Human Resources Glossary

ABAP/4: Advanced Business Application programming. SAPs fourth generation programming language to develop online applications and evaluate databases. Absence Quota: An employees entitlement to certain absence. The quota has a limited validity period, and is reduced by each recorded absence. Administrative Personnel Structure: Allows for the ability to group employees by their relationship within the company, their status, and their payroll processing. Consists of three indicators- employee group, employee subgroup and payroll accounting area. Applicant Group: Is used in recruitment to classify applicants according to the type of employment contract for which they are applying (e.g. permanent, temporary, freelance, etc.). Applicant Range: Is used in recruitment to classify applicants according to their hierarchical or functional criteria. (Functional- administration, factory, engineering. Hierarchical- executives, line management, staff.) Attendee Type: A grouping together of attendees with the same characteristics. These attendees can be either individual attendees or group attendees (for example, customer, or person). Attributes: In PD, they are the inherent characteristics that describe an object. Infotypes are used to hold this information. Authorization: The access privileges for performing an action in the R/3 system based on a set of authorized values for each of the fields in an authorization object. Authorization object: An element of the authorization system which groups up to ten authorization fields for combined authorization checking. To pass an authorization test for an object, the user must satisfy the authorization check for each field in the object. The authorization objects are listed in the table TOBJ. Balance: Used to store a goal amount for a deduction wage type. This is entered in infotype 0015 (Additional Payments). Benefit Plan: The benefit plan is the core of benefit administration module; it encompasses a single benefit offered by the employer. Business Navigator: The R/3 business navigator is the graphical browser and navigation tool that is used to display the R/3 Reference Model. With this tool you can view graphical process chains, directly access the applications and trigger transactions, call R/3 online documentation, and look at other repository information such as business objects and input/output. Client: legally and organizationally independent unit on the highest level of the SAP R/3 system (do not make any changes to clients 000 or 001) Cluster: Clusters are ways of organizing data in a database that consists of a number of tables. Types of clusters; B2, R*. Command Field: Located on every SAP screen next to the Enter icon (green check mark). Used to type in direct commands that will allow the user to initiate shortcuts. Valid commands are: Input Results /n to end the current transaction

/I /o /nend /nxxx /oxxx

to end the current session to create a new session to log off from the system to jump to a new transaction to create a new session and jump to a new transaction (xxxx = transaction code)

Company Code: A legally independent unit within a client and is the smallest organizational unit for which complete self-contained set of books can be maintained for external reporting (i.e., balance sheet and profit and loss statement). Company Structure: Consists of following: Client, Company Code, Personnel area, Personnel subarea, and organizational key. Constraint: A constraint describes dependencies between one or more objects and their characteristics in variant configuration. Cost Center: An organizational unit within a controlling area that represents a separate location of cost incurred. Cost centers (departments) can be set up based on functional requirements, allocation criteria, activities or services provided, location or area responsibility (object type K). Country Code: One of the geographical elements within the Differential Reference Code (DRC). The DRC Region field may be used to create pricing conditions. Cumulations: Buckets of wage types stored on technical wage types /101 through /196. Examples include /101 gross wages, /102 RRSP wages and /110 employee deductions. Data Dictionary: Central catalog that contains the descriptions of an organizations data and provides information about the relationship between the data and its use in programs and screens. Date Modifier: Used if you want to have different pay dates with same period parameter (i.e., two biweekly payrolls by different pay dates.) Dialog Wage Types: Wage types that can be entered on infotypes or calculated in payroll. Daily Work Schedule: Represents a timetable for working on a specific day. The daily work schedule and work break schedule describes the exact working times for a particular day. One daily work schedule can represent a number of different time models. Daily Work Schedule Variant: A daily work schedule that varies slightly from one that is normally valid. For example, some companies have a policy that employees work a half day proceeding a holiday. This half working day is an exception to normal schedule and can be defined as a variant. Detail Maintenance (see also Simple Maintenance): One of the three methods you can use to create and maintain organizational plans in the Organization and Planning module of PD. With Detail Maintenance you work with objects one-at-a-time, at a detailed level. Complete PD functionality is available, which means you can work with all types of infotypes and record statuses, etc. Dialog (Program): ABAP/4 program that allows the user to perform a certain task (transaction). A dialog program consists of screens, a module pool (i.e., type M ABAP/4 program) and a transaction code (call). In general, there is also a user interface that allows the user easy access to a number of functions. (In contrast to reports, a dialog program is normally started with a transaction code or is often incorporated into an area menu.) Dynamic Action: Combines related infotypes into groups. Depending on the data entered, the system will generate subsequent infotypes.

