Components

Saving an element definition causes the system to automatically generate the following components based on the selected calculation rule: unit, rate, base, percent.

Automatically generated components have the same name as the earning or deduction element plus a suffix. For example, if you create the earning element VACATION = Unit × Rate, the system automatically generates two component elements named VACATION_UNIT and VACATION_RATE. Suffix names are determined by the country that you specify for the earning or deduction element on the Element Name page.

Note:

Names of earning and deduction elements are limited to 12 characters because of suffixes. Other element names can have as many as 18 characters.

Components take on the attributes of the earning or deduction element. If you change the attributes of the earning or deduction element, the component attributes also change. To continue with the previous example, if you change the name of the VACATION earning element to PTO, the system changes the component names to PTO_UNIT and PTO_RATE. The only attributes of a component that you can change directly are the description, comments, customer fields, and the Via Element Overrides option. You make these changes on the Components page.

A component is also an element and can therefore be used in another element's definition. As an example, assume that you define the following elements:

• SICK1 = Unit × Rate.

• SICK2 = Unit × Rate.

• SICK2 Rate = SICK1 Rate.

When the system calculates the rate for SICK2, it uses the rate for SICK1. You don't have to redefine the rate for every new element. No matter how the rate for SICK1 is defined (numeric, formula, and so on), the rate for SICK2 always equals the rate for SICK1.