payable time approval: an alternative approach - … · payable time approval: an alternative...
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payroll process should be part of a balanced set. That means they should be divided in some proportion among the following four categories:
Executive Summary
This document is a practical suggestive guide for Functional/Business Analysts, Business Users, Process Owners and Sales teams who propose, implement and maintain, or develop applications for PeopleSoft Time and Labor System. This paper discusses the main pain points revolving around “ T i m e s h e e t A p p r o va l ” b a s e d o n p a s t implementation /support /upgrade experiences of PeopleSoft Time and Labor. Payable Time Approval is the most critical HR process, the reason being that the outcome of this process becomes direct feed for payroll calculation.
Much of the information contained in this document originated within different project phases, therefore it’s based on real problems encountered while handling Payable Time Approval. Although every conceivable problem that one could encounter is not addressed in the document.
Process performance standards
Any holistic discussion of process performance needs to include metrics and measures. As with any process, the measures used to evaluate the
Payable Time Approval: An AlternativeApproach
• Cognizant Solution Overview
solution overview February 2016|
Proposed Time and Labor Process Improvement forTimesheet Approvals
Cost effectiveness: These measures provide information about how well the process’s operating costs are managed.
Staff productivity: Measures in this category provide insight into how much output each full-time equivalent (FTE) employee has produced.
Process efficiency: These measures show how well procedures and systems support the operation.
Cycle time: Cycle time measures indicate the time required to complete a specific task. This key performance indicator (KPI) is typically measured in units such as hours, days, or months.
Source: APQC Measuring Payroll Processes (Benchmark and Metric)
Sourcing Strategy
Aforementioned Payable Time Approval is a very critical and yet heavy, time consuming and repetitive process from a Time and Labor perspective. Employee reports time either via TCD (Time Controlling Devices) or manually by submitting Timesheet, consequently based on Payment Rules, these “Reported Time” entries are converted to “Payable Time”. This Payable Time is same as “Reported Time” in majority of the cases except few specific cases like Overtime, Premium Time, Shit Time, and Holiday etc. Ratio of this difference in Reported Time vs Payable Time in a real Time scenario could possibly be 80:20. Thereafter, as standard practice, all payable time entries for all employees which could be huge in numbers; are routed for Manager’s approval. Keeping payroll cut off window in mind, verifying and approving all Payable time entries is the common pain area for most of the PS T&L clients. Below are the main pain points:
Approving hundreds of payable time entries per employee every pay period can be a challenging task for line managers.
All payable time entries which require approval, makes Time Admin process heavy as all Payable Time entries are a direct output of this batch process.
Approving Payable Time before payroll cut off creates a situation where most of the manager population tries to approve simultaneously. This situation creates severe performance issue. Entire HCM application slows down, in particular where employee population is very high.
Objective of this white paper is to propose a refined approach making this approval process lighter while reducing the number of entries required for approval.
Proposed Solution
To make this process lighter and to reduce the no of entries required for approval, we can utilize flexible approval options available at Time Reporting Code level (finer level) rather at employee group level (broader level).
For implementation, specific exception TRCs which are different from Regular TRC can be identified and can be categorized as AR (Approval Required), NR (Not Required) and can be grouped under TRC category.
All TRCs which are defined as TRC category AR (Approval required), payable time approval option should be chosen and for category NR, we can choose not to have any approval required.
solution overview 2
Timesheet Approval - Pain Points
Report Time
Time Adminprocess
generatesPayable time
ManagerApproval Exceptions
Sent to Payroll
Payroll cut off
Timesheet Process Flow
TRC Type Attributes
Approval Required (AR) Overtime, Shift Premium, Holiday Premium etc.
No Approval Required (NR) Regular working HOURS
This way we will eliminate all NR entries (up to 80%) from Approval. This approach also makes Time Admin process lighter by reducing no of pay line entries.
1. Time Reporting Code Set Up
The newly introduced Online Template based rule architecture can be utilized to create refined TRC level approval templates required for approval as per requirements.
solution overview 3
TRC Level Multiple options
P ro p ose d A p p roa c h : Po i nts to Remember
If required, how would line mangers verify and reject Timesheet/Payable time?
A T&L Exception, Validation framework and Attendance/Alert framework should be used to validate and apply any timesheet level checks. This will ensure little verification/intervention from Line Managers post timesheet submission. Explanation of the aforementioned frameworks is not in the scope of this whitepaper.
Payable time online rejection will not be available for the TRCs where approval option is chosen as “not required” however this option will be available to select TRCs where approval is applicable. Observation shows that payable time rejection process is rare and not followed by most of the clients; this implies and also makes routing all payable time entries for Line Manager redundant. Line Managers can also verify and edit timesheet using.
