Workforce Plus: Tips and Tricks to Give Workforce an Extra Kick!
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Workforce Plus: Tips and Tricks to Give Workforce an Extra Kick!
- 1. Workforce Plus- Tips and Tricks to give Workforce an extra Kick!
- 2. Introductions Compensation Calculations Bring your own Comp-Related Chart of Accounts Configuration Considerations Agenda
- 4. Who we are Ryan Ward Sara Beth Good Lead Consultant at Alithya Lives in Houston Texas EPM Consultant for 9 years www.yourawesomewebsite.com Lives in Washington State 20 years of Essbase/Planning experience 10 years of EPM consulting Lead Consultant at Alithya
- 5. 3000+ projects ALITHYA ORACLE PRACTICE Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Supply Chain Management (SCM) Human Capital Management (HCM) Organizational Change Management Process Design (Redesign) Strategic Roadmaps Cloud Assessments & Health Checks Training Services Data Services Analytics Hosting & Infrastructure Managed Services & Support Integration Security Health Care Financial Services Manufacturing Retail/CPG Professional Services Utilities Others I N D U S T R I E S C L O U D T E C H N O L O G Y S E R V I C E S A D V I S O R Y S E R V I C E S C L O U D A P P L I C A T I O N S 1000+ clients 400+ Oracle Cloud projects 23+ years 225+ Oracle consultants
- 6. This presentation reflects past implementation experiences. As Oracle continuously updates the workforce module, content in this presentation may or may not be relevant as the product evolves.
- 8. Dimensionality- OOTB Dimensions based on granularity First Major Design Decision when building a workforce application GRANULARITY Dimension Employee Job Employee/Job Skill Set ✔ ✔ ✔ Component ✔ ✔ ✔ Property ✔ ✔ ✔ Employee ✔ ✔ Pay Type ✔ ✔ Employee Type ✔ Job ✔ ✔ Union Code ✔ Custom 1 ✔ ✔ ✔ Custom 2 ✔ ✔ ✔ Custom 3 ✔ ✔ ✔
- 9. Planning Granularity – Things to Consider • Integrations with Project module requires planning by Job or Employee/Job • Applying Merit requires planning by Employee or Employee/Job The planning granularity impacts what dimensions can be used for determining compensation expenses assigned individual employees/jobs Compensation Default Assignment Dimension Employee Job Employee/Job Entity ✔ ✔ ✔ Pay Type (Exempt/NonExempt) ✔ ✔ Employee Type (Regular, Temp, Contractor) ✔ Job ✔ ✔ Skill Set ✔ Union Code ✔
- 10. When workforce is configured 3 workforce related cubes will be created Configuration OEP_WFP OEP_WFSC OEP_REP
- 11. Custom Dimensions: Tips and Tricks Tip Tip Tip Trick Custom dimensions are not currently included the OEP_REP cube If custom dimensions are required in a reporting cube, utilize a custom reporting cube other than OEP_REP To integrate the project module and workforce, create a custom dimension called Projects Maximum of three custom dimensions www.yourawesomewebsite.com
- 12. Custom Dimensions- Tips and Tricks Skill Set is both a smartlist and a reporting cube dimension When moving data from OEP_WFP to OEP_REP, Workforce maps the Skill Set Smart List to the reporting cube Skill Set dimension member TIP: Skill Set can be leveraged for other purposes if not required Example: Skill Set as Currency
- 13. Scenario Handling Workforce is set up to utilize the Plan and Forecast scenarios
- 14. Scenario Handling- Period Granularity Quarterly Yearly Monthly
- 15. Scenario Handling All salary, benefits, taxes and additional earnings defaults assigned and maintained by scenario and version
- 16. Scenario Handling TIP: If the period granularity and defaults are the same the same across scenarios and version leverage a single scenario for all “forecasting” and utilize custom copy rules to populate additional scenarios BENEFIT: Limit duplicative administrative work
- 18. Compensation Calcs Additional Earnings Base Salary Benefits Taxes Each Employee/Job can receive a maximum of 10 additional earnings, 10 benefits and 10 taxes Base Salary = Base Pay + Merit Overtime or other types of base pay must be set up as additional earnings The workforce application categorizes employee compensation expense in to 4 buckets: base salary, additional earnings, benefits and taxes
- 19. Components vs Options and Tiers Design Consideration: Component level data is passed to the reporting cube; option level detail is not. Design Consideration: Options are applicable to ALL benefits and additional earnings Design Consideration: If using ootb calculations all options for a given component must share the same configuration Each category of compensation contains one or more components. Each component can have multiple options Options Components- Types of compensation Benefits Health Insurance US Option Canadian Option Retirement US Option EU Option Workers Comp US Option
- 20. Taxes and Tiers Tiers apply to Taxes. Depending upon component configuration, acts as either an option (a choice of rates to apply) or to support marginal tax rates.
