Payentry Report Writer Guide

Transcription

Report Writer Guide
Notice
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. MPAY Inc. shall not be liable for any
technical or editorial errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages resulting from the
performance, furnishing, or use of this publication.
The software described in this document is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of that license.
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including (but not limited to) photocopying, recording, scanning, or retrieval system, for any
reason other than the purchaser’s personal use without the express written permission of MPAY Inc. The
company data contained in the examples within this text is fictitious and any resemblace to real people, places,
or companies is purely coincidental.
MPAY, Millenium, and payentry.com are trademarks of MPAY Inc. Windows, Windows 2000, Windows XP,
Windows Vista, and Windows 7 are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. All other brand and product
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Corporate Headquarters:
9920 West Kincey Avenue
Suite 120
Huntersville, NC 28078
Phone: 781-810-9009
http://www.mpay.com
Copyright © 2008–2011 by MPAY, Inc.
Version:
February, 2011
Document Number: PE-32931404-RPTWRGD-01
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
TOC
Table of Contents
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Chapter 1: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Accessing the Report Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Creating a New Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Saving Your Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Editing an Existing Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Report Writer Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 2: Using the Report Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Step 1: Add Fields for the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Fields sub-page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Working with Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Special Fields in the Employee List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Special Payroll Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Step 2: Sort & Group the Report Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Step 3: Filter the Report Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Filtering Formula Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Filters About Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Filters About Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
An Advanced Filter for a Deduction Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Formula Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Report Writer Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
General Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Calculate Employer Taxes in Report Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 3: Running & Retrieving Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Running Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Request Area tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Report Writer tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Report Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Date Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Output Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Queued Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Retrieving a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
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Table of Contents
Chapter 4: Example of Creating a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Premise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Step 1: Create a New Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Step 2: Add the Necessary Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field 1: Plan ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field 2: Employee SSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fields 3 & 4: Employee Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field 5: Current Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field 6: YTD Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field 7: Employee Contribution Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Step 3: Define the Sorting Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Step 4: Add the Necessary Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Chapter 5: Advanced Report Writer Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Current Date & Length of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the Basic Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using a VB Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Specifying Results as Integers or Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Calculating Age Based on the Report End Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Accessing the Employee Annual Salary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Formatting Date Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Formatting Numeric Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using “If” Statements for Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Single Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Multiple Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Using the Date Range of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Using the Dates of the Most Recently Processed Payroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Alternative Fill Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Advanced Calculations Using Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Simulating Wildcard Characters in Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Displaying Employee Pay Grade Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Displaying Names or Descriptions Instead of Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Employee Department Name Instead of Department Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Employee Termination Description Instead of Termination Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Handling Blank Dates in Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Determining Employee Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Notes and Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
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Report Writer Guide
Chapter 1
Getting Started
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This guide explains how to use the Report Writer feature on Payentry.com.
Reporting data is an important element in satisfying your customers’ needs. You may find
that you need a report that is slightly different from—or not included in—the existing
reports on Payentry.com.
When it comes to creating your own reports, the Report Writer feature allows you to
produce a report quickly without getting into unnecessary details and complexity. It allows
you to create, edit, and save an unlimited number of custom reports.
This guide describes the various features and functions of the report writer, as well as
provide some sample reports to get you started.
You can use Report Writer for most of your reporting needs because it has access to almost
all data in the database. You can:
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Create employee and personnel listings
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Access current, month-to-date (MTD), quarter-to-date (QTD), and year-to-date (YTD)
values for any earning, deduction, or tax code
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Create most types of output files
This chapter explains how to access the Report Writer, create and save new reports, edit
existing reports, and remove unwanted reports.
Accessing the Report Writer
To access the Report Writer, perform the following:
1. From the Main Menu page, select the appropriate company.
2. Click on the Reports link, as shown in Figure 1:
PE-32931404-RPTWRGD-01
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Figure 1: Reports option on the Main Menu
The system displays the All Report Groups page, the main reporting area on
Payentry.com. It defaults to the Request Area tab, as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Report Writer reports
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This page displays all existing Report Writer reports in the upper portion of the page
(see Figure 2) and all other available system reports in the lower portion.
3. From this page, you can:
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Edit an existing Report Writer report
Either click the Edit link or the Report Writer tab. For more information, see
“Editing an Existing Report” on page 11.
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Run an existing Report Writer report
Click the report’s associated Run link. For more information, see Chapter 3,
“Running & Retrieving Reports.”
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Add a new Report Writer report
For more information, see the next section.
Creating a New Report
To create a new report, perform the following steps:
1. From the All Report Groups page, click the Report Writer tab.
The browser displays a blank page, as shown in Figure 3:
Figure 3: New report on the Report Writer tab
2. Click the New button.
The browser displays three fields on the page, as shown in Figure 4:
Figure 4: The three fields to begin a new report
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This is an important step in creating a report. You must define the report itself. The
basic information includes the Report Title, Sub Title, and Report Type.
Note
You are restricted to using only one report type at a time. You cannot create your report
beginning in one type, then change the report type and add information from that new
type.
Explanations of the fields are as follows:
Report Type
Informs the system what to display for detail items on the report. For
example:
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If you select Employee List in this drop-down field, Payentry.com
displays one line per employee.
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If you select Employee Paychecks, the system displays one line per
check.
In addition, the report type controls the report data to which you have
access. The two database tables that are standard for every report are the
co (company information) and ee (employee information) tables.
You’ll be allowed to use all data for the items you select and all items
above it.
Each report type will select the database tables relevant to that report
type:
Figure 5: The report type selects the relevant tables
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For example, if you select Employee DirectDeposits as the report type,
you will have access to the EDirDep table in addition to the standard
tables.
Some of the types that you may use frequently include:
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Company List
Displays basic company setup information.
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Employee List
Displays basic employee information.
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Employee Paychecks
Displays check register-style information (gross, retirement, and so
on). Use code groups to handle the kind of information you want.
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Employee Rates
Displays information about employee rates of pay.
The report type Employee List is the most commonly used type and is
available to be used on any of the Employee report types. If you decide to
use a company level report type, the employee listing is not available.
An example of the drop-down list is shown in Figure 6:
Figure 6: Some of the available report types
Table 1 is a non-comprehensive list of the different report types available
on Payentry.com:
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Table 1: Report Types
Report Type
Available Data
Report Detail
Common Uses
Employee Accruals
Company Demographic
Employee Demographic
Employee Accrual Setup
Employee Deductions
Company Demographic
Employee Deduction Setup
1 line per deduction per
employee
EE Deduction Setup. (for
reports that include
current, MTD, or YTD
deduction amounts use
the Employee List type.)
