Below, you’ll find the answers to the questions asked during the Essentials for Managers II webinar. Here’s the video if you’d like to watch the webinar again.
Don’t miss out on the insights shared in the presentation. Check out the slides from the webinar, which are attached at the bottom of this article.
Q: What is the difference Between Availability Approval vs. Schedule Approval?
A: Schedule Approval tracks when an employee is working next, along with all the details of their upcoming shifts. Schedules will always create time cards; you can choose whether schedules need to be approved before time cards are created.
With Availability Approval, you can track when employees are available and unavailable to work. You can use availability for your employees’ time off requests. By creating different availability types, you can determine what happens when a request gets approved. They can:
Create a schedule, which flows into Schedule Approval.
Create a time card, which flows into Time Card Approval.
Remain in Availability Approval for informational purposes.
Q: How do you troubleshoot an employee schedule that did not roll forward?
A: There’s a couple of things you’ll want to take a look at:
On the Employee Profile, confirm they have a Work Group and Schedule Template on the Employment Data tab.
Next, confirm their Schedule Start and End Dates are right on the Dates tab of the Employee Profile.
Finally, take a look at the employee and cell filters in Schedules (By Group) to make sure you don’t have any filters that exclude the employee or the schedules from being displayed.
Still can’t roll the schedule forward? We’re here to help! Reach out to Client Care.
Q: You showed rolling schedules forward in Schedule Approval instead of Schedule Requirements. Aren’t Schedule Requirements required to create schedules?
A: Avanti is flexible, providing a few ways to create schedules.
Using Schedule Approval to roll schedules forward is an employee-centric way of creating schedules. The schedule populates based on the template assigned to the employee.
Schedule Requirements is perfect if you’ve got a set number of shifts that need to be worked and aren’t as concerned about who works them. The schedule gets created based on your requirements when you roll forward, and employees are assigned to work the shifts.
If you have more questions, we’re here to help! Reach out to Client Care.
Q: Are managers able to sort employees by last name when approving?
A: Absolutely! Each user can decide how they’d like employees to display on each approval screen, using a combination of their Settings on ASSP and the Sort on the Approval.
On the Preferences tab in Settings on ASSP, users can select the Name Display Format. Choosing any option starting with Surname displays the last name first throughout ASSP. Next, they can adjust the Approval’s Sort and select Description in Sort By for employee.
Additional Information
In Sort, the employee description is the employee’s name; the code is for their employee number.
Q: Can we add another sort item when approving on ASSP?
A: Here’s all the options you can choose from in Approvals.
Employee
Employee Position
Employee Location
Pay Group
Work Group
Seniority Date
Job Status
Accumulated Service Hours
LTD Units
As an administrator, you can add more options to the sort by adding the additional figures, dates, and text information set up in the Profile Field Names in Payroll Parameters. Once added, each user can choose how they sort when approving.
Go to Sort Employees in Schedule Approval on ASSP for an example of how to add the additional sort options. The settings are different for each level of Time and Attendance, but the process is the same.
Here are the settings you can use to update the sort options:
Availability Approval is setting AvailabilityApprovalSettings.AdditionalSortColumns
Schedule Approval is setting ScheduleApprovalSettings.AdditionalSortColumns
Time Card Approval is setting TimeCardCalendarSettings.CellContents
Time Data Approval is setting TimeDataApprovalSettings.AdditionalSortColumns
Attendance Calendar Approval is setting AttendanceCalendarSettings.AdditionalSortColumns
Q: How can I prevent managers from making time card changes while I’m reviewing time?
A: Locking down time cards isn’t currently a feature built into Avanti, but it can be done using a custom validation. If you require this, please get in touch with your Account Manager for project scoping and a quote.
Want to see this built into Avanti? Use the Avanti Feedback Forum to let us know.
Q: Where can I see the history of a time card that was approved and then unapproved to make changes?
A: Check out the Time Card Listing on the Avanti Desktop and the Avanti Self-Service Portal. Just be sure that Omit Time Card Edits is deselected in Print Options and look for Unapproved in Edit Type.
You can also create a report in Report Designer to extract the information using the Edits sources in Time Cards.
Q: How do you see the history of the change for each time card?
A: In Time Cards on ASSP and the Avanti Desktop, you can see all the changes made to the time card in Edits.
Additional Information
You can view edits on ASSP if you’ve added Edits to the Time Entry Templates for Time Cards.
If you’re looking for a report, check out the Time Card Listing on the Avanti Desktop or ASSP. Just be sure that Omit Time Card Edits is deselected.
Q: How do I adjust a Pay Code on a Time Card after it has been approved?
A: After a time card is approved, it can only be updated after you unapprove it. Once it’s unapproved, you’re free to make whatever changes you wish.
If it’s already approved in Time Data or Payroll Data, you can’t unapprove the time card until it’s withdrawn there. Go to Time Flow Reversed: From Payroll to Schedules to learn more.
Q: Instead of holding CTRL down to select employees for approval, would it be possible to create a check box to select the employees you wish to approve?
A: For ease, there’s no need to use CTRL when selecting multiple employees for approval. Just click each employee employee’s name you’d like to approve; previously selected employees remain selected.
If you accidentally click on the wrong employee, just click on their name again to deselect them.
Q: How can an employee see the schedule with everyone working and not just themselves?
A: Employees can see who is working using Schedules on ASSP.
For information on setting this up, check out Schedule Templates, Schedule Maintenance, and Schedule View in the Web Time Reference Guide, starting at page 54.
Additional Information
While we no longer maintain the reference guides, all the details for setting this up are up-to-date.
Q: How do I approve multiple time cards?
A: There’s a few ways to select multiple time cards for approval:
To select all Time Cards, click on the Employee cell.
To select a few employees, click on the employee name of those you’d like to select.
To select the day’s time cards, click on the date.
Q: Do you have a manual that can guide us on how to use Avanti?
A: Check out our Help Center for everything you need to know about Avanti. Can’t find your answer there? Reach out to Client Care.
Q: How do I see an employee’s entitlements on ASSP?
A: You can set up entitlements to display in each template with the Allow Users to View Entitlements setting. You can select this on the templates in Time Entry and Time Entry Approval.
Q: How do I add a new Pay Code to Time Entry on ASSP?
A: If you’ve filtered which pay codes display, you must add pay codes each time you create a new one. If you don’t have filters set up, there’s no need to update your templates. Just select Reload Settings in the Adminstration Settings on ASSP.
If you have filters, be sure to add the pay code to each Time Entry and Time Entry Approval Template where it’s needed.
Step 1: Double-click the Template in Time Entry Template or Time Entry Approval Template.
By default, this can be found in Web Services >> Installation & Maintenance.
Step 2: On Templates tab, double-click on the Template, then double-click on the Pay Code on the Fields tab.
Step 3: Double-click on the Pay Group in Filter by Pay Group.
Step 4: Select ... at the end of Pay Codes, then double-click on the Pay Code in the Available column so it moves to Selected and select OK.
Step 5: Repeat Step 4 for each filter.
Once you’ve updated all the Time Entry and Time Entry Approval templates, select Reload Settings in Adminstration Settings on ASSP and confirm the pay code displays.
Additional Information
Still can’t see the Pay Code? Log out and log back in. If that doesn’t work, the browser may be caching. Try clearing your browser cache.