PeopleSoft Release 39: Enhancements and Outage Information

September 18, 2014

Outage Information

Due to HR Release 39.0, PeopleSoft and ASPIRE transmissions to PeopleSoft will be unavailable starting Friday, September 19th at 5 pm until Monday, September 22 at 8 am.

Using the New NAFLAT Compensation Rate Code

NAFLAT is a new compensation rate code that has been added to the Monthly Quick Hire, Other Quick Hire and the Job Data Change form to allow departments to  designate approximate standard hours and pay for employees being paid through stipendiary appointments (e.g., research positions, graduate students).  The NAFLAT comp rate code does not recalculate the employee’s annual pay based on the FTE, so now you can enter the actual or approximate standard hours without impacting the annual salary amount.  NAFLAT should be used only for employees paid an annual rate and not for hourly employees.

Why Are Standard Hours Important?
The Affordable Care Act will take effect in the coming months and it is important that the hours entered in the hiring forms for all positions be reflective of the employee’s actual or approximate hours worked.    

Common Scenario Using NAFLAT

Comp Rate Code: NAFLAT

Scenario: You need to pay a flat annual stipend or annual salary of $35,000  to an employee for 10 hours (approximate) of work per week over a 12 month appointment.

In this scenario, the employee’s stipendiary or annual salary pay is tied to a defined (or approximate) number of hours.

  • Enter Standard Hours of 10.00
  • Select Pay Group of Paid
  • Enter Comp Rate Code NAFLAT
  • Enter FTE Salary (annual comp rate)  of $35,000*

Result: The employee’s annual pay is $35,000 and the hours are reflective of what the employee will approximately work.

*Note: If you need to pay a flat stipend or salary for an appointment that is less than 12 months, the annual comp rate should be adjusted accordingly to ensure the total pay is accurate.

 In keeping with the scenario above, NAFLAT replaces these common processing practices when using NAANNL:

  • Letting the Form Default to Standard Hours (hours could be overstated) 
  • Enter Standard Hours of 35.00   (overstating hours)
  • Select Pay Group of Paid
  • Enter Comp Rate Code NAANNL
  • Enter FTE Salary (annual comp rate)  of $35,000

Result: The employee’s annual pay is $35,000 is correct,  BUT the employees hours are overstated (in this example, the standard hours should have been 10, not the default 35).

  •  Inflating the Employee’s Annual Salary
  • Enter Standard Hours of 10.00  
  • Select Pay Group of Paid
  • Enter Comp Rate Code NAANNL
  • Enter FTE Salary (annual comp rate)  of $122,500  (overstating comp rate to get the FTE calculated salary equal to employee’s pay [ i.e..285 FTE x $122,500 = $35,000])

Result: The employee’s hours are correct, BUT the employee’s pay is overstated.

Does NAFLAT Replace Using 0.35 Standard Hours with NAANNL?  
No.  You should continue to use 0.35  Standard Hours with NAANNL when you are providing a stipendiary payment to a benefited employee (i.e. Housemaster) and there are no stated hours (approximate or otherwise) associated with the appointment and you do not want to overstate the employee’s FTE and/or hours worked. 

Comp Rate Code: NAANNL  with 0.35 Standard Hours

Scenario: You need to pay a benefited employee through an additional job a stipendiary payment of $10,000  (i.e., Housemaster). 

In this case the stipendiary pay is typically not tied to a defined number of hours and the employee already has a benefited position.

  • Enter Standard Hours of 0.35
  • Select Pay Group of Paid
  • Enter Comp Rate Code NAANNL
  • Enter FTE Salary (annual comp rate)  of $10,000

Result: Employee annual pay is $10,000 and calculated FTE is .01 – which minimizes the additional appointment’s impact on FTE count.

Please note that these examples are not inclusive of all the examples processed at the University. If you have questions about when to use this NAFLAT, please discuss with your HR or Payroll Department.

 New Self-Service Pages: Voluntary Self-Identification of Veteran Status (updated page) and Disability Status Forms (new page)

These pages are the result of two new regulations from the US Department of Labor via the OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) regarding improving hiring and employment and persons of disabilities.  Veteran Status is an updated page, and Disability is a new page.

Note: All applicants must be given the opportunity to self-identify their Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Veteran Status, and Disabled status during the application process. All hired candidates should be given an additional opportunity to self-identify Veteran and Disabled status. Starting in November, all newly-hired employees will be notified of these self-identification pages via email (or hardcopy, if the employee does not have an email address). This will also be communicated during new hire orientation.

Veteran Status – What’s Changing?
Path: Self-Service>Personal Information>Veteran Status

This page will include OFCCP-mandated language and different options for employees to self-identify. In addition, a notice of Reasonable Accommodations that includes links to Harvard resources will display.

Disability Status – New Page
Path: Self-Service>Personal Information>Disability

This new page allows employees to self-identify disability status.

Updated: Action/Action Reason Code List

The action/reason code list is now in a new, web-based format. You can still access it from the PeopleTools section of Eureka, or directly from this link.

The updated format allows users to: 

  • View the entire list of all active and inactive codes. · 
  • Filter the list by any of the following:
    • Category (Hiring Actions, Job Data Changes, Disability Actions, Non-Disability Absences, Terminations/Retirements)
    • Action Code
    • Include or exclude codes which are inactive and/or codes used only by the Benefits or Payroll Disability Group ·
  • Search for a specific Reason Code.  

To view a print-friendly version of the list, click View Full List located in the top right section of the form.

PACT (Payroll, Absence Management, Commitment Accounting and Time & Labor)

New Split Costing Functionality (Addl Pay Smart Form)
This enhancement allows for multiple rows of costing to be added for the same Earnings Code/Effective Date on the Additional Pay Smart Form.

  • The number of costing rows that can be added is unlimited.
  • The Preparer will enter multiple rows of costing with distribution by percentage (%).
  • Once submitted, the form will calculate how much per row of costing to insert to the Additional Pay Table.

 A graphic of the Add Split screen

New Self-Service Page: View Earnings Summary
Path: Self Service > Payroll and Compensation > View Earnings Summary

The View Earnings Summary page will provide all self-service users with an easy-to-read snapshot of weekly hours and earning information by job for each pay period. This feature will be helpful for employees with multiple jobs who are seeking an earnings breakdown for each job on each check or pay advice.

 Example: John Harvard has two jobs in the WTM pay group. During the week of 4/5/14, he works 8 hours in WTM Job 1 and 16 hours in Job 2. The hourly pay rate for both jobs is the same:

View_Earnings_Summary