Oracle Fusion Applications Workforce Development Implementation Guide
11g Release 1 (11.1.1.5.0)

Part Number E20380-01

Contents

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16 Common HCM Configuration: Define Workforce Records

This chapter contains the following:

Define Availability

Define Person Record Values

Define Employment Record Values

Define Documents

Schedule Processes for Portrait Gallery

Define Eligibility Profiles

Define Availability

Worker Availability: How It Is Determined

The availability of a worker during a selected time period is automatically determined using:

Absence entries during that period

The work schedule that the worker presently follows

Calendar events

Settings That Affect Worker Availability

You specify which work schedules assigned to the worker's primary assignment or workforce structures are primary.

How Worker Availability Is Determined

The following figure shows how worker availability is determined.

The application searches for primary work schedules that were assigned to these workforce structure levels in the following order:

Primary assignment of the worker

Position

Job

Department

Location

Legal Employer

Enterprise

To determine availability, work schedules that were assigned to lower workforce structure levels take precedence over those defined at higher levels.

For example, you assigned a primary schedule at the enterprise level. However, since workers belonging to a particular department in that enterprise follow different work timings, you assigned a different primary schedule to that department. The department's primary schedule determines worker availability because that schedule takes precedence over the one that was defined at the enterprise level. In the same example, if you assigned a primary schedule to a worker (primary assignment) belonging to the same department, then that schedule determines the worker's availability because a schedule assigned to the primary assignment takes precedence over the ones defined at the department level and the enterprise level. The following diagram illustrates this example:

The work patterns and exceptions that exist in the primary work schedule, and any absence entries during the selected time period, impact worker availability.

If no primary schedule was assigned to any of the workforce structures, then the worker availability is based on absences, calendar events, if created for the worker's location or department, and standard working hours defined for the worker's primary assignment. If no calendar events were created, then the application determines availability only on the basis of the standard working hours and absences.

Calendar Event Coverage Type: Critical Choices

When you create a calendar event, you determine which set of workers the event must apply to. You must use one of these types of hierarchies to determine coverage:

Organizational

Geographic

You create the organizational or geographical hierarchies using the Manage Trees page. For the hierarchy to be visible when you create a calendar event, you must ensure that the hierarchy is active.

Using an Organization Hierarchy

Use an organizational hierarchy to apply a calendar event to your workers' assignments on the basis of the department that they belong to. For example, you want the Annual Sales Team Outing calendar event to apply to workers in the Sales department and its subordinate nodes, but not the Research department.

Using a Geographic Hierarchy

Use a geographic hierarchy to apply a calendar event to your workers' assignments on the basis of the country that they belong to. For example, you may want to apply the Boxing Day calendar event to all workers in the UK, but not those in the US.

Defining Calendar Event Coverage: Examples

When you use a geographic or organizational hierarchy for calendar event coverage, you can select which nodes in the hierarchy to include in or exclude from the coverage. You can also override the calendar event name or its category for a specific node in the hierarchy.

Adding and Removing Coverage in a Hierarchy

You want to apply the New Phone System Training calendar event to all workers in your enterprise except those working in the Support department. When an event applies to most of a hierarchy, it's efficient to use the Include tool to include the whole hierarchy in the coverage and then use the Exclude tool to leave out the exceptions.

The following diagram shows how to include and exclude calendar event coverage in a sample organization hierarchy.

Overriding Coverage for Specific Locations

You have set up public holidays and other calendar events for workers at your India location and France location using a geographic hierarchy. For six months, workers at your Bangalore location will work closely with their counterparts in Paris on a critical project. During this time, you want the Bangalore workers to follow the events you set for France. On the Manage Locations page, edit the location information for Bangalore and set the geographic hierarchy to France.

The following diagram shows a sample geographical hierarchy where employees of a particular location share calendar events of another country.

Overriding Coverage for Specific Employees

Some workers from your Hyderabad location are closely working on a project with their counterparts at your France location for a year. For that duration, you want to change coverage for these employees so that they follow the calendar events you set up for the France location. For each worker, open the Manage Employment page, and set the Geographic Hierarchy to France.

Overriding the Calendar Event Name in a Hierarchy

You have set up the May Day calendar event for all locations in your enterprise. However, you want the event to be referred to as Labour Day for your France location. On the Calendar Event page, select the France location node on your geographical hierarchy and use the Override tool to enter a new name for the event.

Overriding the Calendar Event Category in a Hierarchy

You have associated the Good Friday calendar event with the Public Holiday event category and applied the coverage to all departments in your enterprise. However, you want to change the event category to a voluntary holiday instead of a public holiday for your Finance department. On your organization hierarchy, select the Finance node and use the Override tool to select a different category.

Setting Up a Geographic Tree for Use with Calendar Events: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to create a geographic tree so that calendar events can be associated to employees on the basis of their country.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.

Task Summary

The following is a summary of tasks that you must perform.

Launch the Manage Geography Trees task.

Create a geographic tree based on HCM Geographic Tree Structure, a predefined tree structure.

On the basis of the tree that you created, create a tree version and add country nodes to it.

Audit the tree version to identify and correct any validation errors that the audit detects. Activate and row-flatten the tree version.

Launching the Manage Geography Trees Task

In the Functional Setup Manager (FSM), click the All Tasks tab.

In the Search region, enter Manage Geography Trees in the Name field.

Click Search.

In the search results, click Go to Task for the Manage Geography Trees task.

Creating a Geographic Tree

On the Manage Trees and Tree Versions page, select Create Tree from the Actions menu.

On the Create Tree: Specify Definition page, complete the fields, as shown in this table.

Field

Value

Name

Enterprise Locations

Code

ENT_LOC

Tree Structure

HCM Geographic Hierarchy Tree Structure

Click Next.

Click Submit.

