Time Editor

This screen allows you to review, approve, modify, and delete Time Transactions. This may be conceptualised as an electronic version of an employee Timesheet and allows the Time Rules to be automated and run over the entries.

Prerequisites

  • All setup and configurations must be completed, especially the Daily and Pay Period Rules.
  • To display the other Leave Types (User-Defined Leave Type B-F) on the Leave Balance data grid, Prevar *SELFSERV_PAY002 Positions 4-8 must be set to 'Y'. Log a ticket to Preceda Support if you want to enable these Leave Types.

Rules and Guidelines

  • The actual function allowed by individual users is determined by the Security Level established by the Payroll Manager. For example, Preceda Security could be setup so that supervisors will only see transactions belonging to employees who report to their team.

  • Time and Leave transactions will be created by employees using time clocks or other time recording devices, entering punch details in Employee Self Service, or by having Supervisors create time records on Time Editor on the employee's behalf.
  • A Supervisor/Manager can add, maintain, and/or delete a Time Editor record.
  • Once the employee is selected, the current pay period is displayed at the top of the window. This is the pay period setup in Pay Period Rules.
  • This window displays all Unposted Time and Leave records entered for an employee regardless of the pay period. 
  • The Retro Pay Period Recalculation process will be run when the Time Editor screen User approves all Unposted Time Editor records for a Prior Period. If Enforce Employee Approval is Y, the employee approval is required before retro is processed.

  • Approved leave entries can be imported via Import SelfService Leave Transactions to Time. When the approved leave entries logged against Prior Pay Periods are successfully imported, the system will automatically kick off the Retro Pay Period Recalculation process in the same manner as stated above. Retro entries are then created and imported into this screen to be displayed on the Current Pay Period view as read-only.

    Imported leave entries can be removed from this screen via Clear SelfService Leave Transactions from Time. This process removes any retro entries created by the automatic Retro Pay Period Recalculation via Import SelfService Leave Transactions to Time. It does not remove other retro adjustments created by other means.

  • Not all records displayed require approval. The approval level required parameter, which is defined on the Time Code Maintenance window, governs the Time Code that must be approved.
  • Up to 30 Time Codes can be outputted per punch.
  • When an employee's Time Details begin or end part way through a period and there are no Time Details, users will not be able to enter and will receive the following message if they try to save: "Time Details do not exist for this date, unable to save record".
  • The Leave Balance data grid can display up to eight Leave Types. By default, only the Annual Leave, Sick Leave, and Long Service Leave are set to display on the Leave Balance data grid.
    • If you want the other Leave Types (User-Defined Leave Type B-F) to appear on the Leave Balance data grid, Prevar *SELFSERV_PAY002 Positions 4-8 must be set to 'Y'.
    • Log a ticket to Preceda Support if you want to enable these Leave Types.
    • Note: For a Leave Type to display, the employee must have a Leave Entitlement. Thus, for example, even if Position 4 is set to 'Y', but an employee does not have a Leave Entitlement for User Type B Leave, this will not be displayed on the Leave Balance data grid, or Sick Leave (Position 2) is enabled by default, but the employee does not have a Sick Leave entitlement, this will not appear on the grid.
  • NOTE:The Retro Date Picker Widget on the Toolbar is ONLY available on the Retrospective Time Editor (Activity ID: T000202).

    If you need to use this feature, you will have to enable it via ticking the Use Access for T000202 on the Preceda Access screen. This Retro Date Picker Widget will then allow you to navigate to prior periods.

  • Mapper: Mapper T000002_LR for Time Editor Leave Recording can be used to allow the import of entries that do not require a start and finish time such as Annual Leave, Personal Leave, Public Holidays, etc. Data imported this way will not appear in ESS. It will appear directly on Time Editor.

    • Daily Rules and Pay Period Rules interpretation will still occur to ensure correct payments to employees.

    • Group employee data together to ensure the fastest possible processing.

    • The same validation logic/ defaulting of other required values as per the ESS Time Recording screen will be applied to these Mapper entries.

    • All records entered will be automatically approved to the highest level 9.

    • The Start Time of imported entries will default to the Pay Period Rule's start time.

    • The hours worked entered into this mapper are expected in the form of Hundredths configuration not Hours and Minutes. This is regardless how the database is configured for Time.

