Time and Labor Frequently Asked Questions

Roles and Groups and Security

What is a workgroup? What is the difference between a workgroup and a dynamic

group?
A workgroup is a group of time reporters who share compensation requirements, such as
pay frequency, union and work location. A time reporters workgroup will determine
Time Reporting Codes and System Rules and Exceptions. Time reporters are grouped in
Dynamic Groups in PeopleSoft for processing and reporting purposes. Processes such as
exception management, time approval and time administration are run for a dynamic
group of employees in Time and Labor.

What is the difference between a time administrator and time approver or supervisor?
These terms describe the tasks a person can perform in PeopleSoft Time and Labor. Time
administrators manage exceptions and refresh dynamic groups. Time approvers are
responsible for approving time that has been reported and processed as payable time.
People having these roles in the system may or may not be supervisors of the employees
whose time they are managing in the system. Supervisors should review time either on
line or via a paper time sheet, if they have given online responsibilities to a proxy. One
person can have time administrator and time approver roles in the system.

If approvers are only responsible for one or two people in a dynamic group could they
see other people in the same dynamic group, even if they are not that person's
supervisor?
Yes, security is set up based on an entire dynamic group, so an approver can see time for
all the employees in a group they have access to.

Entering Time
What are the data entry tips?
You can move from field to field in PeopleSoft by striking the TAB key. When selecting
information from a picklist or entering data, you can enter the first letter to call up the
data starting with that letter. If it is the only time reporting code or name, etc. in the list
starting with that letter it will automatically be entered in the field.

Why does the employee have to delete time when there is an exception or to make a
change to time that has been entered? Why can't the employee just change the data?
When a change needs to be made to time that has been entered and processed through
Time Administration, it is recommended that all the time for that week is deleted and re-
entered correcting the erroneous time as you go. This ensures that the reported time is
reset when Time Administration runs again.

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What happens if time reporters click on the "More" link in the time entry?
The More link is delivered with PeopleSoft and its functionality is still being tested.
Time reporters will be able to view this information. They should not make changes on
this page. They may use the comments field to communicate comments about their time
to their time approver. For time approvers, it is highly recommended that they use the
more links to look at values such as the appropriate monies for shift differentials, etc.
This verifies the time reporting code is the correct TRC for the differential, based on the
shift the time reporter worked.

How is time entered for temporary employees?

All students are temporary employees and enter punch time in the system. All other
temporary employees will be assigned to the workgroup of the job they are filling and
will use that workgroups time reporting codes to report time in Time and Labor using
the Elapsed time entry page.

If hourly employees do not enter their time, do they get paid? What is the process to
follow up with the employee? Does the approver enter time (i.e. employee is at home that
day and cannot get their time in)?
Hourly employees must enter their time to get paid. A report will be available to monitor
time entry. An approver or time administrator may be able to enter time for an employee,
based on the security setup for that individual.

If the employee enters punch time with 'ins' and no 'outs', what happens?
If the punch reporter is entering time for several days at once and he forgets to punch 'out'
on one of the days, PeopleSoft tells them that theres a problem with their time.
However, if he forgets to punch 'out' on the last day he's entered time for, Time
Administration will not process that day's time. It assumes that he just hasn't completed
his entry for that day. They must complete their time entries for each day, especially
right before a payroll run. Approvers should be aware of what appears to be missing time
at the end of a week.

Time Reporting Codes

What are the Time Reporting Codes (TRCs) for each workgroup?
Each workgroup (group of time reporters who share compensation requirements) has a
specific set of TRCs, which correspond to their work and collective bargaining
agreement, if applicable. See the TRC Programs and TRC Descriptions on the P driver in
Training/Time and Labor for the specific TRCs that will appear on the time reporting
page and their descriptions.

Will OT eligible salaried employees be able to report comp time?

No, OT eligible salaried employees are exempt staff and are not eligible for
compensatory time. Their time reporting codes are OT, VAC and SICK.

Adjustments
If an employee puts in 8 hours of sick time, but should have put in 8 hours of vacation
time, what is the adjustment process?

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If the error is noticed before time administration runs that night, the time can be
edited by changing the TRC and saving.
If the error was noticed after Time Administration runs, the Time Reporter must
delete all the time for that week and re-enter it correcting errors as he/she goes.

Vacation
If a person earns 4.62 hours of vacation time in this pay period, can they take that time?
No, leave accruals are not processed until after the payroll cycle. You can't use the
vacation time until you actually have it. In the current system we "anticipate" vacation
time. PeopleSoft will not let you enter the vacation TRC for time above what you
currently have accrued.

Vacation is earned in one-hundredth increments (13.34 for professionals with under 15

years of service, 4.62 for bi-weekly employees), but Peoplesoft will only allow them to
take the time _ increments?
That's right. PeopleSoft will not allow you to report vacation time taken to the one
hundredth of an hour. Peoplesoft can record time taken in _ hour increments. Sick and
Comp time can be taken in _ hour increments, but vacation time, according to hourly
collective bargaining contracts, can only be taken in _ hour increments. Approvers should
make sure that, even though, PeopleSoft allows vacation to be taken in _ hour
increments, it should not be taken in less than _ hour increments. The accruals will
remain the same as they are a collective bargaining issue.