Creating a Geographic Tree Version

On the Manage Trees and Tree Versions page, select the tree that you created.

From the Actions menu, select Tree Version.

On the Create Tree Version: Specify Definition page, complete the fields, as shown in this table.

Field

Value

Name

Enterprise Locations Version 1

Effective Start Date

January 1, 2011

Effective End Date

December 31, 2011

Click Next.

On the Create Tree Version: Specify Nodes page, click Add.

On the Add Tree Node window, select Root in the Available Nodes region and move it to the Selected Nodes region. You select the root node because the topmost node in a geographic tree must be the root node.

Click OK.

On the Create Tree Version: Specify Nodes page, select the root node, and click Add.

On the Add Tree Node window, select Geographic Tree Territory Code Data Source in the Data Source field.

Select the following country nodes in the Available Nodes region:

GB United Kingdom

IN India

JP Japan

US United States

Move the country nodes to the Selected Nodes region.

Click OK.

Click Submit.

Auditing and Activating the Geographic Tree Version

On the Manage Trees and Tree Versions page, select the tree version that you created.

Select Audit from the Actions menu.

On the Trees Audit Result page, click Online Audit.

Click Done.

On the Manage Trees and Tree Versions page, select the tree version that you created.

From the Actions menu, select Set Status, and then select Active.

Row-Flattening the Tree Version

You row flatten a tree so that retrieval and display of the tree is faster.

Navigate to the Manage Trees and Tree Versions page.

From the Actions menu, select Flatten, and then select Row Flattening.

On the Row Flattening page, click Online Flattening.

Click Done.

For more information, see Case Study: How to Set Up a Geography Tree and Link to a Calendar Event on My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com.

Creating and Assigning a Work Schedule: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to create and assign a work schedule, incorporating shifts, patterns, and calendar events. The work schedule is for a support department in India, working in two shifts, and eligible for all public holidays.

The following table summarizes key decisions in this scenario:

Create calendar events within the Public Holiday category. Create two shifts (day and night), then create a weekly work pattern that uses these shifts. Create a work schedule using this work pattern, and select the Public Holiday calendar event category as an exception. Then assign this work schedule to the support department. Assign the same schedule to Vijay Singh and add the training course as an exception and indicate that the worker is unavailable during the course.

Prerequisites

On the Manage Trees page, ensure that the geographic hierarchy that you created for your enterprise contains a country node for India.

Create an eligibility profile Support_Workers for all workers in your Support department.

Creating Calendar Events

On the Manage Calendar Events page, click Create.

On the Create Calendar Event page, complete the fields, as shown in this table:

In the Coverage region that displays the geographic hierarchy you selected, select the India node, and click Include.

Click Submit.

If you want to add another calendar event, repeat steps 2 through 5.

Creating Shifts

On the Manage Work Shifts page, click Create Time Shift from the Actions menu.

In the Create Time Shift window, complete the fields for each shift, as shown in this table:

Field

Day Shift

Night Shift

Name

Day Shift

Night Shift

Start Time

0900 hrs

1700 hrs

Duration

8 hours

8 hours

Shift Detail Type

None

None

Click Save and Close.

Creating a Workday Pattern

On the Manage Work Workday Patterns page, click Create Time Workday Pattern from the Actions menu.

In the Create Workday Pattern window, complete the fields, as shown in this table:

Field

Value

Name

Weekly Work Pattern

Length in Days

7

In the Workday Pattern Details region, click Add Row from the Actions menu.

In the Workday Pattern Details table, complete the fields, as shown in this table:

Field

Day Shift

Night Shift

Start Day

1 (Monday)

4 (Thursday)

End Day

3 (Wednesday)

5 (Friday)

Click Save and Close.

Creating a Work Schedule

Navigate to the Manage Work Schedules page.

On the Manage Work Schedules page, click Create.

On the Create Work Schedule page, complete the fields, as shown in this table:

Field

Value

Name

Work Schedule for Support

Category

Work

Type

Time

Effective From Date

01 January, 2011

Effective To Date

31 December, 2011

Pattern

Weekly Work Pattern

Exceptions

Public Holiday event category

Eligibility Profile

Support_Workers

Click Submit.

Assigning the Work Schedule to a Department

Navigate to the Manage Work Schedule Assignment Administration page.

Search for the Work Schedule for Support schedule.

Click the schedule to open it on the Edit Work Schedule Assignment page.

On the Resource Assignments region, click Add Row from the Actions menu.

Complete the fields, as shown in this table:

Field

Value

Resource Type

Department

Name

Support department

Start Date

01 January, 2011

End Date

31 December, 2011

Starting Shift

Day Shift

Primary

Yes

Click Submit.

Modifying the Work Schedule of a Worker

On the Person Search page, search for Vijay Singh, and select that record.

From the Actions menu, click Manage Work Schedule Assignment.

On the Manage Work Schedules page, click the Add Row icon on the tool bar.

Complete the fields in the Schedules region, as shown in this table:

In the Exceptions region, click the Add Row icon on the tool bar.

Complete the fields, as shown in this table:

Click Submit.

FAQs for Define Availability

How do I create a calendar event category?

In addition to the predefined Public Holiday event category, you can create your own calendar event categories by adding values to the Calendar Event Category lookup type.

When do calendar events affect workers?

When you include that event as an exception in a work schedule and assign it as a primary work schedule to the worker's assignment. However, if no work schedule exists for the worker's assignments, then the calendar events that cover the worker's location or department apply.

How do I change exceptions in work schedules for individual workers?

When you assign the schedule to a worker using the Manage Work Schedule Assignment page, you can change the exceptions and their impact to that worker's availability. For example, if you added a calendar event as an exception that impacts all workers, but want a particular worker to remain available to handle critical customer queries, you can change the availability for that exception.

How can I associate calendar events with countries?

