Create Daily Rule

The Create Daily rule is a setup Wizard that builds the fundamental components of the award interpreter rules to be used for a group of employees on a daily basis. These rules are established to enable the Time Rounding, the Overtime Requirements and Meal Breaks, which calculate the correct hours to be paid for each employee each day.

Prerequisites

Rules and Guidelines

  • Rules are configured by a Consultant and any changes should be discussed with them in the first instance.
  • A formal training course must be completed before attempting to change any rules.
  • Any changes may have a significant impact on the hours paid to employees.
  • These rules can either be created from a blank template or can be copied from an existing rule.

 

Select Start Wizard

Field Information

Rounding Rules window

Daily Overtime Specifications window

Minimum Hours and Unscheduled Days window

Automatic Meals and Breaks window

Meals/Breaks if Punching window

 

A 5-character code that represents the Rounding Rules.

A description of the Rounding Rule.

For each punch option, the handling of the punch time if the punch time varies from the scheduled time can be specified.

Preceda will round each punch as the employee punches in and out during the shift, using the values established in the Method, Factor, Grace and Minutes to Round to Schedule fields associated with each punch. The punch options include:-

Clock in Early
Clock in Late
Meal Out Early
Meal Out Late
Meal In Early
Meal In Late
Clock Out Early
Clock Out Late

 

The rounding method.

A No Rounding. Use the employee's actual clock in time
B Back. Rounds the punch in back to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
C Forward. Round the punch in forward to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
D Forward or Back - Round the punch in back or forward by the amount specified in the Factor field, using the Grace field value to determine if to round forward or back. The Grace period must be specified.
E Round Back. Round the punch in back by the amount entered in the Factor field. The Grace field must be entered when the factor stops rounding back and starts using the ACTUAL clock in time.

 

This field holds the factor used in the calculation of rounding.

Actual Uses the actual Clock in time, no rounding is applied.
1/10 Hours Rounds the clock in to the tenth of the hour.
1/4 Hours Rounds the punch to the quarter hour.
1/2 Hours Rounds the punch to the half hour.
1 Hour Rounds the punch to the hour. Valid only for interval rounding.
  • When a scheduled punch in is received and no Minutes to Round to Schedule have been setup, or it is outside the Minutes to Round to Schedule, the rounding Method is used in conjunction with the Factor and Grace values.

 

Example

Employee Scheduled Clock in Time Rounding Factor Grace Period Method
8:00A 1/4 Hours 5 Minutes Forward and Minutes to Round to Schedule
  • An employee who clocks in at 8:08 will be recorded as in at 8:15a.
  • Had the Minutes to Round to Schedule been set to 10 minutes, the employee would have been recorded as in at 8:00a.
  • If the punch had been made at 8:11, one minute past the round to schedule guideline, the system would have rounded to 8:15a.
  • This feature is available only for scheduled employees and schedule clock in's.

 

 Specifies the number of minutes before or after a scheduled punch in time when an employee can clock in and have the clock round to the scheduled time.

This field is valid only if Method is set to Forward or Back and the Factor is either 1/10 Hours, 1/4 Hours, or 1/2 Hours. 

Any punch occurring on or before the Grace period is rounded back. Any punch that occurs after the grace is rounded forward. If the schedule Grace field is left blank, all clock in's are rounded forward.

Example

Method Factor Grace
Forward or Back 1/4 hours 5 Minutes

 

In this example, any scheduled clock in is rounded back if the clock in occurs within 5 minutes past 7:00. Clock in's from the 6th minute to the 14th minute will be rounded forward to the quarter hour.

 

Determines the period of time during which the Scheduled Rounding Rules are overridden and the clock in is rounded to the employee's scheduled clock in time.

Enter the number of minutes before/after a scheduled clock in time during which the clock in will be rounded to the employee's scheduled clock in time.

These fields help prevent unauthorised time. The Minutes to Round to Schedule takes precedence over the time rounding. This is available only for scheduled employees and scheduled clock in's.

Example

Schedule Minutes to Associate Mins Round to Schedule Method Factor Method Factor
7:00a to 3:00p 120 minutes Clock in Early 30 minutes Forward or Back 1/4 Hours Clock in Late Forward or Back 1/4 Hour

 

Any clock in from 5:00 a until 6:29 a will use the clock in early rounding and factor, any clock in from 6:30a until 7:01a until 9:00 a will use the clock in late rounding and factor.

