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ePayroll Batch Input for Overtime, Additional Hours and Absences User Guide for School Administrators & Approvers Essex Payroll Version 2.1 February 2019

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Page 1: ePayroll - Essex Schools InfoLink - Essex Schools Infolink Input... · ePayroll Batch Input for Overtime, Additional Hours and Absences User Guide for School Administrators & Approvers

ePayroll Batch Input for Overtime, Additional Hours and Absences

User Guide for School Administrators & Approvers

Essex Payroll

Version 2.1

February 2019

Page 2: ePayroll - Essex Schools InfoLink - Essex Schools Infolink Input... · ePayroll Batch Input for Overtime, Additional Hours and Absences User Guide for School Administrators & Approvers

Contents

INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................4

SCOPE .................................................................................................................................................................. 4

MANAGEMENT CONTROL PROCEDURES ....................................................................................................................... 4

SYSTEM CONCEPTS & KEY FEATURES .......................................................................................................................... 5

THE MONTHLY DATA INPUT CYCLE............................................................................................................................... 8

HOW TO ACCESS THE BATCH INPUT FORM ......................................................................................................9

THE BATCH INPUT CONTROL FORM ............................................................................................................... 10

TRACK SUBMITTED BATCH ENTRIES .......................................................................................................................... 10

SAVED BATCH DATA .............................................................................................................................................. 11

BATCH ENTRY NOTIFICATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 12

HOW TO CREATE A NEW BATCH FILE ............................................................................................................. 13

GENERAL CONCEPTS .............................................................................................................................................. 13

THE DATE WORKED CONCEPT ................................................................................................................................. 13

CREATE A NEW BATCH............................................................................................................................................ 14

HOW TO ENTER ADDITIONAL HOURS CLAIMS INTO A BATCH ........................................................................ 15

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 15

DATA INPUT FIELD FORMATS ................................................................................................................................... 15

ENTERING DATA.................................................................................................................................................... 16

HOW TO EDIT OR DELETE A CLAIM/ABSENCE ................................................................................................ 19

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 19

EDIT A CLAIM ....................................................................................................................................................... 19

DELETE A CLAIM.................................................................................................................................................... 20

HOW TO ENTER ABSENCES INTO A BATCH ..................................................................................................... 22

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 22

ENTERING DATA FOR A NEW ABSENCE ....................................................................................................................... 22

HOW TO CLOSE AN ABSENCE ................................................................................................................................... 25

HOW TO CLOSE A BATCH AND SUBMIT IT FOR APPROVAL ............................................................................. 26

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 26

DUPLICATE CLAIM VALIDATION ................................................................................................................................ 26

APPROVAL ROUTING .............................................................................................................................................. 26

CLOSE A BATCH AND SUBMIT IT FOR APPROVAL ........................................................................................................... 27

HOW TO APPROVE A BATCH FOR PAYROLL TO PROCESS ............................................................................... 29

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 29

APPROVALS CONCEPT ............................................................................................................................................ 29

APPROVE A BATCH ................................................................................................................................................ 30

REJECT A BATCH.................................................................................................................................................... 31

RETURN FOR CORRECTION ...................................................................................................................................... 31

REQUEST INFORMATION......................................................................................................................................... 32

CLOSE A NOTIFICATION........................................................................................................................................... 32

HOW TO EXPORT A BATCH TO MS EXCEL ....................................................................................................... 33

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 33

WHERE THE FEATURE IS AVAILABLE ........................................................................................................................... 33

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METHOD............................................................................................................................................................. 34

HINTS & TIPS FOR EXCEL ........................................................................................................................................ 35

EMPLOYEE HISTORY ....................................................................................................................................... 37

SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................................ 37

HOW TO ACCESS EMPLOYEE HISTORY ........................................................................................................................ 37

DUPLICATE, WITHDRAW AND DELETE BATCHES ............................................................................................ 39

DUPLICATE A BATCH .............................................................................................................................................. 39

WITHDRAW A BATCH ............................................................................................................................................. 40

DELETE A BATCH ................................................................................................................................................... 40

Page 4: ePayroll - Essex Schools InfoLink - Essex Schools Infolink Input... · ePayroll Batch Input for Overtime, Additional Hours and Absences User Guide for School Administrators & Approvers

Introduction

Scope This document provides guidance to school administrators in the operation of

ePayroll’s Batch Input system for entering, submitting and approving overtime &

additional hours claims and for the bulk input of sickness absence returns.

It assumes that you are already familiar with the standard ePayroll data input and

approval techniques, guidance for which can be found on the Essex Schools

InfoLink.