On the Manage Trees page, you must create a geographic tree version using the predefined HCM Geographic Hierarchy tree structure and add country nodes. When you create a calendar event, you select that geographic tree version and select countries that you want the calendar event to apply to.

Define Person Record Values

Person Types: Explained

You use person types to identify different groups of people in your enterprise.

For example, for purposes of reporting, you may want to identify contractual workers in your enterprise with the Contingent Worker person type, and regular employees with the Employee person type. You can maintain information for a group of people on the basis of the person type. You can also secure access to information on the basis of the person type.

System Person Types

These are predefined person types that the application uses to identify a group of people. You cannot change, delete, or create additional system person types.

User Person Types

Each system person type contains a user person type that you can configure to your requirements. You can change, remove, or create additional user person types to suit your enterprise requirements. For example, if your enterprise refers to its employees as associates instead of employees, you change the Employee user person type to Associate. In another example, if you want to classify employees further as equity partners, non-equity partners, and associates, you add these user person types under the Employee system person type. There is no limit to the number of user person types that you can add to a system person type.

Person Names: Explained

This topic describes name styles, name formats, and person-name languages.

Name Styles

The structure of a person's name can vary among countries. For this reason, a predefined name style exists for many countries for capturing relevant components of a person's name. The name style determines:

Which name components appear when you create a person record.

For example, one country may display first name, last name, and title while another displays first name, middle name, and last name.

The order in which the name components appear.

Which name components are required and which are optional.

For example, in one country you may be required to enter a title and in another the title may be optional.

When a country-specific name style does not exist, a universal name style (last name, first name, and title) is used.

When you create a person record you select a legal employer, which sets the legislative context for the record. For example, if the legal employer is a Canadian legal entity, the legislative context is Canada and the Canadian name style is used. A person's contacts have the same name style as the person for whom they are contacts.

Name Formats

When a person's name is displayed to users, the format of the name can vary according to the context in which it appears. For example, in an ordered list of names last name may appear before first name, but in other contexts first name appears before last name. A name format is a template for arranging the components of a name, such as first name, last name, and title, in a specified order for a particular purpose. Four name formats are available: display name, list name, full name, and order name.

Name formats can vary among countries; therefore, both global and local versions of names formats can exist.

Global and Local Name Formats

The profile option HR: Local or Global Name Format controls whether users see local names or global names by default.

Global names use one name format; therefore, they enable users in multinational enterprises to see person names presented consistently, regardless of their countries of origin.

Users who view or manage person records in a single country may prefer to see local names. For example, users who view or manage person records only in Japan may prefer to see Japanese rather than global formats of person names.

Person-Name Languages

Each enterprise identifies a global-name language. Person names appear in this language by default. When you create a person record, you can enter a local name in a different language from the global-name language. Names appear in this language for users whose HR: Local or Global Name Format profile option value matches the local-name language. For example, if the global-name language for the enterprise is American English and you set the local-name language in a person record to Japanese, users whose HR: Local or Global Name Format profile option is set to Japanese see the person's name in Japanese. All other users (those who are viewing global-format names or whose HR: Local or Global Name Format profile option is set to a value other than Japanese) see the person's name in American English.

Users can set preferences to select the language in which they see the display-name versions of person names.

Person Name Formats: Explained

A person name format type determines how a person's name appears across Oracle Fusion Applications.

Each person name format type contains a sequence of name components that represents different parts of a person's name, for example, first name, last name, and punctuation marks. You can change the sequence of, remove, or include additional name components according to your requirements.

The following figure illustrates name components along with punctuation marks that make up a name format.

Predefined Name Format Types

Oracle Fusion HCM provides the following predefined format types that you can configure.

Local and Global Name Formats

A local format is suitable for users in a single legislation who prefer to see person names in a character set appropriate to their legislation.

A global format is suitable for users in a multinational enterprise who prefer to see person names in a single (typically, Western) character set, so that all names, regardless of origin, have the same representation.

Oracle Fusion HCM includes local and global formats for each format type. When you create a new format on the basis of an existing format type, you identify it as either local or global. For local format types, you must also select the legislation that the format type applies to.

Person Lookups: Explained

This topic identifies common lookups that are person-related and have user or extensible customization levels. Review these lookups, and update them as appropriate to suit enterprise requirements.

Person Information Lookups

Person information lookups are described in the following table.

Document Information Lookups

Document information lookups are described in the following table.

Disability Information Lookups

Disability information lookups are described in the following table.

FAQs for Define Person Record Values

What happens if I change the status of a user person type?

The status of a user person type determines whether it is available across Oracle Fusion HCM.

If you inactivate a user person type, there is no impact on worker assignments that are currently associated with that person type. However, starting from the date of inactivation, you can no longer select that person type to associate with worker assignments.

What's the purpose of the default user person type?

Each system person type contains a default user person type that the application uses to associate with person records for reporting and display purposes. When you hire a worker and specify assignment information, the application associates the default user person type with that worker assignment. However, if you select a different person type, then the application considers the selected person type as the default one for that worker.

When does the application update stored names with a person name format?

When you run the Update Person Names process. When you update a name format, you run this process so that the application updates the stored names according to the rules of the updated format type. You can run the process for a specific name-format and legislation combination.

How can I switch between local and global formats to display person names?

You use the HR: Local or Global Name Format profile option. If you select the global name format, then person names appear in the same format across all legislations. If you select a particular legislation, then person names appear in a format specific to that legislation. For example, if you set the profile option to Japan, then Japanese person names appear in the local name format that was created for Japan. However, person names that were stored using formats other than those of the Japanese legislation appear according to the global name format.

Define Employment Record Values

Assignment Statuses: How They are Set Up

Each assignment contains an assignment status. The assignment status contains an HR status, a payroll status , and optionally user statuses. The HR status and payroll status values are linked to the assignment status and are set automatically when the assignment status changes.

