Process rules (also known as business rules) help you ensure that business activities reflect the policies of your enterprise by validating business transactions (such as position transactions, budget worksheets, and reallocation transactions) when you apply them to the database. You manage process rules using the web-based Configurable Business Rules function available from the Navigator.
For more information about process rules, see Business Rules.
Note: When you add or update rule conditions in the Configurable Business Rules function, the application does not validate the conditions you enter in the Value field, except to ask for a number or string. It is up to you to see to it that values you enter are valid, as defined by your organization's unique implementation.
The following table describes the process rules and messages Oracle HRMS delivers. Predefined process rules fall into the categories of Assignment Modification, Position Modification, or Budget Preparation.
Predefined Process Rules and Messages
| Rule Name | Category | Decision Context: Warning, Error, Ignore? | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment Grade Ladder Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering a new assignment without providing grade ladder information. (Default = Ignore) | "You have not entered a grade ladder. The grade/step progression process cannot consider this assignment." |
| Assignment Grade Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering a grade for this assignment that differs from the entry grade of the position. | "The grade you're entering for this assignment is different from the entry grade of the position." |
| Assignment Hire Date Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment for a position before its Earliest Hire Date. | "The Assignment Effective Date must begin on or after the position's Earliest Hire Date." |
| Assignments/Positions Budget(s) Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment for a position that will put the position over budget. | "The new assignment exceeds budgeted amount for the position." |
| Budget Set Rule | Budget Preparation | You have not defined a budget set, or you have not filled in values for element percentages. | "The sum of the Budget Sets for a period must be greater than zero." |
| FTE Rule | Assignment Modification | You enter a greater number of Assigned Budgeted FTEs than those budgeted or defined for the position. | "The number of assigned budgeted FTEs exceeds the number of FTEs budgeted for that position." "The number of assigned budgeted FTEs exceeds the number of FTEs defined for that position." |
| Element Sum less than 100 | Budget Preparation | You are attaching a budget set where the sum of percentages is less than 100%. (If the sum is greater than 100%, you receive a posting error.) | "The total percentage for a Budget Set is less then 100." |
| Funding Source less than 100 | Budget Preparation | You have entered funding sources where the sum of percentages is less than 100%. (If the sum is greater than 100%, you receive a posting error.) | "The Budget funding source total is less than 100." |
| Missing Commitment Element Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment to a controlled and budgeted position, where the assignment's salary basis includes an element you have not defined as a commitment element in the control budget. | "Salary element not defined as commitment element." |
| Position Elimination Rule | Position Modification | You are eliminating a position that has active assignments on or after the proposed date of elimination. | "This position has active assignments on or after your proposed date of elimination." |
| Position FTE Capacity Rule | Assignment Modification | Position FTE Capacity is not equal to Assigned Budgeted FTEs. (Position FTE Capacity is the result of FTE divided by Headcount.) | "Assignment Budgeted FTE is not equal to position FTE Capacity." |
| Position Layoff Date Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment for a position that has a Proposed Layoff Date prior to the assignment Effective Date. | "The Assignment Effective Date occurs after the Proposed Layoff Date for this position." |
| Position Reservation Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment for a position you have reserved for another person. | "You cannot assign this position to this person because you have reserved it for someone else." |
| Seasonal Dates Rule | Assignment Modification | You are entering an assignment for a Seasonal Position with an Effective Date outside the date range specified in the position's Seasonal Information. | "You are assigning a Seasonal Position. The assignment effective dates must fall within the seasonal dates defined for the position's Seasonal Information (Position Extra Information)." |
| Under Budgeted Positions Rule | Budget Preparation | You are running Report Under Budgeted Entities. (Setting this rule to Error does not halt report processing, but displays an error in the Process Log for Under Budgeted Entities.) | "The value of <budget measurement unit> for the current <primary budget entity> is Under Budgeted." (For example: "The value of Money for the current Position is Under Budgeted.") |
In the Budget Reallocation category, you can define conditions under which a validation succeeds or fails by defining process rules of your own, using selected attribute values in a reallocation transaction, such as Organization Description or FTE. The table below provides information about transaction attributes available in the budget reallocation category.