 

Is the rounding factor to be based on scheduled time?

Y Base the rounding factor on scheduled time.
N Do not base the rounding factor on scheduled time. Use the top of the hour as a base.

 

Example

Round Based on Schedule Factor Setting Scheduled Time Factor Intervals
N 1/10 Hours 8:10 8:00, 8:06, 8:12, 8:18
Y 1/10 Hours 8:10 8:10, 8:16, 8:22, 8:28
N 1/4 Hours 8:10 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45
Y 1/4 Hours 8:10 8:10, 8:25, 8:40, 8:55
  •  This field applies to scheduled Begin Shift and End Shift time separately. The factor intervals could be different if the minutes on the Begin and End shift times are different.
  • An 8:10a to 5:15p schedule that uses this feature with 1/10 Hr rounding would use 8:10, 8:16, 8:22 etc for rounding the clock in and 5:21, 5:27, 5:33 etc for rounding the clock out.

 

An employee is considered to have an unscheduled clock in if the system could not find a schedule on that day, or the punch did not fall within the schedule margin for a punch. Set values in the following fields only if using punch rounding.

Specifies the unscheduled punch rounding method.

A No Rounding. Use the employee's actual clock in time.
B Back. Rounds the clock in back to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
C Forward. Round the clock in forward to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
D Forward or Back - Round the clock in back or forward by the amount specified in the Factor field, using the Grace field value to determine if to round forward or back. The Grace period must be specified.
E Round Back. Round the clock in back by the amount entered in the Factor field. The Grace field must be entered when the factor stops rounding back and stars using the ACTUAL clock in time.

 

Specifies the unscheduled punch round factor.

Actual Uses the actual Clock in time, no rounding is applied.
1/10 Hours Rounds the clock in to the tenth of the hour.
1/4 Hours Rounds the punch to the quarter hour.
1/2 Hours Rounds the punch to the half hour.
1 Hour Rounds the punch to the hour. Valid only for interval rounding.

 

Designates the period during which the system rounds an unscheduled punch back instead of forward.

  • The unscheduled Grace field is valid only if rounding is set to Forward or Back and the factor is either 1/10 Hours, 1/4 Hours or 1/2 Hour.
  • Any punch that occurs at or before the grace will be rounded back.
  • Any punch that occurs after the grace will be rounding forward.
  • If the unscheduled Grace field is left blank, all punches will be rounded forward.
  • If the unscheduled IN rounding to Forward or Bank and the Factor to 1/4 Hour with a grace of 5 minutes, any unscheduled clock in's during the first 5 minutes past the quarter hour would be rounded back to the quarter hours, and rounded forward to the next quarter hour if the punch occurred between the 6th to the 14th minute past the quarter hour.

 

The transfer rounding fields sets up the specifications to be used for rounding transfer punches. The system will always round the Clock in and out's to the same time on a transfer.

Specifies the Transfer rounding method.

A No Rounding. Use the employee's actual clock in time.
B Back. Rounds the clock in back to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
C Forward. Round the clock in forward to the amount specified in the corresponding Factor field.
D Forward or Back - Round the clock in back or forward by the amount specified in the Factor field, using the Grace field value to determine if to round forward or back. The Grace period must be specified.
E Round Back. Round the clock in back by the amount entered in the Factor field. The Grace field must be entered when the factor stops rounding back and stars using the ACTUAL clock in time.

 

Specifies the Transfer punch rounding factor.

Actual Uses the actual Clock in time, no rounding is applied.
1/10 Hours Rounds the clock in to the tenth of the hour.
1/4 Hours Rounds the punch to the quarter hour.
1/2 Hours Rounds the punch to the half hour.
1 Hour Rounds the punch to the hour. Valid only for interval rounding.

 

Designates the period during which the system rounds transfer punches back instead of forward.

  • Enter the number of minutes during which a punch is rounded back.
  • The transfer Grace field is valid only if Method is set to Forward or Back and the Factor is either 1/10 Hour, 1/4 Hour or 1/2 Hour.
  • Any punch occurring on or before the grace period is rounded back.
  • Any punch that occurs after the grace is rounded forwards.
  • If the transfer Grace field is left blank, all punches are rounded forward.

