Understanding Sections
This topic discusses:
Section types
Standard sections
Payee sections
Absence take sections
Sections control the processing order of individual elements, breaking down large process lists into manageable pieces. Each section can have one or more individual elements. You can't add element groups to a section and generally can't include sections in sections.
Using sections enables reuse of work. For example, if several processes use the same set of take elements, you can create one section for takes and attach it to multiple process lists.
Sections are effective-dated—during processing, the system retrieves sections attached to the process list, based on your calendar period end date.
You can define four section types, which determine:
How the system processes section elements during absence runs.
What types of elements—such as absence take elements, and supporting elements—you can add to the section.
This table lists the section types and what each section is used for:
|
Section Type |
Use |
|---|---|
|
Standard |
For regular processing when defining absence entitlement or absence take processes. |
|
Payee |
For specifying, at the payee level, elements for processing and their sequence. |
|
Absence Take |
For resolving absence takes in chronological order based on the absence begin date. |
Most sections in your process list are probably standard sections. When the Process List Manager encounters a standard section, it reads and resolves each element in the section in the specified order.
Payee sections enable you to control which elements are processed for a specific payee and their processing order.
Having created a payee section, use the Section Overrides page to define the elements to be resolved for a particular payee. When encountering a payee section in a process list, the system retrieves the appropriate payee section and processes the elements in the section one by one.
Process lists can have multiple payee sections.
Absence take sections enable you to process take elements based on the order in which absences occurred, rather than the processing sequence defined in a section. These sections are useful when there are dependencies between take elements, and processing in chronological order is necessary to determine correctly which absences to pay.
Absence Take Section Example
Assume that there's a requirement to reduce sickness entitlement by the number of days a payee was absent for sickness or an industrial accident over the past year. In February, a payee is absent 7 days for sickness, 6 days for an industrial accident, and 8 days for sickness, in that order.
You create a section that includes take elements in this processing sequence: SICK, IND ACC. As the following paragraphs illustrate, section type affects the amount of entitlement that's available to cover the takes:
If the section type is standard, the system processes both SICK takes before it processes the IND ACC take.
Consequently, it does not consider any days that were taken for the industrial accident when it determines the entitlement balance that is available for the second SICK take.
If the section type is absence take, the system processes the absences in the order of occurrence.
As a result, it reduces the entitlement balance for the last SICK take by the number of days that were taken (paid) for the industrial accident and for prior sicknesses over the last year.
Rules for Absence Take Sections
Following are the rules for absence take sections:
Absence take sections can include take elements only.
Takes are processed based on absence begin date.
The system looks at the Absence Event record (GP_ABS_EVENT) to find the absence event with the earliest begin date.
If more than one absence has the same date, the system refers to the processing sequence defined for the section to determine which take to process first.
For example, assume that an absence take section includes Takes A and B in that order and that the following absence events are reported: June 2–3 (Take B) and June 3 (Take A). The system will process the absent days in this order:
June 2, Take B (the event with the earliest begin date).
June 3, Take A.
June 3, Take B.
If a take element (parent element) is mapped to another take element (child element):
The child element is processed immediately after the parent element for the day being processed.
List the child element after the parent element on the process list. The system proceeds to the next day, only after processing all generated and manually entered take elements for that day.
Child elements that are not included in the section where the parent element is being processed are not processed until the system resolves the section that lists the child element.
Note: Mapping refers to linking one take to another by completing the Mapped To Element field on the Absence Take - Day Formula page or the Take with Other Absence field on the Absence Take - Negative Balances page.