Validating and Troubleshooting Time Configurations

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to validate and troubleshoot time configurations.

Time Management Configuration Search

Time Management Configuration Search - Overview

Time Management configuration objects are strongly interconnected. For e.g., a time type is assigned to a time profile which is assigned to employees. Because of these links, a single change to any one of them can have more repercussions than expected.

Before you make changes to a configuration object, troubleshoot an issue, or validate a setup, you must determine where that object is used. For e.g. "Who is assigned to this Work Schedule right now?" or "Which Time Profiles are using this Time Account Type?". This critical where-used analysis must be done before you make any configuration changes, not after.

Time Management Configuration Search helps you analyze these object dependencies and assess the impact of a change. It allows you to quickly search for configuration object dependencies and identify employees who will be affected by the configuration change. This makes it easier to troubleshoot issues without the need to run reports or manually analyze configuration objects one by one.

Accessing the Time Management Configuration Search

The Time Management Configuration Search tool is typically used by system and HR admins. To access it, use the Admin Search to search for and open Time Management Configuration Search.

Note

The RBP permission Administrator Permissions→Manage Time→Access Time Management Configuration Search is required to access the tool.

Time Management Configuration Search - Capabilities

You can use the Time Management Configuration Search to identify dependencies for the following objects:

Search Object	Search Result
Employees	Employees who have specific time management objects assigned in their job information, including Time profile, Time type, Time account type, Work schedule, Holiday calendar, Holiday Work Pattern, Time recording profile, Clock In Clock Out Group
Time Types	A list of time types to which particular time account types are assigned
Retention Groups	Time types and time account types assigned to particular retention groups (with Usage Type column showing purge type)
Time Profiles	Time profiles in which a particular time type is used
Holiday Category	Holiday calendars that have holidays of the specified category
Time Valuation	Time valuation is the process of calculating valuation results from input time records (recorded hours, absences, holidays) to generate output time records (overtime, premiums) based on configured business rules and thresholds
Time Recording Profile	Time Recording Profile specifies the time recording method, time valuation rules, and workflow configuration that determines how employees record time and how their time data is processed and calculated
Time Type Groups	Time Type Groups are containers that combine different time types together and act as either input groups (providing data like recorded hours, paid absences) or output groups (receiving calculated results like overtime) for time valuation processing

You can also download/export the search results for offline analysis.

Time Account Process Simulator

Time Account Process Simulator - Overview

Sometimes an accrual does not calculate as expected. Or after setting up an accrual you may want to validate whether it will work as expected before assigning it to employees. If the accrual error is caught after the posting, then the data will need to be manually corrected.

The Time Account Process Simulator lets you validate accrual calculations before they are made available, so that configuration issues can be fixed before they become data issues.

The Time Account Process Simulator is typically used by system and HR admins and requires People Profile to be activated.

Accessing and Running the Time Account Process Simulator

To access the tool, you must have the Administrator Permissions→Manage Time→Access Time Account Process Simulator permission. Then use the Admin Search to search for Time Account Process Simulator and open it.

Enter the employee details and select the date for which you want to run the simulation. The system will display all Time Account Types that are applicable for the employee for the specified run date. To search for inactive employees, set the Include inactive users in search radio button to ON.
Note
You must have the User Permissions→General User Permissions→User Search permission to search for employees.
Select the time account type you want to simulate. If you want to understand recalculation effects, set the Recalculation radio button to ON.
Choose Run Simulation to simulate the accrual calculation.

Time Account Process Simulator - Results Analysis

After the simulation run, the system displays the results as a blue band on the top with a summary of the simulation.

Any warnings and errors are displayed just below the blue band as yellow and red buttons, indicating the affected object (for e.g. Eligibility). You can then expand the corresponding item in the list section to get more details. You can also download the results for offline analysis.

Review the warnings and errors and make the necessary fixes before proceeding.

Time Management Configuration Object

Time Management Configuration Object Overview

The Time Management Configuration object is a central configuration object that controls the system behavior for the entire Time Management module. Unlike the objects that are configured per employee or per rule, the settings made in the Time Management Configuration object are global and affects all time management processing.

Accessing the Time Management Configuration Object

Note

The RBP permission User Permissions→Time Management Object Permissions→Time Management Configuration is required to access the tool.

To access it, use the Admin Search to search for and open Manage Data. Then search for Time Management Configuration and select the TIME_CONFIGURATION instance.

Note

There can be only one Time Management Configuration object. The system automatically creates an instance of this object with the external code TIME_CONFIGURATION, when time management is activated. If it doesn't exist, create it.