Earliest Recalculation Date: This is set for each employee and also at the payroll control level. The higher of the two dates is used. Employee Group: The employee group allows for the division of employees into groups that define their relationship within the company. In personnel administration, the main employee groups are active work force, temporary employees, and retirees Employee Subgroup: Employee subgroups are subdivisions of the employee group, which allow for further definitions of the employee according to their status. Such as, within the active work force, a distinction can be made between union , non-union, salaried, hourly, trainees and executives. Employee Subgroup Grouping for Collective Agreement Provisions (CAP): Allows selective assignment to the various pay scale groups. You can combine employee group/subgroups under this grouping customizing in the following categories: (1) Industrial workers /hourly wage; (2) Industrial workers /monthly wage; (3) Salaried employees; (4) Non-pay scale employee. Within these groupings, pay scale groups and levels can be defined per scale type and pay scale area. Can be used for indirect valuation on an hourly or monthly basis. Employee Subgroup Grouping for Personnel Calculation Rule (PCR): Allows selective assignments to various pay scale groups. You can combine employee groups/subgroups under this grouping using customizing in the following categories: 1. Hourly Wage Earners. 2. Monthly Wage Earners. 3. Salaried Employees The meaning of these groups are fixed and may not be changed. The PCR is required for Payroll Accounting and is used for indirect valuation of wage types and infotype 0008, Basic pay. Employee Subgroup Grouping for Primary Wage Type: Combines employee subgroups for eligibility for Primary wage type usage. Allows you to restrict specific wage types to certain employees group and subgroup. Enterprise IMG: The Enterprise IMG is the top-level filter for the SAP Reference IMG. It is generated by selecting the business application components and countries to be implemented (all projects). Evaluation Class: Similar to a processing class. Evaluation classes are used for post payroll processing. (i.e., assigning a G/L account number to a wage type) Factoring: Proration process for salaries. Features: Features are decision trees that perform operation on existing fields. Features can be used to set default values. Some examples of features are: ABKRS- default values for payroll area; PINCH- default for Administrator groups on infotype 0001. Function: Used to process, collect and display data in schemas. Human Resource Master Data: Employee-related data, which remain relatively constant during the course of time. Example includes personnel number, name, address, bank data and social insurance number. Hiring: A personnel action in which all the data relevant to the entry of a new employee is recorded, such as name, address, personnel number, activity, cost center etc.

IMG: Implementation Guide. List of all the actions required for the SAP system and helps control and document the process. The IMG is used to do the actual parameter settings. It provides a GUIsupported, menu-led approach, and offers recommendations and explanations for what the system expects at each stage. Default settings are provided to facilitate configuration. Infotype: A system information unit within the HR module. Infotypes represent a group of related data fields, provide information structure, facilitate data entry, and allow time-dependent storage of data. For example, information on a persons city of residence, street and house number combines to form the employees address, and is therefore stored (along with other data fields) in the infotype Address. Infotype Groups: An infotype group is a set of infotypes processed for a particular personnel action. An infotype group can be dependent on a user group so that only certain infotypes are processed for a particular group of users. Information Subtype: In information type (infotype) can be divided into subtypes. Foe example, family data can be broken down further to represent spouse and children. Each subdivision group is known as a subtype. Jobs: Jobs are general classification of positions that exist within a company. Modifiers: Used in rule KMOD to set value ranges for tables. The following tables use modifiers: MODIF1 = T510S Wage Types constant MODIF2 = T510J Constant Valuation MODIF3 = T030 Fixed Accounts MODIFA = T554C Absence Valuation MODIFB = T51D1 Limits for Deductions MODIFC = Valuation Basis for month-end accrual MODIFD = Wage Type Processing with regard to month-end accrual MODIFW = T510S Wage Type Generation The modifiers allow you to set a specific range of table entries for different groups of employees. Operation: Operations are building blocks for rules. They are used to process wage types. Organizational Structure: Organizational Structures reflect organizational hierarchies and interrelationships for employees. They are composed of the following substructures: company structure, personnel structure, pay scale structure, wage type structure. Organizational Unit: Organizational Units define the different employee groups (business areas) within a company (e.g. departments). Must be linked to one another to produce a hierarchical structure for the company. PA (Personnel Administration and Payroll Accounting): The SAP Human Resources Management system is divided into two main areas of configuration: PA and PD. In PA, the organizational hierarchies and their control functions are defined using a system of control tables (which means that company structure and personnel structures can be set up independently of one another). The subsets of the implementation guide for PA consists of: Personnel Administration; Benefits; Recruitment; Time Management; Payroll. Pay Increase (Simple versus Extended): Simple: Uses report RPU51000 to increase wage types in customizing.