- 21. Thresholds Earnings/Benefits: Max expense incurred on either a monthly, or annual basis Tiered Taxes: Identifies level where the marginal rate changes Example: Social Security threshold for 2021 is $142,800 where the rate changes from 6.2 to 0.
- 22. Component Calculation Set Up The component’s calculation methodology is identified by selecting an option in the Component Type drop down
- 23. Simple Rate Table with Threshold Custom Rate Table Component Calculation Methods • Flat amount or percentage of salary, earnings or taxable income • Threshold available • No options/Tiers available • Flat amount or percentage of salary, earnings or taxable income • No Threshold available • Options/Tiers available • Flat amount or percentage of salary, earnings or taxable income • Threshold available • Options/Tiers available • No limitations
- 24. OOTB Expense - Tips TIP: Rate table with Threshold is most “expensive” methodology than the other two OOTB options, especially when that Threshold is YTD. TIP: If requirements allow, utilize as few rate and threshold taxable components as possible. EXAMPLE: If reporting doesn’t require detailed analysis of social security and medicare taxes, combine into a single FICA TAX.
- 25. Common Component Options Payment Terms (How Often) Monthly, Bi-Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annually, Annually, Calendar Year or Fiscal Year Payment Frequency (When) Applicable to Non-monthly payments only First period, Last Period or Choose the month Value Type / Maximum Value Type (Rate Driver) Flat Amount Percentage of Salary, Percentage of Salary + Additional Earnings Percentage of Taxable Earnings (Taxes only) Threshold Amount (maximum value type only) Threshold Scope Is the Maximum Value Type on a YTD or Monthly Basis Taxable Component Self explanatory
- 26. Why Custom Calculations? • When the Value Type and/or Maximum Value Type options (or other component definition) does not meet the requirements – Example: Additional Earnings based on Salary + OT • When rates are at the Employee/Job or a custom dim level – Example: Bonus Rates loaded by individual employee The custom expense logic is written using a member formula associated with the property member “OWP_Custom Expense”
- 27. Custom Calculations – Useful Members to Know • “No Property”->”BegBalance – Intersection of the assigned compensation component • OWP_Value – Property member that holds the rate from the rates cube. Percentages must be divided by 100” • OWP_CYTD(Prior) – Property member that shows the prior period value of an expense item. Useful for custom calculations with thresholds. • OWP_Calculated Max Value – Property member that details the maximum value of an expense item. • “OWP_Status” – Account member that details if an Employee/Job is active • “OWP_Option”->”BegBalance – Holds the applied option for the component • “Cal TP-Index” – Returns the calendar month number of the current period being calculated • “Fiscal TP-Index” – Returns the fiscal month number of the current period being calculated
- 28. Anatomy of a Custom Calculation: Apply Employee level rates based on Component option • All Custom Calculations in a big IF/ELSEIF/ENDIF block of code in OWP_Custom Expense • This code only works IF Overtime is ALWAYS Earning1 • Start block of code by testing for the name of the component • Only apply the calculation if the Employee is active (important for Flat Amount) • Determine which branch of code to apply by reading the Component option • Apply the Employee Level rate (stored in the OWP_WFP Cube) * Either Salary or Salary + OT
- 29. Anatomy of a Custom Calculation: Using the Out-Of-The-Box Rate value AND Employee level rates • All Custom Calculations in a big IF/ELSEIF/ENDIF block of code in OWP_Custom Expense • Start block of code by testing for the name of the component • OWP_Value holds the 401K Match rate • No need to test if the Employee is Active as the 401K match gets paid as long as the employee has gross earnings. • Sum gross earnings for Salary, Additional Earnings and multiply by the minimum of the 401K Rate or the employee level 401K Rate