Scenarios
Comp time and OT
What are the instructions for an employee who wants to earn comp time instead of
overtime?
Compensatory time is directly related to earned overtime and can be saved and used
subject to supervisor discretion. Time reporters should manually calculate the number of
hours that would be paid as overtime, then enter those hours and choose the comp time
earned TRC for their workgroup, instead of letting the system generate OT when more
than 40 hours are reported.

Does the employee have to calculate the number of overtime hours and report them with
the overtime TRC?
It depends on the employees workgroup.

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Monthly non-exempt employees have to report Overtime as an exception, just like

they report vacation and sick. The will add up their overtime hours and enter them
with the overtime TRC.
Hourly employees do not have to calculate their overtime. They enter
their hours with the REG time reporting code. Time Administration calculates the
number of overtime hours and the hours at overtime pay will appear in detail for
the Time Approver to see on the approval screen.

Can an hourly employee earn two hours of overtime or comp time if s/he works a 10 hour
day?
No. Not unless the employee has exceeded a 40 hour work week. An overtime eligible
employee receives overtime or compensatory time after they exceed 40 hours of regular
time for a week. This is a weekly, not a daily calculation.

There is one exception. If a person earns comp time because they have worked a holiday,
they can enter that comp time (with supervisory approval) as they earn it (e.g. enter the
comp time earned for a worked Monday Holiday on that Monday.)

Can a person take comp time in the same week they worked it?
They can only if the comp time was earned by working a holiday. Comp time is placed in
buckets when Time Administration runs. If a person works a Monday holiday and takes
that time as comp time, they can take it another day of that week if they wish. Comp time
earned instead of being paid overtime cant be used in the same week because they cant
earn that comp time until they have worked 40 hours.

Shift Differential
How does the shift differential work? (if your regular shift receives a differential pay? if
it is an occasional shift situation?)

When you work a shift that is eligible for shift differential, whether that is your regular
schedule or an occasional occurrence, you need to record regular hours and shift
differential hours. See examples below.

How do you record shift differential?

An employee who has earned a shift differential must enter the number of hours worked
with the Regular time (REG) TRC, AND also enter the number of hours that are available
for the shift differential pay with the appropriate shift differential TRC. If the collective
bargaining agreement says that the shift differential kicks in when the majority of time
worked is in the appropriate shift, then the shift differential TRC must be entered for the
time. (E.g., employee works an 8 hour shift, 3 hours of which are before 5:00, 5 hours are
after 5:00. The employee may then enter 8 hours of time with the shift differential TRC
as well as 8 hours of REG).

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What if you work overtime during a shift eligible for shift differential?
If, after you have worked 40 hours, you work overtime during a shift differential shift
then you will need to enter 3 time reporting codes for to report your time and receive
accurate pay. For a shift

Holiday
How does an employee report a holiday worked?
A time reporter should enter the 8 hour holiday as 8 hours with the HOL TRC. Then
enter the number of hours worked on the holiday with the appropriate TRC. If it's a
regular holiday, use HOLW to report the holiday worked, if its an Administrative
Holiday, use HOLADM which is straight pay. If it's a family holiday, use HOLFAM for
time and a half.

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What if an employee wants to earn comp time for a holiday worked?

The answer to this question depends on the holiday. If the employee works a regular
holiday they save as straight time, CMPSV:

If they work a family holiday such as Labor Day they save as CMP15, because time
worked on a family holiday is paid at x1.5:

Lists of the different holidays are in each of the collective bargaining contract books.

Prior Periods
How do prior period adjustments work? When are they entered? How are they
approved?
Time reporting for prior entries is the same as for a current period; only the date selected
changes. When time reporters enter time for a prior period it is processed by time
administration and needs to approved by an approver to get paid. For example, if the
original time reported for a day was 5 hours and should have been 8 hours, then the time
reporter should reenter time for that week, correcting the erroneous day as they go.. The 8
hours will replace the 5 hours originally reported and the employee will receive pay for
the additional 3 hours.

What about prior period adjustments that cross the calendar and fiscal year end dates?
What about prior period adjustments that are prior to the conversion date?
Adjustments that cross calendar and fiscal years will be handled on a case by case basis

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by the central payroll office. Any adjustments that need to be made for periods prior to
July 1, 2003 will need to be entered manually by the central payroll office.

Approval

Can time be approved before Time Admin runs? If the employee didnt have time to enter
their time on Friday (or on Saturday if they worked Saturday), can that time be entered
and approved Monday morning.
No. Time Admin has to run for reported time to be available to be approved. Employees
have to enter their time for it to be approved and paid. The ability to report time through
PeopleSoft is available 24x7. If an employee doesnt have time or forgets to report their
time during their work day, they will be able to enter their time from home on an internet-
enabled computer while watching Jay Leno.

The schedule does call for Time admin to run at noon on Monday, but we do not want all
time to be approved after that time. Time Approval should happen Monday mornings
with only the occasional clean-up cases being handled in the noon Time Admin run.