This table summarizes the values of the three statuses.

Assignment Status

HR Status

Payroll Status

Active - payroll eligible

Active

Process

Active - no payroll

Active

Do not process

Suspended - payroll eligible

Suspended

Process

Suspended - no payroll

Suspended

Do not process

Inactive - payroll eligible

Inactive

Process

Inactive - no payroll

Inactive

Do not process

Assignment Status

When you create or edit an assignment, you select an action that categorizes the change and determines what are the next steps. Some actions make an automatic change to the assignment status. For example, when you create an assignment, its status is set automatically to Active - payroll eligible. The same action sets the HR status to Active and the payroll status to Process. Otherwise, you must set the assignment status directly.

User Status

You can define one or more user names for each assignment status value. If multiple user statuses exist for a HR status, you must designate any one user status as the default status corresponding to the HR status. The default assignment status is attached to an assignment unless you specify a default user status. For example, when you create an assignment, its status is set automatically to the default assignment status corresponding to the HR status Active.

Enforcing Grades at Assignment Level: Points to Consider

This topic describes the effects of the following employment-related profile options:

PER_ENFORCE_VALID_GRADES

PER_DEFAULT_GRADE_FROM_JOB_POSITION

Enforce Valid Grades (PER_ENFORCE_VALID_GRADES)

If you set this site-level profile option to Yes, then users can select a grade for an assignment or set of employment terms only from those grades that are valid for the job or position.

If users select both a job and a position for the assignment or employment terms, then they can select grades that are valid for the position only.

If valid grades are defined for neither the job nor the position, then users can select from all grades.

If you set this profile option to No, which is the default value, then users can select from all grades.

Default the Grade from the Job or Position (PER_DEFAULT_GRADE_FROM_JOB_POSITION)

If you set this site-level profile option to Yes, and there is only one valid grade for a job or position, then that grade is used by default in the assignment or employment terms. In addition, if an entry grade is defined for a position, then that grade is used by default when the user creates a new set of employment terms or a new assignment.

If you set this profile option to No, which is the default value, then users can select from all grades.

Employment Lookups: Explained

This topic identifies common lookups that are employment-related and have user or extensible customization levels. Review these lookups, and update them as appropriate to suit enterprise requirements.

Employment Contract Lookups

Employment contract lookups are described in the following table.

Employment Terms and Assignment Lookups

Employment terms and assignment lookups are described in the following table.

Terminations Lookups

Terminations lookups are described in the following table.

Areas of Responsibility Lookups

Areas of responsibility lookups are described in the following table.

Define Documents

Document Types, Categories, and Statuses: Explained

Document records enable persons to create and maintain documents such as medical certificates, licenses, and visas. Document categories (for example, absence) provide a way to group these documents into meaningful categories at a higher level. Document subcategories (for example, general or medical) provide further grouping of documents. Document types (for example, leave approval or medical report) provide a lower level categorization of documents. To supplement the predefined document types, categories, and subcategories, you can create your own to suit the requirements of your enterprise.

Document Types

The type of documents you can access depends on your role. For example, line managers, but not HR managers, may be able to view workers' payslips. Using the document type security profile, you can restrict which users or roles can access particular documents. The document type also indicates if the document requires approval. If you want to track the expiry of the document record, define Valid Till as a required or relevant attribute in the document type and specify the expiration notification period. The Enterprise Scheduler Service (ESS) generates a report of expired documents and notifies persons based on the notification preferences specified in the document type.

Document Categories

Use the DOCUMENT_CATEGORY lookup type to define new document categories and subcategories. Define document categories as values for the DOCUMENT_CATEGORY lookup type and document subcategories as extended lookup values for the selected category.

Document Statuses

Approval statuses enable you to identify and track document records requiring approval. Define approval statuses as values for the lookup type DOCUMENT_STATUS.

Note that the application does not use the approval statuses to determine the document approval process. These statuses are for information purposes only.

FAQs for Define Documents

What's the purpose of creating a document record?

Create document records to store information about documents such as work permits, and visas, and upload electronic versions of the documents as attachments. Document records store necessary document details such as the period for which the document is valid. This information can then be used for reporting purposes. For example, HR specialists can see the reports of documents that are near expiration in their dashboard.

Why are some approvers already appearing for the document record?

The document type you select determines whether the document record requires approval. The list of approvers is predefined for the document type, however, you can add additional approvers. You receive a notification once the document record is approved. Following approval, the document record is then accessible and available for use in reports and analytics, for example.

Schedule Processes for Portrait Gallery

Maintaining Person Keywords: Explained

Several attributes of person, employment, and profile records are used as person-search keywords. Keyword values are copied automatically from the originating records to the PER_KEYWORDS table, where they are indexed to improve search performance.

This topic explains:

How person keywords are maintained

Why you run the Update Person Search Keywords process

How to schedule the Update Person Search Keywords process

How Person Keywords Are Maintained

Whenever the value of a keyword attribute changes (for example, if a person acquires a language skill or a different phone number), an event is raised. In response, services run a process to update the relevant attributes for the person in the PER_KEYWORDS table; therefore, most changes are made in PER_KEYWORDS immediately and automatically.

When you create a new person record, keyword values for that person are copied automatically to the PER_KEYWORDS table.

Why You Run the Update Person Search Keywords Process

Although most changes to the PER_KEYWORDS table are made automatically, you need to run the Update Person Search Keywords process regularly because the automatic process does not apply future-dated changes to the PER_KEYWORDS table. Running the Update Person Search Keywords process also ensures that all changes are copied to the PER_KEYWORDS table, despite any temporary failures of the automatic process.

How to Schedule the Update Person Search Keywords Process

You can run the Update Person Search Keywords process manually or schedule it to run at regular intervals (for example, weekly at a specified time).