- 30. Anatomy of a Custom Calculation: Overtime Based on Employee Level Properties • All Custom Calculations in a big IF/ELSEIF/ENDIF block of code in OWP_Custom Expense • Start block of code by testing for the name of the component • Test if the Employee is active, has an hourly salary basis and has a state code assigned (Hours available are based on state). Set value to #Missing if no State Code property set. • Lookup OT hours available based on State and calculate Overtime as Employee Hourly Rate * 1.5 * number of OT Hours
- 31. Custom Expense - Tips TIP: Use Out-Of-The-Box logic whenever possible (rely on custom calculations as a last resort) The custom expense logic is written using a member formula associated with the property member “OWP_Custom Expense” TIP: The member formula will be more efficient if it is written using a single IF, ELSEIF block Custom Calc logic must handle all Payment terms, Payment frequency, Threshold and Maximum value type logic within the custom calculation
- 32. Custom Expense - Tips TIP: If Custom Calculations are dependent upon other additional earnings, benefits or taxes, ensure those items are assigned in a fixed spot prior in the outline (e.g. Overtime as Additional Earning 1) TIP: Include logic within member formula to ignore inactive employees
- 33. Three Types of Compensation Calculation Calculate Compensation = Assign merit, hours and days drivers to each employee/job and calculates accounts using component definition and defaults previously assigned to employees/jobs Synchronize Component Definition = Assign component options, rates, etc to each employee/job + “Calculate Compensation” Synchronize Defaults = Assign compensation defaults to each employee/job + “Synchronize Component Definition”
- 34. Running Compensation Rules - Tip TIP: Synchronize Defaults Rule is a more expensive calculation than the other two. Setting or resetting defaults takes time. Minimize to the extent possible its use. -- Use the “Incremental Updates” processes. See Oracle’s documentation for more details TIP: If you have taxes that rely on tiers and thresholds, the synchronize rules ensure that the correct tax rates are in the correct periods. If your application uses employee or custom dim level rates, ensure that the “Synchronize Component Definition” calculation is run upon updates to those rates so that tier and threshold-based taxes will calculate correctly TIP: Running Synchronize rules against different entities in parallel is faster than running the rules against all entities at once.
- 35. Processing Loaded Data The first time data is loaded, the “Process Loaded Data” rule will copy from the source month to all out months based on the Scenario open periods, set Headcount, partial payments and run a Synchronize Definition” • Workforce assumes that Default compensations associations are set during the data load process TIP: If they are not, Oracle provides step by step instructions to modify the Process Loaded Data rule to include assigning the defaults.
- 36. Performance Tips TIP: The Synchronize rules parallelize the entity dimension during execution. If using custom dims, parallelizing entity might not be the most efficient Oracle provides documentation on how to adjust the logic accordingly.
- 37. Bring your own Comp- Related Chart of Accounts
- 38. Bring Your Own Comp-Related Chart of Accounts CONSIDERATION: The account dimension is dense. Any additional accounts increase block size which can impact performance TIP: Adding compensation related chart of accounts into Workforce BENEFIT: Enables Planners to see the impact of compensation changes to the chart of Accounts in a more meaningful way.
