Ensure Smooth Integration with SAP Cross-Application Time Sheets (CATS)

Michael Timm Integrated Consulting Group LLC

2004 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

Session Objectives Learn how CATS enhances support and the user experience Understand in basic terms how CO is updated by CATS and HR Gain efficiency and minimize headaches with user profiles Learn how to reduce employee data entry errors by 90%

What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

CATS Basics
CATS = Cross-Application Time Sheet
Time capture and data transfer tool Additional functionality for Payroll and FI/CO

CATS uses the SAP Human Resources authorization concept CATS may be updated via transaction code CAT2 or via a company intranet Web site Data entry in CATS may be done by individual employee or by defined groups of employees CATS may be used as the time transfer tool to update Human Resources with hours worked by employee
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CATS Basics (cont.) CATS may be used to enter one-time earnings/deductions for employees Data entered in CATS may be set to require a procedure for approval Using CATS, you may capture an employees time across different cost centers, plant maintenance, service orders, and networks

Update HR, CO, PM/CS, PS (or a combination of any or all of these) with time worked by employee by activity

CATS Basics (cont.)

What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

Using CATS Data: Updating CO CATS updates CO with hours actually worked by cost center for an employee The payroll expense posting for an employee is sent to the employees home cost center in the Payroll to FI/CO Update Using CATS, you can create an activity allocation to credit the home cost center for hours not worked by the employee and debit the cost centers where the employee actually worked Actual costs may be derived from the standard activity price of an activity or from Payroll
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Using CATS Data: Updating PM/CS Generates confirmations for:

Maintenance Service orders

Confirmation generation from:

Receiver order Operation number Sub-operation

Performs simultaneous activity allocation in CO Processing time can be a major issue if theres a large volume of open PM/CS orders
Nightly batch runs with narrow periods may reduce processing time However, narrowing the period can cause prior period corrections to be missed
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Using CATS Data: Updating PS Hours entered in CATS as hours transfer as minutes Generates confirmations for networks Performs activity allocation in CO at the same time Processing time can be a major issue if you have a large volume of open PS orders
Nightly batch runs with narrow periods will reduce processing time However, narrowing the period can cause prior period corrections to be missed

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Using CATS Data: Updating HR Attendances/Absences (Infotypes 2001/2002)

CATS feeds HR actual hours attended or absent CATS validates absences with absence quotas Payroll uses Infotype 2001/2002 data during processing

Substitutions (Infotype 2003)

Position option may be used to assign payment for the work according to the specifications of a different position One-time earnings/deductions may be passed from CATS to HR Used to process manually calculated wages or bonuses CATS allows a work tax area to be entered that is different than the default area in Infotype 0208
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Employee Remuneration Infotype 2010)

Work Tax Area (Infotype 0208)

Using CATS Data: Updating HR (cont.)

Hours saved in CATS transferred to HR Infotype 2002 Payroll will access Infotype 2002 during processing and pay the employee
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Transferring CATS Data Methods for transferring CATS data:

All Components Individual Components Accounting (CO) Human Resources o CATS profiles may be set to automatically transfer data to HR when saved o Or, profiles may be set to require data to be transferred manually Plant Maintenance/Customer Service Project System

I will demonstrate* the manual method of transferring data to the following modules:
Human Resources Controlling
* I will demo these in R/3 4.6C; the process is similar in other versions

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

All Components Accounting (CO) Human Resources (manually) Plant Maintenance/Customer Service Project System

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.) An example

Master data Employee John works 80 hours over a two-week pay period John is an hourly employee who makes $15/hour and is assigned to cost center 123-A as his home cost center Johns company uses CATS as a time entry/capture tool Work data Over the two-week period, John worked 40 hours in cost center 345-B, 30 hours in cost center 678-A, and 10 hours in his home cost center, cost center 123-A His gross pay for the period is 80 hours x $15/hour = $1,200

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.) Data transfers

From Payroll to FI/CO
Johns home cost center, 123-A, is debited $1,200 (the entire 80 hours that he worked)

From home cost center 123-A

The CATS interface will credit Johns home cost center (123-A) 70 hours (multiplied by a predefined activity rate, $15/hour), for a total of $1,050 via an internal activity allocation. This will leave a net debit of $150 (10 hours x $15/hour) on Johns home center

To cost centers 345-B and 678-A

The other side of the CATS interface activity allocation will debit cost center (345-B) 40 hours, for a total of $600, and cost center (678-A) 30 hours, for a total of $450

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.) Conclusions

CATS is a great tool to use when you have hourly employees, especially when these employees can do work over several projects or cost centers
CATS even allows you to charge the worked cost centers for different activity rates depending on the type of work/project the employee is working on