Extended: Can define variant to use for increasing standard pay which add or delete wage types or replace existing ones. The variants include: A increase a wage type to an absolute amount; C delimit an existing wage type; D increase by a difference; E valuate according to another pay scale group; G increase total pay by an absolute amount; R replace one wage type by another; T add a new wage type. Pay Scale Area: Geographical area in which a pay scale or a collective agreement is valid. Two-digit code, setup in customizing and stored in PA country grouping. Used as default values for pay types and groups lined to the personnel subarea (see infotype 0008). Within a pay scale area, pay scale groups and levels can be defined per pay scale type and indicator. Pay Scale Group: Provides a classification criteria for work and indirect valuations. Defined per PA country grouping, pay scale type, pay scale area and employee subgroup grouping for the collective agreement provision. The most important control features of pay scale groups and levels is checking the validity of entries in infotype Basic Pay (0008) and infotype Wage Maintenance (0052) and assigning payments for indirect valuation of wage types. Pay Scale Types: Area in which pay scale or collective agreement is valid. This pay scale or agreement may be determined at company or trade union level. Two-digit code maintained in customizing and stored by PA country grouping. Pay scale groups and levels can be defined within a pay scale type per pay scale area and employee subgroup grouping for collective agreement provision. Payroll Accounting Area (a.k.a. Payroll Area): The payroll area is a grouping for payroll runs. It is assigned to employees using feature ABKRS, which is based on the organizational assignment (infotype 0001). The payroll area identifies which payroll run (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) will process an employee. Payroll Driver: The payroll program RPCALCK0 is used to perform complete payroll runs on a period-by period basis and store results. Payroll Status: Infotype 0003. It is used to keep track of last payroll run for an employee; retroactive activity and error indication. PD (Personnel Planning and Development): The SAP Human Resources Management system is divided into two main areas for configuration: PA and PD. In PD an organizational plan is developed to depict a companys structure. It will include information about the individual positions, the reporting structure (or chain of command) and positions. Position information will include the types of job performed, the work centers, (physical locations) where jobs and positions are carried out and the different types of tasks performed. The subsets of the implementation guide for PD consists of: Personnel planning and development global settings; Organizational plan; Seminar and convention management; Personnel development; Shift planning; Room reservation planning. Period Parameter: Determines payroll area frequency. Personnel Actions: The personnel action function groups together all infotypes necessary to input a particular personnel procedure, such as hiring a new employee. Each action includes the infotypes for

which it is essential that you enter data, and allows you to process them sequentially. This ensures that all data relevant to particular personnel procedure is recorded in the system. Personnel Area: Personnel areas are used solely in Personnel Administration and are defined with a client. Each personnel area must be assigned to a company code. The personnel area allows you to generate default values for data entry, for example, for the payroll accounting area. The personnel area is a selection criterion for reporting. Personnel areas form a unit in authorization checks. Personnel Subarea: Personnel Subareas are the last element in the company structure. Respective countryspecific control features are stored here Specified grouping for Time management; which allows, for example, work schedules as well as substitution, absence and leave types to be setup on a personnel subarea specific basis. Default values are generated for pay scale types and area for an employees basic pay. A holiday calendar is specified. Personnel subarea-specific wage types per personnel area are defined. Personnel File: The personnel file gives user the ability to access all infotypes for a particular personnel number. The infotypes are displayed in infotype sequence. Position: Jobs are further described by position. Positions are specific roles performed by individual in the company. Processing Class: Processing Classes are stored in the table T512W and is used in rules to determine which version of the rule should be selected for a particular wage type. Rte, Num, Amt: The elements of a wage type. Rule: Controls how wage types are processed during payroll processing. Rules consists of operations. Schema: Series of sequential processing steps for payroll and time evaluation. Main schemas include; K000 Canadian accounting payroll schema for RPCALCK0; TM00 Main schema for Time Management; TM01 Time evaluation schema for exceptions to the work schedule; TM04 Time evaluation schema without clock time. Split Indicator: Derived from WPBP. Splits will ensure accuracy during payroll processing. Splits occur when there is a change in one or more of the infotype in the WPBP table. Subschema: Contains processing steps needed by payroll. Subschemas are called from main schema using function copy. Symbolic Account: Interface between a wage type and general ledger account number. Symbolic accounts are assigned to wage type in T512W. Technical Wage Types: Wage types that are calculated or used by payroll. Technical wage types start with a /. Time Constraints: Time constraints are configured for each infotype. They serve as guidelines for when and how many records of an infotype you can maintain. Class 1information must exist, and only once for the life span of the object; Class 2 information is optional, but it can exist only once in any time period (non-continuous or continuous); Class 3 information is optional and many record can exist during any time period. Time Types: Used in time evaluation to store balances formed from employee attendance and absence times.

Time Wage Type: Time Wage Types are the wage types that need to be evaluated because they carry only a unit (i.e. hours, days, etc.). Total: Stores the total amount of a deduction with a balance. The total amount is calculated in payroll. User Group: A user group defines a set of employee. User group are used when customizing the SAP HR system. The system can be customized so that the user group can determine the screen, infotypes and fields accessible. Validity Dates: The validity period of an object and any infotype must be defined. Each infotype uses beginning and end dates to identify the infotypes validity period. Valuation Basis: Technical wage types /00 (i.e. /001). The total amount is calculated in payroll. Valuation Class Rule: Assigned to absence to determine how they will be processed in payroll. Wage Type: Wage type refers to a four digit identifier for values (amount, number or amount per unit) which are necessary for calculating an employees wage/salary. Wage type represent deduction, earning or tax codes. Wage Type Classes: Wage type classes are used for deduction limit processing. WPBP: Table that contains data from infotypes; 0000 Actions; 0001 Organizational Assignment; 0007 Work Schedule; 0008 Basic Pay; 0027 Cost distribution.