Employee Dependents
Company Demographic
Employee Dependents
1 line per dependent per
employee
Dependent Listing
Employee Direct
Deposits
Company Demographic
Employee Direct Deposit Setup
1 line per direct deposit
per employee
EE Direct Deposit Setup
Employee Education
Company Demographic
Employee Education
1 line per education entry
EE Education Listing
per employee
Employee Emergency
Contacts
Company Demographic
Employee Emergency Contacts
1 line per emergency
contact per employee
EE Emergency Contact
Listing
Employee Events
Company Demographic
Employee Events
1 line per event per
employee
EE Event Listing
1 line per fringe earning
code per employee
EE Fringe Setup
Company Demographic
Employee Fringe Benefits Employee Demographic
Employee Fringe Setup
1 line per accrual per
employee
Time Off Balances
EE Accrual Setup
Employee List
Company Demographic
Summarized Payroll Information
1 line per employee
Employee List, 401k
export files, Reports with
payroll numbers
Employee Paychecks
Company Demographic
Employee Prior Checks
1 line per check
Check Register
Employee Rates
Company Demographic
Employee Rate Setup
1 line per rate code per
employee
EE Rate Setup
Employee Reviews
Company Demographic
Employee Reviews
1 line per review per
employee
EE Review Listing
Employee Skills
Company Demographic
Employee Skills
1 line per skill per
employee
EE Skill Listing
Employee Taxes
Company Demographic
Employee Tax Setup
1 line per tax code per
employee
EE Tax Setup
The Employee List type is the most common and will probably be used
for a majority of your reports. If you do not know which type to select, try
the Employee List type first.
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Note
Table 1 does not list all report types. Most of those not listed concern company setup
information for clients with multiple codes on Payentry.com. Those types are not covered
in this document.
Report Title
The heading of the report. The system displays this text in the list of
Report Writer reports on the All Report Groups page (Figure 2 on
page 6).
It is also displayed on the left-hand side if the report title block which is
displayed on the top of all pages in the report.
Sub Title
[Optional] The subheading of the report. Whatever you enter into this
field will be displayed on the report itself, directly underneath the report
title.
3. Enter the appropriate values for the Report Type, Report Title, and Sub Title fields.
You must enter a value in at least one of these fields.
4. Press the [Enter] key.
Once you enter text in or more of the fields and select the report to edit, you must configure
the report. See Chapter 2, “Using the Report Editor.”
Saving Your Report
Once you have entered values for the Report Type and Report Title fields, click on the Save
button (located between the New and Run buttons) to save your new report and display the
report editing screen.
Tip
It is recommended that you click the Save button periodically whenever you are editing a
report. This action ensures that you do not loose too much of your work, in case of a
failure in your connection or a timeout occurs due to inactivity and you are automatically
logged off.
Editing an Existing Report
To edit an existing report, you can do one of the following:
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Under the Request Area tab, click the Edit link of the associated report name:
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Getting Started
Figure 7: The Edit column
– or –
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Under the Report Writer tab, select the report in the Edit drop-down list:
Figure 8: The Edit drop-down list
Once you select the report to edit, you must configure the report. See Chapter 2, “Using the
Report Editor.”
Report Writer Restrictions
The Payentry.com Report Writer can not do the following:
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Create “fancy” formatting, such as boxes, shading, other fonts, color, and so on
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Report on system setup information
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Report on individual pay detail items (EPayHistDetail)
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Report on labor distribution information
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Change the margins
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Use data from two related tables on the same report (in addition to the company and
employee tables)
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Print a report in Landscape format. All reports print in Portrait format; therefore, if a
report requires more space than the width of a regular page, you will have to export
the report and use another program.
Report Writer Guide
Chapter 2
Using the Report Editor
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This chapter explains how to work with the data that appears in your report.
Whenever you create a new report or edit an existing report, the browser displays the
report editor page, as shown in Figure 9:
Figure 9: Creating a report
The report editor page includes:
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A tree view in the Available Fields area
The Available Fields area on the left-hand side of the page contains the field selection
tree, which displays all of the data fields available to you for your report.
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Four tabbed sub-pages
The report configuration area on the right-hand side contains four sub-tabs, which
you use to design and build your report:
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Fields — Specifies the fields and headings that appear in the report. This defines
the content of the report.
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Sorts — [Optional] Specifies how the report is sorted.
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Company Filters & Employee Filters — [Optional] Specifies any filtering done in the
report.
Each sub-page is explained in each of the main steps.
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Tip
It is recommended that you periodically save your work (by clicking the Save button)
whenever you are editing a report. This action prevents loss of information in the event
of an automatic inactivity log-off or a connection failure.
The basic steps for working with the Report Writer editor are outlined below. Each step is
explained in detail in subsequent sections:
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Step 1: Add Fields for the Report
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Step 2: Sort & Group the Report Output
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Step 3: Filter the Report Input
Step 1: Add Fields for the Report
The Fields sub-tab allows you to select the data to display on your report.
When you click on the Fields sub-tab, the system displays the Fields sub-page:
Figure 10: Fields tab showing the left-most columns
Use this page to enter all of the items you want displayed on your report. Each field you
select become a column in your report.
You can enter four different types of data into the fields column:
A. Data fields from the database, which are displayed in the Available Fields list
B. Static or “fixed” entries, which you type in directly
C. Special payroll fields
D. Special payroll formulas
The information that you can include in the report is determined by the Report Type dropdown list (see Chapter 1, “Getting Started”).
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Each line item in the list of fields produces a column of data on the finished report. The
columns in the report that are displayed from left to right correspond with the row of the
Fields sub-page, from top to bottom.
The report in Figure 10 on page 14 will have six columns. The leftmost column will be
labeled EE # and contain the employee ID, and the rightmost column will be Base Rate.
The Fields sub-page
The fields (columns) and buttons on the Fields page are as follows:
Format
When you press the Format button, the browser displays a pop-up dialog,
as shown in Figure 11:
Figure 11: Format pop-up dialog
The pop-up menu will allow you to perform special formatting on the
field. Each setting is explained below.
Show 0
Put a check in this check box to make the system show zeroes instead of
leaving the field blank (if it is a numeric field and the value is zero or null).
Total
Put a check in this check box to include a total for this column on the
report.
No Punct
Put a check in this check box to suppress all punctuation marks from
values in this column.
