Request Default Compensation Change

Overview

Default compensation is the planned, budgeted salary on position restriction of Administrative/Professionals, Full-Time Faculty (Tenured/Tenure-Track, Continuing Contract, Other FT Faculty)  and Staff. (For Admin/Professionals it is typically set at the market 50th percentile.)

The default compensation will be updated automatically to match the incumbent’s salary twice a year – prior to the AMI launch in June and in the fall. This will be managed by UHR and ESM so no action is required on the part of the school or unit.

At any time, HR can edit the default compensation:

  • Filled positions. We encourage you to do this so that default compensation and the incumbent salary matches.
  • Unfilled positions. Make sure to check the default compensation and modify as needed prior to posting a position. This is particularly important for Pay Transparency as the posting range is calculated based on the default compensation amount.

Steps

  1. Navigate to the position restriction by typing the position number in the search bar and click enter.
  2. Click on the link labeled position restriction.
  3. Click on Actions ellipse (related actions) bar located the top of the page at the end of the link (e.g. 512456 PeopleSync Manager of Training – Smith, Joe)
  4. Click on Compensation > Request Default Compensation Change
  5. Enter the Effective Date
  6. On the next screen scroll down to the salary (or hourly) section and edit the amount field. Click on the pencil icon to edit and the check mark icon to save your changes). 
  7. Include a Comment if needed and Submit.
  8. This will route to HR Partner and then Finance Executive for approval. (If you are an approver refer to the Approve Transaction tip sheet.)

Common Questions

Does the default compensation impact what an incumbent is actually paid? 

No. The default compensation is for position and budget planning only. Employees are paid based off the information in the Compensation section of the employee record.

Does default compensation display in JDX?

No. JDX does not hold any position salary information. Neither the default compensation nor an incumbent’s salary is stored on JDX.

Compensation Change Reasons

Below is a list of Reasons available in the Request Compensation Change transaction:

Reason Category Reason
Variable Compensation Change Correction
Variable Compensation Change Target % Change
Variable Compensation Change Bonus Pool Change
Variable Compensation Change Annual Merit Increase
Base Salary Change Correction
Base Salary Change Brought to a Minimum
Base Salary Change Market Adjustment
Base Salary Change Off-Cycle Merit Adjustment
Base Salary Change Equity Adjustment
Base Salary Change Decompression Adjustment
Base Salary Change Contract Amendment (AD)
Base Salary Change Step Increase
Base Salary Change Longevity Increase
Base Salary Change Parity Increase
Base Salary Change Union Increase
Base Salary Change Salary Change
Base Salary Change Leave of Absence Adjustment
Base Salary Change Fire Safety Director (Local 1 – FSD)
Base Salary Change Fire Life Safety Director (Local 1 – FLSD)
Conversion Conversion

The following are guidelines for common reasons. This is also included on the transaction’s page for reference. 

  • Brought to a Minimum – used to bring an employee’s salary to a federal, NYS  or collective bargaining agreement minimum as required
  • Correction –  if previous transaction included the incorrect salary (provide explanation in comments)
  • Decompression Adjustment – used in unique situations to address salary compression between exempt and non-exempt employees
  • Equity Adjustment – used to address salary inequities among individuals who are functioning in like positions that require similar skills, responsibilities and experience
  • Longevity Increase –  used for  Local 1 or Local 3882 employees who did not receive this increase as part of the automated process
  • Market Adjustment –  used to align pay with the external market
  • Off-Cycle Merit Adjustment – used for administrators, faculty and researchers who did not receive their AMI via the annual process.
  • Parity Increase – only used for non-exempt, service employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement
  • Partial Pay During LOA –  used for academic employees or military leaves which require partial pay
  • Salary Change –  used for casual or student employee salary changes
  • Step Increase –  used for Local 1 employees who did not receive this increase as part of the automated process
  • Union Increase –  used for any union employee  who did not receive their annual  increase as part of the automated process

Creating Payroll Commitments

As part of Position Management, Payroll will now run the Create Initial Payroll Commitment and Create Payroll Commitment Adjustment tasks in PeopleSync.

