Overview of Using Formulas
Oracle Fast Formula is a simple way to write formulas using English words and basic mathematical functions. You can use information from your database in formulas without learning the database structure or a programming language.
Each formula usage summarized in this topic corresponds to one or more formula types, requiring specific formula inputs and outputs.
The formulas delivered in Oracle HCM Cloud contain English language names, but you can write formulas in other languages. You can provide formula names and descriptions in any language. Formula text isn't translated, but can handle non-English user-defined elements, input values, or balances. For example, if you define an element name in Chinese, the base element name is stored in Chinese. If you create a formula, it can have variable names or string values in other languages and character sets like Chinese.
Calculate Payrolls
You can write payroll calculations and skip rules for elements to represent earnings and deductions.
You can do these tasks using fast formulas:
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Control the repetition of a payroll flow.
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Control when elements are processed in a payroll run.
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Define a set of people for payroll processing, data entry, or reporting.
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Validate one or more element entry values. Provide a default value for an element entry value, or calculate entry values based on the user's entries in other entry values.
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Validate entries in user-defined tables.
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Proration formulas control how payroll runs prorate element entries when they encounter an event such as a mid-period change in an element entry value.
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Associate more than one payroll formula with each element to perform different processing for employee assignments with different statuses.
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Transformation formulas convert inbound data into a format that HCM Data Loader understands.
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Configure payment method preferences. For example, you can limit the number and types of payment methods.
Benefits Administration
You can use formulas to structure your benefit plans. Formulas provide a flexible alternative to the delivered business rules. Use formulas to configure:
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Date calculations, such as enrollment start and end dates, rate or coverage start and end dates, waiting periods and enrollment periods, or action item due dates
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Calculations of rate and coverage amount, minimum and maximum, or upper and lower limits
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Certification requirements
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Partial month and proration calculations
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Eligibility and participation evaluation
For example, you can write a formula to calculate benefits eligibility for those cases where the provided eligibility criterion doesn't accommodate your particular requirements.
Define Configuration for Compensation
Here's what you can modify using formulas and add flexibility to existing compensation plan configuration:
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Start and end dates for compensation allocations under individual compensation plans
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Person selection, hierarchy determination, column default values, and currency selection for workforce compensation plans
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The source of items displayed in total compensation statements
Define Formulas to Create Rule Templates for Time and Labor
Use formulas with time repository rule templates to create rules. The formulas contain delivered combinations of rule parameters and output results. You can use one formula with multiple rule templates by varying the template configuration.
When creating a rule template, you select a formula name, and then configure the parameter type and display name of the parameters and variables. You don't have to redo the entire formula statement to determine what details to change to achieve a particular outcome.
Here's what you can use formulas to apply in Time and Labor:
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Logic for processing or calculating time
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Parameters that enable rules to pass values to the formula for use in calculations
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Output variables that the formula uses to return calculation results to the rules
For example, the Period Maximum Hours Template uses the WFM_PERIOD_MAXIMUM_TIME_ENTRY_RULE formula to compare reported time category hours to defined maximum hours.