 

The factor the system uses to round the interval or the shift (depending on the Shift or Punch option selected). Valid options are:- Actual, 1/10 hour, 1/4 Hour, 1/2 Hour, or 1 Hour.

Example

 If rounding using Punch and the employee transfers between departments during a shift, the time worked in each department is rounded to the factor specified in the Round Interval field.

If an employee works 4.77 hours in Department 00001 and 3.23 hours in Department 00002 and if the interval founding factor is set to Hours, Department 0001 time is rounded to 5.00 hours and Department 00002 time is rounded to 3.00 hours.

 

Whether the system round each interval of time between pairs of punches, or if it rounds only the interval of time that comprises the entire shift.

Example

 If the company does not track time for each department, the Round Using Shift or Punch field can be set to Shift, the interval rounding factor to Hour. If the first punch is made at 8:05a and the last at 5:04p, the employee's record for the shift will be 8:00 and 5:00.

  • If the Interval Rounding Factor is set to Hours, punches recorded at exactly the half hour are round up to the next hour.
  • Therefore 8:30a and 5:30p become 9:00 and 6:00.
  • Be aware that with Punch rounding, if an employee punches in at 8:00a, out of one department and in another at 12:30p, and out at 5:00p, the intervals are 4:30p and 3:30p which will round up to 5 and 4.
  • This means that the record will appear to credit the employee with working 9 hours instead of 8.

 

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Field Information

The number of hours that must be worked for the employee to qualify for overtime.

The number of hours employees must work in a day before additional hours accrue as overtime.

  • Up to four daily overtime settings can be specified.
  • The number of hours an employee must work in a day to qualify for the overtime block 1 to 4 Time Codes specified in the Pay Period.

 

Example

  • If an employee is to receive the Overtime Block 1 Time Code for all hours over 8 in a day, 8:00 is entered in the Pay on All Hours Over field next to the Overtime Block 1 Pay Code.
  • If an employee worked 12:00 hours on Monday they would accumulate 8:00 hours on a regular hours Time Code and 4:00 Hours on the Overtime Block 1 Pay Code.
  • If Block 2 was set for 10:00 the employee would accrue two hours at the Block 1 Pay Rate and two hours at the Block 2 Pay Rate.

  •  

    • Resets the overtime accumulator 24 hours after the rounded time of the clock in. If an employee returns to work before the rest, the employee continues to accrue daily overtime hours, overtime Block 1 to 4 as appropriate, up to the rounded time of the previous clock in.

    Y Daily overtime should be based on a 24 hour period of time from the previous clock in.
    N Daily overtime should be based on the regular OT specifications in the pay.

     

    Y Include all hours worked in a day toward the day's daily OT. This will let the 24 hour doubleback hours count toward daily OT hours worked consecutively.
    N When 24Hr Doubleback is enabled and an employee clocks in again within 24 hours, the hours count as OT only for the 24 hours doubleback.

     

    Example

    • An employee clocks in at 8:00a one day and works 8 hours.
    • The employee clocks in at 6:00a the following day and works 10 hours.
    • If both, Daily OT Based on 24Hr Doubleback and 24Hr DB Hours Count Toward Daily Overtime are selected, the employee gets 2 hours 24Hr Doubleback OT and 2 hours daily OT, a total of 4 OT hours for the day.

     

    Used to pay employee's overtime if they work outside their normally scheduled hours, but within the schedule margins and minutes to associate set up for the schedule.

    This field controls if portions of a shift before the employee's schedule, after an employee's schedule, or all hours worked outside the employee's scheduled hours accrue as schedule deviation hours.