Additional ePayroll help and guidance can be obtained by contacting the Schools Service Centre

Telephone: 033301 35888 Email: [email protected]

Management control procedures Schools’ financial regulations should be reviewed to ensure they reflect this new

process.

As with other transaction types in ePayroll, school users can have joint responsibility

for submissions and approvals for Overtime & Absences. This feature has been

included to allow schools to adopt physical signature audit trails outside of the system

with a single user performing both parts of the process in ePayroll.

Wherever resources allow and make it practicable to do so, schools should however

strive to adopt strict separation of duties so that submissions and approvals are

electronically made by different employees. This helps to guard against fraud and/or

error.

The Batch Input system maintains a full audit trail of entries made, submitted and

approved. However, where it is not possible to adopt duty separation within the

ePayroll system schools should ensure that appropriate management checks and

other controls are in place to mitigate the associated risks. This can be achieved by

retaining a copy of the authorised input form to support the entries submitted via e-

Payroll.

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System Concepts & Key Features

General The system replaces the spreadsheet system for additional hours and provides an

alternative method for entering absences. The “one entry at a time” menu item for

absences is still available although we would recommend that you take advantage of

the benefits that the batch input method provides.

Users create a batch, in effect an online file, into which additional hours and/or

absence entries can be added. Entries can be built up, added to and “saved for

later” over a period of time until you are ready to submit the batch for approval. The

approvals process follows the same Approver1 and Approver2 principles as used

elsewhere in ePayroll except that the entire batch is approved with a single

authorisation regardless of how many individual entries there are in the batch.

Absence and overtime claims can be contained in a single batch or kept separate as

you may prefer. There are no limits on the number of batches that you can submit in

a single period although we would anticipate most schools normally submitting either

1 combined absence & overtime batch else 1 absence plus 1 overtime batch per

month. Real-time validation

All entries are fully validated either at the data entry stage else when the batch is

submitted for approval, allowing you to take any necessary corrective action before

they are transferred to the payroll system, which minimises the risk of payments not

being made.

Quick, intuitive and easy data entry techniques Employees are selected by their last name with the employee assignment number

being automatically generated rather than manually keyed in. The payment type you

want to claim is selected by drop-down menu from which the system determines the

input fields to be displayed (e.g. hours, rate, cash value etc) along with identifying

those fields which are mandatory and those that are optional.

The entire process is contained within a single form and without having to repeatedly

return to the main menu for each successive employee.

Cost codes are automatically derived for schools using the Essex cost code structure

which further reduces the volume of keyed data input. Provision is included for all

schools to manually enter or override codes as found necessary.

The combination of drop-down selection techniques and real-time validation will

eliminate most, if not all, non-payment issues. Payroll will continually monitor the

effectiveness of these controls to ensure that error reduction benefits are realised to

their maximum potential.

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Duplicated Claims System validation includes comprehensive techniques to prevent the accidental

duplication of an entry in the same batch or within a separate batch. Error messages

are provided for duplicated items forcing you to correct the entry before being able to

submit the batch for approval. Warning messages are similarly provided to advise you

of other potential duplications so that these can be investigated and amended if

necessary. Error and warning messages quote the batch reference number that

contains the duplicate or similar entry so that the previous claim can quickly be found

and reviewed.

Improved process for absences By batching up absence data into a single submission the approval of those entries

is made in a single authorisation. Batches can be updated on a daily or weekly

basis should you prefer else created in a single exercise at each month end.

Within a single batch, absence periods for a given employee can be entered in any

date order, with the system automatically ordering them in ascending order when the

batch is submitted.

Provision has also been made to enable previously reported open absences to be

closed.

Approvals process Approvals are managed by the same “Worklist Notifications”, Approver1 and

Approver2 concepts used elsewhere in ePayroll. For users with joint Administrator

and Approver responsibilities, overtime and absence approval requests are

additionally shown at the foot of the batch input form and can be selected from there

or from ePayroll’s main menu as preferred.

Archived worklist items (closed notifications) can be obtained using the main menu’s

“Full List” button and these will display the full detail of the claims and absences

submitted.

History In addition to viewing archived submissions via ePayroll’s “Worklist” as described

above, the contents of all current and historic batches can be viewed via the Batch

Input form. This section of the form also helps you to keep track of the batches you

are still working on or that are awaiting approval.

Using simple query techniques you can also view all historical items submitted

through the system for a particular employee.

Audit trail The history display features described above provide a detailed audit trail of who

submitted what and when, along with who ultimately approved the batch.