If the approver has the employee fix an entry on Monday, does TL Administration process
have to run before the exception is allowed to be approved? What is the process (call
payroll to have them run the process?) and time schedule?
Time Administration will run nightly and may run mid-day on Mondays. The central
payroll office may schedule additional Time Admin. processes or may provide ad hoc
time administration to certain people on each campus. This deployment depends on
system performance. To reduce the amount of last minute review and changes, you
should run reports on Friday to see what time has been reported for the week. A time
administration schedule will be disseminated before go-live.

What if there is a disagreement between the approver and the employee on the hours?
It is recommended that the time sheet in question is printed for discussion and
documentation. Each campus must determine a process for handling discrepancies, as
they do today. It is important to iron out this process so approvers and employees know
what to expect and understand their responsibilities.

Can you approve time for yourself?

It is not advised that an approver approve their own time. If for certain reasons it is
necessary, the employee with the approver role should print out their reported time,
obtain their supervisor's signature on the paper time sheet and then approve their time
online.

Can you un-approve time once it is saved?

No. Once time has been approved and saved, it cannot be un-approved.

Does punch time approval differ from elapsed time approval?

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While the time entry methods are different, the approval screen for punch time and
elapsed time are the same.

Processing Schedule
Will a calendar be available outlining payroll processing dates and T&L deadlines,
particularly necessary for weeks with a holiday.
See the Payroll Schedule online: http://www.maine.edu/oft/pay04.pdf. Campuses can
take this information and publish a local version which can include campus time entry
and approval deadlines.

When Monday is a holiday, when will approvers approve time?

For holiday processing, time approval must be completed by Noon Friday. For students,
time that is anticipated to work cannot be included. Pay for Friday afternoon through
Saturday will appear in the following paycheck (this is an internal audit issue, not a
PeopleSoft issue). Hourly employees can anticipate and report time for Friday and
Saturday. Unexpected changes can be reported in a prior period adjustment.

Will reminder emails be sent to approvers weekly?

The central payroll office will not be sending reminder emails.

How does the new system affect employee paperwork deadlines?

As today, new hire paperwork needs to be completed and submitted by the day an
employee starts work at the University. It is important that new hire and changes to
employee information are submitted in a timely manner so an employee can be set up in
the system and take responsibility for their own time reporting.

Account Numbers
How do you change the account number that OT hours or regular hours get charged to?
Specific earnings codes are charged through specific accounts through the Distribution
Detail page in PeopleSoft (University of Maine System>Payroll>Set Up> Distribution
Detail). These changes must be made by the Human Resources office staff.

Multiple Jobs/Rates
How will we report time for people with Dual rates or out of job assignments (for
example plowing snow, etc)?
You will use the Additional pay process. This process requires the Supervisor to fill out
the Additional pay form and send it to the campus HR office. For those that can be
anticipated, such as replacing an employee while he or she is on vacation, submit
information so the employee can be paid in the appropriate time frame. For unanticipated
work out of job and for forms not submitted in a timely fashion, the employee may have
to wait to be paid until the next pay period.

If an employee has two jobs, one as Service and Maintenance and one as COLT, can they
accrue the maximum number of comp hours that each contract allows (40 for COLT and
60 for Service & Maintenance), thereby ending up with 100 hours?

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By policy, compensatory balances are based on the employees primary job in the
system. If an employee has a COLT job and a Service & Maintenance job they will have
a maximum balance of 40 if the COLT job is their primary job. If their primary job is
Service & Maintenance, then the maximum balance will be 60. PeopleSoft will not stop
the employee for reporting comp time for both jobs. It is up to the Time Approver to
insure that compensatory time is saved for the primary job.

If a person has more than one job, how do we get them to report the right time for the
right job?
This is a training/supervisory issue. When a time reporter selects the job they want to
enter time for they will see information about the workgroup, department and description
associated with the position.

Will the system check for overlapping hours, if an employee with 2 jobs reported hours
for both jobs at the same time?
A report will identify hours reported for multiple jobs. The report will not flag
overlapping hours. A supervisor, time administrator or approver will need to review the
report and check to see if reported time overlaps.

Other
Do the comments on the Time Entry pages stick so that the Time Approver can see them?
Comments entered on the time reporting page will appear on the time approver page. We
are testing to see if they will be available as a permanent comment in the system.

Since sick time can go into the negative will we have reports that show people in the
negative?
Yes, negative sick time balances will appear on reports.

Once time has been entered can you always go back and view it in the system?
Yes, the time will remain in the time reporting page for the given week.
Even after time admin has run?
Yes.
Even after it has gone to payroll?
Yes.
What do T&L time reporting screens look like once time has been passed to Payroll?
They will appear the same as they did before payroll ran. They do not change.
When you make changes to time in a prior period will you see the original time you want
to overwrite?
Yes, the original time entered for a period will remain in the time reporting screen. The
original time needs to be deleted and new time should be entered. When Time
Administration runs the new time will appear as Payable Time needing approval.

How will pay as staff who teach courses in addition to their regular jobs be handled?
They will receive additional compensation for their teaching, the way they do now.

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