Step 2: Combining Time Reporters Into Batches

This process takes the time reporters listed in the TL_TA_TRLIST Table and their initial period of interest begin and end dates and organizes them into batches based on workgroup affiliation.

To create batches:

1. Define Workgroup Affiliation.

   The system determines the workgroup affiliation of the selected time reporters and organizes them into batches by workgroup. This ensures that all time reporters processed as part of the same batch share a common rule program (because each workgroup is associated with one rule program).

   If a time reporter switches workgroups during the initial period of interest stored in the TL_TA_TRLIST Table, the system detects the transfer when it reads the time reporter's TL_EMPL_DATA record. The transfer causes Time Administration to process the time reporter in more than one batch. The same thing occurs when there are changes to Rule Program effective dates or TL_EMPL_DATA effective dates during the initial period of interest—effective dates associated with employee hires, inactivation, or job transfers. For example, if the rule program associated with a workgroup changes in mid period, time reporters are processed in separate batches on either side of the change date. Similarly, because a time reporter could have more than one row in TL_EMPL_DATA with different effective dates, multiple rows per time reporter can be pushed into the batch creation process. In this case, start dates and end dates for each batch must be adjusted for such things as the TL_EMPL_DATA.EFFDT falling within the initial period of interest. For example, if the EFFDT of a time reporter is greater than the START_DT of the initial period of interest defined in the TL_TA_TRLIST Table, the START_DT of the new batch will be set equal to the EFFDT.

2. Send batches to Rule Map.

   The resulting batches are then sent to the Determine Period of Interest function for time reporters described in the Building the Rule Map section. The batches contain a record for each of the time reporters to be processed, the time reporter's workgroup, workgroup effective date, rule program, and rule program effective date.