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In addition, an Export function is available which allows you to download the contents

of a batch into MS Excel. This report can be used as part of your physical signature

approvals process in much the same way that many schools have adopted for new

appointments and assignment changes etc. Once in MS Excel the data can, of

course, be manipulated and analysed as you may require.

User responsibility options For school administrators, access to ePayroll’s features can be restricted to absences

only, overtime only or both absences & overtime. These 3 options can be in addition

to the standard School Administrator privileges or instead of them. In this way, for

example, a school user could be responsible for creating and submitting overtime

claims without having access to the new hire, assignment change and bank detail

forms.

ePayroll’s Assignment Change form has been updated to reflect this additional

flexibility and allows you to update user responsibility settings as required.

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The monthly data input cycle

Create Batch

Add or edit

entries

Open saved

batch

Save for

later

Submit for

approval

Approve

Processed

by payroll

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How to access the batch input form

After logging onto ePayroll you will provided with a menu selection page similar to

the following example:

Click the menu item* After a short delay the screen will display the batch input control form.

* The exact contents of the main menu will vary according to the responsibilities that

you have been given. There are 3 variations for the Absences and Additional Hours

feature:

Access to both features:

Absences

Only: Overtime Only:

Instructions for setting up new users and for amending user responsibilities are

contained in the ePayroll Complete User Guide on the Essex Schools InfoLink.

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The batch input control form

The control form is broken down into 3 sections:

Track Submitted Batch Entries

Saved Batch Data

Batch Entry Notifications (Worklist)

Track Submitted Batch Entries

This section displays summary level information of the 5 most recently submitted

batches highlighting, in particular, the current status of each of them. Once a batch

has been fully processed by payroll the status will change to “Processed”.

Older submissions can be obtained via the feature.

Clicking the appropriate link provides additional summary level information

relating to that batch. You can return to the standard view by clicking

Clicking the appropriate batch number link ( in the example shown) displays the

claim and/or absence details contained within the batch:

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From here you can scroll through all the records in read-only mode, switching

between the Overtime & Payments and Absences tabs as desired. Once Payroll

have transferred the claims onto the employee’s payroll record the Request ID

column will show a reference number to confirm that action. When the payroll has

been run for that month the Processed column will change to a value of Yes.

You can also use the feature to download the contents of the batch into MS

Excel format for data analysis or physical signature approvals. The Export feature is

fully described in this user guide in the section entitled How to export a batch to

MS Excel.

This section also provides options to Duplicate, Withdraw and Delete batches.

These features are fully described elsewhere in this guide.

Saved Batch Data

This section displays any batches that you are currently working on. i.e. those that

you have not yet completed or submitted for approval.

Click the appropriate icon to open a saved batch for further editing and/or to

submit it for approval.

This section also provides options to Duplicate or Delete batches. These features

are fully described elsewhere in this guide.

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Batch Entry Notifications

These are similar to the notifications shown on ePayroll’s main menu page except

they are limited to just those relating to Additional Hours, Payments and Absences.

If you are an Approver1 as well as an Administrator then, as with other ePayroll

transaction types, two notifications are reported for each submission. Items from

SYSADMIN are those confirming that you have made a submission and the item with

your name shown against it is the approval request itself.

Clicking on the approval request link provides you with a review page displaying all

the claims and absences along with the following options:

These options are all fully described in the How to approve a batch for payroll to

process section of this guide. .

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How to create a new batch file

General concepts

A single batch can include additional hours claims as well as absences although, for

control purposes, we anticipate most users will choose to keep them separate.

There are no limits to the number of batches that you can submit each month; one

per month per submission type (additional hours and absences) is the expected

approach but one per week is acceptable should that method work better for your

organisation.

Remember that you can build up a batch over a period of time, utilising the “save for

later” feature and then supplementing and/or editing the contents until you are ready

to submit the batch for approval. Make sure, of course, that you leave sufficient

time to complete the batch AND to get it approved well before the deadline. As ever,

always strive to work with the deadlines and not to them.

As fully described later in this section, each batch can be given a descriptive title.

Typical usage might be along the lines of Overtime April 2012, Overtime Month 1

2012/13, Absences April 2012 etc. There are absolutely no rules for this although

adopting a convention will become increasingly beneficial as the volume of history

available to refer back to builds up over a period of time. You are likely to make

reference to a period name or number in the description and you should consider

whether that should refer to the period the return relates to or the period it was

submitted for payment.