- 39. Bring Your Own Comp-Related Chart of Accounts Default Assignment Defaults determine the compensation accounts to be calculated by entity Houston, TX London, England Custom Compensation Related Chart of Accounts
- 40. Bring Your Own Chart of Accounts (BYOCOA) Custom member formulas or a custom business rule can be created to map compensation related data to the correct custom account
- 41. Bring Your Own Compensation Related Chart of Accounts Benefit: Enables analysis of compensation expenses within the chart of accounts that the planners are familiar with TIP: Simplifies integrations between Workforce and Financials (especially with cross-pod integrations) TRICK: Can be calculated via Member formulas or via custom business rule If using member formulas, custom members must be lower in the outline than Workforce expenses
- 42. Q&A
- 43. > Vendor Presentation: Leading Practices in Multi-Pillar Oracle Cloud Implementations > How Do I Love Cash Flow? Let Me Count the Ways…(11427) > What Did I Miss? Addressing Non-Traditional Reconciliations in AR and Data Integration Design (11513) > Why and How to Implement Operation Transfer Pricing (OTP) with Oracle EPM Cloud (111111) > Integrated Business Processes: A Better Way to Align FP&A Forecast and Management Reporting (11385) > Viasat Launches to the Cloud with Oracle Enterprise Data Management (11486) > ❤️ Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Can AR Intercompany Matchmaking Tools Be a Perfect Match for You? (11174) > How WillScot-Mobile Mini Utilized Enterprise Data Management for Business Transformation (11489) > See Why This Government Contractor Loves PCM: Live Session with General Dynamics (11395) > How to Allocate Your Close Time More Effectively (11533) > How to Deploy & Integrate Oracle EPM Cloud Profitability and Cost Management (PCM) as an Allocations Sub-Ledger (11109) Don't Miss Our Sessions at Kscope21! Alithya is a platinum sponsor of Kscope21 > Mike Killeen & Zubin Shah, Alithya 6/22/21 | 1:40 - 2:20 PM > Geordan Drummond, Alithya 6/22/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Seema Shah & Nick Boronski & Lee Divers, Alithya, Oracle & State Street 6/23/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Andrew Laferla & William Harned, Alithya, MUFG Union Bank 6/24/21 | 11 AM - 12 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek & Vatsal Gaonkar, Alithya 6/24/21 | 2:20 - 3:20 PM > Kevin Black & Robert Kursten, Aithya , Viasat 6/25/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Geordan Drummond; Nick Boronski & Tim Gaumont, Alithya, Oracle 6/28/21 | 4 - 5 PM > Kevin Black & Matthew Jacobsen, Alithya, WillScot Mobile Mini 6/29/21 | 4 - 5 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek & Caroline Dill, Alithya, General Dynamics IT 6/30/21 | 11 AM – 12 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek & Geordan Drummond, Alithya 6/30/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Andrew Laferla, Alithya 6/30/21 | 2:20 - 3:20 PM
Editor's Notes
- Hello and Welcome to Workforce Plus- Tips and Tricks to give Workforce an extra Kick
- We are so excited you are here. I would like to give a little background regarding how this presentation came to be . Ryan and I were working independently on workforce projects at the same time. We would reach out to one another and bounce ideas off each other throughout each of our projects. At the completion of both of our projects we touched base and realized that we had independently implemented some of the exact same “tips and tricks” without discussing them during the projects . We decided this may be valuable information for other workforce projects and worthy of sharing. For our agenda today, We will begin with introductions, then move directly in to content beginning with Configuration Considerations, moving on to Compensation Calculations and Concluding with BYOCOA- Bring your own Chart of Accounts
- Ryan introduce yourself first SB Second When done with this slide, turn off camera!
- Ryan and I are both lead consultants at Alithya. Alithya has been around for over 23 years we have completed over 400 Oracle cloud projects and have more than 225 dedicated oracle consultants. As an organization we have expertise in many industries, including health care, financial services, utilities and many more. Our Oracle practice focuses on Oracle EPM, ERP, SCM and HCM. If you have any questions or interest in learning more about Alithya, we are available for scheduled meetings throughout Kscope. Also we are participating in the Kscope Kode Game, so keep your eyes peeled, their may be a code hiddin throughout this presentation!
- The overall flow of this presentation is based on the order that decisions will need to be made through the design and creation of a workforce application. Before we dig in to the content, we need to make our version of a “safe harbor” statement. All of our “tips and tricks” are based off of our experiences implementing the workforce module. As Oracle continues to make updates to the module, it is possible that the content we are presenting is no longer relevant as workforce continues to mature.