No Periods
Put a check in this check box to suppress all decimals from number fields.
No Commas
Put a check in this check box to suppress commas from number fields.
Overpunch
Put a check in this check box to display numbers using the overpunch
format. The last digit of the number will be changed to a letter to
differentiate between positive and negative numbers.
Uppercase
Put a check in this check box to change all letters for these field values to
uppercase characters.
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The next two fields in each row concern how the column is labeled on the report:
Field
The name of the field. A column on the report will list values of this field.
You can enter four different types of data into the Field column:
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Data fields from the database
Fields from the database are displayed in the Available Fields tree to
the left of the Fields sub-page.
Database fields contain actual company and employee data that is
stored on the Payentry.com site for your company. To include a data
field in the report, click on the field name in the Available Fields tree.
Once you click on the field, it is automatically added to the list of fields
included on your report.
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Static or “fixed” entries
These are field that you type directly into the last row on the Fields
sub-page.
If you want a column to contain specific text, simply type the text you
want surrounded by double quotes.
For example, you are creating an export file and need to put the
characters T00129 in each line. You would enter "T00129" (with the
quotes) in the blank row at the bottom of the list.
Note
The static text you enter directly into the Field column will be repeated on each line of the
report.
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Special payroll fields
For more information, see “Special Fields in the Employee List” on
page 18.
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Special payroll formulas
For more information, see “Special Payroll Formulas” on page 20.
Heading
The column title that will appear above the field on the report.
This field is automatically filled in when you select a field from the
Available Fields tree.
The rest of the fields in each row concern how the column is formatted on the report:
Len
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The maximum number of characters that will be display in this column.
The default value is the length defined in the database. You can change the
value, if you wish.
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If you set this field to 0 (zero), the column for this field will not be
included on the report.
For fields that you define manually, such as static text and formulas, you
must enter a value in this field.
Dec
The number of decimal places that will be displayed for the values of this
field. The default value is 2.
L/R
Indicates whether this column will be left- or right-justified.
Fill
Indicates the character to be used if the column is to be filled with a
character rather than spaces.
For example, some organizations wish to fill a monetary amount with
pound signs (#) before the actual number.
A most commonly use is to zero-fill fields on output files. For example, you
have a number field (such as “rate”) and set the length to a value of 10
and fill to 0 (the zero character). If the data is the number 100.25, the
output on the report will be:
0000100.25
The blank spaces in the field are filled with zeros. This is especially useful
when creating fixed length export files.
Order
Allows you to move rows on the sub-page, which corresponds to order of
the columns on your report.
To move a report column to the left, click that line item’s up arrow.
Likewise, click a line item’s down arrow to move the report column to the
right.
Remove
When you press the Remove button, the system deletes the line item from
the report.
For more information on formatting and output options, see Chapter 5, “Advanced Report
Writer Scripting.”
Working with Fields
To select the fields that will be used to generate the report, perform the following:
1. In the Available Fields tree, click a field you want to include in the report.
The system adds that field to the bottom of the list under the Fields sub-tab.
2. If you no longer wish to include a field that’s already listed, click the Remove button for
that line item.
3. If you want to include a “fixed” value (a particular value you want to appear) instead
of a database value (see step 1), type the value you want to appear, enclosed in quotes;
for example:
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"100" or "ML71" or "Dog"
You can used this feature to enter, say, a plan ID or record identifier in a 401(k) output
file.
4. Repeat the preceding steps until all the fields you wish to use in the report are listed
under the Fields tab.
The order of the fields on this page corresponds to the order of the columns in your report.
The order from top-to-bottom in the field list matches the left-to-right order of the report
columns.
You can change the order in which the columns appear on the report. Use the up-arrow
and down-arrow buttons in the Order column of the Fields sub-page to move the fields up
and down.
Special Fields in the Employee List
The Report Writer has special payroll fields available to get current, MTD, QTD, and YTD
payroll numbers, as well as deduction and rate setup information.
Expanding the Employee Fields in the Available Fields tree includes several special sections,
as shown in Figure 12:
Figure 12: Special payroll fields
The explanations of the fields are as follows:
Deductions
The employee deduction setup information.
Use the Deductions fields to retrieve the current deduction setup
information for any deduction code, based on the date selected when the
report is run.
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Figure 13: Special Deductions fields
To use one of these items:
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Expand Deductions.
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Find the deduction you want.
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Expand it to see all of the available deduction setup fields.
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Click on a field to add it to the report.
Use the same steps for each special field group.
Current
Current payroll values for all codes and code groups.
Use the Current fields to enter payroll numbers (Earning, Deduction,
and Tax) for the current payroll period.
Note
If the report is run across a range of dates, the numbers will be the sum total for that range.
When you expand Current, you will see all earning, deduction, and tax
codes, as well as code sets: Earnings will be preceded by an E, Deductions
by a D, and taxes by a T.
Expanding any code (or code set) will give you the available totals for that
code. For earnings you can select total hours or amount, for deductions
you can select total amount, and for taxes you can select total taxable
wages, capped taxable wages, or total amount.
CYTD, CQTD, CMTD
Rates
The CMTD, CQTD, and CYTD fields function the same as the Current fields,
except they are designed to display total Month to Date (CMTD), Quarter
to Date (CQTD) and Year to Date (CYTD) numbers.
The employee rate information.
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Use the Rates fields to get the current rate code setup information for
any rate code (including base rate), based on the date selected when the
report is run.
These special sections use the year, month, quarter, and time frame of the report.
Special Payroll Formulas
You can enter a formula in place of a database field or static entry. You typically use formulas
to provide special text formatting or add values together.
For example, the following formula displays an employee name in the “last, first” format:
ee.lastName + “, “ + ee.firstName
The following formula adds the current regular and overtime earnings together:
ee.Current("E","Reg").amount + ee.Current("E","OT").amount
Special payroll formulas can use most Visual Basic (VB) functions:
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Text formatting functions
Display the first letter of the middle name only:
Left (ee.middlename,1)
Display check box values as “Y” or “N”:
replace (replace(ee.owner, "1", "Y"), "0", "N")
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Date formatting functions
Change the date format from 01/03/2006 to January 3, 2006:
Monthname (Month(ee.hiredate), False) + " " +
+ Cstr(Year(ee.hiredate))
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Cstr(Day(ee.hiredate)) + ", "
Math functions
Divide a rate by a specific number (10):
EDed.rate / 10
Step 2: Sort & Group the Report Output
When you click on the Sorts tab, the system displays the Sorts page:
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Figure 14: Sorts tab
The format of the Sorts sub-page is similar to the Fields page.
