Payroll obligation (commitment) adjustments – Processing times and impact on reports

Payroll obligation (commitment) adjustments are created when there is a change to a worker’s costing allocation. While the Finance Data Mart is updated nightly, changes made through the Assign Costing Allocation business process after 11:00 a.m. will not appear on reports (i.e., AHR by Person, FAB, and Interactive reports) the following business day.  

Overview of the obligation (commitment) adjustment process
The Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments process is a manual, central task run by Financial Systems & Solutions at approximately 11:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and on the last business day of each month, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The monthly process runs for changes made through certain HCM events (e.g., Hire, Change Job).   

Delays in the daily and monthly process are caused by errors when costing is not in place for the full base year (i.e., the current fiscal year).  Timing of the adjustment process is subject to change based on holidays or conflict with the timing of the payroll process. 

How can I tell if a costing allocation change was made prior to 11:00 a.m.?
The Financial Systems & Solutions (FSS) team is reviewing the feasibility of building a report that will provide transparency to the Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments process. In the meantime, view the Assign Costing Allocation business process for the worker to confirm the time of completion. Verification can be accomplished either through the Worker History or by running the Business Processes for Worker – Yale report. 

What is being done to improve this process?
FSS staff members have been working closely with the Workday development team since the Financials implementation in 2017 to improve this process. Improvements include the ability to schedule the Create Payroll Commitment Adjustments task. With this ability, the deadline for changes that impact obligations could move to evening or early morning, allowing for less delay in reaching the data mart. 

For more information about payroll obligations, view procedure 3501 PR.03 or contact the Finance Support Center (FSC) at 203-432-5394 or askfinance@yale.edu.