Calculation Rules and Components

When you create an earning or deduction element, you define its calculation rule, such as Unit x Rate or Unit x Rate x Percent. When you save the element definition, the system automatically creates the following components based on the selected calculation rule and element type:

  • Unit, Rate, Base, and Percent components, based on the calculation rule.

  • Payback Amount, Amount Not Taken, and Add to Arrears components for deduction elements only.

  • Arrears Balance accumulator for deduction elements only.

The system gives the automatically generated components the same name as the earning or deduction element plus a suffix. For example, if you create the earning element EARN1 = Unit × Rate, the system automatically generates two component elements named EARN1_UNIT and EARN1_RATE. The language of the 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 EARN1 earning element to REGULAR, the system changes the component names to REGULAR_UNIT and REGULAR_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:

  • SALARY1 = Unit × Rate.

  • SALARY2 = Unit × Rate.

  • SALARY2 Rate = SALARY1 Rate.

When the system calculates the rate for SALARY2, it uses the rate for SALARY1. You don't have to redefine the rate for every new element. No matter how the rate for SALARY1 is defined (numeric, formula, and so on), the rate for SALARY2 always equals the rate for SALARY1.

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