Sage Abra SQL HRMS HRMS Basics. User Guide

Sage Abra SQL HRMS HRMS Basics User Guide

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Table of Contents Use Sage Abra SQL HRMS Help...1 Print Topics from Help...2 Print User Guides from Help...3 Work in the Help Toolbar...4 Sage Abra SQL HRMS Overview...4 Sage Abra SQL HRMS Modules...4 Sage Abra SQL HRMS Makes It Easy...5 Overview of Time Off...6 FMLA Tracking Capabilities...6 Abra HR Overview...7 Make Quick Work of Record Keeping...7 Take the Hassle Out of Government Reporting...7 Maximize Benefits With Efficient Administration...8 Avoid COBRA Confusion...8 Limit Access To Sensitive Information...8 Family Medical Leave Act...8 Customize Abra HR...9 Abra Payroll Overview...10 Tailor the System to your Business...10 Process Payroll in a Variety of Ways...11 Direct Deposit Paychecks...11 Protect the Integrity of Your Data...11 Produce Comprehensive Management Reports...11 Training Overview...12 Make Quick Work of Training Administration...12 Track Job Training Requirements...12 Analyze Training Costs...12 Track Employee Skills...12 Demonstrate Promotion of Employee Development...12 HRMS Basics i

Ensure QS9000 and ISO9000 Compliance... 13 Limit Access to Sensitive Information... 13 Customize Training... 13 Overview of Abra Workforce Connections... 13 Open Abra Workforce Connections from within Sage Abra SQL HRMS... 14 ii Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Use Sage Abra SQL HRMS Help Use Sage Abra SQL HRMS Help Help is an online reference tool available any time you use Sage Abra SQL HRMS. It is very useful when you need information quickly. To access Help: Select Help > Contents from the main menu in Sage Abra HRMS. You can then select to view the Table of Contents, Index, or Search tab for Help on a particular topic or to learn how to use Help. Click the main Help button in the top right hand corner of the screen to access the online Help system from anyplace in Sage Abra SQL HRMS. Click the context sensitive Help button in the top right corner of any page to open the online Help topic directly related to the Sage Abra HRMS feature you are using. The left side of the page displays three tabs, Contents, Index, and Search. HRMS Basics 1

Use Sage Abra SQL HRMS Help Click the Contents tab to display the Table of Contents. Double click a book or page icon to open the associated topic. To open all the topics in the table of contents, right click on the contents page and select Open All. To close all the topics, right click on the contents page and select Close All. Click the Index tab to display an alphabetical list of Help topics. Use the text box to enter the name of the topic or simply enter the first letter of the topic for which you are searching. The system moves the highlight to that topic in the Index. Double click a topic to open it. You may also use the mouse to scroll through the list and click on the desired topic. Use the scrollbars to move up and down on the page. Use the options in the Help toolbar to work with the page. To find a topic for any of the interface products, such as Abra Link, do one of the following: Use the Index tab 1. Click the Index tab. 2. Enter a word or phrase in the Type in the keyword to find field. 3. Use the mouse to scroll through the list and click on the desired topic. After you select a topic, it is displayed on the right side of your page. Use the Search tab 1. Click the Search tab to enable full text search. 2. Type one or more keywords in the text box and click List Topics. When the text box does contain more that one keyword, place quotes around the topic. All the topics that include your keywords are displayed. 3. Double click a topic to open it. The topic highlights each occurrence of your keywords. After you select a topic, it is displayed on the right side of your page. Print Topics from Help Print a topic by one of the following methods. Click Print on the Help toolbar. Select whether you want to print the current page or print everything contained in the current heading. Right click a book or page in Contents and select Print. Select whether you want to print the current page or print everything contained in the current heading. To print the page displayed in the Help window, right click inside the page. Select the Print option. The Windows Print dialog box displays. Click OK to print the current page. 2 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Use Sage Abra SQL HRMS Help Print User Guides from Help Each section of the online Help is also available in Adobe PDF format which enables you to view and print that sectionʹs entire User Guide or just the pages you need. In order to view and print these documents you will need Adobe Reader 7.0 or higher. To view or print a user guide from Help: 1. From the Sage Abra SQL HRMS menu, select Help > Additional Documentation. Windows Explorer opens the...\sage\sage Abra SQL HRMS Client\Help folder. 2. Click the Internet shortcut: Go to web site for Sage Abra SQL HRMS additional documentation 3. Select the document to open it. 4. Preview or Print the file. HRMS Basics 3