The likely volume and frequency of changes to person records in your enterprise will determine how often you run the Update Person Search Keywords process:

If the volume and frequency are high, you need to schedule the process to run frequently.

If the volume and frequency are low, running the process once a month is recommended.

When you run the Update Person Search Keywords process, the whole PER_KEYWORDS table is refreshed; therefore, you are recommended to run the process at times of low activity to avoid performance problems.

Person-Record Keyword Searches: Explained

The application searches for keyword values in these attributes of a person's records: department, job name and code, position name and code, person name, primary e-mail, primary phone, work location, competencies, language skills, licenses and certifications, school education, awards and honors, affiliations, areas of interest, and areas of expertise.

This topic describes:

Access to restricted information

Keyword indexing

Searches using date-effective keywords

Access to Restricted Information

Access to information about a person's competencies, language skills, licenses and certifications, school education, awards and honors, and affiliations is restricted to a person's line managers. For example, if a line manager searches for a language skill and a match is found in the language-skills information of the manager's direct or indirect reports, that information appears in the search results. Restricted information is not searched and is never included in search results when the searcher is not a line manager. However, if the match is found in public information, such as areas of expertise, it appears in the search results for any user.

Keyword Indexing

Keywords are indexed values, which means that they are copied from person records and organized in a keywords table for fast retrieval. Most changes to person records are copied as they occur to ensure that there is no difference between the source and indexed values. Your enterprise can also run a keyword-refresh process to update all keywords and fix any discrepancies. Depending on when this process was last run, some recent changes to person records may not appear in search results.

Searches Using Date-Effective Keywords

In the professional user person search, you can enter an effective as-of date. When date-effective values, such as work location, are copied to the keywords table, their history is not copied: only the latest change is stored in the keywords table. Therefore, if you enter both a keyword value and an effective as-of date, the search results may not be as expected.

For example:

You change the work location of assignment 12345 from Headquarters to Regional Office on 27 January, 2011.

The changed work location is copied automatically to the keywords table on 27 January, 2011.

You search for a person on 1 February, 2011 using the keyword Headquarters and the effective as-of date 10 January, 2011.

Although the work location on 10 January, 2011 was Headquarters, assignment 12345 does not appear in the search results because the work location stored in the keywords table at the time of the search is Regional Office.

Relationship Strength in the Gallery Search: How It Is Calculated

Gallery search results can be listed in order of the strength of the relationship between the person performing the search and each person whose assignment is in the search results: the stronger the relationship, the nearer to the top of the results an assignment appears. This topic describes how relationship-strength values are calculated for individual factors, such as proximity in the manager hierarchy and work location, and how those results are combined to give an overall relationship-strength value.

How Relationship Strength Is Calculated

The calculation of relationship strength is based on several factors.

When the searcher's primary assignment is in the same organization or position hierarchy as a person's assignment, the strength of the relationship depends on their proximity to each other in the hierarchy. To calculate the relationship strength, 100 is divided by the number of boundaries plus 1 between the searcher and the person, as shown in the following table.

Hierarchy Boundaries

Calculation

Relationship Strength (%)

0

100/1

100

1

100/2

50

2

100/3

33.3

3

100/4

25

The maximum number of hierarchy boundaries to include in the calculation is 4 by default. You can set this value for the enterprise on the HR: Maximum Hierarchy Proximity profile option.

When the searcher's primary assignment is in the same manager hierarchy as a person's assignment, the strength of the relationship depends on their proximity to each other in any direction in the hierarchy. To calculate the relationship strength, 100 is divided by the number of people removed from the searcher the person is, as shown in the following table.

People

Calculation

Relationship Strength (%)

1

100/1

100

2

100/2

50

3

100/3

33.3

4

100/4

25

Only the manager hierarchy associated with the line manager of the searcher's primary assignment is included in the calculation.

The maximum number of hierarchy boundaries to include in the calculation is 4 by default. You can set this value for the enterprise on the HR: Maximum Hierarchy Proximity profile option.

The location on the searcher's primary assignment is compared with the location on the person's assignment. Relationship strength values are allocated according to the relative locations of the searcher and the person, as shown in the following table.

Location

Relationship Strength (%)

Same floor of building

100

Same building

80

Same postal code

60

Same town or city

40

Same country

20

People in a different country from the searcher have no relationship with the searcher.

The number of times the searcher selects a person's assignment from the search results is recorded automatically. This value is compared with the maximum number of times the searcher has selected any person and assignment in a specified period. For example, if the searcher selects Andrew Jones 10 times in a week and Gloria Schmidt twice in a week, then the relationship strength values are 100% for Andrew Jones and 20% for Gloria Schmidt. The period of time during which the searcher's selection history is recorded is 7 days by default. You can set this value for the enterprise on the HR: Selection History Timeout profile option.

If the searcher is in the same social network as the person, then the relationship-strength value is 100%; otherwise, the relationship-strength value is 0%.

The relationship strength for each individual factor is multiplied by a weighting value, which is 0.5 by default, as shown in the following example.

Factor

Relationship Strength (%)

Weighting

Result (%)

Organization hierarchy proximity

100

0.5

50

Position hierarchy proximity

0

0.5

0

Manager hierarchy proximity

100

0.5

50

Location proximity

80

0.5

40

Selection history

40

0.5

20

Social network

100

0.5

50

Totals

3

210

You can change the weighting values for individual factors on the relevant profile options, such as HR: Manager Hierarchy Weight and HR: Location Proximity Weight, to change the relative importance of those factors.

Each search result has a default searcher rating of 3, which has no effect on the relationship strength. However, the searcher can set this rating for individual results to a value between 1 and 5; values above 3 increase the relationship strength and values below 3 decrease it.