  • An "empty" Time Editor Prior Period record has been added so that retrospective times can be entered and to allow retrospective calculation for any Prior Period Time records of the employee. This is created on this screen when:

    • Preceda Variable *PRECEDATIME_RETRO = Y;
    • Preceda Variable *PRECEDATIME_REALIGN is not set to Y;
    • There is only one Time Details Record existing; AND
    • There is no Posted Time Editor or Allowances record existing for the employee

    Once created, the Prior Retro Period cannot be removed. The blank entries can be seen on this screen's date picker. This is to cater for employees who are hired with a date in the past.

Field Information

This displays the Pay Period rule that was current at the end of the pay period.

  • Using the back arrow or select list, select the period for the adjustment. Note that prior periods will only start to populate from the time of the upgrade (v15.0.01 or higher) and users will not be able to use the Retrospective Time functionality on dates prior to the upgrade. Additionally, dates included in the transaction's .csv file that are from Pay Periods prior to the upgrade will be rejected.
  • When in a prior Pay Period, the forward arrow will be active so that the user can move forward through Pay Period.
  • To cancel the Retrospective Time mode, use the select list or the forward arrow to select the current period.
  • Note that each time a prior Pay Period is selected, the temporary / working files for the Retrospective Time calculation are flushed and replaced with the data for the period selected. This means that if the user makes changes to the time and navigates away from the employee or to another period, the changes they have made will be lost.
  • The adjusted time will not be editable or able to be deleted once it has been posted.

 

Reminder information will appear under the Pay Period date range at the top, if there are time entries with a date prior to the Current Pay Period awaiting Manager's approval. Once they are fully approved, Retro Time will handle them automatically if Retro Time is turned on. Where Retro Time is on (i.e. Preceda Variable *PRECEDATIME_RETRO = Y):

  • Prior Period Records Outstanding information - This is displayed when there are Prior Period hours not approved to the right level on the Current Period Time Editor.

    It indicates that there are Prior Pay Period hours for this employee awaiting manager's approval. The manager may still see this information after he/she approved the hours, if his/her approval is lower than the Required Approval Level for any prior pay period time entries.

  • Prior Period Records Ready information - This information, if occurs, will be above the Hours Worked/Leave Hours section, right below the Pay Period label.

    It only occurs when the manager has ticked all Prior Pay Period hours and before clicking Approve or Save. Once saved, the information will be gone if all Prior Period hours are approved effectively.

 

This is displayed when on Prior Pay Period, Preceda Variable *PRECEDATIME_RETRO = Y, and T000202 is added to the user's Access Profile.

This is hidden when on Current Pay Period.

This displays the employee's Pay Period Rule from the Time Details screen.

This displays the Pay Period Rule Start and End Date which is defined on the Pay Period Rule Definition screen.

This relates to the Type of Leave Balances that can be displayed on this screen as per General Leave Maintenance - Holiday, Personal, LSL, etc.

This relates to the number of Leave Balances that can be displayed on this screen as per General Leave Maintenance - Holiday, Personal, LSL, etc.

This relates to the date for the Leave Balances that can be displayed on this screen as per General Leave Maintenance - Holiday, Personal, LSL, etc.

 

Hours Worked/Leave Hours

This shows how many shifts the time transaction is interpreted as.

This field is hidden unless selected from the browselist to be displayed. A value in this field will only appear when the data is in the Current Period or if it has been in a Current Period.

This is the day of the week that corresponds with the employee time transactions.

This is the date that corresponds with the employee time transactions.

This refers to the time the employee started work for a shift.

If this time is changed and saved, the system will automatically recalculate the hours based on the Daily and Pay Period Rules.

This displays exception codes to indicate that the time entered by the employee does not match the rostered times or locations for starting work as setup for the employee.

  • This information also appears on the Punch Detail Report.
  • Employees can be selected based on exception occurrences using the Advanced Search option.
Code Description
?

