Determining Status and Pair Type During Pair Formation

Use

After time events have been assigned to a specific day, they are formed into time pairs.

When time pairs are formed, additional information on the status and type of each pair is stored. This data is then evaluated in time evaluation. The pair type provides information on an employee’s attendance/absence status. The status of the time pairs notifies the time evaluation program of incomplete time pairs.

Features

Pair formation

Certain attendance and absence statuses are a prerequisite for time events.

Note Note

When an employee is described as at work or absent in the following section, it has a different meaning to the attendances or absences that are recorded in the Attendances (2002) and Absences (2001) infotypes in time recording.

In pair formation, an attendance means that the employee is working for the company, that is, his or her last time event was a clock-in , off-site work entry , or similar. If an employee is referred to as absent, it means that his or her last time event was a clock-out or similar.

End of the note.

Each time event stipulates what the employee’s attendance/absence status must be before and after he or she makes the entry at the terminal, so that a correct pair can be formed.

Example Example

A clock-in entry must follow on from an absence. If a correct time pair is to be formed, only a clock-out entry, a start of off-site work entry, or a start of break entry may follow a clock-in entry.

End of the example.

Att./absence status before recording of time event	Time event	Att./absence status after recording of time event
Absent	Clock-in	At work
At work	Clock-out	Absent
At work	Start of off-site work	Off-site

This particular attribute allows the system to differentiate between time events for pair formation.

Example Example

An employee has been absent. His or her first and only time event of a day is a start of off-site work entry. An attendance is a prerequisite for this time event type, however. The system forms two open pairs:

End of the example.

Employee’s time event	01/02/1997	08:00	Start of off-site work
Pair formation	01/02/1997	____ - 08:00
	01/02/1997	₀ 08:00 - ____

Categorizing time events:

Three groups of time events are distinguished:

1. Time events which open a pair:

The employee has been absent, and is now at work or working off-site .

P10 Clock in

P35 Manual start of off-site work

2. Time events which close one pair and open another:

The employee is at work, working off-site, or taking a break. .

P15 Start of break

P25 End of break

P30 Start of off-site work

P40 End of off-site work

3. Time events which close one pair, but do not open another:

The employee was at work or off-site, and is now absent.

P20 Clock-out

P45 Manual end of off-site work

If there is another P10 clock-in entry after a P20 clock-out entry, no pair is formed for the duration of the absence.

The pair type of a time pair

The pair type of the time pair describes an employee’s attendance or absence status. It specifies whether the employee is at work, taking a break or working off-site.

0	Non-recorded absence or break
1	Employee is at work
2	Employee is absent This pair type is not assigned during pair formation
3	Employee working off-site

The status of a time pair

A status is assigned to each time pair during pair formation. The status indicates whether the pair is complete, or if a clock-in/out entry is missing. Time evaluation’s schema processing either continues or cancels further processing, depending on the status of the time pair.

The status can have the following specifications:

BLANK	Pair is complete
2	No clock-in
3	No clock-out
4	No break end time
7	No start time for off-site work
8	No end time for off-site work
E	Order confirmation missing from PDC

The employee’s attendance status is updated when the individual time events of the day are processed.

A status is assigned to time pairs in pair formation to denote any open time pairs. Time evaluation’s schema processing can interpret the status and react accordingly, for example, by delimiting a pair, triggering a recalculation, or issuing an error. The sections that follow contain further information.

Pair formation also generates an error in some cases. This means that the system cannot process a time event or form an open pair. These time events are inserted in table NT2.

Note Note

When the system is customized, settings can be made to specify how the pair formation function should react in specific situations. You can stipulate whether the system should issue an error message, or generate an open pair.

For further information, see also Define settings for pair formation in the Implementation Guide.

End of the note.

Overview of status transitions

The employee is absent:

New time event	New pair type	Status/error	Customizing
Clock-in	At work	3: No clock-out
Start of break 1st pair	At work	3: No clock-out	X
Start of break 2nd pair	On break	2: No clock-in	X
Clock-out	At work	2: No clock-in	X
End of break	At work	3: No clock-out
Start of off-site work 1st pair	At work	2: No clock-in	X
Start of off-site work 2nd pair	Off-site	8: No end time for off-site work	X
End of off-site work 1st pair	Off-site	7: No start time for off-site work	X
End of off-site work 2nd pair	At work	3: No clock-out	X
Manual start of off-site work	Off-site	8: No end time for off-site work
Manual end of off-site work	Off-site	7: No start time for off-site work	X

Note Note

For the constellations flagged by an X, you can choose whether to generate an error or an open pair.

End of the note.

The employee is at work:

New time event	New pair type	Status/error	Customizing
Clock-in		Error: No clock-out	X
Start of break	On break	4: No end time for break
Clock-out	Absent	BLANK: Pair is complete
End of break		Error: No clock-out
Start of off-site work	Off-site	8: No end time for off-site work
End of off-site work		Error: No start time for off-site work	X
Manual start of off-site work		Error: No clock-out
Manual end of off-site work		Error: No start time for off-site work

The employee is working off-site:

New time event	New pair type	Status/error	Customizing
Clock-in	At work	3: No clock-out	X
Start of break	At work	4: No end time for break
Clock-out		Error: No end time for off-site work	X
End of break	At work	3: No clock-out
Start of off-site work		Error: No end time for off-site work
End of off-site work	At work	3: No clock-out
Manual start of off-site work		Error: No clock-out
Manual end of off-site work	Absent	BLANK: Pair is complete

Employee is on a break:

New time event	New pair type	Status/error	Customizing
Clock-in	At work	3: No clock-out
Start of break		Error: No end time for break
Clock-out		Error: No end time for break
End of break	At work	3: No clock-out
Start of off-site work		Error: No end time for break
End of off-site work		Error: No end time for break
Manual start of off-site work		Error: No end time for break
Manual end of off-site work		Error: No end time for break