Validations and Attestations

Overview

This chapter reviews how you can use validation rules to prevent workers from entering or submitting invalid time entries.

Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

Define validation rules to prevent workers from submitting invalid time entries.

Define validation rules to warn workers about potentially invalid time entries.

Configure dynamic error messages to appear when a validation rule triggers.

Group validations for specific populations using Time Entry Validation Groups.

Define attestations to ensure workers comply with meal, break, and end of shift requirements.

Validations

Validations enforce business rules around time entry. They are also configurable. For example, you can use validations to prevent workers from submitting time or warn them when entering:

Time on an unscheduled day.

Time while on a leave of absence.

Compensatory time if entering less than 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in a day.

Holiday time for a day that is not a holiday.

Validations enable you:

To catch time reporting errors, before they impact payroll results.

To define unique time entry policies that time calculations do not support. For example, if managers can use their discretion to pay overtime under certain conditions, once met, you can use validations to alert managers.

Create validations by building rules that describe the conditions required to generate an error or warning for a worker. Rules can reference report fields and calculated fields that are based on the Worker, Time Day, Time Week, Time Block, or Time Shift business objects. Create calculated fields for validations or use Workday-delivered report fields based on these business objects. Validations can also reference the security group of the user. These references allow customizations such as only appearing for certain groups, like managers or timekeepers.

Validation Types

You can define validations as error or warning messages that appear at the top of the worker's calendar and in the approver's Inbox.

Errors do not prevent users from entering and saving time, but they do prevent users from submitting their time.

Warnings alert users of possible problems with their time, but do not prevent them from submitting their entries.

Validations and Business Objects

Build validation conditions in reference to the Worker, Time Day, Time Week, Time Block, or Time Shift business objects. The correct business object to reference in a validation condition depends on the type of information you want to evaluate.

Note
: All of the error conditions that make up a validation rule should reference the same Time Tracking business object. For example, you should not reference both the Time Day and Time Week business objects in separate conditions in a single validation rule. If a validation includes conditions based on different business objects, it will fail to generate a validation. Alternatively, you can separate error conditions into different validation rules.

The following table lists the primary business objects for building validation rules:

Business Object	When to Use	Example
Time Day	To validate by looking at multiple time blocks entered for the same day.	Time blocks entered on a Sunday.
Time Week	To validate by looking at multiple time blocks in the same week (the 7-day period that begins on the start date specified in an employee's work schedule).	Time blocks for a worker that exceed 50 hours in a week
Time Block	To validate individual time blocks.	Time blocks entered for a company meeting that are missing a cost center.
Time Shift	To validate a grouping of consecutive time blocks.	Time blocks for a worker that exceed 10 hours in a shift.

You can build conditions using fields from one time business object within the same validation rule.

For example, suppose you want to validate that workers select the Holiday time entry code only on holidays. Use the

Time Entry Code

report field on the Time Block business object to add a condition defining the time entry code as Holiday. Next, create a calculated field (a lookup-related value) on the Time Block object. Reference the Is Holiday field from the Time Day object. This reference allows you to use a Time Day field even though it is not on the Time Block object.

To aggregate time blocks for validation, use fields based on the Time Day or Time Week business object. For example, to issue a warning when an employee enters over 8 hours in a day, select report fields and calculations based on Time Day, not Time Block.

Note
: Use a validation naming convention that makes it clear which Time Tracking object the validation is based on.

By default, the name of the validation rule will display when validation exceptions exist. However, you can build time tracking validations to display dynamic validation text. Validations can contain static text, dynamic CRFs, and calculated fields to display customized messages to the user. Workday recommends configuring validation text when configuring Time Tracking validations.

When are Validations Applied?

Workday applies validation rules to a worker's time immediately after running calculations.

Example
:
You have 15 hours of time entered using the time entry code: Hours Worked

Workday tags those hours with the default calculation tag: Regular.

Workday applies calculations and validations to those hours.

The resulting output is:

8 hours tagged: Regular

4 hours tagged: Daily Overtime

3 hours tagged: Daily Double Time

All with the time entry code: Hours Worked.

Restricting Validations to Certain Workers

To create a validation for a certain population of workers, include worker eligibility criteria within a validation condition. You can reference specific security groups so the validation only appears when a certain security group is viewing time, like Manager or Timekeeper, instead of Employee As Self.

Time Entry Validation Groups

You have the option to organize time entry validations into groups to apply them to a specific group of workers. Grouping subsets of time entry validations improves validation performance.

Create validation groups using the Create Time Entry Validation Group or the Maintain Time Entry Validation Groups tasks.

Select which existing critical or warning validations apply to your group.

Define group eligibility using time entry templates. You must assign a validation group to a time entry template to use the validation group.

Further define your population by selecting a country or country region.

The bottom of the Maintain Time Entry Validation Groups task displays an Ungrouped Validations grid. Unassigned validations will not run for those using a time entry template where validation groups are assigned.

Attestations

Configure attestations in the Attestations section when creating or editing a time entry template. In the Attestations section define parameters to ensure workers are complying with meal, break, and end of shift policies and regulations by:

Defining validations to alert or prevent workers from checking in before their assigned meal or break time is complete.

Requiring workers to attest to their meals and breaks when they check out at the end of their shift.

Meal Break Rule Set Field

Define meal break rule sets to comply with legal or company regulations related to the number, length, and placement of meals and breaks within a worker's shift. Create rule sets using the Create Meal Break Rule Set task. Each rule set includes the breaks and meals for a shift of a specific length.

Meal Length Validations Field

Use the prompts to select meal and break length rules. Workers assigned to the template are eligible for the validations.

Create Meal Length Validations using the Meal Length option on the Create Time Attestation Rule task. Here:

Define if the validation is for a break or a meal.

The duration of the break.

The severity level.

Select what prompt workers receive if they check in too early.

Select response options to the prompts.

End of Shift Attestations

Apply to check in and check out time entry methods only. End of Shift Attestation rules requires workers to answer questions at the end of their shift about whether they took their required meals and breaks or waived them.

Create End of Shift Attestations using the End of Shift Attestation prompt on the Create Time Attestation Rule task. Here define prompts and responses employees will receive when checking out at the end of their shift.

Tip
: Use the Maintain Time Attestations Prompts and Responses
task to create your own custom prompts and responses to use when creating attestations.

Note
: You can create calculated fields to use in calculations to create meal penalty time blocks for workers who do not waive or take their required meals or breaks.