Create Initial Payroll Commitments

The Create Initial Payroll Commitments process in PeopleSync uses the payroll engine to look at costing by position, pay period by pay period, and calculates commitments.

  • Frequency: Once per year in early August; the exact timing to be coordinated with Budget Office.
  • Role: Accounting Administrator
  • Activities that must be completed prior to starting the process:
    • Create next Fiscal Year
    • Create and open ledger period
    • Create commitment rules for next Fiscal Year

Steps

  1. Run the Create Initial Payroll Commitments process in PeopleSync.
  2. Enter the upcoming Fiscal Year in the Fiscal Year field.
    1. The process will run for a few hours and return to the PeopleSync inbox of all employees with the Accounting Administrator role.
  3. Review and approve report delivered to PeopleSync inbox.
  4. Perform a high-level check of annual payroll and fringe amounts.
  5. Process will route to the Budget Office for review and approval.

Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments

The Payroll Commitment Adjustments process ensures encumbrance adjustments related to Leaves and Activity Pay are accurately carried over to UDW+.

  • Frequency: Daily
  • Role: Accounting Administrator

Steps

  1. Run the Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments process for All Positions.
  2. Enter the Company and the current Fiscal Year.
    • The accounting date will auto-populate. Do not change.
  3. The Positions field remains blank. Select the All Positions checkbox.
  4. When process returns to your PeopleSync inbox, click Approve. No review is necessary.
  5. Run the Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments process for Rescinds/Corrects.
  6. Enter the Company and the current Fiscal Year.
    • The accounting date will auto-populate. Do not change.
    • The Completed On/After is the date that Initial Payroll Commitments were created.
    • The Complete Prior To/On is today’s date.
    • Business Processes remains blank.
    • Select the Rescinded/Corrected checkbox.
  7. When process returns to your PeopleSync inbox, click Approve. No review is necessary.

Last updated in May 2020.

Payroll Accounting Adjustment

The purpose of this process to is to enter expense transfers resulting from retroactive costing allocation changes.

Entering a Payroll Accounting Adjustment in PeopleSync creates the following:

  • A reversal entry of the original journal lines. Actual pay for the worker is not changed.
  • A new journal line reflecting the reversal and a replacement entry with updated costing allocation.
  • Fringe benefit journals are also reversed and new fringe calculations and related journals automatically processed.
  • If the Period End Date is in a closed ledger period, PeopleSync will post the Adjustment Journals in the next open general ledger period and set the Accounting Date to the first day of this period.
  • If hours are present on the journal line, PeopleSync will calculate the hours on the adjustment journal line based on the debit amount calculated on the adjustment journal line.

Reminders

  • Payroll adjustments will be approved by Payroll within 3 days and by SPA, only if the costing impacts Fund 24 or Fund 25, within 3 days.
  • Payroll adjustments will post to the General Ledger 24 hours after final approval by Payroll or SPA.
  • To view all Payroll Accounting Adjustments for an employee, use the Worker History tab.
  • Use the comments section in this transaction to provide approvers (Finance Executive, Payroll, and SPA) with any important details.

Before You Start

Review this information to determine when you need to submit a Payroll Adjustment.

I need to update costing for: The transaction(s) I need to complete are:
Time Periods Retro Cost Allocation Form Payroll Adjustment Costing Allocation
The Past: Pre-PeopleSync (before 4/1/14 for WSQ and 9/1/14 for SOE) X    
The Past: Post-PeopleSync (after 4/1/14 for WSQ and 9/1/14 for SOE)   X  
The past and the future   X X
The future     X

Scenario 1: Payroll accounting adjustment to change the costing and allocate 100%