Attributes That Define Process Rules for Budget Reallocation
| Attribute | Entity Type | Applicability | Sample Values | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 27,500; 87,421 | Number |
| Budgeted Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 50,000; 137,137 | Number |
| Committed Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 60,248; 48,739 | Number |
| Donated Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 25,000; 78,265 | Number |
| FTE | Position | Donor/Receiver | 1; 28; 137 | Number |
| Head Count | Position | Donor/Receiver | 10; 20; 137 | Number |
| Job [Value of job_id in PER_JOBS] | Position | Donor/Receiver | 1; 2; 3 | Number |
| Job Description | Position | Donor/Receiver | 200.GRAPHIC DESIGNER; Graduate Assistant; 128.8.Programmer | String |
| Organization [Value of organization_id in HR_ALL_ORGANIZATION_UNITS] | Position | Donor/Receiver | 1; 2; 3 | Number |
| Organization Description | Position | Donor/Receiver | Manufacturing; Port Authority; Sociology | String |
| Organization Location [Value of location_id in HR_LOCATIONS] | Organization | Donor/Receiver | 1; 2; 3 | Number |
| Organization Type [User-definable lookup: ORG_TYPE] | Organization | Donor/Receiver | Company; Department; Enterprise | String |
| Pending Donation Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 65,000; 78,845 | Number |
| Permanent | Position | Donor/Receiver | Yes, No | (Y/N) |
| Position Location [Value of location_id in HR_LOCATIONS] | Position | Donor/Receiver | 1; 2; 3 | Number |
| Position Location Description | Position | Donor/Receiver | Redwood Shores; Sheboygan; Boston | String |
| Position Status [US Federal only] | Position | Donor/Receiver | Valid, Invalid | String |
| Position Type | Position | Donor/Receiver | NONE; POOLED; SHARED; SINGLE | String |
| Received Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 15,137; 80,000 | Number |
| Reserved Value | All | Donor/Receiver | 20,000; 45,000 | Number |
| Seasonal | Position | Donor/Receiver | Yes, No | (Y/N) |
In the following table, for each transaction type, column two displays sample values in a hypothetical transaction. You can use transaction attribute values in two ways:
To define routing and approval rules that select workflow routing options and approvers for the transaction;
To define process rules that validate a budget reallocation transaction when you apply it to the database.
Column three provides examples of conditions in routing and approval rules that match the transaction, thereby selecting routing destinations or approvers. Column four displays a user-defined status and message that appears if transaction values cause the validation to fail.
Observe that with predefined process rule categories, the application displays fixed messages. (The first two rows show process rules in the Assignment Modification category.) With process rules in the Budget Reallocation category, you can define your own messages, as shown in row three.
In the final cell, the process rule conditions are:
Donated Value Greater than 25,000 (Error)
Position Location Description Equals "Brockton" (Warning)
How Routing/Approval Rules and Process Rules Use Transaction Values
| Transaction Type | Transaction Values | Routing/Approval Conditions | Process Rule Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position Transaction | Grade = 200.2.East; FTE = 4 | Grade From 200 To 300; FTE From <null> To 5 | WARNING: The number of assigned budgeted FTEs exceeds the number of FTEs budgeted for that position. [Predefined] |
| Budget Worksheet | Budget Measurement Unit 1 = $100,000; Primary Entity = "Position" | Budget Measurement Unit 1 From 80,000 To 150,000; Primary Entity From "Position" To "Position" | ERROR: New assignment exceeds budgeted amount for position. [Predefined] |
| Budget Reallocation Transaction | Budgeted Entity = "Position"; Folder Amount = 55,000; Position Location Description = "Brockton" | Budgeted Entity From "Position" To "Position"; Folder Amount From 50,000 To 100,000 | ERROR: You cannot donate more than $25,000; WARNING: You are donating funds from an entity in a location that may impose unique restrictions. [Both messages user-defined] |
For information about configuring workflow routing and approvals, see Transaction Type Wizard.
Transaction attributes available to define routing and approval rules may differ from those available to define process rules. For information about available routing and approval rules attributes, see Routing and Approval Rules Reference.