Setting Up Cross-Midnight Processing in Time Recording

Cross-midnight processing is only available to customers who have purchased SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking.

It's possible to record shifts that start or finish at midnight, or that span midnight, that is, shifts that start on one day and end on the following day.

The shift day is always the day on which the night shift starts and typically all hours recorded shall count for that day. An example can be where there's a daily overtime calculation rule in place for a shift spanning two calendar days (for example, Monday10.00 pm to Tuesday 6.00 pm). In this case, all hours recorded in the shift from Monday to Tuesday count for the daily overtime calculation for Monday, on which the night shift started. Regardless if the physical day is Monday or the calendar day Tuesday, they're part of the shift day. But the question now is: How long on Tuesday morning are the recorded hours regarded as belonging to the shift day Monday?

Let’s look at the following scenario to learn how cross-midnight processing helps to address that question.

An employee has a night shift from Monday 31st January 21:00 to Tuesday 1st February 06:00. That employee records working time from 21:00 to 06:00, taking a break from 01:30 to 02:30 (either manually recorded or automatically generated as a fix break from 01:30 – 02:30 or as part of a dynamic break 1 hour after 5.5 hours working time). Then, there is a gap with no time recorded. But, at 06:30, the employee records working time for two hours until 08:30, because the employee needed to finish a task urgently.

Overall, the employee generates over 10 hours attendance, including Two hours overtime. How does the system deal with the records during the employees planned working time and with those records after the planned working time?

To address cases like this, the night shift bandwidth is introduced. This enhancement allows handling this consideration automatically, without manual interaction. In our example, a night shift bandwidth from Monday, 20.00 pm to Tuesday, 9.00 am can be defined. This record enables the employee to enter working time after the end of the night shift. Those hours can be automatically calculated for Monday, the shift day. From a valuation point of view, this type of enhancement is significant for the night shift processing in time recording.

The configuration of the cross-midnight processing starts with the work schedule. The employee needs to be assigned a work schedule in which the Clock Times time recording variant is selected, and cross-midnight processing is enabled. This task is only possible in work schedules of the Period or Schedule types.

Also, if the work schedule is of the Period type, you need to assign work schedule day models to it. Cross-midnight processing has to be enabled in the day models, too. Clock Times must be selected as the time recording variant.

Night shift bandwidth ensures that all relevant attendance recordings are registered for the intended planned working time segment on the day the night shift in question starts. To use it, you must have SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking active in your system.

It determines the earliest possible start time and the latest possible end time that an employee can record as part of a night shift.

An example is where a night shift is scheduled from 22:00 until 06:00. The night shift bandwidth is from the start of the shift until 08:00. If an additional attendance is then booked from 06:30 until 07:30 on day two, then that additional hour is added to the actual time worked on the night shift for day one. This task is possible based on the defined night shift bandwidth.

Before you can specify night shift bandwidth, you need to define scheduled working time in the work schedule and any work schedule day models used. Scheduled working time defines the typical start and end time of a working day and is used as a calculation basis for things such as weekly hours and overtime. To ensure that the time recorded outside the night shift bandwidth isn’t considered, you create time type groups and time valuations for night shift bandwidth. If necessary, you can also permit employees to record time outside their night shift bandwidth.

To specify the latest times that employees can record working time in a night shift, set up night shift bandwidth in their work schedule.

The prerequisites include:

• You've specified scheduled working time in the work schedule.
• You've set the time recording variant of the work schedule to Clock Times.
• You've activated cross-midnight processing in the work schedule. If the work schedule uses the Period model, you also need to have activated cross-midnight processing in the work schedule day models used in the work schedule.

Most of the logic that you need for handling cross midnight has been hard coded into the time valuation. However, there's one item where configuration flexibility is needed, and this time is when the generation of pay types like night shift premium. This situation applies to cases where, for different days of the night shift, different premium pays are defined. For the correct premium pay generation, it's necessary to use a segmentation valuation with the next day flag. To provide this flexibility, the segmentation possibility is enhanced in the time valuation type, Filter segments from Input Group, with a next day indicator:

For further information on the Next Day Indicator in Time Segments Filter, refer to the following resources:

• Documentation on Night Shift Bandwidth

• Blog on SAP SuccessFactors Time Management

After you've accomplished the configuration, the cross-midnight processing for the night shift is visualized on the Time Sheet UI with a +1 indicator to the users. This visual indicator illustrates the fact that they started work on one calendar day and ended on the next.

