The Calculation Engine

Overview

The calculation engine is a powerful in-system utility used to derive various Payroll-related values, such as hourly rates, varying deductions, and eligibility in Workday.

Objectives

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

Identify the types of calculations.

Identify payroll-specific calculations.

Create various types of payroll calculations.

The Calculation Engine

The calculation engine is a core system utility that enables you to define payroll calculations and the business logic and rules governing those calculations. Consider the following points about calculations:

Calculations are Workday-owned or customer-owned.

Calculations can include other calculations.

Workday sequences calculations automatically.

Workday categorizes calculations as payroll, absence, or common.

Types of Calculations

You can think of calculations based on the value they return: numeric, date, or Boolean.

Calculation	Definition
Numeric	Numeric calculations return a number value, such as PTO balances or union fees.
Date	Date calculations return date values, such as eligibility rules based on hire date or years of service.
Boolean	Boolean calculations return a value of true or false depending on whether the conditions specified in the calculation are met. Examples include: Worker location, pay rate type, or employee type.

Numeric Calculations

The following table describes each type of numeric
value calculation.

Calculation Name	Calculation Descriptions and Examples
Aggregate	These calculations return the sum, average, minimum, or maximum of two or more values. Examples include: All time off paid for a given period to reduce salary wages. Number of child dependents under 7 years of age. Eligible employee costs for flex credits.
Arithmetic	These calculations add, subtract, multiply, or divide two (and only two) values. However, one of those values could itself be another calculation. Examples include: Hourly pay = Rate * hours Retirement deducts = Deduction eligible * deduction % Salary = Base pay - the time off pay component group
Conditional	Returns a value based on "if" statements, or conditions. Examples include: 2nd Shift pay = (hourly rate + $1) * hours worked 3rd Shift pay = (hourly rate + $2) * hours worked
Constant value	Returns a value based on a constant, such as the overtime multiplier of 1.5. Examples include: Union initiation fee = $25 2080 = 2080 Overtime multiplier = 1.5
Date difference	Returns the number of days, months, or years (the interval) between two dates. Examples include: Dependent age at calendar start date. Worker age as of payment date. Worker age as of current calendar year end date.
Date extract	Uses data in the system to extract a portion of a date (day, month, or year). Examples include: Period end date = 31-Mar-2008 The Day calculation resolves to 31.
Instance value	Retrieves values from Workday Human Capital Management (Workday HCM), Workday Payroll, Workday Absence, and Workday Benefits. In addition to numeric values, these calculations can also return currency, date attributes, and Boolean attributes.
Lookup table Advanced lookup table	Locates and returns a value based on another value. An advanced lookup table provides a single place to update data and can handle high volumes during payroll calculation. Advanced functionality includes: Effective-dating capability for search and return values. For example, rates that are updated on a regular basis. Up to 10 columns for return values. Country specification. Report field search criteria. Numeric calculation search criteria. Default values without search criteria for storing parameters by effective date. Tip : Workday enables you to mass update advanced lookup table data. This helps you save time and manual effort when managing complex lookup tables that calculate values such as benefit rates, tuition charges, and union dues.
Step-based	Returns one numeric value that is the result of a series of steps. You can use step-based calculations in scenarios involving complex logic such as nested calculation flows.

Date Calculations

The following table describes each type of date
value calculation.

Calculation Name	Calculation Descriptions and Examples
Build date	Returns a date: year, month, and day. You can use a build date to define a pension earning calculation that determines whether an employee was hired as of January 1 of the current year.
Conditional	Returns a date based on "if" statements, or conditions. Example: If payment date is between 2024-07-01 and 2024-12-31, then fiscal year-end = 2024-06-30
Constant date	Returns a specific date. Examples include a constant date for the start of a plan year.
Date Increment/Decrement	Starts with a date and adds or subtracts years, months, or days to return another date. Example: Add 30 days to the worker's start date

Boolean Calculations

The following table describes each type of Boolean (true/false)
value calculation.