The employee has not entered a Start or End Time.
E The employee has entered a Start or End Time that is earlier than the Rostered Start or End Time for that particular shift.
L The employee has entered a Start or End Time that is later than the Rostered Start or End Time for that particular shift, or the employee has taken a long meal break.
U Un-Rostered. The employee was not rostered to work on this day.
G A generic or special roster has been used. A roster such as this might be created, e.g. to cater for special worked day.
S Short Meal. The employee took a short meal break. This would be relevant only when a time clock is used and the employee clocks out and in for their lunch break.
I Long Interval. The time entry indicates that the employee has worked an extremely long number of hours in one session.
A Automatically punched out. If the employee goes home without clocking out for time clocks only and returns to clock in the next day, the system adds a punch out time according to the control file record.
O Out of Pay Period. This record does not come within the current pay period. It will not be included in the totals or transferred to the payroll.
1 to 7 The level code for this employee has been manually altered.

 

This is the time the employee finished work for a shift.

If this time is changed and saved, the system will automatically recalculate the hours based on the Daily and Pay Period Rules.

This displays exception codes to indicate that the time entered by the employee does not match the rostered times or locations for starting work as setup for the employee.

  • This information also appears on the Punch Detail Report.
  • Employees can be selected based on exception occurrences using the Advanced Search option.
Code Description
?

The employee has not entered a Start or End Time.
E The employee has entered a Start or End Time that is earlier than the Rostered Start or End Time for that particular shift.
L The employee has entered a Start or End Time that is later than the Rostered Start or End Time for that particular shift, or the employee has taken a long meal break.
U Un-Rostered. The employee was not rostered to work on this day.
G A generic or special roster has been used. A roster such as this might be created, e.g. to cater for special worked day.
S Short Meal. The employee took a short meal break. This would be relevant only when a time clock is used and the employee clocks out and in for their lunch break.
I Long Interval. The time entry indicates that the employee has worked an extremely long number of hours in one session.
A Automatically punched out. If the employee goes home without clocking out for time clocks only and returns to clock in the next day, the system adds a punch out time according to the control file record.
O Out of Pay Period. This record does not come within the current pay period. It will not be included in the totals or transferred to the payroll.
1 to 7 The level code for this employee has been manually altered.

 

This is the number of hours worked by the employee during their shifts.

  • This automatically calculated from the Start and Finish times, minus any period of time automatically deducted as a result of meal/break setup in the Daily Rules.
  • The Hours Worked can be displayed either in Hours and minutes 7:30 or in decimal format 7.50 depending on how configured in the initial setup.
  • This format is set in Timekeeper at system level.
  • If a new or changed value is entered it will override any calculated value.

 

This is the number of hours that the employee is rostered to work on this day, if rostered.

  • It is possible to show rostered time for employee who are rostered to work in the pay period but don't have any times recorded in Time Editor.
  • This is controlled by the In Time Editor Display Scheduled Time when Absent field is set to Y on the Configuration window.
  • The Punch Detail Reportwill show the absent employees listing with scheduled in the In and Out fields.

 

This refers to the type of hours worked.

  • Leave the field blank to have the system determine the Time Code the employees is to receive for this period of time.
  • The Time Code will be allocated based on the Daily Rule and Pay Period Rule configuration for the employee.
  • If *MULTI - is displayed, this indicates that override Time Codes have been entered on the drilldown window for this entry. These values will override any automatically generated codes and values.
  • If the Time Code field is modified on this window, the Override field will display 'T'.
  • If the Time Code value is removed , the 'T' value must also be removed from the Override field.

 

This indicates the status of the time segment. It will highlight that something has been entered that is outside the roster.

Code Description
1 First lunch deduction cancelled
2 Second lunch deduction cancelled
3 Third lunch deduction cancelled
4 Fourth lunch deduction cancelled
Y All lunch deductions cancelled
N Lunch deduction was cancelled (was flagged Y), but is now restored
A Indicated the record requires approval
M The difference between the in punch on this time record and the out
B The difference between the in punch on this time record and the out punch on the previous record qualified as a punched break, and will be treated accordingly.
$ There is a monetary adjustment associated with the time record.
C There is a comment entered on the time record.
O Indicates that the record falls outside the current pay period.
S Indicates that the days were scheduled to be worked by the employee.

 

This indicates whether the time transaction is approved by the employee.

This displays the highest level of approval required for the time transaction.

