Assignment Tracking Menu

The Assignment Tracking Menu allows you to assign employees position(s) and location(s) for a specified time period. An assignment is a way of saying that employee X works in position Y at location Z from a specified start date to a specified end date for a specified number of hours or FTE.

The Assignment System lets you keep track of who is working where, doing what. Assignment Reports lets you make sure allocated hours or FTE are always in sync with the hours or FTE assigned employees. Hours/FTE allocation reports can be based on location, department, employee category, or position. Other assignment reports let you select employees based on how many hours/FTE they are currently working, the type of assignments they have been given (temporary or continuing), or how many locations they are working at. Report selection by start date, end date, position, assignment type, employee category, department, bargaining unit gives you the ability to create extremely specific and valuable reports to help manage your personnel.

Each assignment also lets you enter salary, subject/level and FTE information, as well as information on any special skills an employee may possess. This information can be reported on or exported and used as mail merge data to create change in assignment letters which can be sent to individual employees.

The Absence System also makes extensive use of the Assignment System. If the Assignment System is kept up to date, it makes the Absence System much simpler to use. Information like position, location, start time, end time, and hours/FTE can be pulled from employee assignments so that this information does not have to be re-keyed each time an employee absence is entered.

A number of database codes must be set up prior to using the assignment system.

They are as follows:

Database Code                          Status      

Position Type                             Mandatory

Employee Category                   Optional

Bargaining Unit                          Optional

Department Code                      Optional

Schedule Code                          Optional

Subject Code                             Optional

Subject Level Code                   Optional

Skill Code                                  Optional

Assignment Reason                  Optional

Position                                     Mandatory

Assignment Type Code             Mandatory

Location Code                           Mandatory

Database items marked as mandatory MUST be set up before using the Assignment System. Items marked optional only need be set up if you intend to use them as part of the assignment system. Refer to the description of each code under the corresponding menu option to determine if you want to use them.

The Assignment Additions screen is used to create new assignments. The Changes module is used to correct mistakes made when the assignment was created, or to create assignment history. Deletions is used to remove assignments, and Inquiry is used to view assignments without locking the assignment record. Locking the assignment record will prevent anyone from changing it until you have exited the screen.

Anytime you need to make a change to an assignment that you want to keep a record of, you must close the current assignment (by adding or changing the end date) and create a new one for an employee. If you merely go into Assignment Changes and modify a field to give it a new value, there will be no record the assignment was changed (except through the audit trail system).

HR versions 5.0 and up will optionally close the old assignment and open a new assignment for you simply by going in and making a change to any field on the assignment screen. If, when you accept the entry, a change is detected, you will be asked if you want to save a history of the old assignment and create a new assignment. If you answer 'Y' you will be asked for the date the old assignment ends, as well as the start and end dates of the new assignment. This feature is activated in the Screen Control Profile by answering 'Y' to the Assignment History  On prompt. If you choose not to save a history, or the Assignment History option is not on, the current assignment will be changed without creating a new assignment record.

Lets say, for example, a teacher is given a .8 FTE teaching assignment that starts in September and goes to the following May. In January, the teacher's FTE is bumped from .8 to 1.0. To make this change go into Assignment Changes and modify field Assigned FTE to 1.0. If you have the Assignment History profile option turned on, and you choose to make a history, your current assignment with the .8 FTE will be updated with an end date, and a new assignment with an FTE of 1.0 will be created. If the Assignment History  profile option is turned off, or you choose NOT to make a history, there will be no record of the fact that the teacher ever had a .8 FTE teaching assignment for the first half of the year.

Another way of doing this is to go into Assignment Additions and click on the Close Assignment box next to the Position prompt. This opens up a window displaying all current assignments. This window lets you close assignments by moving the cursor to the assignment you want to close (with the up and down arrow keys) and entering the end date(s). Once the end date(s) have been entered, move the cursor back up to Exit and click on the Close button on the bottom right. This will return you to the main assignment screen where you can continue entering the new assignment information.

Using either the Close Assignment option from the additions screen or Assignment History  option from the changes screen will update the Last Transfer Date on the Employee Information Screen (field 10 page 2).