The compensation workers here came to me asking how they could allow a new value in a field which was the same as the previous one - i.e. when an employee's review rating, rate of pay, etc. is remaining the same as the previous year they keep getting an edit that doesn't want to allow that to happen. I can't find anywhere (either in field setup screens or PA setup) that lets me change that sort of requirement. I must be missing something - we can't be the only place that has this issue. Currently the comp staff is entering a value that is similar but not exact, then doing another change to get it back where they want it. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I am a little confused with your question - what I am understanding is (for example) if an employee has a review that does not generate a pay increase you want to write the same rate of pay to history as their current rate of pay to show that the rate was looked at but not increased?

Sorry Val - I didn't state it very well - I checked with the comp folks who clarified for me. Rate of pay isn't really the problem - it's fields such as the Rating the employee received at the review. If they got a 3.75 rating last year and the same score this year Lawson won't let them post that score since it is the same as last year's score. Same sort of thing happens when an employee is at the top of the range - they get a "top-stop" bonus at that point which is the same every year at review time but the system doesn't want to let them input the same amount. When I've checked field definition and set-up options for both "out of the box" fields and user fields as well I can't find a way to allow a same value.

Are you using PA26 REVIEWS to track your ratings for each year? If so, the scheduled date field must be changed for each review you are tracking in order to create a new record and keep history of the reviews.

It sounds like what your comp people are trying to do is create Personnel Action history that shows a record for every year, even if the value doesn't change.

You cannot process a personnel action if the new value is the same as the old value, but you can add personnel action history records. You can see this in action if you transfer to PA54 and inquire on last year's action - change the date to this year - then click Add. If you drill on the employee and select Personnel Action History, you'll see a new record for this year with the same value as last year.

You can also create these PA54 history records through Add-ins or with HR521.

A little kludgy, and it means there will be one procedure for those whose values change and another for those whose values don't change, but it works.

Karen

Hello James.

Pardon the LENGTH of this response (induced by my own Lawson flashbacks) -- hope it helps.

If this is still an open issue for you and the compensation folks, let me know.
When totally new to Lawson, I went :lala: trying to get the data entry processes synchronized with reporting needs -- it was a "the lessons you remember are the ones that leave the scars" experience.

So here's a couple of thoughts and some items of info - I hope they help.

THOUGHTS:
1. Does the Comp staff intend to perform their analyses outside of Lawson? If so, and if they don't mind explaining their data needs and metrics, I'll try to help you find the pertinent Lawson data items. See "info" below.
2. Were the Lawson-recommended data entry processes documented and explained to EVERYONE who enters anything at all into Lawson? Ours weren't. Lawson's 'most correct methods' for keying data entry were not intuitive for me, so for the first few months we were live we inadvertently entered LOTS of data either incorrectly OR just not at all.
3. Do you have the Microsoft Query/Add-Ins Tools? Can save HOURS of time.


INFO
A. PA26, EE Review.
-->>Each record represents an evaluation event, so most PA26 field values for an EE fluctuate from record to record.
-->> EXCEPT for the field called "Next Sched Review Date". This field is viewed on PA26 but actually resides elsewhere (EMPLOYEE or PAEMPLOYEE), and that is why the field value exists only once per EE. This can be confusing at first, when looking at an EE with > 1 PA26 record, because all the EE's PA26 records share the same value for this field.
-->> Remember to add INITIAL Review for New Hires / ReHires (to create a value for their Next Sched Rev Date).
-->> When EE gets first eval, enter Company and EE #, then click NEXT to fetch the INITIAL review record. Type in the correct info for the eval that was performed, then click ADD. Click NEXT and PREVIOUS a few times, to be sure the EE's new "Next Scheduled Eval Date" value calculated as anticipated.
B. PRRATEHIST, PA67. Use MS Query Tool to see the fields that are 'married' to the Lawson PayRate field.
C. PERSACTHST, and PA66.1, PA66.2 & PA66.3.
D. Pers Action History Correction, PA54. Nice for Inquiry; there are caveats if you do anything else.
E. HRHISTORY, HR54. History Correction also. Accessible via HR Writer -- requires practice or you'll pull too much data.
F. PA52's, Personnel Actions.
Our lessons re this:
-->Mind your effective dates.
-->Validate PA67, the current HR11 field values, and also the Pending PA52's before keying.
-->Don't forget to key the PA26 Review after you key all the PA52's Salary Increases.
Our PA52 Problem Scenarios:
-->Problem #1 was that our busy store mgrs frequently sent us > 1 Salary Increase form per EE, usually with different effective dates, sometimes with different new rates, sometimes with the wrong current rate (breaking policy re allowable percent increases for ranges of penetration of the EE's Salary Range).
We didn't know that Lawson had hard-coded PayRate Defaulting, and we didn't know about PA67 or the PA66s, so we just keyed it all in.
-->Problem #2 was that we sometimes miskeyed an Eff Date on an "Immediate = Yes" PA52.1. This was pre-PA54, but we had to do something to ensure that the payroll timerecord rate would be correct. The fix was to key TWO MORE PA52.1s as CORRECTIONs. HOW? We used back-to-back Eff Dates and Changed the Pay Rate both times so the correct rate would be on HR11 via the 2nd CORRECTIVE PA52.1 that was keyed. Then OOPS...for the EE's we 'fixed' this way, 2/3 of the PRRATEHIST records were bogus; problem was detected when HR Dir found unusual spikes in the data she had pulled for her comp analyses.
G. PA95, Grade Range Schedule. 2 Data Files for this, the Header (PRSAGHDR?) and the Detail (PRSAGDTL?).

hth

Kate

LOL, good o' Kate. I believe you just posted the longest post in LawsonTalk history (articles not withstanding). We need more members like you here. :thumb:

Yep. :yammer:

aw geez... :rolleyes: