Archived 10 January 2023 People and Money updates

Quarterly update - 22D

The next quarterly update was released on Monday 21 November 2022. This update included:

Redraft offer functionality The Redraft offer functionality allows recruiters to adjust job offers after the job offer is approved by the approver or accepted by the candidate.​ This will give a better candidate experience. Previously we had to reject or withdraw the job application to redraft the offer, which used to trigger an alert to the candidate. Redrafted offers will then go through the approval process again.  

You can now redraft job offers when the job application is in the following phases and states without rejecting or withdrawing the candidate job application:​

• ​Offer – Extended
• Offer – Accepted​
• HR – Pending Automated Processing​
• HR – Pending Manual Processing​
• HR – Error During Processing​

Please note: Any offers redrafted will need to go through the approval process again

Other updates: 

• Improved data visibility within the Employment Info Page, the Job Info section has been exposed and Line Manages/SDA’s can now view additional job details (Name, Code, Job Family, Job Function and Level).
• Enhanced usability of the Employment Info page with the inclusion of additional fields in the Assignment and Managers sections of the page including proposed start date for pending workers, position code and person type .
• Within the Timecard App, time card actions buttons now show all actions a person can do, both available and unavailable based on their time entry profile, their security setup, and the time card status.
• There is a change to functionality to manage the situation where a contingent worker is converted into an employee or vice versa. This task will be completed by HR Operations for candidates coming through recruitment where a duplicate is found. For contingent workers added through the add pending worker function schools/departments must NOT merge the duplicate worker records or it may impact the continuous service date for the worker.

HR Reports in Development - Recruiting at a Glance

Our development and testing work on the Recruiting at a Glance dashboard continues. We will update via this page when the report is ready for launch.

Postgraduate student requestors - contingent workers

We have launched a new form for requesting contingent worker access for postgraduate student requestors. The new Contingent Worker Record Request form should be submitted prior to requesting procurement access (for purchasing goods and services) in People and Money.

Please note to prevent delays in processing this request,  this form must be completed fully with the appropriate authorisation. The form must be submitted by service request, using the category Enquiry> System Related>User Access and title ‘Student Contingent Worker’.

Once the contingent worker record is created, you will receive confirmation of the Contingent Worker Number. When you have this, you can then proceed to request a procurement access by submitting the People and Money Access form.

Remittance Advice Notices

Over recent weeks we have identified intermittent issues with remittance advices not being sent to suppliers. This has prevented some suppliers from reconciling payments from the University with the appropriate invoice. We have been working to rectify this issue as quickly as possible as we realise the inconvenience caused and apologise for this.

We have resolved the remittance issue and have sent out retrospective remittance advices for the period from 23rd September until 18th November 2022.   

Research collaborations

We continue to work on the process for establishing Research collaborations. Further details will follow in due course.

Time lag between requisition approval and purchase order being generated

It is taking up to two days for the purchase order being generated for requisitions following their approval. Please note, where a new supplier's details need to be added it takes at least 5 further days for the procurement team to go through its due diligence steps. This can be further extended depending on the time taken for the new supplier to provide the details required. 

January Timecard submission deadline extended

In response to feedback from colleagues in schools/departments, the payroll cutoff for submissions and timecard approvals has been extended. The deadline for approved timecards is now end of day on Thursday 12th January. As a result, the timecard freeze for editing January timecards will be between the 13th and 20th January. Submission of bulk upload spreadsheets will remain at Monday 9th January. Please refer to the pay dates and payroll deadlines on the finance webpages for cut off dates until the end of March 2023.

Pay Dates and Deadlines

The timetable for pay dates and deadlines has been updated to include the timetable up until the end of March 2023.

As in previous years, pay day in December will be earlier and this year's date has been confirmed as the 19th December. 

See below for January cut off dates.

Timecard processing - Viewing, editing and risks of non-payment 

Following feedback on recent timecard processing, we are sharing the results of a short investigation into the system behaviour of timecards and risk of non-payment. Thank you to colleagues who raised this issue and apologies that this timing issue was not identified sooner. We will update all relevant guidance documents.  