The Date Worked Concept

The Oracle Payroll System includes powerful date worked capabilities that could be

used to record the number of additional hours worked each day. You are free to

make use of that flexibility should you wish to although we anticipate that you are

more likely to submit period totals for each employee rather than a daily breakdown.

On that basis, the Date Worked value on each employee claim then simply becomes

a means to instruct payroll as to the date to use when calculating the appropriate

hourly rate. For example, if the employee received an increment on 1st April then

you could use a date worked entry of 31st March, or earlier, to ensure that payment is

made at the pre-increment rate. This method similarly applies in controlling the

applicable rate following a re-grading, promotion or pay award.

By consolidating entries for each employee a date worked of the 1st of the month in

which the hours were worked will normally suffice. e.g. 20 hours overtime worked

over the period 1st to 31st May could all be consolidated into a single claim with a

date worked of 1st May. Entries must however fall between the employee’s

assignment start and leaving dates so you may occasionally receive appropriate

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validation error messages for recent new appointments or leavers asking you to

amend the date accordingly.

Create a new batch

1. Check that the Organization name box at the top of the screen is displaying

the correct school name.

If you have access permissions to more than 1 organization the list box will allow you

to amend it. Users with multiple school access should note that a single batch can

only contain entries for one organization. Once the batch has been created the

system automatically restricts the employee records that you can enter into that

batch.

2. Click

3. Enter a description for the new batch. This is a free-format, 60 character,

optional field. See also the recommendations under General Concepts earlier

in this section.

4. Change the Date Worked Default value as required. Note that you can

amend this default at any time and as often as you need to throughout the life

cycle of the batch. This is designed to help minimise the number of

keystrokes that you would otherwise have to make when creating each claim

entry. See also the notes shown under The Date W orked Concept earlier in

this section.

You are now ready to start entering claims and absence details.

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How to enter additional hours claims into a batch

Scope

This section of the guide provides step by step instructions to create additional hours

or other payment claim entries including how you can move between different

employees and different claim types. The principles described are exactly the same

regardless of whether you need to enter 1, 5, 50 or more claims.

The methods for Absences are very similar but, for clarity, these are separately

described in the How to enter absences into a batch section of this guide.

Data input field formats

Each payment type (element) will have varying input field requirements, hours and

minutes being the most commonly used.

Some input fields are completed by selecting from a simple drop-down list but most

of the more commonly used input fields will require you to key values in and these

have very specific format requirements which are explained below:

Field

Format Notes

Hours

HH:MM

Hours and minutes must be separated by a colon and

must be completed in full even where the number of

minutes is zero. e.g. 5:00 and not 5 10:00 and not 10:0

Rate

££.pppp

Entries can be made without completing all decimal

place value. e.g. 10 10.0 and 10.00 are all acceptable.

Cash payments can obviously only be expressed to 2

decimal places but Rate values can be expressed to 4.

Do not prefix values with £

Cash

££.pp

Cost Code

12 character alphanumeric. Where entries contain

fewer than 12 characters the system will add the

appropriate number of zeros to the end of the entry

made.

Date

dd-mmm-yy

Input fields accept entries in dd/mm/yy dd-mm-yy

dd.mm.yy and dd-mmm-yy format.

Regardless of which input style you choose the system

will adjust it to the Oracle standard format dd-mmm-yy

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Entering data

Note: If you are entering a large volume of entries in one session we would

recommend that you click every 10 minutes or so to prevent accidental

loss of work in the event of a power loss or session timeout.

1. Select the batch. For brand new batches the data entry page is automatically

displayed after you click (see How to create a new batch section for

details).

To edit a previously saved batch click the appropriate link in the Saved

Batch Data section of the form.

2. Select the employee.

Enter a minimum of the first 3 characters of the employee’s last name in the

Employee field. When you have finished typing, the system will provide a list- box

containing any records that match the entry you have made.

Click the record you require else press the Esc key to cancel.

3. The list-box determines what items (elements) are then shown in

the field. The most commonly used elements are held

against claim type Additional Hours with a different selection choice being provided

if you change claim type to Payments.

4. Select the Element using the list-box. If the item you

require is not shown then select a different Claim Type and then re-try.

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5. Subject to the element you selected at step 4, one or more input fields will be

displayed. Fields marked with an asterisk * are mandatory.

Enter the details as appropriate and click

6. Subject to you having entered valid data the following message will be

displayed at the top of the page:

Errors are similarly shown at the top of the page providing a simple explanation

of the amendments that are needed before it can be accepted. Make the

necessary alterations and click again.

In the Batch Line Details section of the page the record you have just

created will now be shown at Line 1.

