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Time Rules#

The concept of time rules is similar to that of User Calculations; however time rules are more powerful and more audible than user calcs. They have access to transactional data by date and by start/end times where as a user calc can only look at what is stored in a pay component at a pay line by pay line basis.

Time rules provide the ability to categorize many different types of time, for example you can categorize different types of overtime. They provide a level of configuration that allows for very unique rules to be applied.

Time Rules are audible; a user can see when the time rules were applied, what the original transaction was and what the end results are after the time rule has been fired.

Benefits of Using Time Rules#

There are many benefits of using time rules.

• Reduce data entry time
• Reduce the complexity for users
• Reduce data entry errors
• Apply business rules in a standard way
• More granular capturing of time to improve reporting/analysis

Considerations#

Time Rules can be setup in a simplistic or complex manner. The more complex the time rule is the more difficult it will be to troubleshoot the time rule. They must be set up with care and with the following considerations in mind:

• Need to prevent/control pyramiding
• Need to eliminate awarding the same premium multiple times for the same time range
• Work with the system not against it
• Audibility

Basic Configurations of a Time Rule #

• Frequency
  • Describes how and when the time rule is used by the system
  • Existing frequencies are:
    • Never - used by the system or other time rules
      • Used to default in values into a Time Sheet when the Time Sheet is generated
    • Every - called by the time rule engine after changes are saved to a time sheet
      • Entry
      • Shift
      • Day
      • Week
      • Period

• Band
  • Used as a threshold, for example used to hold a minimum number of hours before the employee qualifies for Overtime.

• Value
  • May be used as a variable or fixed amount
  • The context in which this column is used may change depending on the time rule type
    • For example, for the time rule Daily Top Up, the column name for Value changes to Max Top Up Hrs since it holds the number of hours to top up to. The time rule, OT Consecutive, uses the Value to hold the number of consecutive days worked.

• Day Of Week

Allows for filtering of Daily and Never time rules Allows for definition of first day of week for weekly time rules From/To times Allows for filtering of Daily and Never time rules Time Code/Premium Most time rules use these to put the qualifying time into them Some time rules use them as a filter Action Tells the Time Rule Engine how to apply to the time rule Add or Replace Targeted Time Code Sets Determines what types of time (set of time codes) should qualify for the rule Replaces the use of the toggles for the time codes listed on the Time Code tab in IDWR Disabled Can be used to help debug time rules Trace Controls the level of messaging that the server logs in the OC4J default log file 6-Internal Level is more than enough IMST server trace might also need to be switched on for added tracing Banding Time Rules Rules of the same type can be combined to complement one another Must share the same targeted/apply to time code set, start/end times and day of the week Only rules that use the band as a threshold can support this Most commonly used for OT DAILY and OT WEEKLY For example: OT DAILY is banded twice; first band is for 8 hours where the employee would receive OT 1.5 for hours worked after 8 hr reg time, the second band is for 12 hours where the employee would receive OT 2.0 for hours worked after 12 hrs reg time. Advanced Configurations of a Time Rule The following list of optional configurations allows the administrator to make a time rule more powerful and advanced. Apply Time Code Sets Usually a subset of the Targeted Time Code Set Most commonly used in Daily or Weekly time rules For example: Vacation time may contribute as hours towards OT WEEKLY but may not be paid out as Overtime. The OT WEEKLY would 'target' the vacation hours in the Target Time Code Set, but would exclude the vacation time code from its Apply Time Code Set Can Be Waived Allows the user to flag that a time rule should not be applied Allows the user to turn on a currently disable time rule Time Rule Sequence Used when the default ordering is not getting the desired results Used to change the order of time rules within the same frequency Most common when layering the same time code types Specifying the Cycle Standard cycle is every Entry > Shift > Day > Week > Period The default cycle is 5 May be used to change the order of time rules of different frequencies. For example, override the cycle of OT Weekly to be 1 so that it will come before OT Daily