Fusion Absence Management : Explained with examples

About Fusion Absence Management

In fusion absence management is a part of workforce deployment offerings where it gives a lot more feature compared to oracle Ebiz. If you tried to learn absence management in Ebiz and gave up only because of the complex fast formulas then there is a good news for you. Most of the complex business requirement can now be easily handled by simple User Interface without writing a single line of code. However, it doesn’t mean that you cannot write formula, fast formulas are still there if you wish or need to use them.

Fusion Absence Management : Setup steps

Below diagram explains all possible steps required to setup absence management including optional steps. Absence types would be your center of attraction as absence category, absence plan, absence certificate, absence reason will be linked with absence types only.

Understand With Examples

There are numerous new concepts and terminologies introduced in Fusion absence management, which are worth explaining. However, I believe the best approach is to understand them through examples. I will delve into these concepts in greater detail when the time comes.

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Business requirement:

1. There is a need to setup an absence type of “Annual Vacation” in your organization for full-time and active payroll employees
2. Employee who has been in the organization for more than 5 years will receive 24 days of annual leave (entitlement) in a year and rest will receive 18 days.
3. The entitlement will be given on a monthly basis (end of the month)
4. Employees can take their unused leaves to next year but not more than 5.
5. At any point of the time no employee will have more than 30 days of leave balance.
6. Employees will be allowed to over withdraw but balance should not go less than -2.
7. Employees should also not be able to apply Annual Vacation for more than 10 days in row.
8. HR Administrator should have access to adjust Annual Vacation balance for any employee.

So, for this example, setup steps would be as follows

Create Eligibility Profile

As the Annual Vacation is only for active employees with active payroll, we need to create an eligibility profile and later add this with absence types so that all eligible employees will be enrolled automatically.

Navigation : My Client Groups » Absences » Eligibility Profile

Click on Create button and then select Create Participation Profile as sown below in the image.

Once you click on the Create Participation Profile following page will appear. In the Eligibility Profile Definition section enter the name (Name is generic and same eligibility profile can be attached with more than one absence types, so give a common name such as AP Annual Vacation Fulltime). Make sure status is Active and other details as shown in the screenshot below.

• Name : AP Annual Vacation Fulltime
• Assignment to Use : Any assignment – enterprise
• Profile Usage : Global
• Status : Active

Once you enter these details click on Employment Tab and then Assignment Status sub tab and click on Add icon. Enter the detail as follow

• Sequence : 10
• Assignment Status : Active – Payroll Eligible

Similarly click on Assignment Category sub tab and make entries as follows. Once done click on Save and Close

• Sequence : 20
• Full Time or part time : Full-time Regular

Create Derived Factors

As per the requirement employee who has been in the organization for more than 5 years will receive 24 days of annual leave (entitlement) in a year and rest will receive 18 days. So for this we need to define a Derived Factor based on the length of service. We will link this derived factor with Absence Plan later in the course.

Navigation : My Client Groups  » Absences » Derived Factors

You are on Derived Factors page, click on the Length Of Service tab and then click on the Create icon under the Search Result section. This will open a new window. Give it a name and enter other details as follows. Once done click on Save and Close

• Name : Avi Length of Service
• Unit of Measure : Years
• Period Start Date Rule : Date of hire
• Determination Rule : As of event date
• Greater than or Equal to Length of Service : 0

Create Repeating Time Periods

This is an optional step for us because as per the requirement accrual should happen monthly and oracle delivers default setup/option for monthly accrual. However, we are still creating a custom repeating period here just to understand the concept. We will link this time period with absence plan later. By the way, repeating time period is a common feature and used in Oracle Time and Labor also.

