Just as elements constitute the underlying structure of absence types, so they provide the structure of accrual plans. Each accrual plan is associated with an absence element, which holds information about absences taken under the plan. There is also an element for the plan itself, which you use to enroll participants in the plan.
You enroll an employee in an accrual plan by entering the accrual plan element. You can only enroll employees who are eligible for the plan (that is, their assignments match the element's links). When you do the enrollment you can override the default date for calculating length of service (which is used in many accrual plans to determine the appropriate accrual amount and the start date of accruals for new hires).
Note: You enter the accrual plan element for the employee's primary assignment. If another assignment becomes the primary one, you must re-enter the accrual plan element for the new primary assignment. You can transfer the accrual balance to the new assignment using a balance adjustment element entry, if your implementation team has added a balance adjustment element to the net calculation rules for this accrual plan.
You record time taken under the accrual plan by making entries of the absence element associated with the plan.
Normally you make these entries using the Absence Detail window so you can record additional information, such as an absence reason, the name of the employee authorizing the absence, and the name of the employee replacing the absent worker. The window shows the participant's net accrual at the start of the absence and the projected accrual at the end of the accrual term.
You can also use BEE to make batch entries of hours of accrued sick or vacation time that employees have taken and noted on their timecards. Any entries you make to absence elements using BEE for an employee's primary assignment can then be viewed in the Absence Detail window. Entries made using BEE can include a reason, but the list of absence reasons available in the Absence Detail window is not automatically available here.
You can use the Accruals window to see, at any time, how much time an employee has accrued and used under an accrual plan. You cannot change the amount accrued using this window. The gross accrual is calculated by a formula that may, for example, vary the accrual according to length of service, grade, overtime or other factors.
If your enterprise pays employees for time they have accrued but not used, or if you permit employees to buy additional time, you may decide to define your own PTO-related elements to record information about these transactions. You then use the Element Entry window to enter these elements for the appropriate employees.
Once each year (or other plan term), an employee's balance of unused accrued time must be cleared down ready for the new plan term. You run the PTO Carry Over process to clear down these balances and record both unused time available for carryover, and residual time unavailable for carryover. For accrual plans with a variable term start date (such as hire date or seniority date), you should run the process every night to update plan information for any employees whose term has ended that day.
Note: Some accrual plans are based on a rolling plan term. The Carry Over Process is not relevant to this type of plan.