- We know that some of you may be workforce experts but others are new to the world of workforce so, before we can jump in to tips and tricks we will provide some foundational workforce information so that the tips and tricks have context. We hope that this information serves as a refresher for some and provides a better understanding of workforce for others. We are going to begin our workforce journey with Configuration Considerations.
- One of the first decisions that must be made during the configuration process is the granularity of the workforce application. There are three granularity options: Employee only, Job Only and Employee and Job. Granularity should be determined based on the planning needs of the organization. Granularity will effect the ootb dimensions within the application. IE: A job only application does not include the Employee, Employee Type or Union Code Dimension. Even though they are not shown on this slide, the standard planning dimensions, account, year, period, version and scenario will be included in all workforce applications
- There are a few additional considerations to think through when it comes to granularity If the workforce module will be integrated with the projects module, the application should be set up as Job only or Employee and Job If the application of merit is a requirement then the granularity should be Employee Only or Employee and Job Finally, the granularity impacts how compensation defaults are assigned, which ultimately will impact the compensation expenses For Example: For applications that are Employee only, the Employee Type can be used for setting up compensation defaults. What does this mean? Lets say your building a workforce app for an organization with a combination of regular, temp and contract employees. However to be eligible for medical insurance the employee must be a regular employee. If the application is an Employee only application, then the employee type dimension which identifies employees by Regular, temp or contractor can be used to determine whether or not a given employee’s expenses should include medical insurance. We will dig in to compensation default set up a little later but, these may be important considerations to think through when determining the granularity of the workforce application your building.
- When wkforce is enabled there are three cubes that are created. The OEP_WFP, OEP_REP and OEP_WFSC cube. Each one of these cubes serves a unique purpose and contains unique dimensions The OEP_WFP cube is the cube that the users will interact as they create the forecast, this cube contains all employees and ultimately is where FTE’s and Compensation Expenses are calculated. The OEP_WFSC cube contains all of the defaults, rates and calculation methodologies for the compensation calculations, this is the cube where the application administrator will input and change defaults as required. The OEP_WFSC cube is sometimes referred to as the rates cube. The data from the OEP_WFSC cube is synced with the OEP_WFP cube so that compensation can be calculated at the job and employee level. Finally, the OEP_REP cube is the reporting cube, once data has been calculated, there are data maps that will push the data in to the OEP_REP cube, this cube is an ASO cube which means by default all data is aggregated dynamically once its in the OEP_REP cube.
- The next tip that I want to cover is a creative way of using the skillset dimension. Skillset exists in all workforce applications despite granularity selection. However it is really unique, Skillset is both a smartlist and a dimension. Within the OEP_WFP cube, skill set is a smarlist. In the OEP_REP cube it is a dimension. When data is moved from the OEP_WFP cube to OEP_REP cube it gets mapped from the smartlist to the dimension. Which means if skillset is not needed from a requirements standpoint, it can be leveraged for other purposes. In the example on the screen we are showing a use case for using skillset for currency conversion. This was an instance where there were only a few accounts that needed to be translated, so it did not make sense to turn on currency conversions for the entire application. So we utilized skillset, renamed it was Currency, then utilized member formulas within the OEP_REP cube to translate the necessary accounts. This is just one example but it is a nifty little trick that shows how out of the box functionality can be incredibly flexible and used for many purposes.
- Moving on we are going to discuss scenario handling. Workforce is set up to utilize the plan and forecast scenario. One of the first steps once the application has initially been enabled is to configure the Plan and Forecast scenarios from the Planning and Forecast Preparation screen. From this screen the current period, year and plan year will be identified.
- The period granularity will also be determined from this page. Period granularity refers to the planning basis at which the plan and forecast are forecasted within the period dimension. A monthly plan means that data will be forecasted for all open months, however if the plan were quarterly, then data would reside in Q1, Q2, Q3 same goes for if Yearly were selected etc. The next tip that we will discuss will only work if the plan and forecast have the same period granularity.
- Within workforce, defaults for salary, additional earnings, benefits and taxes are assigned and maintained by Scenario and Version. If the defaults are the same between the forecast and plan, this flexibility will result in duplicative administrative work. If a given entities benefits include a UK Pension, UK National Insurance, Payroll Outsourcing and Other employee benefits, these will need to be set up for all relevant scenarios and versions.