Navigation : My Client Groups  » Absences » Repeating Time Periods

Once you have clicked on Repeating Time Periods, please click on Create icon under Search Result section and enter details as follow. Once done click on Save and Close

• Name : <Any Name, such as Avi Monthly Accrual>
• Period Usage : Accrual Processing
• Period Type : Monthly
• Period Length : Calendar Month
• Sample Start Date :  <Select Plan Cycle Start Date Ex: 1st Jan of the current year>

Create Absence Plan

We can say that prerequisites to create absence plan are done. Now it is time to create absence plan Annual Vacation and link other setups, which we have created so far.

Navigation : My Client Groups  » Absences » Absence Plans

Click on the Create button and a window will pop up. Enter details as follows and then click on Continue

• Effective As-of-Date : < Enter the plan start date, for example 1/1/1951 >
• Legislation : <Select your legislation, for example United States>
• Plan Type : Accrual

Now I feel it is time to talk a little bit about different plan types available in Fusion Absence Management. There are six different types of absence plans available in Fusion Absence Management, which are given below:

• Accrual
• Qualification : You can read this article to know more about qualification plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Qualification Plan Step by Step
• Compensatory : You can read this article to know more about compensatory plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Compensatory Absence Plan Step by Step
• Donation : You can read this article to know more about donation plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Cloud Donation Plan Step by Step
• No Entitlement
• Agreement

Accrual

Use this type to create absence plans that enable workers to accrue time for the purpose of taking paid leave, for example, a vacation plan. Our requirement qualifies for this plan type, and this is the most common and frequently used plan type, which we are configuring as part of this article.

Qualification

Use this type to create an absence plan where workers qualify for the plan as a result of events, such as long term illness or maternity, and receive payments during the absence period. You can read this article to know more about qualification plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Qualification Plan Step by Step

Compensatory

Create absence plans of this type to track earned compensatory time that can be used for time off. Compensatory time is offered as compensation for working outside of regular work schedules. Instead of paying overtime, an employer can create a policy to give paid time off. You can read this article to know more about compensatory plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Compensatory Absence Plan Step by Step

Donation

Create absence plans of this type to track donated time that a worker receives. Workers can donate their accrual plan balance to a coworker who needs additional time off and is eligible to receive the donated time. You can read this article to know more about donation plan » Learn to Configure Oracle Cloud Donation Plan Step by Step

No Entitlement

Create absence plans of this type to track paid or unpaid absences without maintaining an accrual balance or providing leave entitlements, such as periodic accruals. You can also use plans of this type in combination with a qualification plan. For example, use a no-entitlement plan to pay workers if they are not eligible for a standard maternity absence qualification plan.

Agreement

Create absence plans of this type in accordance with statutory rules for use under an agreement. For example, create a shared parental leave agreement for a worker and qualified parental partner to allocate paid or unpaid time off among parenting partners.

Difference between Accrual Plan and Qualification Plan

It is also worth to mention that Absence Plans are the bridge between Fusion Absence Management and payrolls. So if you want Fusion Payroll to take care about the absence payment, Plan must exist. In the qualification plan we have explained how to configure an absence element and link it with absence plan to process in payroll

Okay so now we know what are the different plan types delivered by Fusion Absence Management and when they should be used. Now lets come back to where we were.

As soon as you click on Continue following page will appear. Ensure Plan Attributes tab is selected. Please enter the details as given below:

• Plan : Annual vacation
• Legislative Data Group : <Select from the list>
• Status : Active
• Plan UOM : Day
• Type : Calendar Year
• Calendar : 1st Jan of the current year

Now click on the Participation tab and click on Select and Add under Eligibility section, a pop-up will appear. Enter values as follow and click on Save and Close

• Sequence : 10
• Eligibility Profile : <Eligibility Profile that you created earlier, Avi Annual Vacation Fulltime>. If you dont select any eligibility profile all employees from the legislation would be eligible for the plan.