Time Management Configuration Object Settings

The Time Management Configuration object is used to define some important global settings such as:

Recalculation settings: You can set the recalculation period type and the earliest possible recalculation date. This controls how far back the system can recalculate time data
Planned Working Time Generation settings: You can configure how the system generates planned working time data for past and future periods and whether the system automatically creates planned working time records, and for how far back and forward it does so.

Note

As a best practice, before making any changes, take a backup of the Time Management Configuration settings using Import and Export Data.

Configuration Transport Center for Time Objects

Configuration Transport Center for Time Objects - Overview

An implementation typically has many environments for e.g development, test and production. Configurations must always be tested in the development and test environment before moving to production.

Traditionally, the time management configurations had to be done manually in each environment and re-checked to ensure nothing was missed. Each manual step increases the chances of inconsistency between the environments.

The Configuration Transport Center (CTC) helps to transport configurations between instances, reduces manual effort and gives a better control which time management objects moves and when.

Accessing the Configuration Transport Center for Time Objects

The Configuration Transport Center for Time Objects is typically used by system admins to view, transport, and download Time Management objects. To access it, use the Admin Search to search for and open Configuration Transport Center.

Note

In addition to CTC permissions, you need Time Management Object Permissions for the relevant object types and Admin access to MDF OData API to use the tool.

Transporting Time Management Objects

Select the Configuration Activities tab and then choose Transport Mode.
Select Time Management in the Configuration Area field to view the list of all time related configuration objects that can be transported. Alternatively, you can also search for the configuration type.
Select the configuration objects you want to transport and choose Add to New Bundle or Add to an Existing Bundle.
Enter the transport bundle details such as the bundle ID and bundles description.
Note
As a best practice use a clear, descriptive name for the transport bundle for e.g TM_Config_Dev_to_Test.
Once the bundle status shows Ready for Transport, navigate to the Transport Requests tab and trigger the transport to the target instance.

Note

The system automatically identifies and includes related dependencies based on your configuration.
Objects such as Synchronize Time Event Type, Synchronize Clock In Clock Out Groups, and Clock In Clock Out Time Type Derivation from the Clock In Clock Out feature are not supported. These will have to be configured manually in the target environment.

Admin Alerts

You can view Time Management related items in Admin Alerts 2.0 tile. It helps you to track all the pending action items throughout your system. It's used by the system and/or HR admins to manage data integrity, as well as to ensure that system admins are aware of certain processes stalling.

You can either select the specific alert to display the detail or select See More to display a list of all the alerts. You can then process them as you need to. Data accessible in the alerts page is controlled by RBP.

To use Admin Alerts 2.0, you need to assign the permission to the appropriate system / HR admins:

To view the tile, select Admin Alerts→Administrator Permissions→Access Admin Alerts.
To view data within the Alert Tile, select Metadata Framework→Admin access to MDF OData API→Admin Alerts Object Permissions.

Check Tool

Sometimes, you might find that your system doesn't work as expected. There can be different reasons like inconsistent data or that the system isn't configured correctly. To help analyze the reasons for errors, there's the Check Tool. With the Check Tool, you can identify what is wrong, rather than simply creating a ticket. The Check Tool helps you to find out what is wrong and how bad the problem is. Also, it suggests a solution.

Check Tool Prerequisites

The Check Tool – Permission Settings are displayed.

The Check Tool has its own permissions. The Access Check Tool permission authorizes users to access the tool.

Check Tool Usage

You access the tool from the Admin Center by searching for Check Tool.

The checks are grouped on tabs according to the check type they belong to. Each check type follows a specific purpose:

Migration: Checks that migrate features such as change basic rules to application-specific rule scenarios for several rules at once.
System Health: Checks that run periodically in the system and that require no input parameters.
Validation: Checks that need one or more input parameters to run, such as checks for determining eligible periods for getting accruals or why an employee is not eligible for accruals.
To perform a check, select one or more checks and then choose the Run Check button. The system then displays the results of the checks that you've run.

The result of a check can be one of the following:

No issues found.
X issues found, where "X" is the number of issues. In cases where issues are found, you see either a yellow warning icon or a red alarm icon.
- The yellow icon is a warning that something not too serious is wrong.
- The red icon indicates that the problem is serious. You must take action.
To view the details, including the proposed solution, select the details arrows next to the relevant check in the Result column .

The Check Tool: Proposed Solution is displayed.

Summary

Use Time Management Configuration Search before changing anything. It shows which objects and employees will be impacted.
The Time Account Process Simulator can be used to accrual calculations against a real employee before they run, so configuration mistakes can be caught early.
The Time Management Configuration object holds global settings (recalculation periods, planned working time generation) that affect the entire system. There should be only one instance of the Time Management Configuration object.
The Configuration Transport Center helps to move time config objects between environments automatically, instead of doing it manually in each system.
The Check Tool diagnoses configuration issues and suggests fixes.

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