- To eliminate this duplicative administrative work, the tip we want to pass along is to leveraging a single scenario and version for all forecast work within the application, then utilizing copy rules to copy off the scenario and version as needed. Let me clarify what I mean when I refer to “forecasting work”, I am referencing the user experience within workforce of adding new employees, transferring them, changing compensation expenses etc.
- Ryan
- 4 BUCKETS OF COMPENSATION EXPENSE Workforce journey continues Expenses – 4 buckets: Salary, Additional Earnings, Benefits and Taxes Salary is limited to just Base + Merit. Workforce considers Overtime to be an additional earnings Can have a max of 10 of each of the other buckets: Earnings, Benefits and Taxes for each employee/job, System can contain many more choices Earnings are typically taxable and result in increases in the paycheck. Examples include auto allowance, bonus, overtime, commissions, shift differential,13 month Salary. Benefits are typically not taxable and usually do not impact the paycheck. Auto Allowance, Health Care, Dental, Life Insurance, Taxes are a cost of hiring an employee paid to the government. Good examples include Unemployment Tax, US FICA, US Social Security, US Medicare, and other types of payroll taxes. First step is to bucket required compensation expenses into earnings/benefits/taxes
- 2) COMPONENTS VS OPTIONS Segregate Earnings and Benefits into Components and Options. Components are types of compensation expenses incurred by an employer Options enable choice for that component. In this example, health insurance, retirement and workers comp are “components” options of US, Europe and Canada Things to consider: We could have made Health Insurance US and Health Insurance Canada as two separate components and skipped options all together. So its not always clear cut as to what should be considered a component and what should be considered an option. Some Design considerations that will help in this determination: Component level is what moves to the reporting cube and what can be integrated with the financials. Option level detail in aggregate is lost. By default, all options are available to all components that allow options. If using options, consider more generic names If Using OOTB calculations all options for a component must share the same configuration Design considerations not on this slide: As we will see in a FEW slides the presence of options limits the choice in component setup. Options are great for custom calculations. NEXT
- 3) WHAT ARE TIERS? The corollary to options in the taxes world are Tiers. While options are applicable to earning and benefits, taxes rely on tiers. Depending upon the component configuration: Can act like a “component option”… meaning … a choice of rates to apply at Employee/Job Can enable marginal tax rates.
- 4) WHAT ARE THRESHOLDS Need to define one more concept: Thresholds. Thresholds are simply a maximum value. The trick is that the system can apply them in two different ways: The ceiling on a monthly or YTD compensation expense amount. For example, Threshold on Auto expense might be $4000. The level at which the marginal rate applied changes to a different tier. The threshold for Tier1 of social security is $142,800 with a rate of 6.2 Tier2 of social security is a rate of 0% on all incomes above that. NEXT
- 5) Component Calculation Methods Oracle provides four methodologies for the calculation of components 3 OOTB options fully supported by the out of the box processes No additional code writing required A fourth option that requires you to write custom calculation logic The Simple component type Allow for: threshold values Does not allow for: options for benefits and taxes and no tiers. Example: auto allowance with a cap on reimbursements. Rate table Allow for: Options and Tiers Does not allow for: Threshold values Also note: Using this component type, a Tier acts as an option. Example: Bonus with no cap Rate Table with threshold – Rates and thresholds. Allows for: Thresholds and options/tiers Tiers for taxes allow for Marginal Tax rates Example: Many US taxes like FICA are rate and threshold based where the marginal rate needs to shift depending upon taxable income level. NEXT
- 6) OOTB Component TIPS TIP: Rates with YTD based Thresholds are a more expensive calculations. This is especially true for rate and threshold based tiered taxes. Even more true if the fiscal year differs from the calendar year If requirements allow, use as few of them as possible. Example: instead of calculation social security and medicare as separate tax line items, combine them into a single “FICA” tax. NEXT
