A client was utilizing Epicor® 9.04 but needed more granular control of their payroll system. Their problem split into several parts along the payroll process. First, they required dynamic shifts by day, to be easily manageable from the Shift Entry Module. Secondly, employees clocking in using Shop MES needed to validate against these shift times. Finally, considering all of the customization up to this point, when labor records are reviewed, users need visibility of this data as well as the ability to add new records utilizing the new constraints.

To accommodate a shift by day paradigm, a custom screen was written for Shift Entry which added a tab in which users can manage shifts by day for each week. Once the shift is selected on the main tab, users can navigate to the Shifts by Day tab and update shifts for each week. They can also copy shifts from the current week to the next rather than a manual day by day entry. These values are stored in a user defined table for easy access later.

Another custom screen was written for Shop MES utilizing these custom shift times. If users clock in more than 10 minutes earlier than their shift start time (which is found by querying the UD table storing these values), a prompt is displayed for manager approval, requiring a code entry. Rounding functionality was also added to enforce payroll integrity per company standards. For example, clock-in times that are within 10 minutes on the outside of shift start time are rounded to the shift start time and clock-out times that are within 10 minutes on the outside of shift end time are rounded to the shift end time.

Once all this data is stored and an employee’s login has been validated against our custom shift times, we need to see this data in Labor Entry/Labor Review. We customized Labor Entry to include a data grid on the main page which displays all relevant data: shift clock on date, payroll date, actual clock-in and out time, clock-in and out time (rounded if applicable), shift start and end time. Additional features include a summary of hours, broken into categories, i.e. straight pay, overtime, vacation. Another grid summarizes this week's hours against last week's hours as well. Lastly, functionality was added to ‘Process’ selected payroll records for import into ADP: finalized records are written to a new UD table, which the user can then query into Excel, and import these records into ADP’s web based interface.

Contact SaberLogic today to learn more about how we can assist you with your Epicor®9 customization projects!