Sage Abra SQL HRMS Overview Work in the Help Toolbar The Help toolbar contains commands that you can use while working in Help. Sage Abra SQL HRMS Overview Congratulations! You are about to begin using the most powerful and flexible software program in the human resource profession. Sage Abra SQL HRMS, the leading HRMS solution in the market today, is designed for completeness and ease of use. The Sage Abra HRMS solution offers comprehensive payroll processing, training, and benefits administration ensuring your readiness to tackle challenging HR issues. Sage Abra SQL HRMS can use Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database. Sage Abra SQL HRMS Modules Abra HR is a powerful solution for managing critical employee information. Ideal for businesses of any size, Abra HR helps you manage your company s benefits programs with comprehensive benefits administration tools, track and prepare reports to ensure government compliance, and electronically store employee forms and certificates. 4 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Sage Abra SQL HRMS Overview Sage Abra SQL HRMS Payroll handles all your U.S. and Canadian payroll record keeping and calculations, regardless of the size and complexity of your business. Set up and maintain your payroll employees and the earnings, deductions, taxes, and other pay factors used in calculating pay. You can process payroll based on timecards or manual checks, or based on information you add when you set up employees. You can track the results of payroll processing on the displays and printed reports. Note: Any references made to the Sage AccPac Payroll module are equivalent to the Sage Abra SQL HRMS Payroll module. Be advised that these terms are used interchangeably throughout the Help system. Time Off tracks employee absences and leave accruals. Its flexibility allows you to define absence codes, handle the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and manage accruals and carry overs. Designed to meet all your attendance tracking needs, offers complete flexibility in handling all types of attendance plans and employee time off. Training is a skills based training management system used to define specific training needs, prepare compliance reports, and ensure certifications are completed on time. In addition, it helps define training requirements for new employees based on their current skill sets and automatically updates employee ʺSkills Profilesʺ upon completion of new courses. Abra Workforce Connections is the web based employee self service solution for Sage Abra HRMS. It consists of: Abra ESS Abra Benefits Enrollment Abra erecruiter Abra Information Sharing Capability Sage Abra SQL HRMS Makes It Easy Sage Abra SQL HRMS includes several tools that pull all the functions of each module together to help you accomplish your goals quickly and easily. Use the Main Menu or the Navigation Pane to access all tasks contained in your system. When you are ready to start working, choose your tasks from either the Main Menu or the Navigation Pane. Use the Organizer and the Scheduler to arrange your many tasks and plan your tasks in the way most efficient for you. The Organizer provides a central location for finding your information. You can schedule tasks for yourself or another Sage Abra SQL HRMS user using the Scheduler included in the Organizer. HRMS Basics 5

Overview of Time Off Overview of Time Off Time Off offers a full set of features for all types of attendance tracking while providing a seamless integration with other Abra products. The attendance tracking system can save you many hours of manually tracking labor, accumulating absences, and summarizing attendance. Use Time Off to: Define your own rules for accruing and tracking employee absences and attendance benefits. Generate management reports and analyses to quickly detect problems with employees or within departments. Manage an unlimited number of attendance plans including regular paid absences such as vacation, personal leave, and illness. Maintain separate, date sensitive accounting for each attendance plan for fiscal, calendar, and anniversary accrual years. Record absences such as jury duty, medical leave, bereavement, and other compensatory or leave time. Track year to date hours available versus year to date hours taken. Use hours, days, or other units of measure to track time. Provide an instant, year to date snapshot of employee attendance that can help answer employees questions. Carry over unused time into the next accrual year and tracks the maximum carryover hours over the course of one year or a lifetime. Track an unlimited number of attendance benefit plans per employee. Fully integrate with Abra HR. FMLA Tracking Capabilities The Family Medical Leave Act, effective as of August 5, 1993, requires employers to provide and administer up to 12 unpaid work weeks during any 12 month period for qualifying events and eligible employees. For eligible employees that request and receive an FMLA leave of absence, Abra Attendance records and tracks the information the law requires. For more information about recording and tracking FMLA leave, see Tracking FMLA Leave. 6 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Abra HR Overview Abra HR Overview More employers use Abra HR than any other human resource software, because it has proven to be the most efficient, comprehensive, and cost effective management information system available. By automating and organizing the massive record keeping needs of human resources, Abra HR eliminates time consuming clerical work and provides powerful tools for managing information about employees your organization s greatest asset and investment. Make Quick Work of Record Keeping Abra HR puts all employee information at your fingertips enabling you to respond immediately to management, employee, and government requests. You can save hours of time and effort as Abra HR simplifies and speeds tracking for: Employee personal information Current job and pay information Unlimited job and pay history Salary and performance reviews Benefits administration Emergency contact information Employee education, training, and certifications Dependent information OSHA and OHS information, and workers compensation claims Leaves of Absence, including FMLA tracking and reports Take the Hassle Out of Government Reporting With Abra HR, you meet the ever increasing demands of government regulations with efficiency and confidence. In just minutes, you can generate: EEO reports (EEO 1 and EEO 4 reports) and EE Reports Immigration verification (I 9) reports Veteran s employment (VETS 100, VETS 100A) reports OSHA, OHS, and workers compensation claim reports HRMS Basics 7

