Defining Processing Order

The processing order of an earning or deduction is determined by two factors:

• The element's location and sequence number in a process list or section.

  Process lists and sections help to control the relative order in which different elements are processed.

• The element's process order number.

  The process order is the order in which the system resolves instances of the same element when there are multiple earning and deduction assignments.

Note:

You define the relative processing order of multiple instances of the same earning or deduction by using the Process Order field on the Element Assignment By Payee or Payee Assignment By Element pages.

For example, consider these deductions located in the same section of a process list with the following sequence numbers:

Sequence Number	Element Name
1	Main Loan Payback
2	Supplemental Loan

When these deductions are assigned to a payee, they are given the following process order:

Entry Type	Element Name	Instance	Process Order
Deduction	Main Loan Payback	1	2
Deduction	Supplemental Loan	1	1
Deduction	Main Loan Payback	2	1

During payroll processing, the system resolves the main loan deduction before the supplemental loan, because it has the highest priority in the process section. However, there are two instances of the main loan payback deduction. To determine which one to calculate first, the payroll program uses the process order number. In this example, Instance 2 of Main Loan Payback has the highest priority (the lowest process order number), so the system processes it first.

Defining the Process Order in Complex Situations

In the preceding example, the method used to determine the process order is straightforward, because the system is processing only element assignments; however, when element assignments combine with positive input entries, it becomes more difficult to establish a processing sequence.

To do this, the system applies these rules:

Rule	Description
Rule 1	Element assignments are calculated first within each user field set and dictate the processing order of matching positive input entries. For example, the system processes the element assignment with the lowest process order number first, followed by any positive input entries with matching user fields. It then processes the element assignment with the next lowest process order number, followed by any matching positive input entries, and so on. In other words, the positive input entries inherit the process order of their matching element assignments. This is the case even where positive input entries override element assignments. Note: If there are multiple element assignments with the same user field set as a positive input entry, and the element assignments have different process order numbers, the system uses the lowest process order number among the element assignments to determine the processing order of the user field set.
Rule 2	When an element assignment with a given user field set has more than one matching positive input entry, the entire group of matching positive input entries inherits the process order of the element assignment (see Rule 1 above). Within the group of positive input entries, however, the system determines the process order as follows: it processes individual entries one after another in order of their instance number, regardless of the action type (override, add, or resolve to zero). In other words, the system processes one group of positive input entries before it processes another based on the process order of the matching element assignments, but within a given group, it processes positive input in instance number order.
Rule 3	The system processes positive input instances without matching earning/deduction assignments after entries with matching user field sets. These entries are processed in order of their instance numbers.
Rule 4	When a user does not enter a process order number, the process order defaults to 999. Entries with a process order number of 999 are processed last, after the other entries.
Rule 5	When multiple earning/deduction assignments have the same process order number, the entries are processed in the order of their begin dates (ascending).
Rule 6	When multiple earning/deduction assignments with the same process order have the same begin date, the entries are processed in the order of their instance number (ascending). Note: Multiple earning/deduction assignments are processed in order of their process order, followed by begin date, followed by instance number.

Note:

The same processing order rules that apply to element assignment and positive input entries in an unsegmented calendar apply in the case of segmented calendars, except that the rules apply per slice or segment. However, there are some additional factors to consider in the case of sliced/segmented calendars. We discuss these later in this topic.

See Understanding Segmentation with Multiple Resolutions.

The examples in this topic illustrate these rules.

Note:

These examples show how the system establishes a processing order when there are competing element assignments and positive input entries. The situations represented here occur very infrequently.

Example 1: Defining the Process Order for Multiple Element Assignments and Positive Input Entries

A loan payback deduction has two user fields:

• User Field 1 = Loan Purpose.

• User Field 2 = Loan Classification.

This table lists the element assignments and positive input entries for the loan deduction:

Note:

In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Ass., positive input is abbreviated PI, and the positive input action types of override and additional are abbreviated Over and Add.

	E/D Ass.	E/D Ass.	E/D Ass.	PI (Over)	PI (Over)	PI (Over)	PI (Add)
Element Name	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN
Instance Number	1	2	3	1	2	3	4
Process Order	30	10	40	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amount	100	350	175	500	225	600	3000
User Field 1	Car	College	Bike	Car	Stove	Car	College
User Field 2	Personal	Family	Personal	Personal	Family	Personal	Family

The system resolves six instances of the loan, in the following order:

Resolution Number	Amount	User Field 1	User Field 2	Override Source
1	350	College	Family	Element Assignment
2	3000	College	Family	Positive Input Additional
3	500	Car	Personal	Positive Input Override
4	600	Car	Personal	Positive Input Override
5	175	Bike	Personal	Element Assignment
6	225	Stove	Family	Positive Input Override

Following Rule 1, the system resolves the element assignment for 350 first, because it has the lowest process order number (10). It then processes the matching additional positive input entry for 3000.

Note:

When an element assignment has a matching additional positive input instance, Global Payroll resolves the element assignment first.

Following Rule 2, the system then processes the positive input entries with the user field set of Car and Personal based on the process order number (30) of the matching element assignment.

In keeping with Rule 2, the system processes the positive input for 500 before the positive input for 600 based on the instance numbers of the positive input entries.

In keeping with Rule 3, the system processes positive input instances without a matching earning/deduction assignment (the positive input entry with the user field set of Bike and Stove) after the entries with matching user field sets.

Example 2: Multiple Earning/Deduction Assignments with the Same User Field Set For More Than One Assignment

A loan payback deduction is defined with these user fields:

• User Field 1 = Loan Purpose.

• User Field 2 = Loan Classification.

This table lists the earning/deduction assignments and positive input entries for the loan deduction:

Note:

In this example, earning/deduction assignment is abbreviated E/D Assign., and positive input is abbreviated PI.

	E/D Assign.	E/D Assign.	E/D Assign.	PI (Override)	PI (Add)
Element Name	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN	LOAN
Instance Number	1	2	3	1	2
Process Order	30	40	35	N/A	N/A
Amount	100	250	175	500	200
User Field 1	Car	Car	Motorcycle	Car	Motorcycle
User Field 2	Personal	Personal	Personal	Personal	Personal

The system resolves three instances of the loan payback deduction, in the following order:

Resolution Number	Amount	Loan Purpose	Loan Classification	Override Source
1	500	Car	Personal	Positive Input Override
2	175	Motorcycle	Personal	Element Assignment
3	200	Motorcycle	Personal	Positive Input Additional

In keeping with Rule 1, the process order of the element assignments determines the process order of the positive input entries (thus the element assignment with a process order number of 30 drives the resolution of positive input Instance 1, and so on).