    A Hours After Scheduled Times
    The hours worked before the employee's scheduled start time accrue as schedule deviation hours.
    B Hours Before Scheduled Times
    The hours worked after the employee's scheduled end shift time accrue as schedule deviation hours.
    C Before and After Scheduled Times
    Both the hours before the employee's scheduled start time and the hours after the employee's scheduled end time accrue as schedule deviation hours.
    H Time Greater than Scheduled Hours

    Used to pay employees overtime if they work outside their normally scheduled hours, but within the schedule margins and minutes to associate setup for the schedule. This field controls whether portions of a shift before the employee's schedule, after an employee's schedule, or all hours worked outside the employee's scheduled hours accrue as schedule deviation hours.
    N Disables the schedule deviation optionDisables the schedule deviation option

    Disables the schedule deviation option and the Pay all Hours Over deviation blocks specified above are used. The Time codes that apply to these blocks are identified in the Pay Period Rules Overtime Specifications for Regular Hours.

     

    Example

    Primary Schedule All Schedule Margins Begin and End Shift Minutes to Associate Daily OT Based on Scheduled Deviation Employee Clock in and out times
    8:00a to 4:00p 4 Hours 240 Minutes Before and After Schedule 7:00a to 4:30p

     

     The system applies the entry into the 8:00a start time as it falls within the 240 minutes to associate for the begin shift clock in. The employee accrues 1.5 schedule deviation hours, one hour before the scheduled start time and 30 minutes after the scheduled end time.

    • If an employee with scheduled meal entries is rostered to work 8:00a to 12:00p and 1:00p to 5:00p, and their clock out at 1:00p but not back in, the system will interpret it as an clock out for the day.
    • The employee would then accrue one hour of schedule deviation, for the hour from 12:00p to 1:00p, unless they clock back in for the day.

     

    These values are only used provided that the Daily Overtime Based on Schedule Deviation field is set to A, B, C or H.

    • This specifies the number of hours employees must work in a day before additional hours is accrued as overtime.
    • Up to four daily overtime settings can be specified so that employees can earn overtime hours at different pay rated as each limit is passed.
    • The number of hours an employee must work in a day to qualify for the overtime block 1-4 Time Codes specified in the pay period is entered.

     

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    The number of days ahead that are required to establish premium schedules.

    The number of days of premiums to roll forward.

    • If left blank all premiums within the current pay period will be rolled forward.

     

    Determines whether Preceda pays the minimum hours specified in the following fields for an entire shift or for each time interval (pair of in and out punches).

    P Punch. Pay the hours for each time interval.
    S Shift. Pay the hours for an entire shift.

     

    Specifies the minimum number of hours an employee must work on each day of the week to receive the minimum hours specified. If the employee is setup to have their meal automatically deducted, this field must include the meal deduction.

    Example

     The minimum hours is set at 8.50 hours with an automatic meal deduction of 30 minutes after 6.00 hours. When the employee clocks in they receive 8.00 hours for the day 8.50 hours less .50 hours for a meal, even if the employee works less than 8.00 hours, the difference being automatically added to the employee's time.

    If the employee clocks in and works only 2.50 hours they are automatically credited with 8.00 hours.

     

    An optional Time Code to assign to minimum hours to be paid.

    Reduce the minimum hours if an employee clocks in after the scheduled start time.

    Y Reduce the minimum hours if the employee clocks in after the scheduled clock time.
    N Do not reduce the minimum hours if the employee clocks in after the scheduled time.

     

    The minimum number of hours to be updated after the punches in on each day of the week.

    • The values entered will override the value entered in the Hours Required to Earn Minimum field.

     

    Example

    • The minimum hours is set to 8.50 hours with an automatic meal deduction of 30 minutes after 6.00 hours.
    • When the employee clocks in they would receive 8.00 hours for the day, 8.50 hours , less .50 hours for a meal, even if the employee works less than 8.00 hours, the difference being automatically added to the employee's time.
    • e.g. if the employee clocks in and works only 2.50 hours they are automatically credited with 8.00 hours.

     

    This field is used to determine if the employee's hours are assigned to special Time Codes when worked on unscheduled days, both in and out punches are unscheduled.

    Y Use the Time Code and Pay on All Hours Over field below, instead of the regular and overtime specifications on the pay period profile.
    N Do not use special Time Codes - use the Pay Period rules.

     

    The pay categories that the unscheduled day hours will accrue. Enter the time codes that all hours qualifying for unscheduled day overtime pay are to be assigned.

    The number of hours an employee must work on an unscheduled day to receive unscheduled day overtime pay. Enter the number of hours an employee must work in a day to qualify for the pay category entered in the associated unscheduled day Time Code field. These field override any entries that are made in the daily overtime Pay On All Hours Over fields. These fields override any entries that are made in the daily overtime Pay on All Hours Over fields on Daily Rules Maintenance.

