When a user initiates an action the application prompts the user for an effective date. The user can elect for the changes to take place as soon as final approval is made. Or the user can supply an effective date. The application checks the hire date and tells the user to select a later date. The application also informs the user of any pending changes to that person's record.
The application validates the entry to make sure the data is correct using specific criteria. The following checks are carried out in a chained process:
hire_date
Checks that the effective date entered is later than the hire date. If it is not, an error will be issued and the user will be unable to continue.
termination_date
Checks that the effective date entered is earlier than the termination date. If it is not, an error will be issued and the user will be unable to continue.
pending_workflow
Checks if there are changes pending in the workflow tables for the selected person.
If there are pending changes, the user will be unable to continue with the action unless the profile option HR:Allow Concurrent Self Service Actions is set to Yes.
future_assignment
Checks if there are any future assignment changes with respect to the effective date entered.
insert_mode
Issues a warning (alert) only if the effective date of the assignment is less than a future-dated change.
To configure the outcome of the above checks, see Handling Concurrent Transactions below.
The application supports multiple simultaneous actions on the same employee or worker. To activate this feature you need to set the system profile option HR:Allow Concurrent Self Service Actions to Yes.
Enabling concurrent transactions can give rise to potential data conflicts from either intervening actions or actions dated in the future. Two profile options enable you to control the potentially conflicting data: HR:Refresh Self Service Actions With Data From Intervening Actions, and HR:Manage Self Service Actions When Future-Dated Changes Exist.
If someone approves an action on an employee or worker while a manager is performing a transaction on the same employee or worker, and the effective date of the approved action is prior to the current action's effective date, then a potential conflict exists. The system profile, HR:Refresh Self Service Actions With Data From Intervening Actions, enables you to deal with this potential conflict.
If you set the system profile to Yes, the application displays a warning message listing the attributes that have been changed by the prior approved action. A refresh of the current data will occur. The manager will then be able to proceed with the transaction.
If you set the system profile to No, the application displays a warning with the following message: "The database contains future-dated changes to this person's record. Your current setup does not allow you to complete this action. Contact your system administrator." The current transaction will fail.
When the application encounters a pending change to the manager's selected person's record, effective subsequent to the current action's effective date, the future-dated change poses a potential conflict with the current action. You can manage these potential conflicts by setting the profile option, HR:Manage Self Service Actions When Future-Dated Changes Exist, to one of the values below:
Allow Approval (Notify HR Rep)
After completing the chain of approval, a notification of the transaction will be sent to an HR Representative who can review the change, then apply the necessary changes to the database manually.
You must define a role based on the predefined type HR Representative, and assign it to each HR manager you want to receive the notification. The first HR manager to act on the notification and apply manual changes does so on behalf of all HR Representatives.
Stop with an Error
The manager will be forced to choose an Effective Date subsequent to the future-dated change.
Attention: If you enable the system profile HR:Manage Self Service Actions When Future-Dated Changes Exist by setting it to Allow Approval (Notify HR Rep), Oracle highly recommends that you also enable HR:Refresh Self Service Actions with Data from Intervening Actions. Otherwise you should disable HR:Refresh Self Service Actions with Data from Intervening Actions.
Note: A system administrator or other implementer of Self-Service Benefits can access the Change Session Date menu option for testing future dated enrollments. You should remove this menu item in your production environment so that benefits participants do not alter their enrollment date. To remove the Change Session Date item from the menu, query the BEN_SELF_SERVICE_BENEFITS menu option in the Menus window and delete the Change Session Date menu entry.