Labor Distributions

What is a labor distribution?

"Labor Distribution'' refers to the default accounting allocation where an Employee's payroll expenses will be posted. Having a correct and current Labor Distribution on the job ensures that an Employee's payroll costs are charged to the appropriate accounts and/or projects.

An Employee's default Labor Distribution can be changed on the job by filling out an "LDF" and submitting to the HR OnBase Upload Portal or submitting a Labor Distribution Change EPAF.

A Labor Distribution change for prior months can be made by an LDF for monthly Employees or a signed request on a copy of the Employee's timesheet for Hourly Employees- both submitted to the HR OnBase Upload Portal.

When should I use a labor distribution?

Every job needs to have a default Labor Distribution even if it is just 100% to your main index code, etc. which is set up when the job is created.

A labor distribution change is made when the employee's payroll expenses should be allocated differently than how it is currently set up on the job.

Your unit or department may have a separate index code for some activities the employee performed that are different than their usual work activities or in other cases a department has a new general index and needs to update to the newest version of the index.



How to Update Labor Distribution on an existing job record

Please note: Due to occasional updates, the screenshots in this guide may have a different look than what you see in real time.

Changing Labor Distribution Information to a job is now available through Banweb.

Login to Banweb (self-service) enter your employee information using your ODIN username and password.

screen shot of logging into Banweb

Under the Employee Services tab select 'New EPAF' to initiate a Personnel Action.

screen shot of selecting new EPAF

Employee Selection

Enter the employee’s PSU ID into the ID field. If you do not know their ID number, you can search for it by clicking on the magnifying glass icon.

screen shot of entering ID and/or how to search for an ID

Effective Date 

The effective date is the date this transaction is effective (for example: the first day of work must be used for a student hire date). This date field will default to today’s date and YOU MUST update it to reflect the actual action’s effective date.


Approval Category

Select the Approval Category that is appropriate for the transaction you are initiating. Select the job that needs to have a Labor Distribution Change. Only jobs that are active can have a labor distribution change. Click “Go”.

screen shot of selecting the approval category

New EPAF Job Selection

On this page you can select the job that needs to have a labor distribution change. You will see a history of the employee's jobs.

screen shot if selecting the job that needs the labor distribution change

Labor Distribution Change

After you've selected the job that needs to have a labor distribution change you will see the current position's labor distribution information. The "Labor Distribution in effect as of entered effective date" is the most current effective date for this position number. You can see how the position's expense is currently distributed.

screen shot of most current effective date

 

Under New Effective Date you should see that the date populated in this field matches the date you selected to initiate the labor distribution change. 

screen shot of effect of changing the date

Updating the Distribution

When updating the labor distribution index the system will blank out the FOAPAL string with the exception of the Account Code. To properly populate the rest of the FOAPAL string you must click on "click to default from index".

screen shot of FOPAL screen

 

After clicking on "Default From Index" you should now see the FOAPAL string populated.

screen shot of FOPAL screen once populated

Routing Queue

The EPAFs have pre-defined routing levels. You have to designate someone to approve this transaction for each level. You can also add Approvals on the fly for additional approvals or FYIs. Additionally you can also Default Your Routing Queue if you know a particular Personnel Action will always go through the same levels.

screen shot of routing queue with approvers listed

 



How to Approve Labor Distribution Updates

Please note: Due to occasional updates, the screenshots in this guide may have a different look than what you see in real time.

Approving an Electronic Personnel Action

Once an EPAF has been successfully submitted, the levels assigned to that EPAF have to approve first in order for the transaction to be successfully applied.

As an approver you can select "Approver Summary" menu to view the EPAFs that are awaiting approval.

screen shot showing selection of EPAF approver summary link in banweb

 

If you are acting as a proxy " click on "Act as a proxy". You only see this menu if an approver has added you as a proxy.

screen shot of selecting to act as a proxy

On this page you can see who you can proxy for by clicking on the drop down menu under "Proxy For". Select the proxy that you want to approve for and click 'Go'.

screen shot of accessing the list of people for whom you can act as a proxy

EPAF Approver Summary Menu

This screen will show you all the pending EPAFs waiting to be approved by an approver or a proxy. Click on a specific Employee's name to approve the Labor Distribution Change.

screen shot of EPAFs waiting to be approved

Reviewing Labor Distribution Changes

When you open the EPAF you should see the current changes along with the new changes that need your approval. Review the changes that require your approval.

screen shot of viewing labor distribution changes

Approving Labor Distribution Changes

Once you have verified the changes you can approve them on that same screen by clicking on 'Approve'

screen shot of verifying screen for approving labor distribution changes

Routing Queue

Once you approve the Labor Distribution EPAF it moves to the next approval level. You can see who has approved the EPAF and where it is in the process.

screen shot of next queue and status of labor distribution changes

 

To verify that a Labor Distribution EPAF change has been completed, go into the 'Approver Summary' and select the "History Tab". The Approved Queue Status shows you all the completed EPAFs.

screen shot of verifying completion of labor distribution changes


Common Errors & Warnings For Labor Distribution Updates

Please note: Due to occasional updates, the screenshots in this guide may have a different look than what you see in real time.

Once you submit the EPAF, if there are any issues within the EPAF, the screen will show error messages depending on the action that needs to be corrected

Errors and Warnings

  • Warning – Warnings simply deliver information to the user, but will still allow the EPAF to process successfully.
  • Error – Error messages will not allow the EPAF to progress to the approval levels. Errors must be corrected.
screen shot for date and index code errors

Error: New Job Labor Distribution Date should be >/= query effective date

Solution: This error means that your query date (change effective date) is in the past. Change the query date (change effective date) to a future date, usually the 16th for an hourly appointment change or the 1st for a monthly appointment change.

 

Error: Index XXXXXX does not allow override of Fund, Organization, Program, etc.

Solution: This error means that you may have entered an override to an element in the labor distribution that is not compatible with the Index. Re-enter the Index and click on “Default from Index” to correct the element.


screen shot of warning to verify account code, user ID for routing error, and labor distribution percentage errors

Warning: Account code has been assigned a default value. Please verify the default account code before submitting.

Solution: After you make a labor distribution change the system generates this notice for you to double check the account code before submitting.

 

Error: User Id(s) must be entered for Routing Queue.

Solution: You must populate the mandatory routing queue levels.

 

Error: Job Labor Distribution Total Percentages must be exactly 100%.

Solution: The total distribution has to match 100%.