Absence Management

The Absence Management extension helps customers remain in compliance by automatically generating case numbers for new absences, connecting new and previous absences (prolongation), and prompting for absence occurrence event dates, when applicable.

Note: This business process is an extension model that is developed outside the normal release schedule to meet specific customer needs. To request one of these models, you must submit a Salesforce Service Request to UKG. After the model is delivered to your tenant, you can edit it to meet your needs.

When specific absence paycodes are entered using the Enter Time-off functionality in the Schedule Planner, the workflow generates a unique case number for the employee, and then stores it in a custom field in the person record.

For payroll purposes, certain absences need to be provided as a span of days, encompassing the first through the last day of the absence. When a user chooses to prolong an absence, this workflow scans for prior entries of the same paycode, offering a list of potential prolonged absences. Upon selection, it adds a comment to the paycode, combining the absences into one absence span.

Some absences, like a work accident, must be reported on the date which the event occurred. The workflow prompts the user for the occurrence date, which allows payroll to identify events for insurance purposes.

User Experience

Generate a case number

A manager enters an absence on behalf of an employee using the Enter Time-off functionality in Schedule Planner.
The absence initiates the workflow that assigns a task to the manager, to be completed in Control Center.
The manager views task details, and sees that the workflow generated this occurrence as case number 6. Although the employee had 5 previous absences, this new absence does not require the manager to prolong a previous absence.
The workflow adds a comment and note, such as "Case Number 6," to the scheduled paycode.

Prolong a prior absence

After being absent Monday through Wednesday, an employee returns to work on Thursday. On Friday, the employee’s illness relapses, resulting in another absence.
The manager enters an absence for Friday using the Enter Time-off functionality in Schedule Planner.
The manager views task details, and sees that the workflow generated this occurrence as case number 6. Because this occurrence is a continuation of the earlier absence, the manager selects the Prolongation option.
The workflow presents only similar absences, allowing the manager to choose which one to prolong.
After the selection is made, the workflow adds a comment and note, containing the selected case number, to the scheduled paycode.

Ask for occurrence date

An employee is injured during the Monday shift, but completes the shift before seeking medical attention. During the medical appointment, it is determined that the injury prevents the employee from returning to work for the remainder of the week.
The employee’s manager enters the absence as a work accident beginning on Tuesday, using the Enter Time-off functionality in Schedule Planner.
The manager views task details and sees that the employee has no previous absences; the manager enters Monday for the occurrence date.
A comment and note containing a case number and the work accident occurrence date are added to the scheduled paycode.

UKG Pro Workforce Management pre-configurations

Custom field label configuration.
See the Custom Field Labels topic.
1. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Display Preferences > Custom Field Labels.
2. In the Custom Field Labels page, add a row, and then enter label text, such as Leave Case Number.
3. Click Tap Save.

Request subtype transitions and request subtype configuration.

Configure the request subtype transition to manage the various time-off request state transitions. After configuration, the request subtype transition must be attached to the request subtype used in the workflow process.

See the Request Subtype Transitions topic.

Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service> Request Subtype Transitions.
Click Tap New, and then enter a Name, such as Absence Management.

In the External Actions section, add two rows with appropriate parameter values, such as:

Absence Management - Request Subtype Transition parameters

From State	To State	Pre-Processing
Draft	Approved	Absence Management model
Submitted	Approved	Absence Management model

Click Tap Save.

Note: The business process must be deployed with External Action and Validation Actions as Template Categories for it to be available to attach to the request subtype transition.

Configure the request subtype with the request subtype transition. This configuration initiates the business process.
1. Select Main Menu Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service > Request Subtype.
2. Edit, or create a new Request Subtype for use in Absence Management processing.
3. In the Request Subtype Transition list, select the request subtype transition, such as Absence Management.
4. Click Tap Save.

Comments.
See the Comments topic.
1. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Comments.
2. Click Tap New.
3. Enter Comment Text, such as Case Number, Prolonged, and Occurrence Date.
4. In the Categories area, select Absence Spans and Pay Codes from the Available Categories box and move them to the Selected Categories box.
5. Click Tap Save.
Message configuration.
See the Translation - User Interface topic.
1. Select Main Menu Administration > Application Setup > System Configuration > Translation > User Interface.
2. Select the Export option.
3. Select the appropriate Language, and Country.
4. Select Master Container from the Domain list. The Group list is populated.
5. Select container_web-common_timeoffRequest_strings.properties and container_web-common_one-click-time-off_strings.properties from the Group list.
6. Click Tap Export. An Excel file automatically downloads.
7. Customize the message configuration
  1. Open the downloaded Excel file and search in each worksheet for the parameters:
    
    one-click-time-off.success.suspended.message
    
    timeoff.success.suspended.message
  2. For each parameter, enter a TRANSLATED_VALUE in Column C of each worksheet.
  3. Save the file.
8. Upload customized message configuration
  1. Select Main Menu Administration > Application Setup > System Configuration > Translation. > User Interface.
  2. Click Tap the Import option.
  3. Click Tap Choose File.
  4. Select the modified Excel file and click tap Open. File Name is populated.
  5. Click Tap Upload.