If a time transaction duration is 12.5 hours and breaks down into multiple time codes:

  • 7.5 hrs into Time Code 1, Required Approval Level =0
  • 2 hrs into Time Code 2, Required Approval Level = 5
  • 3 hrs into Time Code 3, Required Approval Level = 9

9 will be displayed in this field.

The required approval level per Time Code is setup via Time Code Maintenance screen.

The check box is used to approve the record for payment, when selected, the Approved By and Approval Level fields are populated.

  • Although flagged as Approved, the actual approval depends on the Approval Level required for the time record and the Approval Level for the user carrying out the approval.
  • If approved by a user with a level = or > the security level for the Time Code, the record is passed to the payroll when saved. Otherwise, it will not be passed to Payroll.
  • Untick the box to disapprove the record. The Approval Level will revert to '0' and Approved by will revert to 'blank'.

 

This displays the highest level of approval this time transaction has achieved.

  • '0' will display to indicate that the record is unapproved.
  • When the manager approves a time entry and Saves the approval, this field is updated with the approval level of this manager.
  • A manager's approval level is set up via Time Approval Settings screen per Security Profile.

 

This displays the username of the person who did the approval.

This is updated when the record is saved.

Displays the status of the time entry:

  • Draft (Unapproved)
  • Submitted (Manager Approval Required)
  • Proposed (Employee Approval Required)
  • Approved
  • Posted

 

This displays the code to indicate information about a particular punch or set of punches.

Code Description
1 First automatic deduction cancelled
2 Second automatic deduction cancelled
3 Third automatic deduction cancelled
4 Fourth automatic deduction cancelled
Y All automatic deductions cancelled
N Automatic deduction was cancelled, but is now restored
A Automatic deductions or additions were applied to this time record
M The difference between the in punch on this time record and the out punch on the previous record qualifies as a punched meal and will be treated accordingly.
B The difference between the in punch and this time record and the out punch on the previous record qualifies as a punched break and will be treated accordingly.
$ There is a monetary adjustment associated with the time record
C There is a comment entered on the time record
F A Forced OT transaction was applied to the time record

 

This displays the Daily Rule used in calculating the hours for this transaction.

  • The Daily Rule determines the overtime, rounding, meal/break, premium, and holiday rules that apply for the transaction.
  • The field will be initially populated with the Daily Rule assigned to the employee in their Time Management Details record, and can be overridden by selecting another Daily Rule.

 

This refers to the shift that the time record is to be assigned to.

The employee's Home Shift setup on theirTime Detailsrecord will be used as the default.

Identify whether Meal or Break rules are to be applied when calculating this punch.

Code Description
B (Break) Use Break Rules when calculating this time record.
M (Meal) Use Meal Rules when calculating this time record.

 

This is used to cancel an automatic meal/ break deduction.

Code Description
1, 2, 3 or 4 Cancel the corresponding meal or bread deduction.
Y

Cancel all automatic meal or break deductions.
N Force automatic meal or break deduction if it was previously cancelled.

 

This is used to define which punches are transfers.

This can also be used to indicate that this is a time record and force the hours to be entered.

This is useful when processing CALL-IN time codes.

Code Description
B Both In and Out punches are transfers. No rostered rounding occurs.
I In punch is a transfer punch. No rostered rounding occurs.
O Out punch is a transfer punch. No rostered rounding occurs.
T This is a Time record. The hours worked and the time have been manually entered.

 

Select the overriding cost level/s (e.g. Company), if required.

This defaults to the employee Costing Levels unless Time User Code Mappings is configured.

Comments about the transaction can be entered.

 

Buttons

This is used to display rounded times. This rounding is done according to the Daily Rules.

  • The button may be toggled between Rounded Times and Entered Times.
  • When Rounded Times are displayed, the Start Time and End Time cannot be changed.

 

This is a total of all hours logged against the current Pay Period for this employee, regardless of their status.

Employee time records generally consist of punch pairs an in punch and an out punch, that define a time interval. As punches come in the system will pair these punches into logical time records depending on the date and time of each punch.

  • Occasionally, it may be necessary to add individual punches to cater for situations such as an employee missing an In or Out Punch.
  • When a punch is inserted, the system will reprocess the prior and all subsequent punches and attempt to reform valid pairs.
  • Insert Punch allows the user to enter the Date and Time of a punch and indicate if to transfer the punch.
  • Override values for Levels 1 to 7, Time Code, Daily Rule, Shift, and Comment can be entered for each punch.