Abra HR Overview Maximize Benefits With Efficient Administration Get the most out of the time and dollars you spend on employee benefit plan packages by providing accurate administration and details to management and employees. Abra HR benefit administration features offer: Total flexibility for handling even the most complex benefit plans. Automatic, accurate calculations for employee, dependent and employer costs. User defined benefits tables that easily calculate and automatically update insurance coverage, premiums, and contributions. Tracking of coverage and enrollment for insurance and 401(k) plans. Avoid COBRA Confusion Abra HR takes the hassle out of administering government required COBRA benefits for former employees and dependents. COBRA features provide: Recipient, eligibility, dependent and cost reports Detailed notification letters Accurate billing statements Mailing labels Limit Access To Sensitive Information Abra HR provides both effective and flexible security measures employers can use to restrict access to specific types of information. Use security features to: Assign an unlimited number of user IDs and passwords with access defined for each user. Restrict access by information type and employee classification. Define each userʹs ability to view or work with particular pages and, in some cases, fields (those with exceptionally sensitive data). Define access by groups such as department, job code, location, and so on. Family Medical Leave Act The Family Medical Leave Act, effective as of August 5, 1993, requires employers to provide and administer up to 12 unpaid work weeks during any 12 month period. For each employee that 8 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Abra HR Overview requests and is assigned an FMLA leave of absence, Abra HR tracks the FMLA information the law requires. Customize Abra HR Abra HR provides effective tools and features to customize your system to meet your organization s unique human resource management requirements. Use the Abra HR customization features to: Design custom pages to hold specialized information Abra HR does not store elsewhere. For example, you might decide to maintain information regarding employee car assignments, credit cards, or security clearance. Set up custom code tables for use with your custom pages to speed, simplify, and validate data entry and to ensure consistency. Develop your own selection criteria with the Criteria Builder. Use Criteria tables to store common employee selection criteria. Establish system security levels to determine which data entry personnel can view, access, or update human resource data. Utilize user defined fields to store miscellaneous information Abra HR does not store elsewhere. HRMS Basics 9

Abra Payroll Overview Abra Payroll Overview The Sage Abra U.S. and Canadian modules handle all your payroll record keeping and calculations, regardless of the size and complexity of your business. Set up and maintain your payroll employees and the earnings, deductions, taxes, and other pay factors used in calculating pay. You can process payroll based on timecards or manual checks, or based on information you add when you set up employees. You can track the results of payroll processing on the displays and printed reports. Note: Any references made to the Sage Accpac Payroll module are equivalent to the Sage Abra Payroll module. Be advised that these terms are used interchangeably throughout this Help system. To access the Sage Abra Payroll Help system, From a payroll page, press F1. From a non payroll page, click the Help icon, click the Contents tab, click Sage Abra SQL HRMS Payroll Help, and then click U.S. Payroll Online Help or Canadian Payroll Online Help. Tailor the System to your Business Set up the earnings, deductions, benefits, advances, accruals, expense reimbursements, and taxes that fit your company today and allow for growth in the future. Set up selection lists of employees for whom you can calculate payroll and perform other processing functions. Create overtime and shift differential schedules that accommodate all types of overtime and shift pay arrangements. Create up to four different classes, or sort orders, to allow you to calculate payroll, sort paychecks, and produce reports for any combination of employees. Create work classification codes that you can assign to employees, and produce reports based on the codes. Define the order in which earnings, deductions, and taxes are to be calculated and the base hours, earnings, deductions, and taxes to use in calculating their amounts. 10 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Abra Payroll Overview Process Payroll in a Variety of Ways Process payroll based on the earnings, deductions, and taxes you set up and assign to each employee in the Employees online form. Process payroll based on information in the employee record and information entered on timecards to override or supplement the data in the employee record. Enter, process, and post manual check data for an ʺafter the factʺ record of checks written manually and issued to employees. Enter and process manual check data and then print and post the manual checks within Payroll using the Payroll Checks online form. Direct Deposit Paychecks Using EFT Direct Payroll, you can directly deposit paychecks to employeesʹ bank accounts. Protect the Integrity of Your Data Several built in controls prevent you from taking actions that could damage your data. For example: The system warns you if you modify an earning, deduction, or tax that is referenced on a timecard or manual check. If you integrate with General Ledger, you cannot inadvertently leave G/L account fields blank. The system prompts you to enter at least one distribution account set for each tax and each earning/deduction you set up. You cannot delete an employee, earning, deduction, or tax that is referenced in the years of payroll history you opt to keep. Produce Comprehensive Management Reports Payroll provides a full range of reports, journals, and lists. They include: Earnings and Hours Report Print for a range of dates or print through any month, for a look at employee totals for the month, quarter, and year to date. Earnings/Deduction Summary Print for a range of dates, print current balances, or print through any month, with focus on month, quarter, and year to date earning and deduction amounts. Tax Calculation Analysis Print for a range of dates, or print through any month to focus on month, quarter, and year to date amounts. HRMS Basics 11

