13 GROUPS & GROUP ITEMS

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

 2017 NorthgateArinso UK Limited.

May 2017 Version 1.4

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13 G ROUPS & G ROUP I TEMS

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

1 Groups 2 Group Items

3 Allocating Group Items to Employees 4 Groups to Users

5 Multiple Group Items

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^ROUPS

Groups are used in Optimum as a way of grouping employees together (e.g. into department or location, or under a common supervisor or manager).

By grouping employees together as much as possible, it allows for better control of security and access and for defining which employees report to which supervisors. It will also allow for more extensive reporting opportunities.

A group must also be identified that can be used as the Leave/Employment Conditions group. Leave/Employment conditions refer to leave rules (and absence rules if applicable). If it is not possible to identify one of the groups that can be used for this, a separate group must be set up. This is most often called ‘Leave Conditions’ Group or

‘Employment Conditions’ Group.

Some examples of Groups are given below:

- Manager

- Team Leader/Supervisor

- Leave Manager (if different to Manager or Team Leader/Supervisor) - Department

- Division

- Level, e.g. Manager or Employee - Job Title

- Status - Nationality

- Country (if client has offices in other countries this is especially important for assigning public holidays)

- FTE

There is no limit to the number of groups which can be set up in Optimum.

Groups are created using the Maintain Groups program and displayed on the Groups tab on the Employee Maintenance screen, where you can associate group items with

employees.

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

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ETTING

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P A

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ROUP

1. Select Maintain Groups from the setup menu

2. Click New. The system automatically populates the ID: field with the next available number.

3. Enter a Heading (up to 50 characters).

4. (Optional) Tick the Track Group box if you want the group to be tracked on analysis data. The tracking for a group should only be switched on if it is required for Cost Centre Movement or Job Tracking purposes. If this option is not

available, it will need to be set up in the System Settings, by your system administrator.

5. (Optional) Tick the Multiple Items checkbox if multiple group items can be allocated to an employee.

6. Click Save. You’ll get a message confirming that the new group has been created.

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ROUP

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TEMS

A group item is an individual member of a group. For example, in a group called

'Department' you might define 'Finance', 'HR' and 'Payroll' as group items (departments) under that group.

Group items are created in the Group Items program. They are allocated to employees in the Employee Maintenance program or globally through the Global Group Allocation program.

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REATING

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EW

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ROUP

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TEMS WITHIN A

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ROUP 1. Select Group Items from the setup menu.

2. From the drop-down list in the Group Name field, select the group that you want to add the item to. If there are any items already in the group, these are

displayed on the left hand side of the screen.

3. Click New.

4. Enter a Code for the item (up to 15 characters). Each item within the group must have a unique code.

5. Enter a Description for the item (up to 50 characters).

6. (Optional) You can enter Valid From and Valid To dates for the item if required.

If you have entered dates, the item will not be available for selection outside of these dates. If you do not enter dates here, the item is available.

7. (Optional) You can add up to ten Rates for the item. These could be, for

example, different rates of pay relating to basic pay, overtime, double overtime, etc.

8. (Optional) You can add up to five Email addresses applicable to the group item.

These can be used for escalating leave requests to the next level of management if a supervisor is on leave. If the group refers to an employee of the organisation (e.g. a supervisor or manager) you should enter their email address in the Email [1] field. This tells Optimum where to send requests if the supervisor/manager is an authoriser for leave bookings, timesheet adjustments, etc.

9. The Active checkbox is ticked by default.

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

Page 3 of 7 10. Click Save when the details are complete. You’ll get a message confirming that

the group item has been created.

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^CTIVE

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^NACTIVE

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^ROUP

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^TEMS

Group Items will by default be marked as Active.

To make a group item Inactive, untick the Active checkbox.

The list of group items in Group Item Maintenance can be edited to display only active group items or all group items by pressing the Show All Items / Show Active Items button

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

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LLOCATING

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ROUP

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TEMS TO

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MPLOYEES

Group Items can be allocated to employees in two ways; individually using the Employee Maintenance program or globally using the Global Group Allocation program.

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MPLOYEE

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AINTENANCE PROGRAM

1. Select Employee Maintenance from the menu 2. Select the Groups tab for the relevant employee

3. If there are no previously allocated group items to the group, select the group item from the drop-down beside the group name

4. Enter a date from which the group item should be allocated 5. Press Save

Note: if no date is entered, Optimum will use the employee’s start date as the group allocation date.