Configure Absence Management

Migrate the business process model to the tenant. Migrate the Absence Management process model to the customer tenant using Setup Data Manager (SDM).
1. Log in to the appropriate tenant.
2. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Setup Data Manager.
3. Select the Source tenant where the Process Model resides, and select the template to copy. It is a .zip file. A message appears in the Source column: Source: Import from <filename>.zip.
4. Click Tap Review and Publish. The Publish Summary panel appears.
5. Review the Publish Summary panel. It lists the items that were extracted from the migration file. If you approve, click tap Publish with Comment or just Publish.
6. Click Tap Go to Publish History at the bottom of the panel to view the status of the data transfer. The Publish History page contains a table that lists the items you have published. If there were errors during the transfer, the button under the Errors column for that row is black.
7. To view details, click tap the appropriate row and click tap View Selected.
8. On the History for publish run page, click tap Show all to view the setup data that you published, and the errors that occurred, if any, listed by item type and name.
Configure the initialize variable in the process model. This one-time configuration sets the case number offset.
1. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Business Process setup > Process Models.
2. Select the AbsenceManagement_v1 process and click Edit. The process model enters edit mode.
3. Select the Processes tab.
4. Select Initialize Variables, and then click the Initialize Variable field.
5. Edit the CaseNumberOffset with the appropriate value.
6. Click Save and close.
Configure the Absence Management decision tables.
1. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Business Process setup > Process Models.
2. Select the AbsenceManagement_v1 process and click Edit. The process model enters edit mode.
3. Select the Decision Tables tab.
4. Click Everyone's, and then select the decision table to edit.
5. Click Decision Table Editor to add or update the rows in the table.
6. Click Save and close.

Edit the decision table: DT Absence Management Variable̶̶̶

The DT Absence Management Variable decision table holds process parameters.

Absence Management Variable decision table

Variable name	Variable type	Description
customFieldName	String	The custom data field label name that identifies the latest case number.
commentVarCaseNumber	String	Comment that contains the case number.
commentVarProlonged	String	Comment that contains the prolongation.
commentVarOccurenceDate	String	Comment that contains the occurrence date
LookbackPeriod	Number	The number of days before the current date in which to search for absences.

Edit the decision table: DT Absence Management Paycode

The DT Absence Management Paycode decision table holds all paycodes for which the Absence Management workflow will initiate.

Absence Management Paycode decision table

Variable name	Variable type	Description
Pay code	String	The custom data field label name that identifies the latest case number.
ValidateOccurrenceDate	Boolean	true — The occurrence date is required. false — The occurrence date is not required.

Variable name

Variable type

Description

Pay code

String

The custom data field label name that identifies the latest case number.

ValidateOccurrenceDate

Boolean

true — The occurrence date is required.

false — The occurrence date is not required.

Note:

Values entered in the Variable and Paycode decision tables are case-sensitive.
Custom Field Label, Comment, and Pay code parameter values must match configured values in UKG Pro Workforce Management.
Do not remove variables, variable names, or variable types from any decision table.

Edit the decision table: DT Absence Management Localization

The DT Absence Management Localization decision table allows customization of the text in the Workflow form for different locales.

Absence Management Localization decision table

Variable name	Variable type	Description
Key	String	Internal field label; do not change.
Locale Policy	String	Name of the locale policy for which the label applies. When the label applies to all locales, retain the empty value.
Message	String	Label displayed in the Workflow form.
Description	String	(Optional) Additional information.

Note:

Values entered in the Locale decision table are case-sensitive.
Do not use special characters in the table.
The Message value must be consistent with the Locale specified in the same row.
(Optional) Comments can be added to the Description column in the Locale decision table.
Because Activiti scans decision tables from top to bottom and stops when it finds a match, define rows containing the most-used conditions at the top of the table, and rows containing wildcard conditions at the bottom of the table.
The !="empty" rows must always be the last rows in the Locale decision table; do not edit or remove these rows. These are the default messages and labels.
Names of the parameters in the "Key" column of the Locale decision table must be used as is. If any parameter value needs to be localized for a different Locale Policy, copy the "Key" with the “not empty” Locale Policy, add a new row to the table with the appropriate Locale Policy, and then add the localized values in the Value and Description decision table columns.

Deploy the updated business process model
Process models must be redeployed every time changes are made to an existing model. Re-deployment is not required for decision table changes.
Model deployment steps:
1. Go to Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Business Process Setup > Process Models.
2. Select the AbsenceManagement_v1 model.
3. Click Tap Edit, and then configure the required parameters and deployment dates. Select External Actions from the Template Categories list.
4. Click Tap Save, and then select Return to deploy.

APIs

API details

APIs for the Absence Management extension

API name	Section	Type	Resource path	Description
Retrieve Time Off Request by ID as Manager	Scheduling	GET	/v1/scheduling/timeoff/{id}	Retrieve the paycode details for which the absence has been applied.
Retrieve Persons	People	POST	/v1/commons/persons/extensions/multi_read	Retrieve person details.
Retrieve User Preferences for Current User	Commons	GET	/v1/commons/user_preferences/locale_policy	Retrieve the tenant default locale.
Retrieve Time Off Requests as Manager	Scheduling	POST	/v1/scheduling/timeoff/multi_read	Retrieve dates of approved absences corresponding to the paycode for which the user has applied the absence.
Retrieve Schedule	Scheduling	POST	/v1/scheduling/schedule/multi_read	Retrieve comments from employee's schedule.
Update Paycode Edits	Scheduling	POST	/v1/scheduling/schedule/pay_code_edits/multi_update	Update comments in employee's schedule paycode edit.
Update Multiple Persons	Commons	POST	/v1/commons/persons/multi_update	Update the current case number in People Information - Additional Information field.