As each additional claim is entered these will also be inserted at Line 1 above the

existing records:

The Claim Details section of the page will now be cleared down ready for your

next entry but it retains the employee name, assignment number and Element

selection on the basis that in many cases your next entry will either be for the

same employee or for the same element. This concept has been designed to

help minimise the number of keystrokes that you need to enter.

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7. The Data Entry section is now ready for you to:

select a different employee assignment and/or

select a different element or

select a different claim type

8. Return to step 2 and repeat steps 2 to 7 as often as required. If you are entering

a large volume of entries in one session we would recommend that you click

every 10 minutes or so to prevent accidental loss of work in the event

of a power loss or session timeout.

9. At the top of the page click The system will respond with the

following message at the top of the page:

10. Click to return to the batch input control page.

11. The saved batch will be shown in the Saved Batch Data section of the page

ready for you to re-open and update as and when you need to.

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How to edit or delete a claim / absence

Scope

This section of the guide describes how to edit or remove a claim or absence line

that you have previously created. The screen shot examples are for overtime entries

but the principle is exactly the same for absences.

The circumstances where you might find this necessary include where:

you’ve detected that the hours or other input fields have been entered incorrectly

you now know the end date of an absence that you previously saved in the batch

as unclosed

you previously selected the wrong employee or employee assignment

the payment is no longer required and you need to delete the entry altogether

system validation identified that you had attempted to create a duplicate claim or

some other error

the cost code generated by the system is not the one you require

Where the batch has been submitted for approval but not yet approved you can use

the Withdraw feature to remove it from the approvals process, edit as necessary

and then resubmit it for approval. The Withdraw feature is fully described in the

Duplicate, Withdraw and Delete Batches section of this guide.

You can edit claim lines as often as needed prior to submitting the batch for

approval. Once the batch has been approved then amendments can only be made

by creating a new batch and entering contra or additional entries as necessary.

If, exceptionally, you need to withdraw a complete batch after it has been approved,

and submitting contra entries in a new batch is not viable then you should telephone

the Corporate Service Centre to seek their assistance, quoting the appropriate batch

reference number.

Edit a claim

1. Open the batch. If the batch is not already open for editing then on the batch

control page click the appropriate link in the Saved Batch Data section.

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2. In the Batch Line Details section of the page select on the appropriate

claim line. This will expand the record and provide input fields into which you can

modify existing values as required.

3. Make the required changes and click This will return the display to

standard view.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each record as required.

5. If you are happy with the changes you have made click else click

6. Click to return to the batch input control page else you can continue

adding additional entries via the form’s Data Entry section.

Delete a claim

1. Open the batch. If the batch is not already open for editing then on the batch

control page click the appropriate link in Saved Batch Data section.

2. Either:

tick the appropriate Select box(es) and then click

(ideal for selecting and removing multiple lines in one go)

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OR just click the appropriate recycle icon

3. Repeat step 2 as required

4. If you are happy with the changes you have made click else click

to revert back to the original contents.

5. Click to return to the batch input control page else you can continue

adding additional entries via the form’s Data Entry section.

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How to enter absences into a batch

Scope

This section of the guide provides step by step instructions to create absence

entries. The principles described are exactly the same regardless of whether you

need to enter 1, 5, 50 or more absences. The methods are also broadly similar to

those for overtime and additional hours claims.

Separate instructions are also provided for how to close a previously created

absence. i.e. an absence where you had not previously supplied an end date.

Entering data for a new absence

Note: If you are entering a large volume of entries in one session we would

recommend that you click every 10 minutes or so to prevent accidental

loss of work in the event of a power loss or session timeout.

1. Select the batch. For brand new batches the data entry page is automatically

displayed after you click (see the How to create a new batch section for

details).

To edit a previously saved batch click the appropriate link in the Saved

Batch Data section of the form. 2. Select the employee.

Enter a minimum of the first 3 characters of the employee’s last name in the

Employee field. When you have finished typing the system will provide a list- box

containing any records that match the entry you have made.

Click the record you require else press the Esc key to cancel.

3. If it is not already shown, change the selection in the list box to

Absences.

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4. If it is not already shown, change the selection in the list

box to Sickness

5. Select an Absence Reason and enter the First Day of Absence date.

If the Last Day of Absence is already known then enter this as well else leave it

blank.

6. Optionally change the defaulted Planned Absence entry to Yes if necessary.

Optionally set the Impairment/Pregnancy/W ork related flags to Yes where this is

necessary else leave them blank as shown above.

7. Where either the first or last day of the absence was only a half day then select

Days in the Part Days Unit of Measure field. The system will then provide 2

additional fields for you to indicate whether the start and end days were half or

complete days.

8. Click

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9. Subject to you having entered valid data the following message will be

displayed at the top of the page:

Errors are similarly shown at the top of the page providing a simple explanation

of the amendments that are needed before it can be accepted. Make the

necessary alterations and click again.

In the Batch Line Details section of the page the record you have just created

will now be shown at Line 1 of the Absences tab (you may need to click the tab

to display absences instead of Overtime).

As each additional claim is entered these will also be inserted at Line 1 above the

existing records:

The Claim Details section of the page will now be cleared down ready for your

next entry but it retains the employee name and assignment number.

10. The Data Entry section is now ready for you to:

select a different employee assignment and/or select a different element or

select a different claim type

11. Return to step 2 and repeat steps 2 to 9 as often as required. If you are

entering a large volume of entries in one session we would recommend that you

click every 10 minutes or so to prevent accidental loss of work in the

event of a power loss or session timeout.

12. At the top of the page click The system will respond with the

following message at the top of the page:

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13. Click to return to the batch input control page.

14. The saved batch will be shown in the Saved Batch Data section of the page

ready for you to re-open and update as and when you need to.

How to close an absence

An unclosed absence is one where you have previously set up a record without a

known end date. Techniques for closing the absence vary slightly according to

whether the record you previously established is in a batch that has already been

submitted or whether it is in a saved “work in progress” batch.

If the unclosed absence was first established in a batch that has not yet been

submitted for approval then you can edit the entry using the techniques described

in How to edit or delete a claim/absence.

If the unclosed absence was first established in a batch that already been

submitted for approval or has been approved or has already been processed by

Payroll then you should follow the techniques shown for creating a new absence and

re-enter the same absence start date as originally notified

enter an absence reason (it should really be the same as originally notified but

a different item can be selected)

enter an end date Provided you enter the same start date as originally supplied AND enter an end date

the system will detect that you are closing a previously notified absence.

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How to close a batch and submit it for approval

Scope

This section of the guide describes how to close a batch and submit it for approval.

The process described is the same for all batches regardless of whether they contain

additional hours claims, absences or a mixture of both.

Duplicate claim validation

This stage of the process includes further data validation to ensure that the entries you

have made are acceptable. Validation includes comprehensive checks against all

other batches (including any saved but not yet submitted for approval) to minimise the

risk of accidentally submitting duplicate claims.

Duplicate errors are reported where an employee assignment is identified as

having:

two or more exactly identical claims with the same element, date worked and cost

code values

two or more claims in the same batch with the same element, date worked

and cost code values. The exception to this rule is for elements that allow you to enter

an hourly rate or similar additional variable. In these cases, one

claim can additionally be entered for each variable. two or more absences in the same batch with the same start date or

overlapping dates

Warning messages are provided where an employee assignment is identified as

having:

two or more claims in the same batch with the same element and date worked values

but with different cost codes

a similar entry in another batch with the same element and date worked values

but a different number of hours

Approval routing

The approvals concept is identical to the other transaction types in ePayroll. i.e.

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If the transaction contains an entry for an employee who has Approver1

responsibility then the batch is automatically routed to the Approver2 group

instead.

For batch input Overtime & Absences this means that even if only one entry relates

to an Approver1 then the entire batch is still routed to the Approver2.

You could, of course, avoid all items being submitted to your Approver2 by creating

separate batches if you wish.

Close a batch and submit it for approval

1. Open the batch. If the batch is not already open for editing then on the batch

control page click the appropriate link in the Saved Batch Data section.

2. Click

3. The system will identify any errors or exception warnings at the top of the page.

These should be reviewed and any necessary corrections made using the

techniques described in the How to edit or delete a claim section in this guide.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all errors have been corrected.

4. On the Batch Review Page now displayed click

5. The screen will now display the following message:

6. Click

The batch will now be listed in the Track Submitted Batch Entries section of the

batch control form with a status of Pending Approval.

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The Batch Entry Notifications section of the form will now include an item sent to

you by SYSADMIN confirming that you have submitted the batch for approval. This

item will also be shown on ePayroll’s main menu page.

If you are an Approver1 as well as an Administrator then, as with other ePayroll

transaction types, a second notification will also be shown as being sent from you.

This is the approval request itself.

Clicking on the approval request link provides you with a review page displaying all

the claims and absences along with the following options:

These options are all fully described in the How to approve a batch for payroll to

process section of this guide.

