When an employees in and out punches don't match the scheduled time they should have worked, a discrepancy has been created. Depending on your unique requirements, you may need to pay by the minute worked and not just he scheduled hours. To help you accomplish this you will use our Discrepancy and Reconcile tools.
Important things to note:
The latest version of the discrepancy software, released in 2016, provides new functionality for companies that pay their employees by the minute. Using the 'Reconcile Tool' under the 'Non-Discrepancies' option allows managers to quickly approve multiple items all at once. If you aren't using the latest version and would like a demo, please contact support.
Getting Started:
To begin clearing discrepancies you will navigate to ePro Scheduler > Timekeeping > Discrepancies.
From this page you will have access to manage your discrepancies / exceptions based on date. We recommend that each department check their discrepancies once a day for the previous date.
- The 'Cost Center' drop down allows you to filter by specific a Cost Center.
- The 'District' drop down allows you to filter by a specific District.
- The 'Order By' drop down allows you to alter how the discrepancies will be viewed, either by Shift or Employee.
- The 'Query' button searches for discrepancies based on your filters.
- The 'Update' button applies the changes made to the listed discrepancies.
- The 'New' button lets you create a new schedule item.
- The 'Threshold Settings' link provides a hover box allowing you to see the Discrepancy Thresholds. To update these, please contact support for assistance.
- The 'Unresolved' link opens up a new window that shows all unresolved discrepancies for a specific day.
- The 'Display' check boxes allow you to be able to toggle Schedule Comments, Punch Comments, and Hide any already checked off discrepancies.
- The 'Discrepancies', 'Non-Discrepancies', and 'Both' radio buttons give you the ability to toggle between Discrepancies, Non-Discrepancies, or Both. (The 'Display' radio buttons will show only if you are currently set up to pay by the minute and are not currently rounding punches. If you have any questions about this setting please contact Support.)
Once you have finished selecting your filters and have clicked the 'Query' button, all open / unchecked discrepancies will be displayed similar to The example below.
What items are pulled depends on your unique timekeeping policy. For our example, any discrepancies outside of our 7 minute thresholds shown below will display and need to be resolved.
Types of Discrepancies:
There are several types of discrepancy errors depending on the punches or lack there of. Each one is handled differently depending on your company's timekeeping policy / threshold settings.
Depending on the situation, there are different actions that may need to be taken with different types of discrepancies. The following are the types of discrepancy errors you may see when going through the list and how to best address them.
Punch Mismatch
Missed Punches
No Schedule Item Found
No Punches Found
Punch Mismatch:
When the employee properly punched in and out for their shift, but the punch times fall outside of your timekeeping thresholds, the discrepancy will have a red box allowing for a quick update.
- The 'Punched In Earlier Than Scheduled Time' error indicates an employee has punched in earlier than their original schedule start time and breached the 'Early In' threshold setting.
- The 'Punched In Later Than Scheduled Time' error indicates an employee has punched in later than their original schedule start time and breached the 'Late In' threshold setting.
- The 'Punched Out Earlier Than Scheduled Time' error indicates an employee has punched out earlier than their original schedule end time and breached the 'Early Out' threshold setting.
- The 'Punched Out Later Than Scheduled Time' error indicates an employee has punched out later that their original schedule end time and breached the 'Late Out' threshold setting.
If both punches are present, you will have access to the red discrepancy bar. This allows you to update the start time, duration, end time, and shift break amount. Once you have finished making the changes you would click the 'Check Box' in the red bar.
Missed Punch:
When an employee has a missed punch, the discrepancy box will show up in orange to alert you.
- The 'No Start Punch For Schedule Item' / 'No End Punch For Schedule Item' indicate that the employee has a missing punch. This type of error will generate a orange box that will auto populate which ever punch is missing to match the corresponding start or end time of the shift, allowing for a quick and easy check-off.
When you are wanting to update a missed punch to match the corresponding shift time you will check off the box within the orange bar that has been provided.
No Schedule Item Found:
Below is an example of an employee that has punched in and out for their shift that day but was not originally scheduled to work.
- The 'Schedule Item Not Found' error indicates the employee has in and out punches for the day but currently does not have a schedule item for that day. Note: an employee will not be paid unless a shift is assigned or created.
To create a new schedule item for an employee in this situation, would click on the green 'Plus' button.
This will open a new schedule item window allowing you to enter details of the shift to match the punch times. You will notice a blue link with the employee's punch times beside the empty start and duration boxes. Clicking this blue link will auto-fill the boxes with the employee's punch times.
Once you finish filling out the schedule item, you will click the green 'Accept' button.
No Punches Found:
Below is an example of an employee that was scheduled to work, but did not punch in or out for their shift. This could be due to missed punches or a call out that has not yet been addressed.
- The 'No Punches for Schedule Item' indicates an employee is missing both punches for a scheduled shift.
If you are wanting to only pay the employee based on the original shift schedule start and end times you would select the box next to the employee's name.
If the employee called out of work and needs to be listed with PTO or Sick time, you will click the pencil and paper icon to edit the item.
This will open a small schedule item window that allows you to update anything within the shift. In our example we are updating the item for paid time off since the employee called in sick.
Reconciling Non-Discrepancies (Pay by Minute):
Once you have cleared all your Discrepancies for a given day you will then need to Reconcile the Non-Discrepancies.
A Non-Discrepancy is any schedule / punch mismatch that is within your timekeeping thresholds, don't require additional investigation, and that you have agreed to pay by the minute worked. To begin this process you will want to click on the radio button for 'Non-Discrepancies' and then click the blue 'Query' button.
- Note: This function is only available to clients who are set to pay by the minute. If you are using a rounding policy this button will not show in your database. For more information about enabling the reconcile tool for your database, please contact support.
After you have queried the Non-Discrepancies and you are ready to approve or 'Reconcile' them, to do this you will click on the red 'Reconcile' button. This will automatically update all scheduled shifts to match the punches / hours worked.
You will be prompted to confirm this action by clicking on the green 'Yes' button.
Once completed the page will refresh and you will see a 'Non-Exceptions Found: 0' message. This will let you know that you have successfully reconciled / updated your Non-Discrepancies.
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