Report Writer allows you to sort information to control the order in which the data is
displayed on the report. In addition, you can have the system generate totals at each sort
break by checking the Subtotal field.
Click on one or more fields in the Available Fields tree to add fields to the list on this page.
These subtotals are in addition to any field-level total defined under the Fields sub-tab.
Subtotals are generated for each field that can be mathematically summarized.
Field
The name of the field upon which you are going to group or sort the
output.
The grouping and sorting is performed based on the first line item, then
the second, and so on.
For example, in the example in Figure 14, the data will be first grouped by
department, then sorted by employee ID within each department.
Description
The default description of this field in the database.
This field is automatically populated when you select a database field from
the Available Fields tree.
Subtotal
Put a check in this check box to create a subtotal of this column on the
report.
Order
These arrows are used to move the field up (or down) in the list of sorting
fields.
Remove
When you press the Remove button, the system deletes the line item from
the sort criteria.
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Step 3: Filter the Report Input
To add a filter to your report, select the appropriate filter sub-tab (for example, Company
Filters or Employee Filters, based on the data you want to filter) and enter your filter
conditions.
When you click on a Filters sub-tab, the system displays a Filters page, as shown in the
example in Figure 15:
Figure 15: Adding employee filters
Filters allow you to narrow down the data to a smaller subset. You can either include or
exclude that data from the report.
Fields that you use as filtering elements will not necessarily appear on the report. In other
words, you can use a filter based on information that is not included in the report itself.
Each report allows you to create two standard filters that correspond with the Available
Fields tree:
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The Company Filter sub-tab corresponds with fields listed in Company Fields (the co
table).
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Likewise, the Employee Filter sub-tab corresponds with fields listed in Employee
Fields (the ee table).
Some reports add a third table of available fields and corresponding sub-tab, which is
determined by the type of report you select (the Report Type field on the Setup tab). Be sure
you have that sub-tab selected before you add fields from its corresponding table:
Figure 16: Using the correct table/sub-tab combination
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Note
For data that is related to employee listings, enter filter statements on the Employee Filter
sub-tab. In similar fashion, use the Company Filter sub-tab to filter company-based reports.
The explanations of the sub-tab fields are as follows:
Field
The name of the field from the database upon which you are basing the
filter.
As with the other pages, you can double-click on a field in the Available
Fields tree to enter the name.
Comparison
Value
And/Or
Use this drop-down list to select the comparison you are making between
the Field and the Value. Valid entries are:
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= — Is Equal to
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< — Is Less Than
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> — Is Greater Than
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<= — Is Less Than or Equal to
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>= — is Greater Than or Equal to
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<> — Is Not Equal to
The text or number to which you are comparing the value of the Field. If
you are entering text, enclose it in double quotes.
Use this drop-down list to select an operator if you are creating more than
one comparison in your filter. Valid entries are AND and OR:
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If you use AND, all of the filter conditions must be met for the data to
display.
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If you use OR, any one of the filter conditions must be met for the data
to display.
Note
A hierarchy exists for these operators. The AND operator is executed first, but as soon as
the system reads an OR operator, every subsequent operator is considered an OR
statement.
If you need to create a compound statement, where several statements are grouped
together, use parentheses to define the groupings. For an example of how to use the
parentheses properly, see “An Advanced Filter for a Deduction Report.”
Advanced
Use this button to enter multiple SQL statements rather than comparison
fields described above. When you click this button, the Field, Comp, Value,
and And/Or columns are replaced by a text area.
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If you use this method of creating a filter, be aware that proper SQL
syntax is very important.
Tip
You can use code groups instead of formulas. If you already have code groups defined for
the company, you can use them from the employee list of available fields. For more
information, see “Special Fields in the Employee List” on page 18.
Note
If you click the Advanced button and enter SQL statements in the text area, then decide you
want to return to the normal filtering method, you must delete the SQL statements in the
text area first.
Some examples of how to use filtering formulas are contained in the next section.
Filtering Formula Examples
The examples in this section provide you with formulas for common filters.
Filters About Companies
Show all companies except one (in this case, company ABC):
co.co <> “ABC”
Figure 17: Show all companies except ABC
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Show all companies in particular states (in this case, Massachusetts & California):
co.state = “MA” AND
co.state = “CA”
Figure 18: Show companies located in MA or CA only
Filters About Employees
Show all active and full-time employees:
ee.empStatus = “A” AND
ee.empType = “Full”
Figure 19: Show all active and full-time employees
Show employees who work in cost centers 100 or 200:
ee.cc1 = “100” OR
ee.cc1 = “200”
Figure 20: Show employees in cost centers 100 or 200
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Show all active employees who work in cost centers 100 or 200:
ee.empStatus = “A” AND
ee.cc1 = “100” OR
ee.cc1 = “200”
Figure 21: Show active employees in cost centers 100 or 200
An Advanced Filter for a Deduction Report
The following code is an example of how to use SQL statements after clicking the Advanced
button.
Use the AND operator to specify that the filter must meet all of the conditions you define:
EDed.dcode = "U" AND
EDed.rate >= "5.00" AND
EDed.rate <= "9.00"
Use the OR operator to specify that the filter must meet at least one of the conditions. In
addition, you can create compound statements by grouping AND filters within
parentheses:
(EDed.dcode = "U" AND
EDed.rate <= "9.00")
OR
(EDed.dcode = "V" AND
EDed.rate <= "9.00")
If you use the Deduction table as your tree, your deduction filter tab has to be defined first
with the deduction code; afterwards, you define the rate you are trying to compile.
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Formula Examples
You can manually enter formulas in the Field column, as shown in the examples below.
Display employee’s last name in the format Last, First:
ee.lastName + ", " + ee.firstName
Figure 22: Show employee’s last and first names
Add current regular and overtime earnings together:
ee.Current("E","Reg").amount + ee.Current("E","OT").amount
Display only the first letter of the middle name:
Left(ee.middlename,1)
Display check box values are yes or no:
replace (replace(ee.owner, "1", "Y"), "0", "N")
Change date format from 01/03/09 to January 3, 2009:
Cstr(Year(ee.hiredate))
Cstr(Day(ee.hiredate)) + ", " +
Divide a rate by a specific number (for example, 10):
EDed.rate/10
Get an employee’s annual salary:
ee.AnnualSalary(co.safecheckdate)
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Report Writer Tips & Tricks
General Tips
Here are some things to keep in mind when you work with reports:
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Use code groups instead of lengthy formulas.
