Time Constraint – Why?
Many infotypes are important for time evaluation and payroll accounting, so incorrect values and entries can lead to incorrect evaluations. Other aspects such as gaps and double entry of data sets must also be considered.
Here are two scenarios:
Scenario 1: What happens if there is a possible data record gap in the "Basic Pay" infotype (IT0008)?
Problem 1: When processing payroll, the system tries to adopt the wage types from the IT0008 data records. If these are not available, the payroll is canceled so that no payouts can be calculated. The result is a payroll error and the employee does not receive a salary payment.
Scenario 2: What happens if IT0008 data sets were possible in parallel?
Problem 2: The payroll reads and processes wage types from two IT0008 data records. The result is an undesirable double payout to the employee.
SAP Solution for the infotype 0008 basic pay:
To avoid the two problems previously described the infotype 0008 is the time constraint number 1 assigned, which means:
- Gaps are not allowed (mandatory, not optional) and
- Double data records are not allowed (must be unique)
Definition of Time Constraints
Time constraints guarantee that exactly the data the system needs to be able to correctly process the employee data, handle personnel administration processes and run payroll for an employee is available in the system. Time constraints keep you from storing mutually incompatible data and prevent gaps from occurring in the data history.
You use time constraints to define the following:
- Whether an infotype record must exist for an employee in the system.
- Whether further records of the same infotypes may exist.
- Whether these records can overlap in the validity period.
For certain infotypes, you can also assign different time constraints in relation to the infotype’s subtype.
When you enter infotypes, the system automatically checks if your input satisfies the time constraints’ conditions and reacts by automatically delimiting data records or issuing error messages.
Time Constraint (TC) 1, 2, and 3
| Time Constraint | Definition |
|---|---|
| Time Constraint 1 |
For example, Basic Pay infotype (0008). If you delete the existing Basic Pay infotype record, the system automatically extends the dates of the previous Basic Pay infotype record. |
| Time Constraint 2 |
An example of an infotype with time constraint 2 is the Family Member/Dependents infotype (0021), subtype Spoise (1).
|
| Time Constraint 3 |
Examples of infotypes with time constraint 3, are Monitoring of Tasks (0019) and Objects on Loan (0040). |
The Impact of Time Constraints
What impact does time constraints have on an HR administrator's maintenance?
Here's an example.
- Step 1: At the beginning of every employee's career is the recruitment, for example, as a trainee. As part of the recruitment process, the personnel administrator maintains many infotypes, including infotype 0008 basic pay, for example, with €1000.Time commitment 1 is assigned to infotype 0008, created from entry date to 12/31/9999.
So, the system knows:
- For infotype 0008, there cannot be any gaps (mandatory, not optional)
- For infotype 0008, there cannot be any double data records (must be unique)
- Step 2: The employee receives a salary increase 01/01/next year and the personnel administrator must create a new infotype 0008 data record, for example, with €3000. When creating the system, the administrator is informed that the previous data record is automatically delimited in the background as of 12/31/this year.
The assignment of infotype 0008 to time constraint 1 and the automatic reaction of the SAP system made the maintenance task easier for the personnel administrator. The personnel administrator need not worry about manual delimitations and need not constantly pay attention to information type assignment rules. They can rely on the assignment of all infotypes to a time constraint in the system and only need to understand the system messages and their meanings.