Now click on Accruals Tab and enter details as follow:

• Accrual Definition : Matrix
• Payment Percentage : 100%
• Accrual Method : Incremental
• Balance Frequency Source : Repeating period <If you did not create any custom repeating period, leave it to default value “Person Primary Frequency” >
• Repeating Period : <Repeating Period created in earlier step, Avi Monthly Accrual>
• Ceiling Rule : Flat Amount
• Ceiling : 30 Days <This is our requirement that no employee will have more than 30 days of annual vacation balance>
• Allow Negative Balance : Yes [Select the check-box]
• Negative Balance Limit : 2 <This is our another requirement that employee can over withdraw but not more than -2>
• Carryover Limit Rule : Include in Matrix

Once you enter all these details, click on Create button available under Accrual Matrix and enter details as follows.

• Sequence: 10
• Accrual: 1.5
• Carryover Limit : 5
• Expression Builder : Click on expression Builder icon, which will open a new window. Click on Derived Tab » Expand Folder Length of service » Search and select the length of service <Avi Length of Service> we created earlier » Click on Insert to expression » click on Operators tab » Expand operators folder » Select Less Than » Click on Insert to expression » Click on Expression Region and enter numeric value 5 » Click OK

Once again click on Create icon under Accrual Matrix and make another entry as follow

• Sequence: 20
• Accrual: 2
• Carryover Limit : 5
• Expression Builder : Follow the same steps but this time values should be like [LengthOfService.AviLengthOfService] >= 5

Note : What this accrual matrix will do is, if the length of service of any employee is less than 5 year he would get 1.5 days of accrual every month, which will make it 18 days in a year. Similarly, if the length of service is greater than or equal to 5, employee would get 2 days per month, which will make it 24 days in a year.

Information : Just in case if the requirement would have been that a new employee who has just been enrolled to Annual Vacation will continue to accrue from first day but cannot use the accrued leave for first two months, you will make use of Accrual Vesting Rule introduces in Fusion Absence Management. Setting would look as given in the screen-print.

Now click on the next tab Entries and Balances

As the requirement also says that HR administrator should be able to adjust the Annual Vacation balance we need to enable this option over here. Just select the check box Enable Adjustments and select all values from Adjustment Reasons

Information : If you want to pass the information to payroll for calculation (including Rate Definition) you select the check-box to yes for “Transfer absence payment information for payroll processing” under Payroll Integration

Click on Save and Close

Create Absence Types

Now it is time to create absence types.

Navigation : My Client Groups  » Absences » Absence Types

Once you click on Absence Types, click on the + Create button available below Search Result section. As soon as you click on that a pop-up window will appear, there you need to enter following details and click on Continue

• Effective As-of Date : <Any Date : Should be past date before or equal to your absence plan start date, 1/1/1951>
• Legislation : Select from the list, for example United States
• Pattern : Generic absence

I believe this is time to talk about the different Patterns available in Fusion Absence Management.  

An absence pattern contains a predefined set of rules that you can use as a starting point to create an absence type. The pattern that you select determines whether special fields appear on the absence type pages, as well as the options available to display and process various aspects of absence recording. For example, the Illness or injury pattern displays a field that enables you to select whether the absence type applies for childbirth or adoption placement. Fusion Development maintains patterns and there is no UI available to users to update content of patterns. Following are the three patterns available in Fusion Absence Management.

• Illness or injury
• Childbirth or placement » This is generally used in the qualification plan such as maternity plan.
• Generic absence

Okay, so as soon as we click on Continue following page will appear

Enter the details as follow

• Name : Give it a name, for example: Avi Vacations
• UOM : Days
• Legislative Data Group : <Select from the list, same as your plan>
• Status : Active
• Eligibility Profile : Same eligibility profile as absence plan, however it is not necessary that absence plan and absence type should have same eligibility.
• Maximum Duration Alert : Error [Since this is our requirement not to allow more than 10 days of leave]
• Maximum Duration : 10
• Select following three check boxes in the Absence Record Maintenance section.
  • Enable Employee Update
  • Enable Manager Update
  • Enable Administrative Update

Click on the tab Plans and Reasons and click on Select and Add to make entry as follows

• Plan : Our plan that we created earlier <Annual Vacation>
• Status : Active
• Priority : 1

Click OK

(Optional Step) Now click on next tab Display Features and check you have selected following options for section Primary Absence Details

(Optional Step) Also please check that you have following details for section Dates and Duration 

Now our Annual Vacation plan setup is done. Following steps are to check whether our setups are working properly or not.

