs to PeopleSoft Project Costing. For non-employees, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management automatically deselects the Send Time to Payroll check box on the Maintain Time Reporter Data page, which indicates to the system that the time entered is not to be sent to PeopleSoft Payroll. Non-employee time requires approval. When time is approved either online or during batch processing, the system closes the time and it can be sent to PeopleSoft Project Costing.
Note: You must either approve the non-employee time online or run the Approve Time process , otherwise the time will not appear. When contractor time is approved, it is set to closed.
Run the Publish Actual Payable Time Application Engine process.
The Publish Actual Payable Time (TL_PY_PUB_TM) Application Engine process calls the Actual Payable Time (ACTUAL_TIME_BATCH_ADD) message which sends data for the actual hours from PeopleSoft Time and Labor to PeopleSoft Project Costing. PeopleSoft Project Costing considers all payable time it receives to be additions to previously received time. For non-employees (contractors), this process generates rows in PeopleSoft Project Costing with an analysis type of TLC. You can send these rows to PeopleSoft Payables to generate vouchers that are used to pay contractors.
You can send Time rows to PeopleSoft Project Costing to bill customers for work performed by salaried, hourly, or contractor employee types. When a row from PeopleSoft Time and Labor matches the analysis type, TRC, and other source criteria in the rate set configuration for a contract line, a billable row is created in the PROJ_RESOURCE table of PeopleSoft Project Costing. This row is then selected by the CA_BI_INTFC process when it sends billable rows to PeopleSoft Billing to invoice the customer.
Note: The Actual Time Batch Publish (ACTUAL_TIME_BATCH_ADD) message must be activated in Enterprise Components, Batch Publish Rules before this process is run.
See the product documentation for PeopleSoft HCM: Time & Labor, “Understanding the Batch Process in Time Administrator”.
Payment calculations depend on whether an employee is salaried, hourly, or a non-employee (contractor).
Salaried Employees
Salaried employees are paid based on the compensation that is entered in their job record. While the rate elements defined for hourly employees should capture both pay and bill rates, the rate elements used for salaried employees should capture only bill rates as the job record (and not the assignment) drives the salary compensation. When the payroll process is run, the paycheck that is generated is not based on the time entered for the pay period because the employee's salary is a fixed amount.
Depending on the Staffing Installation Options configuration in the Financials database, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management processes assignments, additional jobs, and time entry for salaried employees in one of two ways:
If the Salaried Employees check box on the Installation Options - Staffing page is not selected, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management does not create any additional jobs for salaried employees when assignments are created. During time entry in the Rapid Time component, the system will not automatically perform rate overrides for the time entered, and the Labor Distribution process (executed as part of the Extract Time and Labor Costs process) will populate the payable time records for salaried employees with actual costs paid in the paycheck. (Labor Distribution is able to distribute costs because both the paycheck and the time entered point to the sample employee job record number.)
If the Salaried Employees check box is selected on the Staffing Installation page, PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management creates an additional job record for salaried employees for each assignment created. However, although the employee job record created when the employee was hired has the salary compensation, these additional job records have zero compensation. During time entry in the Rapid Time component, the system will automatically populate the rate override field for the time entered with an estimated cost equal to the annual salary divided by 2080 hours. The PeopleSoft Time and Labor Distribution process (executed as part of the Extract Time and Labor Costs program) in this case cannot populate the payable time records for salaried employees with actual costs paid in the paycheck. (Labor distribution is not able to distribute costs because the paycheck and the time entered point to different employee job record numbers.) It is the estimated cost (salary divided by 2080 hours) that is passed to PeopleSoft Project Costing as the labor cost for the salaried employee assignment.
Note: To prevent time data from being sent to the payroll system, you must enter time using a time reporting code (TRC) that is not mapped to an earnings code for employee records 1, 2, 3, and so forth. If a salaried employee's time data is sent to the payroll system, this could result in paying an employee more than once for the extra time that is reported.
Hourly Employees
Hourly employees are paid based on the amount of time they have worked. The rate elements used in hourly employee assignments are typically configured to capture both pay and bill rates. The time entered on the Pay/Bill Rapid Time page is processed by Time Administration and sent to the payroll system. Employee paychecks are generated based on the pay rate specified in the assignment multiplied by the amount of time the employee worked during the pay period PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management does not rely on the compensation specified in the job record for hourly employees.
Note: The system does rate lookups for non-exempt employees who are in a paygroup that is FLSA required.
Non-Employees (Contractors)
Non-employees (contractors) are also paid based on the amount of time they have worked, but they are typically paid through a voucher from the payables system because they are not employees. After time data is entered and processed by Time Administration, contractor time must be approved, then sent to PeopleSoft Project Costing as actuals. After you send the approved time rows to PeopleSoft Project Costing, you can run the PeopleSoft Pay/Bill Management FO_TO_AP process to generate vouchers in PeopleSoft Payables based on the time reported. The voucher is generated for the supplier ID and supplier location specified in the assignment.
Note: When you hire a non-employee (contractor), the system automatically deselects the Send Time to Payroll check box on the Maintain Time Reporter page in Time and Labor. This ensures that contractor time is not sent to the payroll system. If you decide to pay contractors using PeopleSoft Payroll rather than PeopleSoft Payables, you must manually select the Send Time to Payroll option on the Maintain Time Reporter page.