    If an employee forgets to punch in at the beginning of a shift but does punch out at the end, a supervisor can insert the in punch for the employee allowing the correct pairing of punches.

This is the date and time required for the punch.

The fields default to the current date and time.

Indicate if this punch is to be transferred or not. This defaults to 'N' (No).

The Time Code can be overridden only if an override is required to the time code normally calculated for the time of punch.

This displays the default Daily Rule.

The Daily Rule can be overridden only if an override is required to the default Daily Rule.

This displays the default shift.

The Shift can be overridden only if an override is required to be the default Shift.

This displays the default levels for the employee.

The Level Codes can be overridden only if an override is required to be default Level Codes.

A comment to be associated with this punch can be entered or selected.

 

When information about the Insert Punch has been entered, select Run Process.

 

 This option allows for the deletion of individual punches.

When a punch is deleted, the system will reprocess the prior and all subsequent punches, and attempt to reform valid pairs.

  • Both in and Out punches can be deleted.
  • The date and time for the punch must match exactly to the date and time of the punch on the Time Editor window or an error message will be returned and no punch will be deleted.

This refers to the date for the punch to be deleted. This field defaults to display the current date.

This refers to the time for the punch to be deleted. This field defaults to the current time.

 When information about the Delete Punch has been entered select Run Process.

When completed the punch will be deleted and all other punches for the employee will be realigned in pairs.

 

This option is used to insert a check mark into every time segment that is not already approved.

All selected time is marked as approved and saved.

Although flagged as approved the actual approval depends on the Approval Level required for the time record and the Approval level for the user carrying out the approval.

This button is available when in Retrospective Time mode.

  • This button enables the user to make necessary adjustment to the record/s.
  • The following message is displayed when the 'Create Adjustments' button is clicked: "Adjustments will be created and posted to the current period, Time History will be updated. Do you wish to continue?" If the user selects the 'Yes' option, the time will be posted to the current period and the screen will show the recalculated time as well as the hours that had been entered / punched for the current period.

 

This button is available when in Retrospective Time mode as navigating away to make changes to Allowances will cause any time adjustments to be lost.

  • When clicked, an Allowances popup window displays any allowances that were part of the prior period (or blank if there was none). The user can make any adjustments required and then click Save to add those adjustments to the prior period window.
  • The adjustments made on the Allowances popup window will be posted to the current period when the 'Create Adjustments' button is clicked.

 

The Tracker On/Off toggle button is only available to the Support Team as a tool that outputs the values, including decision jumps to other rules, for each rule processed in order to more readily asses output errors associated with various interpretation scenarios.

This button initiates the same processes that occur when a transaction/s is saved. The rules used to calculate the times will be output to a spool file which are accessed through the Console and printed if necessary.

Program Control option TRACK, Positions 14 must be set to Y and positions 20 to 29 is used to enter the Preceda User ID for this button to become available.

 

This displays a breakdown of the employee's hours into the various categories and is calculated according to the Pay Period and Daily Rules.

This displays the total number of breakdown hours that the employee is to be paid in this pay period.

This displays the total value of any allowances associated with the hours worked within the current pay period.

The Allowances window will display details of this amount.

 

Drill-down on a record to access the Time Editor record.

The drill-down allows the Breakdown of Hours for a day into different Time Codes.

  • Up to 49 Time Codes can be viewed in this Breakdown of Hours.

  • If only one Time Code exists on the record, the changed value will be displayed on the main window after the record is saved.
  • If there is more than one record after changes, the Time Code on the main window record will be displayed as *MULT and the Override field will change to display a record to indicate the presence of the transaction.
  • If the Time Code field is modified on the drill down window, the Override field will display a 'T'.
  • If it is decided that the changes made on this widow are to be discarded, remove the value from the Override field.
  • This drill-down window's grid can hold up to 30 lines.
  • Transactions that have been created by the Pay Period Rule Realignment Process will be flagged with method R - Pay Period Realignment here and on the Reverse Retro Adjustments screen. When you drill down on these records, you should see the same Method along with the Username who ran the realignment function as well as the date and time it was run. You should also see if it is the Retro Reversal entry or the Retro New Entry.