Each rating value is associated with a multiplying factor. The highest multiplying factor (the one used when the searcher sets the rating for a search result to 5) is specified on the profile option HR: Relationship Priority Factor, which is set to 2 by default. This table shows the default multiplying factors

The total of the individual relationship-strength percentages is multiplied by the multiplying factor associated with the searcher's rating. For example, if the default rating (3) applies, then 210*1 =210. The searcher can double the multiplying factor by setting a search result's rating to 5 or halve it by setting the rating to 1.

If you change the setting of HR: Relationship Priority Factor, then you automatically change the associated multiplying factors. This table shows the multiplying factors for HR: Relationship Priority Factors from 3 through 6.

If you increase the HR: Relationship Priority Factor value, you increase the effect of the searcher's ratings relative to the other factors.

The result of multiplying the total of the individual percentages by the factor associated with the searcher's rating is divided by the sum of the individual weighting values. The result of this calculation is the relationship strength between the searcher and the person in the search result. For example: 210/3=70%

Results that are greater than 100 are set to 100%.

Because the factors that contribute to this calculation are likely to change often, the calculation runs daily by default and the results are stored. However, you can schedule the Calculate Relationship Strength process to suit local requirements.

Define Eligibility Profiles

Eligibility Components: How They Work Together

You add eligibility criteria to an eligibility profile, and then associate the profile with an object that restricts eligibility.

The following figure shows the relationships between eligibility components.

Eligibility Criteria

You can add different types of eligibility criteria to an eligibility profile. For many common criteria, such as gender or employment status, you can select from a list of predefined criteria values. However, you must create user-defined criteria and derived factors before you can add them to an eligibility profile.

Eligibility Profile

When you add an eligibility criterion to a profile, you define how to use it to determine eligibility. For example, when you add gender as a criterion, you must specify a gender value (male or female) and whether to include or exclude persons who match that value.

Associating the Profile with Objects

You can associate an eligibility profile with different kinds of objects:

Associate an eligibility profile with a variable rate or variable coverage profile to establish the criteria required to qualify for that rate or coverage.

Associate an eligibility profile with a checklist task to control whether that task appears in an allocated checklist.

Associate an eligibility profile with a total compensation statement to apply additional eligibility criteria after statement generation population parameters.

Associate one or more eligibility profiles with a benefits or compensation object to establish the eligibility criteria for specific plans and options.

Derived Factors: Explained

Derived factors define how to calculate certain eligibility criteria that change over time, such as a person's age or length of service. You add derived factors to eligibility profiles and then associate the profiles with objects that restrict eligibility.

Derived Factor Types

You can create six different types of derived factors: age, compensation, length of service, hours worked, full-time equivalent, and a combination of age and length of service.

Determination Rules and Other Settings

For each factor that you create, you specify one or more rules about how eligibility is determined. For example, the determination rule for an age derived factor specifies the day on which to evaluate the person's calculated age for eligibility. If the determination rule is set to the first of the year, then the person's age as of the first of the year is used to determine eligibility.

For the full-time equivalent factor, you specify the minimum and maximum full-time equivalent percentage and whether to use the primary assignment or the sum of all assignments when evaluating eligibility. For example, if the percentage range is 90 to 100 percent for the sum of all assignments, then a person who works 50 percent full-time on two different assignments is considered eligible.

Other settings define the unit of measure for time or monetary amounts, rounding rules, and minimums and maximums.

Derived Factors: Examples

The following scenarios illustrate how to define different types of derived factors:

Age

Benefits administrators frequently use age factors to determine dependent eligibility. You can also use age as a factor when determining life insurance rates. Age factors typically define a range of ages, referred to as age bands, and rules for evaluating the person's age. The following table illustrates a set of age bands that could be used to determine eligibility for life insurance rates that vary based on age.

Derived Factor Name

Greater Than or Equal To Age Value

Less Than Age Value

Age Under 25

1

25

Age 25 to 34

25

35

Age 35 to 44

35

45

Age 45 to 54

45

55

Age 55 to 64

55

65

Age 64 or Older

65

75

The determination rule and other settings for each age band are the same:

Length of Service

A derived factor for length of service defines a range of values and rules for calculating an employee's length of service. The following table illustrates a set of length-of-service bands that could be used to determine eligibility for compensation objects such as bonuses or severance pay.

The determination rule and other settings for each length-of-service band are the same:

Compensation

A derived factor for compensation defines a range of values and rules for calculating an employee's compensation amount. The following table illustrates a set of compensation bands that could be used to determine eligibility for compensation objects such as bonuses or stock options.

Derived Factor Name

Greater Than or Equal To Compensation Value

Less Than Compensation Value

Less than 20000

0

20,000

Salary 20 to 34000

20,000

35,000

Salary 35 to 49000

35,000

50,000

Salary 50 to 75000

50,000

75,000

Salary 75 to 99000

75,000

100,000

Salary 100 to 200000

100,000

200,000

Salary 200000 Plus

200,000

999,999,999

The determination rule and other settings for each compensation band are the same:

Age to Use: Points to Consider

The Age to Use value that you select is an important aspect of an age derived factor. This value determines whose birth date is used to calculate the derived age.

Selecting Person's Age to Use

In most cases, you use the Person's value in the Age to Use field to define an age derived factor for either a participant or dependent eligibility profile. In this case, each person's birth date is used to calculate the age criterion by which eligibility is evaluated for that person.

Example

For example, if you select Person's as the Age to Use value, and associate the age derived factor with a dependent eligibility profile, each dependent's eligibility is evaluated based on the age calculated from his or her own birth date.

Selecting Other Age to Use Values

You might select another predefined value in the Age to Use field if you intend to evaluate participant or dependent eligibility or rates based on someone else's age, such as a spouse, child, or other dependent.