Managers Self Service Report time page of their reports any time even after Payable Time generation as per the process followed by client.
For Payable Time verification using Payable Time Page available under Manager Self Service view, Managers can also use all analytics and interactive reports available especially in v9.2 for Payable Time audit purposes. Additionally, adjust paid time process will always be available for Administrators and Managers.
Categorize TRCs at requirement gathering phase?
A TRC classification is the most vital part of this process improvement and special attention/ effort is required while categorizing TRCs in two broad categories. It can be drafted carefully by involving business users and Line Mangers and it is the outcome of this exercise that would determine actually how many payable time lines can be reduced form approval straight away.
Business Benefits
User Productivity This approach will make Line Managers life easy as they would not be required to approve thousands of Payable time entries and can select approvals as required. Subsequently, it will result in line manager’s productivity.
Improved Time Admin process Time Admin process will turn lighter as select payable line will be routed for approval. Improved Time Admin process can be scheduled to run with increased frequency making Payable Time details available just after timesheet submission. This will get system very close to real time.
Streamlined/Smooth payroll cut off (reduced cycle time) Line Mangers should
get ample time before cutoff date as this process will reduce the number of pay lines required for approval to half or even more.
Overall improved system performance By
solution overview 3
reducing the number of concurrent users required for approval during peal time, it will improve overall application performance.
Approval flexibility at TRC level Different approval routes/path can be adopted by TRCs if required and provide flexibility at finer level.
Data Points to Quantify Pay Line Reduction
Enterprisestrength
PayCycle
PaidHourly/Monthly
No. of RegularHrs lines per
Week/employee
No. of RegularHrs lines per
Week forentire
organization
No. of avg.Exception hrs.
per week
No. PayLines
requireapproval
in presentprocess
No. Pay Lines requireapproval in proposedprocess/ Time Adminprocess-No of lines
reduced for approvalrouting
Approval cut offTime betweenReported Timefreeze and Pay
Calculationfreeze
1000 Weekly Hourly 5 lines (8 hrsper day)
5000 perweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
250 to 500 lines
5500 500
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
5000 Weekly Hourly 5 lines (8 hrsper day)
25000 perweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
1250 to 2500 lines
27500 2500
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
10000 Weekly Hourly 5 lines (8 hrsper day)
50000 perweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
2500 to 5000 lines
55000 5000
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
1000 Bi-Weekly
Hourly 10 lines (8 hrsper day)
10000 biweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
500 to 1000 lines
11000 1000
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
5000 Bi-Weekly
Hourly 10 lines (8 hrsper day)
50000 biweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
2500 to 5000 lines
55000 5000
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
10000 Bi-Weekly
Hourly 10 lines (8 hrsper day)
100000 biweek
5 to 10% of totalpay lines
5000 to 10000 lines
110000 10000
% Reduction= 90%approx.
Max. 1-2 days
1000 Monthly Monthly Not Required Not Required 5 to 10% of totalpay lines
250 to 500 lines
500 500 (Monthly payrollnormally followsexception approval)
10-15 days
Indirect Benefits
AWE Adoption: A very high number of Payable Time entries makes implementing AWE for T&L approvals impractical, due to performance issues with high volume system. Since the proposed solution offloads such pay lines up to a significant level, and considering following AWE benefits;
organizations can reconsider their approval process:
Use delegations for all T&L processes such as Report time, Approve Time.
Use work list and email notifications.
Include multiple approvers for individual steps.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 221,700 employees as of December 31, 2015, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at or www.cognizant.com follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
About the Author
Rohit Tiwari is a HCM Solution Consultant with Cognizant’s Oracle Solutions Practice and has extensive experience with complex and large implementation, upgrade and support engagements. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering with special izat ion in IT. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Conclusion
Approach discussed here for timesheet approval is based on the presumption that most of the client-base follows blanket workgroup level approval which includes all employees/TRCs grouped under it. TRC level approval is generally not adopted, probable due to the meticulous effort required to identify all TRCs which require approva l . I t ’s recommended to do th is categorization at initial implementation phase but it can be done at any stage during support or upgrade. Number of pay lines which can be
removed from approval, however depends upon requirements and may vary from one client to other but this approach would definitely make the entire process smoother and lighter. In general, this process improvement is suitable for organizations of any size and scale but can reap great improvements where employee strength is greater than few thousands. Having said that, there are legal and geographical rules and regulations which may require Timesheet Approval at various levels such as Reported Time, also, this approach may not be applicable in such cases.