- 7) TEMPLATE FOR COMPONENT DEFINITION Template to fill in the component definition The template choices depend on: the bucket of compensation expense, the type of component previously filled in options Important definition: Payment Terms: How Often the expense is incurred Frequency: For non-monthly payments, when does the payment occur Value type: Basis for the value entered Maximum value type: Basis for the maximum value Threshold scope: Is the Maximum value type YTD or monthly Taxable component: Is their an additional payroll or other tax liability the company incurs as a result of this expense Note that non-applicable options are grayed out depending upon prior choices If the maximum value type = “Threshold Amount” and the component type = Rate Table and Threshold, Tiers act as differentiators between different marginal tax rates If not: tiers act as a rate choice. NEXT
- 8) WHY CUSTOM CALCS? Let’s Talk about why we might NEED Custom calculations: The choices in the component definition do not meet the requirements. Maybe an additional earnings calculation is based on Salary + OT Rates are at an employee or custom dimension level. A good example might be employee level bonus rates Regardless of the need for custom calculations: they are all written as member formulas in the OWP_Custom Expense member of the property dimension logic must handle all aspects from payments terms, frequency, thresholds, option choices and so on. NEXT
- 9) COMMON MEMBERS AND MEMBER INTERSECTIONS USED IN CUSTOM CALCS Common members and member intersections you might need No Property --- What component is assigned to the Earnings, Benefits or Taxes line item OWP_Value – what is the rate or amt to apply CYTD(Prior) – What is the calendar prior period value. Useful if you have Thresholds Calculated Max Value – Max expense amount Status – Is the employee Active, onleave, department for the month being calculated OWP_Option – What component option was assigned to the employee/job for that earning or benefit Cal / Fiscal TP Index – Returns the period number of the month being calculated NEXT
- 10) LONG TERM INCENTIVE PLAN Concept: A Percentage of Salary or Salary + OT that varies by Employee Our first custom calculation calculates Long Term Incentive based on one of two different methodologies: Base salary based on base salary + OT Uses employee level rates. Custom Component Type because RATE is at the employee level AND because the second methodology is not an option in the component configuration Let us look at the code. NOTE: Code ONLY Works IF OT is always assigned to Earning1 where applicable. First line of code tests if that component has been assigned to that expense line item. Second line of code tests if the Employee is Active, otherwise any existing values are cleared out Next we check the particular option applied to determine the calculation methodology We calculate Long Term Incentive compensation by applying an employee level rate to either Total Salary or Total Salary + Overtime… depending on the option picked. NEXT
- 11) 401K Match Expense for a Company Concept: $ for $ match of Employee Expense up to a certain % Based on two rates: An employee level 401K contribution rate A maximum match % stored in the OOTB OWP_Value member Had to be custom as requirements dictated that: Calculation not happen for employees that do not contribute to their 401K Employees that under-contribute get less than the max company match Calculation could have used an OOTB Component type IF: No concern about Employees not contributing or under contributing to 401K Let us look at the code: Like the last example, the first line of code tests if that component has been assigned to the expense line item being calculated If so, we then calculate the 401K match costs for that employee using the Mininum of the 401K match rate or the employees 401K contribution rate. NEXT
- 12) OVERTIME $$$ Concept: Calculate OT$$ based on OT Hours available * Hourly rate * Time and a half The estimated # of hours available is based on: the state in which the employee resides and their shift number. This calculation had to be custom for a reasons: We are looking up the driver value based on custom employee properties The driver value is hours instead of salary or overall earnings The driver calculation relies on hourly rate instead of monthly expense NEXT
- 13) RECAP AND TIPS As a recap, lets go through what we have learned If OOTB calculation logic supports the requirements, use OOTB logic. Use custom logic only when your requirements are not supported If you have to use custom calculation logic, don’t forget about payments terms, frequency, options and thresholds. All of this logic will be written in a single IF/ELSEIF/ENDIF block in the Custom Expense member of the property dimension NEXT
- 4) RECAP AND TIPS If your custom expense relies on specific additional earnings like OT ensure that OT is always set at the same expense line item for all employees relevant to that calculation Ensure that item Is higher is set higher than the dependent additional earning Include logic in your calculation so that calculations do not occur with inactive employees NEXT