Calculation Name	Calculation Descriptions and Examples
Instance set comparison	You can set up a comparison between a source field and a value using a relational operator such as: In the selection list Not in the selection list Exact match with the selection list Is empty Is not empty
Logic	Build true/false calculations using and/or logic. You can use logic calculations to build conditional calculations. For example, return true/false that payroll input exists for a worker and the worker was terminated as of the period start date.
Value comparison	Use value comparison to set up a comparison between one operand and another using a relational operator, such as greater than, less than, and equal to.

Payroll-Specific Calculations

The following are types of calculations that are specific to payroll:

Earnings and deductions

Pay component related calculations

Pay component groups

Pay accumulations

Pay balances

Pay Components

Earnings and deductions, also called pay components, are essential building blocks of payroll.

Earnings

You can set up earnings to retrieve values such as:

Base pay.

Hours from Workday Time Tracking.

Values entered through payroll input.

Allowances, such as car, housing, and mobile.

Paid time off.

Benefits, such as employer contributions to health care or insurance.

Deductions

You can set up deductions to retrieve values that Workday withholds from earnings, such as:

Taxes

Pension contributions

Medical premiums

Pay Component Related Calculations

Related calculations help define how Workday calculates the value of an earning or deduction. Related calculations pull in values that are commonly used for more complex calculations. They can use Workday-owned related calculation, such as Rate and Amount, or you can create your own.

When you associate a related calculation with an earning or deduction, Workday creates a pay component related calculation. You can use the same related calculation in multiple earnings and deductions.

Related calculations can also be non-numeric data, including text, date, and boolean.

Pay Component Groups

We introduced the concept of pay component groups (PCGs) earlier in the course. Review the following points about PCGs:

A PCG sums the values of all pay components in the group and returns a single value.

Workday calculates the value of a PCG for the period or subperiod that you process.

A PCG can contain a combination of earnings, deductions, and pay component-related calculations.

Tip
: Pay component groups only sum values. If you need to perform subtraction, use pay accumulations or arithmetic calculations instead.

PCGs do not represent:

Multiple periods of time (such as month-to-date or quarter-to-date).

Multiple results for the same period.

Workday delivers commonly used PCGs for calculating taxes, withholding orders, gross pay, and employer-paid benefits. You can create additional PCGs, as needed.

Examples
: Common PCGs include:

Adds to Gross

Pre Tax Deductions

Employer Paid Benefits

Pay Accumulations

We introduced pay accumulations in the Payroll Processing Framework chapter. Review the following points about pay accumulations:

A pay accumulation is a set of earnings, deductions, pay component-related calculations, pay component groups, or other pay accumulations for which Workday can calculate a total.

Accumulations return values used in payroll calculations. They support both addition and subtraction; some pay components can add to the value and others can subtract.

Pay accumulations return a single value based on the pay period you are calculating.

Tip
: Use a pay balance, not a pay accumulation, when you want a value that represents multiple periods of time or multiple results for the same period.

Examples of pay accumulations include gross and net. You include gross and net pay accumulations in your run categories.

Other examples of pay accumulations include:

Compensation Tax Wages by Company [CAN]

Advance and Repayment on Negative Net Pay [FRA]

401(k) Total Contributions: EE + ER [USA]

Pay Balances

You can set up pay balances to calculate values for earnings, deductions, pay component-related calculations, pay component groups, or pay accumulations. These calculations can extend over a balance period that includes multiple gross-to-net results. The example below shows the calculation of the year-to-date balance of a student loan in the current fiscal year.

Examples
:

Month-to-date

Quarter-to-date

Year-to-date

Fiscal periods

View Pay Balance for GBR: Student Loan Deducted YTD (GBR).

Pay Component Groups, Pay Accumulations, and Pay Balances Compared

The table below outlines the differences between Pay Component Groups (PCG), Pay Accumulations (PA), and Pay Balances (PB).

Description	PCG	PA	PB
Can include only earnings, deductions, and PCRCs.	X
Sums the values of all pay components in the group.	X
Returns a single value.	X	X
Does not represent multiple time periods or multiple results for same period.	X	X
Can include earnings, deductions, PCRCs, PCGs, and pay accumulations.		X	X
Supports addition and subtraction.		X
Can display results on Pay Accumulations/Balances tab (Payroll Result page).		X	X
Returns a value for a balance period.			X