    The system uses the entries made in these fields to determine the daily overtime, and the entries made in the weekly and pay period Pay On All Hours Over fields to determine weekly and pay period overtime.

     

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    Field Information

    Is this entry to be deducted from or added to the employee's time.

    A Add this entry to the employee's time
    D Deduct this entry from the employee's time

     

    The amount of time, in minutes the corresponding entry is to add or deduct.

    Example

     If the Deduct option is selected and 30 in the Length Minutes field, the employee will clock in at the start of their shift and out at the end of the shift and have 30 minutes automatically deducted fro a meal if they work more hours than the number of hours setup in the Min Hours filed.

    The Add option could be used to award time credits for activities which are job related, but take place before clocking in, e.g. if employee's are required to dress in protective clothing before clocking in, the company could add 10 minutes to their clock time.

     

    The minimum number of hours an employee must work during a day before the system automatically deducts or adds the automatic meal/break. This field also controls the portion of the time record from which a deduction is taken. The deduction is taken after the employee has accumulated the amount of time specified in this field. This would protect the employee who works a short shift on any day.

    The time that the deduction or adder should take effect, if applicable.

    The Time Code.

    The number of hours an employee must work before the meal deduction is concealed. If the employee works hours equal to or greater than the value in this field, the system cancels the automatic meal deduction.

    These field designate a period of time during which the automatic meal deduction is not taken. If the employee's clock in falls between the period of time defined in these fields the automatic meal deduction is cancelled.

    Example

    If the first and second shift employees receive an automatic meal deduction, but the third shift employees do not. If 10:00p is entered into the first field and 5:00a in the second field, when an employee clocks in at 11:00p the automatic meal deduction is cancelled.

     

    The days of the week in which the automatic meal deduction is not taken is designated. e.g. If the automatic meal deduction should not be taken if an employee's clock in occurs on Sunday, the Exclude Days field is checked.

    Determines if the system takes automatic deductions on all days the employee works or on scheduled days only.

    Y These deducts/adds apply to scheduled days only
    N These deducts/add apply to all days
    • If an employee record has the Punch for Meals option set to Y but the employee has a scheduled meal time and the system recognises a clock entry as a scheduled meal entry, the system will not automatically deduct meals that day.
    • Employers often use this feature for employees who clock in for meals only if leaving the facility, otherwise the auto deductions are used.

     

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    Field Information

    For unscheduled meals, this specifies the maximum number of minutes that can elapse between a clock out and a clock in, for the system to see the interval as a break. Any longer interval will be seen as a meal.

    The number of minutes allowed for meals and breaks. If the employee is out for a lesser time, the deduction is bumped to this minimum.

    The grace period in minutes that an employee is allowed to be clocked out for a meal or break, beyond the normal length. If the employee's time out exceeds the normal length + grace, the system deducts the actual time out instead of the normal meal or break deduction.

    Specifies if this meal or bread is a paid or non paid meal or break.

    Determines if the system ignores automatic meal/break deductions, if the employee clocks for meals or breaks.

    All Cancel automatic deductions if the employee clocks for meals or breaks
    None Add clocked time to automatic meals/breaks
    1, 2, 3, 4 Cancel the corresponding automatic meal/break deduction setup on the Daily Rules Maintenance window, Automatic Meals and Breaks if employee punch in/out.

     

    Determines if the system stars calculating a meal/break from the actual or rounded time.

    Determines how the system calculates deductions.

    All Cancel automatic deductions if the employee clocks for meals or breaks.
    None Add clocked time to automatic meals/breaks.
    1, 2, 3, 4 Cancel the corresponding automatic meal/break deduction setup on the Daily Rules Maintenance window, Automatic Meals and Breaks if employee punch in/out.

     

    The shortest length of time in minutes an employee can be clocked out for a meal/break before the system generates a long exception. Long exceptions show up on the Time Editor and the Punch Details report.

    The longest length of time in minutes an employee can be clocked out for a meal/break before the system generates a long exception. Long exceptions show up on the Time Editor and the Punch Details report.

    Select Finish.