Example

If you select Person's oldest child as the Age to Use value, and associate this derived factor with a dependent eligibility profile, eligibility for all dependents is evaluated based on the age of the participant's oldest child. Consequently, when the oldest child reaches the maximum age of eligibility, for instance, all dependents become ineligible.

User-Defined Criteria: Explained

You can define your own criteria to meet any special needs of your organization. For example, if your organization employs deep sea divers and offers different benefits or benefits rates based on how deep they dive, you can create Depth of Diving as a new eligibility criterion.

The data for the eligibility criterion must be stored in a table that is accessible to the application. If the data is stored in either the Person or Assignment table, you can select the table and column from a list, and then specify the lookup type used to validate input values. You can also allow a range of valid values if the field stores a numeric value or a date.

If the data is stored in a table other than the Person or Assignment table, you must first create a formula to retrieve the data from the table, and then set the formula type to User-Defined Criteria.

You can define two sets of criteria on the User-Defined Criteria page. The participant must meet the criteria defined in either set to be considered eligible (or to be excluded from eligibility if the Exclude check box is selected when the criteria is added to an eligibility profile).

After you have created your user-defined criteria, you can add it to an eligibility profile.

User-Defined Criteria: Examples

The following scenarios illustrate how to define different types of user-defined criteria. In each example, you must first create the user-defined criteria and then add it to an eligibility profile and set the criteria values to use in the profile.

Set Eligibility Based on Custom Attribute

A commercial diving company wants to offer different benefit rates to employees who dive to depths greater than 330 feet. This data is stored for each employee in a custom attribute called Dive_Depth in the Person table. To define eligibility based on diving depth, set the following values on the Create or Edit User-Defined Criteria page:

Field

Value

Table

Person

Column

Dive_Depth_Attribute

Lookup

Dive_Depth_Validation

Enable range validation one

Selected

Save the user-defined criteria, and then add it to an eligibility profile. Set the following values on the User-Defined Criteria tab, which is under the Other tab on the Create or Edit Eligibility Profile page:

Field

Value

Set 1 Meaning

329

Set 1 To Meaning

9999

Exclude

Deselected

Save the eligibility profile and associate it with a variable rate profile.

Exclude Work-at-Home Assignments from Eligibility

An employer wants to exclude work-at-home assignment from eligibility for a transportation benefit option. To accomplish this, set the following values on the Create or Edit User-Defined Criteria page:

Field

Value

Table

Assignment

Column

Work_at_home

Lookup

YES_NO

Enable range validation one

Deselected

Save the user-defined criteria, and then add it to an eligibility profile. Set the following values on the User-Defined Criteria tab:

Field

Value

Set 1 Meaning

Yes

Exclude

Selected

Save the eligibility profile and associate it with the transportation benefit option.

Use a Formula to Determine Eligibility

A company wants to offer a spot incentive bonus to hourly employees who worked 100 percent of their scheduled shift hours in a three month period. To determine eligibility for the bonus, create a formula that calculates scheduled hours less worked hours for each week in the previous three months. If the result of successive calculations is less than or equal to zero, then the formula returns a result of Yes. The first step is to create the formula. Once the formula has been defined, create a user-defined criterion to run the formula. Enter the following values on the Create or Edit User-Defined Criteria page:

Field

Value

Access One Formula

Worked_Sched_Hours_Percent

Enable range validation one

Deselected

Save the user-defined criteria, and then add it to an eligibility profile. Set the following values on the User-Defined Criteria tab:

Field

Value

Set 1 Meaning

Yes

Exclude

Deselected

Save the eligibility profile and associate it with the bonus compensation object.

Range of Scheduled Hours: Example

This example illustrates how to define eligibility criteria based on the number of hours an employee is scheduled to work within a specified period of time.

Weekly and Monthly Ranges

You want to limit eligibility for a benefits offering to employees who were scheduled to work between 30 and 40 hours each week or between 130-160 each month as of the end of the previous quarter. To do this, add two different ranges on the Range of Scheduled Hours tab, which is under the Employment tab on the Create or Edit Eligibility Profile page.

Set the values for the first range as shown in this table:

Field

Value

Sequence

1

Minimum Hours

30

Maximum Hours

40

Scheduled Enrollment Periods

Weekly

Determination Rule

End of previous quarter

Set the values for the second range as shown in this table:

Field

Value

Sequence

2

Minimum Hours

130

Maximum Hours

160

Scheduled Enrollment Periods

Monthly

Determination Rule

End of previous quarter

Eligibility Profiles: Explained

An eligibility profile defines criteria used to determine whether a person qualifies for a benefits offering, variable rate profile, variable coverage profile, compensation object, checklist task, or other object for which eligibility must be established.

The following are key aspects of working with eligibility profiles:

Planning and prerequisites

Specifying the profile type and usage

Defining eligibility criteria

Excluding from eligibility

Assigning sequence numbers

Adding multiple criteria

Viewing the criteria hierarchy

Planning and Prerequisites

Before you create an eligibility profile, consider the following:

If an eligibility profile uses derived factors, user-defined formulas, or user-defined criteria to establish eligibility, you must create these items before you create the eligibility profile.

If you are defining eligibility criteria for a checklist task, variable rate profile, or variable coverage profile, you must include all criteria in a single eligibility profile, because these objects can be associated with only one eligibility profile. You can, however, associate multiple eligibility profiles with benefits offerings and compensation objects.

Eligibility profiles are reusable, so use names that identify the criteria being defined rather than the object with which the profile is associated. For example, use "Age-20-25+NonSmoker" rather than "Supplemental Life-Min Rate."

Specifying Profile Types and Usage

When you create an eligibility profile, you specify whether the profile applies to participants or dependents. Use participant profiles to define criteria for employees or ex-employees who are eligible for company-sponsored benefits. Use dependent profiles for participants' spouses, family members, or other individuals who qualify as dependents. Dependent profiles can be associated only with plans and plan types.