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Use taxable wage values to calculate employer tax amounts.
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When adding text fields, always enter a Len value (because the default is zero).
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Column headers comply to the Len value. They will truncate if longer than the Len
value.
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You can remove the column headers as necessary.
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Preview the report as you build it. Adjust your layout as necessary.
Calculate Employer Taxes in Report Writer
Use the SQL statement format below to print employer taxes on a report. Employer taxes
are not available in Report Writer; they are calculated at the company level and updated in
the ELaborDistribution table.
You can use the following format (the taxes listed are for instructional purposes only):
(ee.Current("T","SS-R").cappedTaxable * .062) +
(ee.Current("T","FUTA").cappedTaxable * .008) +
(ee.Current("T","MED-R").cappedTaxable * .0145) +
(ee.Current("T","TXSUI").cappedTaxable * .027) +
(ee.Current("T","MOSUI").cappedTaxable * 0.0351) +
(ee.Current("T","KSSUI").cappedTaxable * .0297)
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Report Writer Guide
Chapter 3
Running & Retrieving Reports
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Running Reports
You can run your report from two locations:
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The default reporting page (Request Area tab), which is the same page you use to run
reports provided with the system
– or –
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The report editor (Report Writer tab) while you create or modify the report, which
allows you to see report layout according to your current settings
Request Area tab
You can run an existing report under the Request Area tab, click the Run link of the
associated report name:
Figure 23: Request Area tab, Run column
Report Writer tab
You can run an existing report under the Report Writer tab, click the Run button to run the
report you are currently editing:
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Figure 24: Report Writer tab, Run button
If the Run button is not available, the system is indicating that the report has been modified
since it was last saved. In order to run the report, you must save if first by pressing the Save
button. Once you save the report, the Run button becomes active.
Report Parameters
When you tell the system to run a report, it displays the report parameters:
Figure 25: Report parameters
Select the appropriate settings in the Date Range, Output Format, and Delivery sections.
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After you have defined the parameters, click the Run Report button at the bottom of the
page to generate the report.
Date Range
This section allows you to select the dates on which the report’s data will be based.
Dates for the reports (such as the current month, and so on) are based on the calendar date
on your computer.
Use the Override Dates option to manually select a range of check date/process number
combinations on which to base a report.
Most Recent Pay
Period
Current Month
Select this radio button to report on the last payroll that was processed.
Select this radio button to report on the month based on today’s date.
Current Quarter
Select this radio button to report on the quarter based on today’s date.
Year-to-Date
Select this radio button to report on all data throughout the year up to
today’s date.
Override Dates
Allows you to select a date range other than the standard ones (those
indicated by the other radio buttons on this page).
Works in conjunction with the Date and Process # drop-down lists, which
Millennium automatically populates with a drop-down list of payrolls that
have been processed.
You can either select a payroll date from the drop-down lists or type in
your own dates, such as fiscal dates that do not match any “normal”
processing dates; for example, 05/01/2009 and 04/30/2010.
Quarter 1, 2, 3, 4
Select these radio buttons to report on a specific quarter of the year
based on the current year.
Output Format
This section allows you to select the report’s file type and formatting.
Output Format
Use this drop-down list to determine how the report is formatted. Valid
entries include:
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Portable Document Format (PDF)
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ASCII Text
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Comma Separated Values
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Tab Separated Values
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Output column
headers
Put a check in this check box to include column headers. The default is to
leave headers out of the report.
Column headers are automatically included in PDF reports.
This field is available only when you select ASCII Text, Comma
Separated Values, or Tab Separated Values in the Output Format
drop-down list.
Delivery
This section allows you to select how you will view the report.
View completed
report
Email completed
report to
Put a check in this check box to have the resulting report appear in a popup as soon as it is created.
Put a check in this check box to have the system send the report to an
email address as soon as it is created.
The system stores the report in the Pickup Area tab, whether or not you check one of
the check boxes above.
Queued Reports
After you specify the report parameters, the system displays the Report Requested
Queued message:
Figure 26: Report Requested Queued message
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It is recommended that you allow pop-ups for this site. A newly generated report:
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Appears in a new browser instance
The browser instance can either be a new window or new tab, depending on your
browser settings.
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Is stored in the Pickup Area tab
It remains in the Pickup Area for 24 hours. You can download it as many times as you
like during that period.
If you do not allow pop-ups, the only way to see the report is to go to the Pickup Area.
Retrieving a Report
After the system has finished generating a report, you can retrieve it under the Pickup Area
tab:
Figure 27: Pickup Area tab
You can:
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Click the link under the Download column to display the PDF in your web browser.
– or –
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Right-click the link and select Save Target As to download the file to your hard drive.
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Chapter 4
Example of Creating a Report
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This chapter provides an example of going through the steps of creating a report to help
you understand the concepts of using Report Writer.
Premise
Your 401(k) provider has requested that you produce an export file from your payroll
provider that contains all active employees. The report needs to be:
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Run once a month
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Sorted by employee Social Security number
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A comma separated file that contains the fields listed in Table 2:
Table 2: Required fields for the comma separated file
Field
Data
Description
1
Plan ID
Your company’s plan identifier (4k005)
2
Employee SSN
Employee’s social security number (no dashes)
3
Employee Last Name
4
Employee First Name
5
Employee Current Contribution
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Employee YTD Contribution
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Employee Contribution Percent
Step 1: Create a New Report
The first step is to create the new report, give it a name, and select the report type:
Figure 28: Creating a new report
You choose the Employee List report type because you want just one line per employee,
as well as payroll numbers.
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Step 2: Add the Necessary Fields
The next step is to add the seven required fields (see Table 2):
Figure 29: Adding the report’s required fields
Field 1: Plan ID
The plan ID is simply a text field that contains "4K005" for every record. You enter the text
(surrounded with quotes) directly into the Field column. You also add a heading into the
Heading column and set the length of the field in the Len column.
Field 2: Employee SSN
You add the employee’s SSN by clicking the Format button on the left hand side of the
ee.ssn value. Because you added the field using the Available Fields tree, the heading and
length were filled in automatically.