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How to approve a batch for payroll to process

Scope

This section of the guide describes how an approver can open a batch that has been

submitted to them, review the contents and mark it as approved.

It also describes how the approver can request further information from the

submitter, return it with comments for correction or to reject the request altogether.

Approvers select and review the batch from ePayroll’s main menu “Worklist” whilst

users with joint responsibility for submission can also access them directly from the

batch input control form. Both methods are shown.

Closing your notifications once they’re completed is good practice to keep your

worklist up to date and clear of items that you have already dealt with. This process

is also described.

Approvals Concept

The approvals concept is identical to the other transaction types in ePayroll. i.e.

If the transaction contains an entry for an employee who has Approver1

responsibility then the batch is automatically routed to the Approver2 group instead.

For batch input Overtime & Absences this means that even if only one entry relates

to an Approver1 then the entire batch is still routed to the Approver2.

You can avoid all items being submitted to your Approver2 by creating separate

batches.

If you are an Approver1 as well as an Administrator then, as with other ePayroll

transaction types, two notifications are reported for each submission. Items from

SYSADMIN are those confirming that you have made a submission and the item with

your name shown against it is the approval request itself.

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Approve a batch

1. In ePayroll’s main menu Worklist section OR in the Batch Input form’s Batch

Entry Notification section click the approval request link:

Both of these methods work the same way.

2. Review the contents of the batch. For mixed content batches you can

alternate between the Overtime and Absence tabs as necessary.

3. Click

Where you have access to it, the Batch Entry Notifications section of the form will

now confirm that the batch has been approved.

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ePayroll’s main menu page Worklist will similarly confirm that the batch has been

approved.

The Status of the batch in the Track Submitted Batch Entries section at the top of

the Batch Input form will display Approved.

Reject a batch

Note: rejecting a batch is not reversible. To avoid unnecessary re-work you should

previously consider whether the return for correction method may be the better

option.

Follow steps 1 and 2 as described for Approve a batch

3. Click

The Worklist and Track Submitted Batch Entries sections will confirm that the

batch has been Rejected (as opposed to Approved).

Return for Correction

Follow steps 1 and 2 as described for Approve a batch.

3. Optionally enter a comment in the Response section of the review form for the

submitter to consider/action.

4. Click

The Worklist and Track Submitted Batch Entries sections will confirm the batch

now has a Status of Return for Correction.

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Request Information

Note: This feature is not currently suitable for schools and we recommend that you

use the Return for Correction feature instead, else refer your question in person.

Close a notification

It is good practice to keep your Worklist and clear of items that you have already

dealt with.

Our recommendation is that you clear your Worklist of items on the following basis:

User Type Method

Administrator Only Leave each transaction that you’ve created on your Worklist

until you receive confirmation from the Approver that they have

accepted your submisison

Approver Only When you approve a submission the item is automatically

removed from your Worklist so no additional action is required.

Joint Admin &

Approver

Clear all notifications shortly after you’ve approved it.

Removing an item from your Worklist is achieved by selecting the item from those

displayed and then clicking

The system only allows completed submissions to be closed so there is no risk of

accidentally closing a notification where a further action is required.

Items that have been closed are archived. These can be viewed via the

button on ePayroll’s main menu page.

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How to export a batch to MS Excel

Scope

This section of the guide describes the process for downloading the contents of a

batch into MS Excel.

Once the data is in Excel it can be manipulated, analysed or printed as required and

the guidance includes some useful hints and tips for how this might best be

achieved.

The export feature can be accessed via 3 different sections of the system and these

are all clearly demonstrated.

Assumed knowledge: Because of variations in operating systems no guidance is

provided on how to save a downloaded file or how to alternate between applications,

for example between MS Excel and Internet Explorer.

Where the feature is available

An button is provided when you access the read-only display form from

one of the 3 areas of the system where this feature has been enabled. This flexibility

allows you to download the contents of historic batches and saved “work in progress”

batches. It is also automatically provided as an option during the submission for

approval process.

The batch can be a submitted or approved item listed in the Track Submitted Batch

Entries section of the control form or an item that you are currently working on that’s

listed in the Saved Batch Data section of the control form.

In both cases, clicking the required link will provide a read-only view of

the batch contents.

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The option to export is also included on the review page when you’re submitting a

batch for Approval.

Method

Having opened the batch contents review page as described above:

1. Click

A dialog box similar to this will then be shown:

2. Click Open, Save or Cancel as required.

3. If you selected at step 2 then go to step 5.

4. If you selected or at step 2 then MS Excel may now be

the active window on your computer screen.