CATS allows you to spread costs over the cost centers actually worked in instead of the employees home cost center (which is the SAP default when posting from Payroll to FI/CO)

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What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

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Creating CATS Profiles Profiles are used by CATS to determine the data entry process Profiles also determine how the Time Sheet will be displayed on the screen 8 sections make up the profile
General settings Time settings Person selection Cost accounting variant Default values Worklist Data entry checks Workflow
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Creating CATS Profiles (cont.) Checking Immediate transfer to HR transfers the data to infotypes upon save

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Creating CATS Profiles (cont.) After creating the profile, the fields displayed in the Time Sheet when maintaining or displaying are defined Selecting the fields and setting attributes makes user entry easier and reduces error Attributes set for a field influence the target component Displaying fields is done by configuring modifiable fields and influencing fields Keep number of fields displayed on the screen to the absolute minimum
Modifiable fields are set as the base for all data entry profiles Influencing fields are profile-specific field attributes

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Creating CATS Profiles (cont.) Modifiable is the standard field attribute Influencing is a profile-specific field attribute

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Creating ESS Profiles

ESS profiles and CATS profiles are set up in the same manner
Profiles set up under CATS may be used by ESS However, CATS data entry is typically done for several employees at a time, and ESS is done for an individual

The person selection section in the profile is not supported

The other seven sections may be utilized

Typically, data entered will not be set for Immediate transfer to HR

Batch programs should be set to run periodically to transfer the data

Employees accessing ESS Time Sheets need to have a default profile set along with a link between their user record and ESS Setting field attributes is the same as in CATS
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Creating ESS Profiles (cont.)

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Creating ESS Profiles (cont.)

Web settings allow for the customization of the Time Sheet layout when viewed as a Web page
e.g., to specify how many lines for data entry appear

Functionality available to the user may be determined

e.g., when copying the previous period work lines, whether hours should be copied as well
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User Parameters Several user parameters may be entered to simplify data entry for a user If employees will enter data themselves, user parameters CVR and PER are extremely useful
CAC CVR KOS PER PON SAZ SGR VSR Controlling area Data entry profile Cost center HR personnel number Personnel development object Time administrator Administrator group Personnel number selection report variant
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User Parameters (cont.) To set:

System > User profile > Own data > Parameters Transaction code SU3

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What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

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ESS Time Sheets

Internal and external employees may use ESS Time Sheets to record their own (or others) working times via the Internet or company intranet The Internet Time Sheets tool for recording the times transfers data to other modules the same as CATS does
The same data elements and process shown earlier are available via CATS or the Internet Time Sheets Data collected from both may be processed together

The user may enter hours or clock times, quantities, monetary amounts, work tax area, and confirmation information The previous-period working time and attributes may be copied, requiring the user to only enter the current period hours
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ESS Time Sheets (cont.) Several advantages to both employee and employer are easily identifiable
Employee Time entry at any time, anywhere Fewer administrative steps Ease of use Employer Decentralized time recording Reduction in administrative work Standard Web browser

The link between the Time Sheets and SAP is Infotype 0105, Communication
This link looks at the user parameters and determines the profile to be used Authorizations also are validated through this link
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ESS Time Sheets (cont.)

In this case, the employee email address is used to authenticate and link with ESS Other communication types may be used also, such as NT logon ID

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What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

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User Exits 14 user exits are available for use with CATS
A little over half of the user exits may be used with ESS Time Sheets

Utilizing user exits allows for additional functionality and behind-the-scenes data processing Some of the more useful user exits are
CATS0002 CATS: Supplement entered data CATS0003 CATS: Validation of entered data CATS0005 CATS: Customer field enhancements CATS0006 CATS: Validation of entire time sheet CATS0008 CATS: Determine workflow recipient for approval
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User Exits (cont.)

Employees may enter time to less than a tenth of an hour User exit CATS0002 is called and calculates the time to the nearest tenth of an hour The time is then transferred to a component without causing an error

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What Well Cover Understanding the basics of CATS Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user parameters Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry Managing CATS with user exits Wrap up

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Resources
http://help.sap.com SAP help web site accessible via the Internet OSS Note 555947 Project System: Confirmation via CATS OSS Note 376188 Supported CATS User Exits for Internet Time Sheets

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7 Key Points to Take Home

CATS uses SAP HR authorization concept Labor costs may be spread over cost centers, plant maintenance, service orders, or networks PM/CS and PS confirmations may be generated from CATS Data transferred to HR is used during payroll processing and eventual posting to accounting Profiles for CATS and ESS Time Sheets are created and used similarly User parameters CVR and PER make ESS Time Sheets more efficient User exits may be utilized to reduce data entry errors and enhance data entry
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Your Turn!

Questions?

How to contact me: mtimm@icgllc.net

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