In order to remove the dashes from the Social Security number, you click the Format button
and select No Punct, as shown in Figure 30:
Figure 30: Format
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Fields 3 & 4: Employee Name
You include the employee last and first name by selecting Last Name and First Name from
the Available Fields tree, as shown in Figure 31:
Figure 31: Selecting the name fields
Field 5: Current Contribution
You enter the employee’s current 401(k) contribution by selecting Curr 401k (deduction
code) under the Current > Curr D-401k special payroll fields from the Available Fields
tree, as shown in Figure 32:
Figure 32: Selecting the current contribution
The special payroll fields are located at the bottom of the Employee Fields.
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Field 6: YTD Contribution
You enter the employee’s current year-to-date 401(k) contribution by selecting YTD 401k
(deduction code) under the CYTD > YTD D-401k special payroll fields from the Available
Fields tree, as shown in Figure 33:
Figure 33: Selecting the current year-to-date contribution
The special payroll fields are located at the bottom of the Employee Fields.
Field 7: Employee Contribution Rate
You enter the employee’s 401(k) contribution rate by selecting 401k (deduction code)
under the Deductions > 401k Ded special payroll fields from the Available Fields tree, as
shown in Figure 34:
Figure 34: Employee contribution rate
The special payroll fields are located at the bottom of the Employee Fields. The
Deductions group has the current setup information for each of the employee’s recurring
deductions.
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Step 3: Define the Sorting Criteria
Once you have added all of the fields, you must define a sort order for the report. You click
on the Sorts tab of the report editor, as shown in Figure 35:
Figure 35: Sorts tab
The report needs to be sorted by employee ID, so you use the Available Fields tree to select
the field code ssn. The system automatically adds ee.ssn to the Field column and ssn to
the Description column.
You then uncheck the Sub Total check box because you only want to sort by that field—not
group and total by SSN.
Step 4: Add the Necessary Filters
The last step is to filter the report, so that it contains only active employees. You click on
the the Employee Filters tab, as shown in Figure 36:
Figure 36: Employee Filters tab
You select the ee.empStatus field because that is the field code that holds the employees
status.
You select = Equals from the Comparison drop-down list.
Next, you enter the value A in the Value field because you want to include only those
employees whose status code is A.
You are now ready to run the report.
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Report Writer Guide
Chapter 5
Advanced Report Writer Scripting
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One of the nice things that the Report Writer has to offer is a vast array of things you can
do with it. For example, you can utilize VBScript to either manipulate data or retrieve data
from non-Payentry.com sources.
To get more info on VBScript, please refer to Microsoft’s VBScript documentation at the
following URL:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t0aew7h6.aspx
Note
You can use VBScript functions in Report Writer—not Visual Basic programming.
In this chapter you will find some examples of what you can do inside the report writer:
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Current Date & Length of Service
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Accessing the Employee Annual Salary
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Formatting Date Strings
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Formatting Numeric Fields
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Using “If” Statements for Replacements
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Using the Date Range of the Report
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Using the Dates of the Most Recently Processed Payroll
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Advanced Calculations Using Rates
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Simulating Wildcard Characters in Filters
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Displaying Employee Pay Grade Information
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Displaying Names or Descriptions Instead of Codes
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Handling Blank Dates in Filters
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Determining Employee Age
Current Date & Length of Service
Length of service (LOS), or the number of days the employee has been employed, is
calculated by Payentry.com—but not stored. The formula provided in this article explains
how to take the current date and subtract the hire date to get the length of service.
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Note
The LOS figure returned on the report may not be accurate for employees that have an
adjusted seniority or rehire date.
Payentry.com, when calculating LOS, considers if the Adjusted Seniority and Rehire date
fields have values. The order of date fields at which it looks is: adjusted seniority, rehire,
hire.
Therefore, the figure on the report may vary from the LOS calculation on Payentry.com.
Using the Basic Formula
The formula to use is:
(Current Date) - (Hire Date) = LOS
To derive the current date within the system, use the VB Script function Now().
To derive the employee’s hire date within the system, use ee.hiredate.
Therefore, to calculate the length of service based on the hire date (calculate the amount of
days between the hire date and the current date), use the following in a report:
Now()-ee.hiredate
To determine the LOS in years rather than days, simply divide by 365 (and note the
parentheses around the days calculation):
(Now()-ee.hiredate)/365
Using a VB Script
The examples above use basic math to return the length of service. Other ways to
determine it include using the VB script function DateDiff, which has the option of
returning a variety of different intervals.
The syntax for the DateDiff function is as follows:
DateDiff(interval, date1, date2)
The available arguments according to the Windows Scripting help files is as follows:
•
interval — String expression that is the interval you want to use to calculate the
differences between date1 and date2.
Available intervals that can be returned and the parameter required for them:
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yyyy — Year
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q — Quarter
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m — Month
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y — Day of year
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d — Day
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w — Weekday
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ww — Week of year
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h — Hour
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n — Minute
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s — Second
date1, date2 — Date expressions. Two dates you want to use in the calculation.
Note
When you use DateDiff in Report Writer, you must use quotes around the interval.
If you use a field name for date values, you do not need to use quotes.
Here is an example of using DateDiff to return the LOS (in months):
DateDiff("m", ee.Hiredate, Now())
The syntax in the example above returns the number of months the employee has been
employed. Like the calculations in “Using the Basic Formula” on page 42, it ignores the
rehire dates and adjusted length of service dates.
Specifying Results as Integers or Decimals
The methods of calculating LOS in “Using the Basic Formula” and “Using a VB Script” round
the LOS to the nearest integer. If you do not have any decimal places configured for the field
in Report Writer, you need an integer for an answer. If you want decimals, you must ensure
your formula will produce decimal places.
In order to prevent rounding and see the closest, lowest integer—for instance, if someone
has worked 18 months, the following will return 1 year because the employee has only
worked one full year—use the INT function. Two examples using the employee’s hire date
follow:
INT((Now()-ee.hiredate)/365)
INT((DateDiff("d",ee.hireDate,NOW()) / 365))
Here is an example of using DateDiff to return the age of an employee (using the
employee’s birth date in years in the nn.dd format):
DateDiff("d", ee.birthdate, Now())/365)
The syntax in the example above returns the “true” age of the employee as of today.
For example, if the employee will turn 71 in December and you are running the report in
October, the report displays the employee’s age as 70.8.
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Calculating Age Based on the Report End Date
To get the age as of the endDate of the report.