Return to your Oracle Payroll window

5. Click to return to the batch input control page.

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Hints & Tips for Excel

Making it suitable for printing The downloaded file is preformatted as shown below to assist your on-screen

interrogation of the data, but it is not ready-made for printing.

Prior to printing you may wish to consider the following suggestions so that each claim line is output on one sheet of paper in a font size that is easily read:

Take advantage of Excel’s Print Preview feature before sending output to the

printer

In many cases columns K to O (Spinal Point to Type) will not contain any

values. Consider deleting these columns else set the Print Area to only

include columns A through to J

In Page Setup, change Orientation to “Landscape” and Scaling to “Fit to 1

page(s) wide”. Change the “page(s) tall” setting as necessary for best fit.

Adding Totals

Hours & Minutes entries are held in Oracle in a format that Excel interprets as date &

time. The downloaded file displays the values correctly although you may notice that

values greater than 23:59 display a little oddly: for example, 25 hours will display

25:00:00 in the body of the report and as 01/01/1900 01:00:00 in Excel’s formula

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bar; 50 hours will likewise display as 50:00:00 and 02/01/1900 02:00:00 This is all

standard and expected behaviour for Excel.

When adding a total to the Hours column (column F), Excel needs a helping hand to

display a meaningful total. The simplest solution is to format the cell containing the

total to [h]:mm

To format the cell:

right-click the cell containing the formula

select Format Cells…

In the Custom Category select the [h]:mm option. If it’s not shown as an

option then key [h]:mm into the Type: field

Click

You could of course also format the entire column using the techniques described

here.

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Employee History

Scope

All claims submitted through the Batch Input system are indefinitely held in the

Oracle Payroll database. This provides the ability to interrogate all batches held in

the system and to return details of entries submitted for any of your employees.

See also the section in this guide entitled Track Submitted Batch Entries if you

want to review the contents of an entire batch rather than those for a given

employee.

How to access employee history

1. At the top of the Batch Input Control form click the Employee Batch Entry

History tab

2. Select the employee.

Enter a minimum of the first 3 characters of the employee’s last name in the

Employee field. When you have finished typing the system will provide a list- box

containing any records that match the entry you have made.

Click the record you require else press the Esc key to cancel.

3. Optionally, restrict the search to a specific Batch Number, Batch Status and/or

Batch Started values as desired. (These may prove to become increasingly useful as

the system builds up a volume of history).

4. Click

5. Review the contents. Optionally use the printable page feature if desired.

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6. Optionally, alternate between the Overtime & Payments and Absences tabs

as required.

7. Optionally, click on any of the claim lines to review submitter and

approval details for the batch that the claim was contained within.

Click to return to the standard display 8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 as required.

9. To return to the Batch Input Control page, click the Batch Entry Details tab at

the top of the Batch Input Control form.

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Duplicate, Withdraw and Delete Batches

Duplicate a batch

This feature is primarily designed to assist those organisations that regularly submit

returns for the same employees and claim types every month. By duplicating a

previous batch it avoids repeating the selection of employee assignments and their

claim types that you’ve performed before. In a single click the system will create a

new batch based on the employees and their claim types held in the source batch

that you indicate.

The source batch can be selected from those previously submitted or from those that

are currently being worked on.

The new batch creates a claim line for each item found in the source batch but does

not copy across hours or cash payment values. From here you can use the

techniques described in How to edit or delete a claim to add in the appropriate

hours and cash values.

Date Worked Values

To avoid you having to manually type Date Worked entries on each new claim the

system makes some assumptions during the copying process.

If today’s date is less than the 13th of the month then each new record is

created with a date worked value of 1st of the previous month else

each new record is created with a date worked value of 1st of the current

month

The assumptions made by the system can be individually edited as necessary.

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Withdraw a batch

After submitting a batch but before it has been approved, the initiator can withdraw it from the approvals process. Withdrawn submissions are returned to the Saved Batch Data section where they can be selected for further editing, corrections or for making other amendments.

1. In the Track Submitted Batch Entries section of the form click the

appropriate icon.

2. The following warning will be provided:

3. Click to cancel or to proceed with the withdraw action.

4. Open, edit and resubmit the batch using the techniques described in the How

to edit or delete a claim section of this guide.

Delete a batch

Unwanted batches that are listed in the Saved Batch Details section or that are

listed in the Track Submitted Batch Entries section as having been rejected by

the approver can be removed from the system.

1. Click the appropriate delete icon

The system will display the following prompt:

2. Click to cancel the delete action or to proceed.