If a group item has already been allocated to that group, the group item can be changed or another one added by selecting the icon to the right of the allocation date. This displays the Employee Group Allocation table.

To add a new group allocation, press New 1. Select the new group from the drop-down 2. Enter a Start Date

3. Enter an End Date if applicable 4. Press Save

To delete a group allocation:

1. Select the relevant group from the Employee Group Allocations table, using the hyperlink under Description

2. Press Delete

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^LOBAL

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^ROUP

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^LLOCATION

This option can be used to allocate a group of employees to one particular group item or to change group item allocations in bulk.

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

Page 5 of 7 To allocate a group of employees to one new group item:

1. Select any group from the Main Groups list

2. Select all of the group items (or select only the relevant group items) from the Current Allocated Item(s) list. If you wish to include all employees, ensure you include the [Unallocated] item, as this will ensure employees who are on the system but who may not have that group item allocated to them, will also be selected

3. To include inactive employees, tick Include Inactive Employees

4. From the New Group drop-down, select the group which the employees need to be allocated to

5. From the New Item drop-down, select the particular group item 6. Enter a start date in the Apply Start Date field

7. Press Update

To change group item allocations within the same group:

1. Highlight the group that the employees are to be changed in, from the Main Groups list.

2. Select one or more group items that the employees are to be moved from in the Current Allocated Item(s) list.

3. To include inactive employees in the selected group items, tick Include Inactive Employees.

4. Select the same group from the New Group field.

5. Select the new group item which they are moving to from the New Item drop down

6. Press Update.

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PERATOR

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CCESS

This program allows you to use groups to restrict access to employee’s records by allocating groups of people to specific supervisors.

1. Select Operator Access from the menu. The left hand side of the screen displays a list of Users (people on the system who have been given enhanced access rights within Optimum).

2. Select the person to whom you want to allocate groups. If they have a menu profile assigned, this is displayed.

3. In the Group Name box, select the group that contains the items that you want to allocate to the user.

4. In the list of Available Group Items, highlight the item(s) that you want to allocate.

5. Click the << button to move these into the Allocated Group Items list. If you want to remove any items from this list, highlight them and click the >> button.

Changes are committed immediately to the database; you do not need to save changes separately.

The Show employees for… button displays a list of employees which the selected user has access to.

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

Page 6 of 7 The List option displays a list of all users, their username and the groups that have been allocated to them.

The Inactive checkbox will include inactive employees in the list the selected user has access to.

Note: If you allocate items from more than one group to a user (e.g. Department A and Cost Centre B), then the user will only see employees who are in both of these groups. They do not see all the employees in Department A and all the employees in Cost Centre B.

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^MPLOYEE

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^CCESS

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^HANGE

A new feature has been introduced with Release 11.1.4e that will display a list of employee’s that will be added or lost based on the ‘Groups’ selected. The box

Employee Access Change lists the employee’s to whom the user will have or have no access to.

The Employee’s displayed in this box will show either a plus sign and colour coded black – user has access to or a minus sign and colour coded red - user will lose access to the employee.

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^ULTIPLE

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^ROUP

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^TEMS

Optimum Version 11.1.4 allows for the allocation of multiple group items for one group.

Firstly a group must be created, allowing for multiple items to be selected:

1. Select Groups Maintenance

2. Create the group by pressing New and entering a Description

3. To allow multiple items to be selected for this group, tick the Multiple Items check box

4. Create the group items for this group in the Group Items Maintenance program

Use the Employee Maintenance screen to allocate the multiple group items to an

employee. One group item must be used as the Default Group Item and each group item must have a different allocation date.

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Optimum Time & Attendance – User Guide

Page 7 of 7 To allocate the default group item:

1. Select the Groups tab in Employee Maintenance. An asterisk (*) beside the group name indicates that it is a group which has been setup to allow for multiple group item allocations.

2. Press the beside the relevant group to display the Employee Group Allocations table

3. Press New. If no other allocation exists, this first group item will become the default group item. This is indicated by the tick in the Default Allocation checkbox.

4. Select the group item from the drop down 5. Enter a Start Date

6. Press Save

To allocate further group items:

1. In the pop-out Employee Groups Allocations screen, again press New 2. Untick the Default Allocation check box if this group item is not the default 3. Select the group item from the drop down

4. Enter a Start Date. Note that this cannot be the same date as the default group item.

5. Press Save

Note: the main Groups tab in Employee Maintenance will show default group item allocation.