Let’s look at the following example: Assume that an employee has a night shift from Monday into Tuesday. All the time recording needs to be recorded on Monday, not only those records that are before midnight or cross midnight, but even those records that start after midnight. All time recording on this shift day, be it on calendar day Monday where the shift started or on calendar day Tuesday where it ends, must be done on and for Monday. To visualize this situation, the system generates automatically the +1 indication when the user enters a start or end time that is after 00:00. The user doesn’t need to choose Monday or Tuesday as a calendar day; only the day on which the shift starts is picked.

Time records filters are part of the time valuation Filter Input Groups, which is typically used to calculate premium pay. Refer to Lesson 1 in this unit for further details on time record filters.

SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking provides extensions to the time records filter of the time valuation. These extensions support complex premium pay scenarios involving holidays such as night shifts on holidays or half-day holidays. In SAP SuccessFactors Time Management, you can set up time valuations for premium pay that support paying a premium on a full public holiday. You set this up by filtering for a full holiday on a current day. However, many organizations require filtering options that support more complex holiday scenarios. The filtering options of Time Tracking support several these scenarios. Some examples are:

• Night Shifts with Holidays
• Half-Day Holidays
• No Holidays

In many countries/regions employees are entitled to get a higher premium pay instead of the normal night premium when working in the night into a public holiday or into a Sunday from 00:00 onwards. Determination of the correct premium for those cases where an employee works into or out of a public holiday or into or out of a Sunday can be complicated. This situation is because the time valuation overall needs to be able to look on the weekday and public holiday definition one day ahead, and one day back.

Let’s look at an example for working into a public holiday: Today's shift day starts at 22:00. On the next calendar day (which is from 00:00 onwards) there's a public holiday. The start time of the planned working time determines the shift day; hence all hours today aren't on a public holiday, but the hours after 00:00 are performed on a public holiday. This time is referred to as working into a public holiday. And in many countries/regions, in Europe for example, the employee receives a night premium for the times from 22:00 pm, but for the times from 00:00 onwards a public holiday premium. Time valuation needs to be able to look into the next day's public holiday definition to generate the correct premium pay.

Let’s look at another example for working out of a public holiday: In this scenario, the employee doesn't work a night shift, but works an early shift on Tuesday starting at 04:00. Monday was a public holiday. In some countries/regions, a public holiday premium is paid, not only on the public holiday itself, but until 06:00 in the morning of the following day. To determine the correct premium pay for this case, the time valuation needs to look into yesterday's day definition: yesterday was Monday and was a public holiday. The employee works on an early shift starting from 04:00 on Tuesday. So, our early shift employee receives a public holiday premium for the time from 04:00 - 06:00 on Tuesday because they're working out of a public holiday. To determine this payout, it's necessary that the time valuation checks tomorrow's and yesterday's public holiday definition.

To address those complex scenarios, the time records filters are built in a way that you can check the public holiday definition of the previous and next day.

The Holiday Category Filter in the Time Records Filter is extended. You can create holiday category filters that include different holidays classes on the previous and next days, no holidays, and multiple conditions on a single day. This task can be used to calculate premium pay for night shifts that coincide with a holiday, like in the preceding example.

Different holiday categories on previous, current, and next days have an AND connection. Multiple conditions on a single day have an OR connection.

The prerequisites include:

• You need to activate SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking to filter for different holidays classes on previous and next days, no holidays, and multiple conditions on a single day.
• You have the User Time Management Object Permissions Holiday Category Filter For Time Records permission. You also have permission to edit the Holiday Category Filter For Time Records item.

As indicated in the preceding figure, instead of one Filter Holiday Categories field, there are now three sections: Holiday Category Filter for Previous Day, Holiday Category Filter for Current Day, and Holiday Category Filter for Next Day. The Holiday Category Filter for Current Day field replaces the previous Filter Holiday Category field. By using this option, you can determine the correct premium for those cases, for example, where an employee works into or out of a public holiday. The option for the determination of the correct premium for scenarios where an employee works into or out of a Sunday, is also available in Time Tracking.

For further information on the Time Records Filter, refer to the documentation on the SAP Help Portal.