Overview of Balances

This topic describes what a payroll balance is and what are its primary components.

A payroll balance is defined as the accumulation of values over a specific period of time. The three main components of a balance are:

• Name
• Components that feed it (called balance feeds)
• Dimensions that define its unique characteristics

For example, the Regular balance is the accumulation of all Standard Earnings processed in a payroll run. Dimensions allow you to view the value of a balance based on a predefined combination of time (for example, Period-to-Date or Year-to-Date), employment level (assignment or payroll relationship), and context (required for specific balances only, such as tax reporting unit, element, or payroll). For example, you might want to view Gross Earnings for one employee for the current pay period, or as of year-to-date. Please note that these context values referred to in the balance initialization process and batch loader are also referred to as References in the Balance View User Interface (UI)).

Here are the various components of balances:

Balance Name

This is the actual name of the balance, for example Gross Earnings. Balance types always have a numeric unit of measure, and in some instances a currency code.

Balance Feed

Balance feeds define the element input values that make up a balance. Balance feeds can either add to (+) or subtract from (–) a balance.

Balance Dimension

Balance dimensions define the time period, employment relationship, and context from which to calculate the balance. For example, Assignment Tax Unit Year to Date indicates the balance value is for a given employee’s assignment within a particular Tax Reporting Unit, for the Year-to-Date time period. Balance dimensions are predefined.

Contexts

Contexts are a means of restricting the run results that are included in a balance value. Contexts are normally predefined by either Global Payroll or localizations. Contexts are specified as part of the dimension.

Defined Balance

The defined balance is the name used to identify the combination of the Balance Type and the Balance Dimension (for example, REGULAR_ASG_TU_YTD). Whenever a balance value is obtained, it's from a defined balance.

Balance Model: How It All Works Together

A defined balance value is the value for an individual on a particular date for a specific balance type. Each defined balance holds a value for an individual at one of the following levels of the employment model:

• Payroll Relationship
• Assignment

The date is determined by the balance dimension, such as year-to-date. Balance dimensions may also use contexts, which are entities that require values for a particular balance value. For example, the defined balance Regular Earnings Relationship Tax Unit Area1 Year to Date is an association of the Regular Earnings balance type with the Payroll Relationship Tax Unit Area1 Year to Date balance dimension. The contexts associated with this dimension are Payroll Relationship, Tax Reporting Unit, and Province (Area1).

A balance feed is an association between a balance type and an element input value. For example, if you specify that the salary pay value feeds the Regular Earnings balance, an employee's salary run result feeds all Regular Earnings defined balances. This is provided that the contexts associated with that run result match the contexts used by the defined balance.