- 15) HOW WE CALCULATE EXPENSE IN WORKFORCE? Ultimately, I view Workforce simply as the driver based expense system where drivers need to be at the Employee/Job level for driver calculations to occur. These include the Compensation Defaults Applicable rates and Max values Payment Terms, Frequency and other definition Merit/FTE/Status Workforce provides three different calculation concepts with varying level of performance depending upon what drivers are being changed and when during the planning process. Calculate compensation Synchronize Definition Synchronize Defaults The calculations build upon each other…. Calculate Compensation – The simplest/quickest of the workforce rules Assigns some drivers like Merit, hours and days and does a calc dim of accounts uses pre-existing defaults and definition already at the employee level Synchronize Component Definition Does all of the above but first pulls in updated rates and other component details. Executed when Rates applied or other component definition changes but the compensation defaults remain the same. In an application with mixed custom dim and employee level rates with rate and threshold based taxes, this became my “heavy hitter”. Synchronize Component Defaults Does all of the above but first sets (or resets) the default compensation calculations assigned to an employee/job Only needs to be executed against Employees WITHOUT Defaults set OR WHEN Defaults CHANGE NEXT
- 16) TIPS: Synch Defaults is a more “expensive” calculation than the other two. Minimize its use by loading defaults from a source system. Use the incremental updates process well documented by Oracle in the workforce documentation. Taxes that are rate/threshold based: synchronize rules ensure proper tier rates are in each period upon update to rates. Ensure that the synchronize Definition rule is run upon update to employee level rates so that tier/threshold based taxes calculate correctly. For batch processes: running multiple synchronize rules against different entities at once is faster than running them a single instance of the rule against all entities. NEXT
- 17) PROCESS LOADED DATA The first time employee/job data is loaded to a month from a source system, workforce requires the “Process Loaded Data” rule to be run. Rule copies the source data to all out months, sets headcount, status Concludes with running a Synchronize Definition process. Workforce assumes source system data load includes setting defaults. From a forecasting perspective, compensation defaults in my case could not be loaded from source system… Workforce documentation provides explicit step by step instructions to modify the Process Loaded Data rule to include setting Defaults. Otherwise, must execute a “Process Loaded Data” followed by a “Synchronize Defaults”… which would take a lot longer. NEXT
- 18) ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE TIP For those trying to get the best possible performance from their workforce application: Workforce optimizes Synchronize rules by parallelizing against the Entity dimension. Means that the system uses Entity as the basis to divvy up the rule to run concurrently. This is the correct dimension to do so IF No custom dims exist. The addition of custom dimensions to an application means that parallelizing on Entity might not be the most efficient. Workforce provides documentation on adjusting this and its worth testing. In my particular use case, parallelizing on my custom dimension produced better performance… buy YYMV.
- The last area we are going to focus on is the Account dimension.
- The last tip we will cover today is, the addition of a custom compensation related chart of accounts to the account dimension. This allows planners to review the impact of their compensation changes within the context of their chart of accounts.
- Lets start with some background: Earlier we discussed setting defaults for benefits, addl earnings and taxes. The application of these defaults determins which out of the box compensation accounts are utilized. In the example on the screen, Houston Texas and London England have different benefit defaults. Houston has Health Insurance, Other Employee Benefits, Workers Comp, US 401K and Payroll Outsourcing. This means that all employees or jobs within the Houston, TX entity receive those five benefits. The London England entity only has 4 benefits, UK Pension, UK National Insurance, Payroll Outsourcing and Other Employee Benefits. When compensation is calculated for both of the entities, OWP_Benefit1 for the Houston entity will be health insurance, OWP_Benefit1 for London will be UK Pension. The addition of the organizations chart of accounts allows planners to review their workforce expenses within the context of their own familiar chart of accounts
- This is an example where the custom account 531XX- which is retirement account is populated with either the 401K match or the Canada Pension expenses. The member formula first confirms the existence of the assigned component, either 401K or Canada Pension, then maps the value from the out of the box expense member to the custom 531XX member.