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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Concept: Period Schedules for Time Tracking

Concept: Period Schedules for Time Tracking

What Is a Time Period Schedule?

The time period schedule, in combination with the pay period schedule, determines when employees receive pay for time worked. It defines:
  • The dates that are open for time entry.
    You can set lock dates to prevent employees from entering time while payroll is being processed.
  • Which time entries (dates) to load for a pay period.
To enter time, an employee must have a time period schedule assigned.
Time period schedules don't determine the start and end dates of an employee's work week. By default, the work week begins on Sunday, unless the employee's work schedule specifies a different start date.
Time period start and end dates don't have to be the same as the pay period start and end dates. In addition, you can map multiple time periods to a single pay period. Example: You could map multiple weekly time periods to a semi-monthly pay period.

Considerations for Defining Period Schedules

How you configure period schedules depends on your payroll practices:
Time period and pay period dates match.
If you pay employees for time worked on the same dates covered by the pay period, Workday Payroll and Time Tracking can share the same period schedule. This scenario can be used to pay all time in arrears, where employees are paid all time worked several days after they've worked.
Scenario:
  • The pay period is 2019-01-01 to 2019-01-14.
  • The payment date is 2019-01-21.
  • When you run payroll for 2019-01-01 to 2019-01-14, you want to pay time worked for the same dates.
Solution: Create a period schedule that has a
Usage
 of both
Payroll
 and
Time Tracking
.
Best practice: If weekly time periods align with weekly pay periods, create a shared period schedule that also coincides with the work schedule.
Time period and pay period dates don't match.
Use this method when regular time is paid through Payroll and non-regular time is pulled from Time Tracking on a lag. You can use this method to pay regular time current and non-regular time in arrears.
When you pay time on a lag, the payroll administrator must use the
Run Retro Pay Calculation
 task before running payroll each period. This enables Workday Payroll to pay time for days outside the current pay period being processed.
Scenario:
  • The payroll period is 2019-11-16 to 2019-11-30.
  • The pay date is 2019-11-30.
  • When you run payroll for this period, you want to pay time worked from 2019-11-11 to 2019-11-24 (a 2-week period).
  • You want to define weekly time periods so that you can lock out time periods at the end of each week to better enforce time entry.
Solution:
  • Create a pay period schedule with a
    Usage
     of
    Payroll
    .
  • Create a separate time period schedule with a
    Usage
     of
    Time Tracking.
  • Link the period schedules by mapping:
    • The time period schedule to a pay period schedule.
    • Each time period to the corresponding pay period.
      Example: Map both the 2019-11-11 to 2019-11-17 and the 2019-11-18 to 2019-11-24 time periods to the 2019-11-16 to 2019-11-30 pay period.

How Are Period Schedules Assigned to Workers?

  • Assign time period schedules to workers by selecting worker eligibility rules when defining time period schedules.
  • Assign payroll period schedules to workers by linking period schedules to pay groups.