Enroll a Worker to Annual Vacation Plan

Automatic Enrollment

Now the most important question is how would an employee be enrolled to the accrual plan we have configured. Remember, we attached an eligibility profile with the accrual plan. That eligibility profile would help us to enroll employees to accrual plan. If we want all eligible employees to be enrolled automatically, we can run a program “Update Accrual Plan Enrollments”

To run the process follow the below navigation and then click on Run icon against process “Update Accrual Plan Enrollments”

Navigator » My Client Groups » Absences » Schedule and Monitor Absence Process » Update Accrual Plan Enrollments

Now on this screen enter the effective date as 1st Jan of the current year which will enroll all eligible employees from this date (Later you can also read this article to know how fast formula is used to enroll employees when you go live for the first time  » Oracle Fusion Setup and Formula to Handle Absence Plan Enrollment Start Date) and then from Absence Plan filed select the plan we just configured.

Wait for the process to complete (you can click on refresh button to check status constantly). Once process status is changed to “Succeeded“, consider program has completed successfully.

Manual Enrollment

If you want employee to enroll manually, you can follow below navigation.

Navigator » My Client Groups » Absences » Absence Records » Search the person

On this screen scroll below and you will see a section called Plan Participation. If you have run the process mentioned above and employee you search is eligible for the plan, you will notice that our absence plan Annual Vacation is already listed here.

If you have not run the process and you manually want to enroll any employee to the plan, you come over this page and click on Enrollment and Adjustment and then click on  Add Enrollment. This will bring a pop-up where select the plan Annual Vacation and enrollment Start Date. Click on Submit. This process will enroll employee to the accrual plan.

Now we need to check the balance (accrual) of the employee to make sure its working according to our configuration. Again we have two choices, either we can schedule the process Calculate Accruals and Balances to calculate accrual for all eligible employees or we do it manually for a single employee.

As you are already on the Manage Absences and Entitlements page, lets do it for a single employee. First select the plan Annual Vacation and click on Accrual and select Run Accrual for selected Plan

This will bring a pop-up where you select the current date and click on yes. After that you can check the balance in Annual Vacation row.

You can also adjust the balance by selecting Enrollments and Adjustments » Adjust Balance.

Scheduling the vacation

In Fusion Absence Management submitting/applying absence is more commonly known as scheduling absence. Okay, we have worked hard to configure Annual vacation, now it is time to check how it works. Remember one of the requirement was not to allow workers to schedule Annual Vacation for more than 10 days so lets test that.

Login as worker and follow below navigation :

Navigation : Navigator » Me » Time and Absences » Add Absence

Select Absence Type from list (the one we just configured, Avi Vacations). Enter the Start Date and End Date so that the duration is more than 10 days and click on Submit. You should get following error message.

Information : You can also setup different approval process for your absence. To  Get some idea on how approval process can be customized in fusion please follow the post Configure and Customize Approval Rules in Oracle Fusion

Additional Resource for Fusion Absence Management

In this article, we have provided a comprehensive overview of Oracle Cloud Absence Management, covering everything you need to know. We discussed the configuration of absences and absence types, ensuring that the setup aligns with business requirements. By following the guidelines outlined in this article, you should have gained a thorough understanding of Oracle Cloud Absence Management.

For additional resources and articles on absence management, you can access them by clicking on the link » oracle absence management articles. These resources will further enhance your knowledge and provide more insights into this topic.

If you have any further questions or require additional information, we encourage you to post them in the hcm forum. Hcmfolks.com is a vibrant community of Oracle HCM professionals who can assist you with any follow-up inquiries you may have.