ROUND((((CDate(CStr(mid(co.currentreportingend,5,2)
+ "/" + > mid(co.currentreportingend,7,2) +"/"+
left(co.currentreportingend, > 4)))-ee.birthdate)/365)-.499999999999),0)
Example: Enter in a date value
Tip
To enter in specific dates in filters, use the pound sign on either side of the date.
For example, to show January 1, 2006, you would enter: #01/01/2006#
Accessing the Employee Annual Salary
To calculate the annual salary for an employee, enter the expression below in a field box:
ee.AnnualSalary(co.safecheckdate)
Formatting Date Strings
You can use VBScript Report Writer field box to reformat and display dates from the default
format of dd/mm/yyyy.
The examples that follow use the ee.hiredate of 01/03/2002:
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To display the Jan 3, 2002 format:
Monthname (Month(ee.hiredate), True) + " " +
•
To display the January 3, 2002 format:
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To display the 01/03/02 format:
Right("00" + CStr(Month(ee.hiredate)),2) + "/" +
Right("00" + CStr(Day(ee.hireDate)),2) + "/" +
Right(Cstr(Year(ee.hireDate)),2)
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To display the 132002 format:
CStr(Month(ee.hireDate)) +
CStr(Day(ee.hireDate)) + CStr(Year(ee.hireDate)
To display the 01032002 format:
Right("00" + CStr(Month(ee.hireDate)),2) +
Right("00" + CStr(Day(ee.hireDate)),2) +
CStr(Year(ee.hireDate))
Formatting Numeric Fields
The following examples show how you can dictate the number of characters for a numeric
field:
A. Define a number field for 10 characters with two implied decimal places:
Right(" " & EPaycheck.netCheck * 100, 10)
B. Define a number field for 8 positions, two implied decimal places, and make it zero
filled:
Right("00000000" & EPaycheck.netCheck * 100, 8)
Be sure the number of digits or spaces between the quotes matches the last number in the
format command. For example, the command above has eight zeros between the quotes
and value of the variable before the close parenthesis is an eight. If you typed eight zeros
but made the value of the last variable a seven or a nine, the system would get confused.
Using “If” Statements for Replacements
In Report Writer, there is no way to write an “If” statement or use an “If” function similar
to the one in Microsoft Excel®.
However, if you need to use If-Then logic to change the value of a field, you can use the
VBScript “Replace” statement.
Single Replacements
To replace a single value, the basic syntax is:
Replace(FieldName, ”Value”, ”NewValue”)
For example, you want to tell Report Writer, “If an employee’s last name is Smith, change it
to XXX to hide their name.” In this case, you would use the following statement:
Replace(ee.Lastname,"Smith", "XXX")
When the system runs the above statement, it will replace the last name Smith for any
employees that have that last name.
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Multiple Replacements
You can use nested “Replace” statements for scenarios like: if the value = 1, then show A; if
the value = 2, then show B.
To replace a value based on multiple possibilities, the basic syntax is:
Replace(ReplaceStatement, “SearchText”, “NewText”)
For example, you to tell Report Writer to hide the last name Smith with one value and hide
the last name Jones with another value. In this case, you would use the following statement:
Replace(Replace(ee.lastName,"Smith","YYY"),"Jones","XXX")
When the system runs the above statement, it will replace every last name of Smith with
YYY and every last name of Jones with XXX.
Using the Date Range of the Report
Each time you run a report at Payentry.com, you are specifying a date range for the report
to run. However, many reports do not use a date range. You can use the following variables
to derive the appropriate dates:
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co.currentreportingstart — The start date
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co.currentreportingend — The end date
When using these variables, it will return a number that looks like the process number. To
properly use the variable, you may need to use some string manipulation using common
VBScript string modifiers.
To get the date in MM/DD/YYYY format the following syntax can be used.
CDate(CStr(mid(co.currentreportingstart,5,2) + "/" +
mid(co.currentreportingstart,7,2) +"/" + left(co.currentreportingstart, 4)))
These variables can be used in any of the fields, or can be filtered off of.
Using the Dates of the Most Recently Processed Payroll
If you are running a report and need to use the dates of the most recently processed
payroll. It is probably easier to use the following syntax than use the reporting dates. This
way you can set the report to run for the last payroll processed and not have to worry
about the date ranges being passed in.
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co.mostrecentcheckdate.process — The process number for the date
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co.mostrecentcheckdate.periodbegin — The period begin date
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co.mostrecentcheckdate.periodend — The period end date
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co.mostrecentcheckdate.checkdate — The check date
The different variables return different formats of dates; for example, the process number
is in the format YYYYMMDD##.
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You can use these variables in any of the Report Writer fields or filters.
For example, you have a Report Writer report that looks at a specific deduction, using
multiple entries for each deduction code controlled by start and end dates. You want to see
the current deduction rate value only. Therefore, you edit the EDed filter as shown below:
EDed.dcode = "XXXX"
AND
(EDed.startDate <=
CDate(CStr(mid(co.currentreportingend,5,2) + "/"
+ mid(co.currentreportingend,7,2) +"/" +
left(co.currentreportingend,4)))
AND
EDed.endDate >=
CDate(CStr(mid(co.currentreportingend,5,2) + "/"
+
mid(co.currentreportingend,7,2) +"/" +
left(co.currentreportingend, 4))))
The statement above allows you to use the most current rate effective alone for a specific
deduction.
This logic will work with any table where there are multiple entries with begin and end
dates. Simply replace EDed.startDate with the appropriate table name.
Alternative Fill Option
You can fill in the blank spaces of a field with a character other than the blank. However, if
you are creating a PDF report, the Fill field will not work.
In such cases, you can use the following formula instead:
Right("FillValues" & YourField, FillValueNumber)
Right("00000000" & ee.Current("E","Reg").hours,8)
Here is an example:
Figure 37: Alternate fill
The explanations of the formula variables are:
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FillValues — The value you wish to use as the filler.
If your field is eight characters long (as denoted by the value of the Len field), type that
character eight times and enclose it in double quotes. See the example above.
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YourField — The field you want to fill.
In the example above, the field ee.Current("E","Reg").hours is being filled.
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FillValueNumber — How many characters to fill.
Must match the number of characters you typed for the FillValues variable and the
value of the Len field.
Advanced Calculations Using Rates
Report Writer is designed to pull “current” rates based on the report run dates—which
works fine until you want to perform calculations using any Visual Basic (VB) functions
(Round, CDbl, CLng, and so on). Inclusion of VB functions in the calculation logic prevents
Report Writer from using the “current” rates.