An eligibility profile's usage determines the type of objects the profile can be associated with. For example, if you set the profile usage to Benefits, the profile is available for selection when you are associating eligibility profiles with benefits objects, such as programs, plans, plan types, options, variable rate profiles, and variable coverage profiles. You can also set the usage to Compensation, Checklist, or Global.

Defining Eligibility Criteria

Criteria defined in an eligibility profile are divided into categories:

Personal: Includes gender, person type, postal code ranges, and other person-specific criteria

Employment: Includes assignment status, hourly or salaried, job, grade, and other employment-specific criteria

Derived factors: Includes age, compensation, length of service, hours worked, full-time equivalent, and a combination of age and length of service

Other: Includes miscellaneous and user-defined criteria

Related coverage: Includes criteria based on whether a person is covered by, eligible for, or enrolled in other benefits offerings.

Some criteria, such as gender, provide a fixed set of choices. The choices for other criteria, such as person type, are based on values defined in tables. You can define multiple criteria for a given criteria type.

Excluding from Eligibility

For each eligibility criterion that you add to a profile, you can indicate whether persons who meet the criterion are considered eligible or are excluded from eligibility. For example, an age factor can include persons between 20 and 25 years old or exclude persons over 65. If you exclude certain age bands, then all age bands not explicitly excluded are automatically included. Similarly, if you include certain age bands, then all age bands not explicitly included are automatically excluded.

Assigning Sequence Numbers

You must assign a sequence number to each criterion. The sequence determines the order in which the criterion is evaluated relative to other criteria of the same type.

Adding Multiple Criteria

If you define multiple values for the same criteria type, such as two postal code ranges, a person needs to satisfy at least one of the criteria to be considered eligible. For example, a person who resides in either postal range is eligible.

If you include multiple criteria of different types, such as gender and age, a person must meet at least one criterion defined for each criteria type.

Viewing the Criteria Hierarchy

Select the View Hierarchy tab to see a list of all criteria that you have saved for this profile. The list is arranged by criteria type.

Combining Eligibility Criteria or Creating Separate Profiles: Points to Consider

You can define multiple criteria in an eligibility profile or create separate profiles for individual criterion. To determine the best approach, consider the following:

Does the object you are defining eligibility for support multiple eligibility profiles?

What is the best approach in terms of efficiency and performance?

Support for Multiple Eligibility Profiles

If you are defining eligibility criteria for a checklist task, variable rate profile, or variable coverage profile, you must include all criteria in a single eligibility profile, because these objects can be associated with only one eligibility profile. You can, however, associate multiple eligibility profiles with benefits offerings and compensation objects.

Efficiency and Performance

For optimum performance and efficiency, you should usually attach profiles at the highest possible level in the benefits object hierarchy and avoid duplicating criteria at lower levels. Plan types in program, plans in program, plans, and options in plans inherit the eligibility criteria associated with the program. For example, to be eligible for a benefits plan type, a person must satisfy eligibility profiles defined at the program level and at the plan type in program level.

However, it is sometimes faster to create more than one profile and attach the profiles at various levels in the hierarchy. For example, you might exclude employees from eligibility at the program level who do not have an active assignment. At the level of plan type in program, you might exclude employees who do not have a full-time assignment. Finally, at the plan level, you might exclude employees whose primary address is not within a service area you define.

Eligibility Profiles: Examples

The following examples illustrate scenarios where eligibility profiles are needed and briefly describe the setup required for each scenario.

401(k) Eligibility

A 401(k) savings plan is restricted to full-time employees under 65 years of age. To restrict eligibility for the plan, you must first create a derived factor for the age band of 65 and older, if one does not already exist. Then create an eligibility profile. Set the Profile Usage to Benefits and the Profile Type to Participant. Add the following criteria:

Associate the eligibility profile with the 401(k) plan.

Bonus Eligibility

A bonus is offered to all employees who received the highest possible performance rating in all rating categories. To restrict eligibility for the bonus, create an eligibility profile. Set the Profile Usage to Compensation and the Profile Type to Participant. Add the following criteria for each rating category:

Associate the eligibility profile with the bonus compensation object.

Checklist Task Eligibility

A new hire checklist contains tasks that do not apply to employees who work in India. To restrict eligibility for the tasks, create a participant eligibility profile. Set the Profile Usage to Checklist and the Profile Type to Participant. Add the following criteria:

Associate the eligibility profile with each checklist task that does not apply to workers in India.

Creating a Participant Eligibility Profile: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to create a participant eligibility profile used to determine eligibility for variable life insurance rates. The profile includes two eligibility criteria: age and tobacco. Once the eligibility profile is complete, you can associate it with a variable rate profile.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.

The following figure shows the tasks to complete in this example:

Prerequisites

Create an age derived factor for ages less than 30.

Creating the Eligibility Profile

In the Plan Configuration work area, click Manage Eligibility Profiles.

Click the Create menu, and then click Create Participant Profile.

In the Eligibility Profile Definition region of the Create Participant Eligibility Profile page, complete the fields as shown in this table. Use the default values except where indicated.

Field

Value

Name

Age Under 30+Non-Smoking

Profile Usage

Benefits

Description

Participant, age under 30, non smoker

Status

Active

Assignment to Use

Any assignment

Adding the Derived Factor for Age

In the Eligibility Criteria region, select the Derived Factors tab.

On the Age tab, click Create.

In the Sequence field, enter 1.

In the Age field, select the derived factor that you previously defined for ages under 30.

Do not select the Exclude check box.

Adding the Criteria for Tobacco Use

Select the Personal tab.

On the Uses Tobacco tab, click Create.

In the Sequence field, enter 1.

In the Tobacco Use field, select None.

Do not select the Exclude check box.

Click Save and Close.

Associating the Eligibility Profile with a Variable Rate Profile