Training Overview Workers Compensation Report Print for details about employee wages subject to workersʹ compensation premiums and the calculated premiums. Training Overview Training is a powerful training management tool you can use to meet all your employer s training administration needs, from the simple to the sophisticated. Make Quick Work of Training Administration Training simplifies the tasks of training administration, including: Tracking demand for training Setting up classes Managing class rosters Producing class correspondence Tracking skills Track Job Training Requirements If you have employees who require specific training in order to perform their jobs, use Training to define the training requirements for those jobs, schedule the employees for the necessary training, and make sure the training is completed on time. Analyze Training Costs Use Training to track costs for various types of training and to tie those expenses back to employees, jobs, and departments. Track Employee Skills If you also use Sage Abra HR you can link training activities to specific skills. As employees complete training their records are updated to reflect their new skills. Demonstrate Promotion of Employee Development Training helps your employer demonstrate its commitment to employee development by documenting training programs and opportunities within your organization. 12 Sage Abra SQL HRMS

Overview of Abra Workforce Connections Ensure QS9000 and ISO9000 Compliance Sage Abra Train helps your employer return training requirements for QS9000 and ISO9000 certification by providing documentation of the training programs offered and completion of required training by employees. Limit Access to Sensitive Information Training provides both effective and flexible security measures employers can use to restrict access to specific types of information. Use the security features to: Assign an unlimited number of user IDs and passwords with access defined for each user. Restrict access by information type and employee classification. Define each userʹs ability to view or work with particular pages and, in some cases, fields (those with exceptionally sensitive data). Define access by groups such as department, job code, and location. Customize Training Training provides effective tools and features to customize your system to meet your organization s unique training management requirements. The Training customization features: Develop your own selection criteria with the Criteria Builder. Use Criteria tables to store common employee selection criteria. Establish system security levels to determine which data entry personnel can view, access, or update training data. Utilize user defined fields to store miscellaneous information Training does not store elsewhere. Design custom pages to hold specialized information Training does not store elsewhere. Overview of Abra Workforce Connections Abra Workforce Connections is a web based, employee self service, online benefits enrollment, and online recruiting solution for Sage Abra SQL HRMS that connects applicants, employees, managers, and administrators across the company with automated workflows and internal employee communications using the Internet and company intranet. It consists of four areas: Abra ESS HRMS Basics 13

Overview of Abra Workforce Connections Abra Benefits Enrollment Abra erecruiter Abra Information Sharing Capability Abra ESS povides a central online location for employees, managers, and administrators to securely view, update, and manage important personal and company information, and to process HR and Payroll requests, approvals, and notifications. Abra Benefits Enrollment extends the benefits management capabilities of Abra HR by including online open enrollment using the web. In addition, employees can update dependents, beneficiaries, and marital status at any time throughout the year by processing a life event. Abra erecruiter is an online career center that enables external applicants to view open positions, fill out applications, and submit resumes that automatically route to an appropriate recruiter for review. When installed with Abra ESS, employees inside the company can search and apply for open positions as well as refer other applicants for open positions. Abra Information Sharing Capability allows Abra Workforce Connections users to easily share data with other employees in your company. For example, a Human Resources Generalist can extract quarterly turnover comparisons and send them to managers in your company. Abra Workforce Connections provides the View Builder, a versatile feature that allows you to implement information sharing in your company. Open Abra Workforce Connections from within Sage Abra SQL HRMS To open Abra Workforce Connections from within Sage Abra HRMS, select Workforce Connection from the Quick Launch toolbar and enter your user name and password on the logon page. 14 Sage Abra SQL HRMS