For example, the following formula calculates annual salary and uses the current base rate:
ee.Rates("Base").salary * 12
Using this same calculation with a VB function will not work. A VB function cannot access
the current base rate if an employee has multiple base rates defined in their Rates/Reviews
tab.
However, you can create a workaround. The formula below is an example of what the
syntax would look like:
ROUND(ee.Rates.itembykeydate("Base",rw_dtEndCheckDate).salary, 0) * 12
This parameter uses the end check date for which the report is being run and selects the
rates accordingly.
Simulating Wildcard Characters in Filters
If you want to include only certain records—ones that contain certain characters or text—
you would usually use a wildcard character (for example, using % in SQL statements).
You cannot use a wildcard character in Report Writer filters; however, you can be creative
and use almost any VBScript function. Even though there is no LIKE operator in VBScript,
there are ways to simulate it.
How you can create a script that acts like the SQL LIKE operator is best explained through
an example. In this example, you want to:
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Create an employee report that lists only the tax information for SUI taxes.
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Include some basic employee demographics and the tax code (tcode) from the ETax
section.
Therefore, when you create a new Report Writer report, you select Employee Taxes in the
Report Type drop-down list. You add the desired fields from ee and Etax tables:
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Figure 38: Report for all employee tax codes
After you run the report, you notice that the report includes every tax associated with
every employee. You decide to filter the information to see only the SUI taxes assigned to
each employee.
Normally in SQL, you would use the wildcard character % in the ETax.tcode entry; for
example, %SUI% would return only tax codes with “SUI” in the name. In Visual Basic (VB),
you have to be creative and use string functions. In this example, you decide to use the
INSTR() function to get the desired results.
A common VB and VBScript function, INSTR() has the following parameters.
INSTR([start, ]string1, string2[, compare])
Explanations of the INSTR() function arguments that you use in this example are:
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start — A numeric expression that sets the starting position for each search. Should
usually be 1, as that is the start of a string.
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string1 — The string expression being searched.
In this example, it is the field name ETax.tcode.
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string2 — The string expression for which you are searching.
In this example, the string for which you are searching is SUI.
You want the system to look for “SUI” from the beginning of the tax code value. If the system
finds the string, the function returns a number greater than 0.
In Report Writer, you click on the ETax Filter sub-tab. The browser displays the following:
Figure 39: Advanced filter link
You click on the Advanced link because you decide it is easier to type it in directly:
INSTR(1, etax.tcode, "SUI") > 0
This is the result of the steps described above:
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Figure 40: Report for all employee tax codes
This report will now return any tax assigned to the employees with “SUI” in the name and
ignores any tax that does not.
For more information about VBScript, see the Help file in Microsoft VBScript or search the
Microsoft web site.
Displaying Employee Pay Grade Information
Each employee can have a pay grade assigned to them via their base rate. Presently, there
is no easy way to obtain the salary rank information in Report Writer because it is stored
at the company level. The only information accessible on the employee is their pay grade.
In order to return the various components of the pay grade for each employee that has a
pay grade, you can use the examples below. If an employee does not have a pay grade
assigned, they will have a blank value or a zero, depending on your Report Writer.
This will give you the maximum of the pay grade:
co.paygrades.itembykey(ee.paygrade(co.safecheckdate)).Maximum
This will give you the midpoint of the pay grade:
co.paygrades.itembykey(ee.paygrade(co.safecheckdate)).midpoint
This will give you the minimum of the pay grade:
co.paygrades.itembykey(ee.paygrade(co.safecheckdate)).Minimum
The examples above use the company’s current check date to obtain the pay grade from the
employee. You can replace co.safecheckdate with a different date value or variable.
Note
If you are using a hard-coded value, you must enclose it in double quotes.
To obtain the %Mid and %Max values from the employee’s Rates/Reviews tab, you must
compute the annual salary and divide by the value.
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Displaying Names or Descriptions Instead of Codes
You can change the output of a field from the actual value of the field to, for example, the
description of that field.
Each of the subsequent sections describe how to accomplish this kind of substitution.
Employee Department Name Instead of Department Code
In a Report Writer report, you want to see the name of the employee’s department—not
the department number. Therefore, under the Fields tab of the report’s Report Writer
properties, you would type a formula in the Field column to display each department’s
name rather than the actual field name.
This will print the name value of the department rather than the department code:
Table 3: Employee department names
Actual Dept Field
Value You Would Type in the Field Column
ee.cc1co.l1
co.l1departments.itembykey(ee.cc1).name
ee.cc2co.l2
ee.cc3co.l3
ee.cc4co.l4
ee.cc5co.l5
Employee Termination Description Instead of Termination Code
To get the description rather than the code, you would use the following field values:
Table 4: Employee termination description
Value You Would Type in the Field Column
Heading Title
co.TermReasons.itembykey(ee.TermReason).Description
Reason for Termination
Handling Blank Dates in Filters
Dates such as Hire Date and Birth Date are stored in Millennium with NULL values. Filters,
however, are not able to process fields with NULL values.
In such cases, use a date less than #01/01/1900# as the value of a filter.
For example, you want to run a report that shows all employees that do not have a birth
date in their file. In this scenario, you enter the following formula in the Employee Filter
sub-tab:
ee.BirthDate < #01/01/1900#
Here is how it would look:
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Figure 41: Filtering a NULL date
Determining Employee Age
To determine an employee’s age, use the birth date of the employee and the current date to
get the difference in days and divide by 365.25 and the scripting functions Round and Fix
to display the number to the left of the decimal point:
CStr(fix(Round((DateDiff("d", ee.birthdate, now()) / 365.25),2)))
The result is the employee’s age as an integer, not a decimal number.
Note
Employees born on February 29th (leap year) will be considered one year older on
February 28th on non-leap years.
Notes and Known Issues
At present, there are a few known issues concerning Report Writer at Payentry.com.
Development is in the process of resolving some of these issues, but the less important
issues are also worth noting:
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You can only report off of one Report Type at a time and cannot combine data from
multiple report types. The exception occurs on most of the employee reports: you can
include company demographic information.
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If there are any pieces of information you are not seeing available in Report Writer,
such as a specific tab is not found in the report types, please let MPAY know through
the Support channels and we can forward the requests to development.
Report Writer Guide

Payentry Report Writer Guide

Transcription

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