Managing Workflow using People Inc.

Transcription

1 Managing Workflow using People Inc. Introduction A significant number of administrative processes require that information is passed between employees or groups of employees and that this flow of information is controlled by some form of or decision-making at various stages. Automating this type of process is generally referred to as workflow and can be implemented within People Inc. using the Intranet (ESS). Workflow can be a single-step or multi-step process and may involve a variety of different activities including: Initiating a request (by filling out an on-line form) Routing that request to an approving manager or supervisor Sending notification that some information has been submitted or processed Assessing or evaluating a range of information and then processing a request Generating formatted output for use in another system Using the Intranet to automate day-to-day processes can simplify the way employees work together and provide the organisation with real gains in terms of efficiency and cost savings. The system is ideally suited to managing this type of process as it grants access to individual employees and managers to the appropriate information at the appropriate time. This document discusses a workflow example where is registered by employees, approved by managers and then processed by the payroll team. Other examples of workflow include: Gaining authorisation to recruit (and posing a vacancy on a website) Bidding for places on centrally run training courses Submission and of expenses or timesheets Requesting holidays Registration and Approval of Overtime Example In some organisations employees are from time to time be required to work. It is possible to configure the Intranet to record and manage this information. This is typically a multi-step process: firstly the employee adds information about the extra time they have worked; this is then approved by their manager (and only then are historical in the system are ); the information can them be extracted (into MS Excel for example) for payroll processing. Information extracted Details of the reporting structure within the organisation (who reports to who) is required to enable the system to manage this type of process. This is a standard feature; it is already Page 1 of 5 Version 1.1, August 2011

2 possible to record the organisational structure in the Intranet configuration screens. In this way, the organisation is broken down into groups and one or more managers are identified as the individuals who will approve requests for each group. Note that if in a department, Overtime Bookings are not processed by the same person who processes Holiday Requests, then adjustments will need to be made to the way the organisational structure is recorded. Step 1: s Record Overtime A new screen is required to enable employees to record information about the they have worked. This is added using the Screen Designer. The screen might enable the employee to record the date on which they worked, the number of hours, and how they would like this booking processed (as pay or as in-lieu time). These fields are included in the example screen below. It is possible for the user to add additional fields using the Screen Designer as needed. Screen Design: Overtime Bookings s use their web-browser to access the Intranet. Each employee can be selectively granted access to information within the Intranet using their access profile. By default, this profile is set to show them just their personal details (read-only) and the employee requests screens (with create and limited update access rights). It is possible to modify this access profile if employees are required to see or update other information within the system. The new Overtime Bookings screen will enable them to register the details of any they have worked. They would also be able to see any that they have added in the past. Their profile would not grant access to other employee s information. The screen image below shows a record added by Lynn Boardman indicating that she has worked 4 hours (on the 18 th of August) and that she would like to be paid for this work (rather than have the time registered as time-off-in-lieu). This booking has already been approved by her manager. Page 2 of 5 Version 1.1, August 2011

3 Web-Browser View: Overtime Bookings An employee can add as many entries as they wish, but cannot change the Overtime Status field (only their manager can do this). The system will ensure that they always complete mandatory information (for example the Date of Overtime, Number of Hours, and Book As fields). Step 2: Approves Booking The employees in a team submit a number of requests during a particular month (or any other period). These requests are then made available to a manager for. A manager can be alerted via when a new request is made. The text for the is specified in the ESS Settings screen. When the manager logs in to the Intranet they too can view the Overtime Bookings screen. When they open the screen, by default it lists all new bookings from all the members of their team. They can work through the list and update the status of the bookings from New to Approved (or Declined ). Note that s can also submit their own via this screen. These entries are passed to the manager s manager for processing. A manager cannot approve their own requests. Page 3 of 5 Version 1.1, August 2011

4 Web-Browser View: List of Overtime Bookings Step 3: Records Updated As the manager approves the that have been submitted it is possible to update other information in the system automatically. Each employee normally has a holiday entitlement recorded within People Inc. This might say that the employee has 25 days holiday this year (for example). Where is added via the new screen and booked as In Lieu, and a manager approves the booking, it is then possible for the system to add the appropriate number of hours to the employee s holiday entitlement automatically (by adding an entry to the Additional Leave screen). For example, if an employee has worked 4 hours and would like this processed as in-lieu time. The system could add a half-day to their holiday allowance for this year. This can then be taken at any time (in the same way as their normal holiday entitlement). In this situation, once the request is approved, the Overtime Booking record is locked and can no longer be changed. Page 4 of 5 Version 1.1, August 2011

5 An important point here is that is registered in hours, but holiday allowances are defined in days. The system can automatically convert hours registered as into days so that they can be added to the employee s holiday allowance. This is done by looking at the employee s work pattern in their job history details (in a simple implementation of this process, an employees working hours on a particular day needs to be either the same figure or zero). Additional checks can also be made at this point in the process, for example, some companies only allow full days or half-days to be taken as holiday. In this situation, if the hours that have been entered correspond to a number of days that is anything other than a multiple of full days or half-days, the system can warn the employee that this is the case (or even stop them from saving the entry until they change the number of hours). If the employee has chosen to ask to be paid for the they have worked, there is no need to update any information held elsewhere in the system. The bookings of this type can be included in output used for payroll processing (using a report or data-export). For this type of booking, it is important that the manager checks the Overtime Category as this will dictate how the is paid. If the manager declines the request (changes the status of a request to Declined ) the system then sends an to the employee informing them that this has happened. The employee can then either delete the request, or update the request and re-submit it. In all cases, when the manager updates a request, the system who has the entry and when this update was made. This is useful when looking back through the requests to address any queries that may arise. Step 4: Information Extracted The information recorded in the People Inc system in this way is available to the report writer. This means that it can be selected, formatted and extracted for use elsewhere. Information extracted An example of this might be that, where Overtime Bookings are set to be booked as Pay rather than In Lieu this information might be extracted and sent to the payroll team for processing. This can be done using the standard report writer and the information can be printed or generated in MS Excel or Adobe PDF format as required. It is of course possible to provide a user account for the payroll clerk in the finance team to enable them to access and extract the information themselves. This not only simplifies the process but also improved general office efficiency. The access profile for this account could be set to preclude the payroll clerk from seeing other information held in the system if required. Page 5 of 5 Version 1.1, August 2011