  1. Type Create Payroll Accounting Adjustments in the Search bar.
  2. Complete all required fields.
    • Select multiple pay periods if the desired adjustment applies to more than one period.
    • Select On-cycle and Off-cycle if adjustments are required on both types of payroll results.
  3. In the lower section, hit the plus (+) icon to add a new row.
    • Select the appropriate Position.
    • Under Pay Components, select Earnings (NOT deductions) and then choose the appropriate components.
  4. The current default costing Worktags will auto-populate when you select Position and Pay Components. If making the change to costing at 100%, make adjustments to Worktags here and enter 100% in the Distribution Percent field.
    • Click submit to go to page 2.
    • If the employee was terminated, the Worktags need to be entered manually.
  5. If the costing impacts Fund 24 or Fund 25, complete and upload the Cost Transfer Justification form.
    • Open the Attachment Tab using the arrow, and load the correct file by clicking on Drop Files Here.
    • The attachment must be a PDF.
  6. There are two sections on the page, Current and Proposed. The Proposed can still be edited and reflects the selected Worktags on page 1.
  7. Check that the two sections are balanced and check that the Worktags are accurate.
  8. Make any necessary adjustments to the Debit Amount, and click Submit.
  9. The transaction will go to the Finance Executive for approval.
    • You can view the status of the process and the transaction details on the Worker History tab.

Scenario 2: Payroll Accounting Adjustment with variable split in the costing allocation

  1. Type Create Payroll Accounting Adjustments in the Search bar.
  2. Complete all required fields.
    • Select multiple pay periods if the desired adjustment applies to more than one period.
    • Select On-cycle and Off-cycle if adjustments are required on both types of payroll results.
  3. Select the plus (+) button to add the Position detail and Pay Components.
    • The Default Costing Worktags will auto-populate.
    • If you know the exact or approximate percentage split in the adjusted costing you can add a new row, by hitting the + button.
    • In each row adjust the costing Worktags as needed, and enter percentages that add up to 100 percent.
    • Click Submit to go to page 2.
  4. If the costing impacts Fund 24 or Fund 25, complete and upload the Cost Transfer Justification form.
    • Open the Attachment Tab using the arrow, and load the correct file by clicking on Drop Files Here.
    • The attachment must be a PDF.
  5. The lower half of the page will provide a more detailed view of the adjustments, providing a view of Current and Proposed.
    • If multiple periods are selected, there will be a Current and Proposed section for each period.
    • Debit Amounts are now available for adjusting if the percentages were not known before.
  6. Review the adjustment and ensure your entries are balanced.
  7. Make any necessary adjustments to the Debit Amount and click Submit.

Common errors

Identical Rows Error

This error occurs when the employee has multiple rows with the same pay component and costing.

To resolve the error, click on the magnifying glass to locate the row(s) in error. You will need to add up the amounts on the duplicate rows, insert the total of the duplicates onto one of the rows, and delete the other rows.

Sum Error

This error occurs when the sums of the Current and Proposed adjustments do not match.

To resolve the error, review each row to locate the error and adjust the Debit Amounts to ensure the sums match.

Last updated in February 2015.

Approving Payroll Accounting Adjustments

As a Finance Executive, Payroll Partner, or SPA Partner, you are required to review and approve Payroll Adjustments. The guide below shows how Payroll Adjustment will appear in your inbox and highlights important fields/information.

Steps

  1. Click on the Review Payroll Accounting Adjustment task in your PeopleSync inbox to view details.
  2. Review details and check for an attachment, if the Payroll Adjustment impacts Fund 24/25.
    • The Fund 24/25 Payroll Cost Transfer Justification form must be attached here if the Payroll Adjustment impacts Fund 24/25.
    • Click the blue number to view the attachment.
  3. Review the Current Journal Lines, which have details on where the employee was charged. The Budget Date is the pay period end date.
  4. Review the Proposed Adjustments, which have details on where the employee will be charged if the Payroll Adjustment is approved.
  5. Confirm all details are correct and click Approve at the bottom of the screen.
    • Approve provides sign off on the transaction.
    • Deny stops the transaction completely.
    • Send Back returns the transaction to the initiator.
    • Process History shows who initiated and approved the transaction.

Last updated in February 2015.