Please share this update with timecard users within your area. 

Viewing approved/submitted timecards 

Employees, line managers and timekeepers can view timecards, which have been approved/submitted for payment to Payroll at any time, including the time between approval/submission and the time at which Payroll transfers the hours as ready for payment. 

It is vital however, that once you have viewed the timecard, you press the ‘Cancel’ button. By cancelling, you will exit out of the screen without changing the status of the timecard and the timecard will be paid as expected. If the user exits the screen by pressing the ‘Submit’ button, the timecard status will change back from approved to submitted and will go back through the approval workflow, even if there has been no change made to the record. This will prevent the timecard from being paid as expected. The system is working as designed, but those previously approved hours will now require another approval – in time for the next available payroll date - before they are paid. This means that hours approved in time for one month’s payroll date can miss that payroll date, without it being apparent that they have been effectively deferred to the next payroll date. 

Editing timecards 

As has been previously communicated, timecards must be submitted and fully approved/submitted in schools/departments by the 10th of the month for payment to the employee on the 28th of that month (with the exception of December when the deadline is the 5th of December 2022 due to the earlier pay day, and January when the deadline has been extended to 12 January 2023). 

Once the timecard has been approved/submitted for payment, the Payroll team have further work to undertake, including data loads and checks, before the timecard is ‘transferred ready for payment’, which takes place on the 20th of the month for payment to the employee of the 28th of the month. 

If the employee, line manager or timekeeper edits a timecard, between the 11th and 20th inclusive of each month, the full timecard will need to go back through the approval workflow. If the timecard is not re-approved, this will prevent the original hours on the timecard, which had previously been submitted/approved, from being transferred for payment as originally actioned. Such edits and approvals, during that time, would also mean that the hours originally approved for payment in that month would have effectively missed the deadline for payment in that month. 

Timecard freeze 

To minimise the risk of this serious difficulty arising, we will instigate a timecard freeze on editing between the 11th and 20th inclusive of each month (apart from December). This means employees, line managers and timekeepers must not edit the approved timecard before it has been transferred for payment. For example, January timecards approved/submitted by cut-off on 10th February, should not be edited between 11th and 20th February inclusive to ensure payment on 28th February.  

The system cannot prevent a change being made so we will clearly and routinely communicate to users. 

We appreciate that this freeze may prove challenging for timekeepers and other colleagues, but, on balance, we believe this is the most sensible way of safeguarding against serious risk of non-payment.   

November pay 

Where Payroll have been notified of instances of editing of timecards prior to 20th November these have been addressed to ensure the employee is not impacted in their November pay.  

December pay 

Please remember the cut-off for submission of timecards in December is 5th December so the timecard freeze will be 6th to 12th December inclusive. 

Additional 2023 leave entitlement for the King's Coronation

For further information please see the Staff news webpage.

System updates for 2023 annual leave

We will be pre-loading the 2023 public holidays and closure dates into the system as well as amending the carryover rules to revert back in line with the Annual Leave Policy.  We will update via this page when this task has been completed. 

End of Secondment

It is important to notify HR Operations when an employee is reaching the end of their secondment period so that their record in People and Money to be reverted back to the pre-secondment arrangement and/or to provide any other additional updates as required.

It is the donor manager’s responsibility to request this by raising a Service Request > Enquiry > Contract Change. Please provide the full details of returning arrangements, including the date the secondment ends and any other changes to the employee’s substantive post, for example, change of work schedule, hours, salary, manager. Further information on secondments is available within the Secondment Policy.  

Winter job advertising deadlines

To allow processing time, HR Operations must receive all fully-approved job requisitions prior to the winter closure by Monday 12 December 2022. Any adverts received after this time will be processed and requested to go live as soon as possible – unfortunately we will be unable to guarantee these will be live before the winter break. The earliest closing date for those being advertised over this period is Wednesday 4 January 2023.

Whilst advert duration is at the hiring manager’s discretion, we are proposing that any closing date prior to closure is set as 21 December 2022 to allow time for hiring managers to deal with applicant queries prior to the break.