Field Skip or Force Status

The FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS MENU gives you access to the modules which maintain and manage the skip/force status of various screen within HR. 

The FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS system gives you the ability to define which data fields on a screen you want to skip (if any) and which fields to force entry of.

In designing HR, we accepted input from many customers to determine what data fields should be placed on the various screens within HR. For this reason, it is very possible that there will be data fields on screens you choose not to use. While you could press enter and leave these fields blank, when hundreds or thousands of entries are being put into the system, a couple of unnecessary key strokes for each entry can cause a lot of unnecessary work. To eliminate this, we have given you the ability to control whether or not the cursor should go to specific fields. Any fields you tell the system to skip, cannot be visited by you. With the exception of the prompt on the screen, it is as though skipped fields do not exist.

HR also provides the ability to force entry of specific fields. This is to help you ensure that required fields are always input and cannot be bypassed. If you specify a field as being 'FORCED', once the cursor enters that field, you will not be able to exit until a valid response has been entered.

Because it is possible you may want to skip or force different fields depending on the type of employee you are dealing with, this screen will let you define multiple status's per screen for different employee types. If, for example, you want to skip any hiring information fields if entering an applicant into the system, you can create one field status definition for applicants to skip these fields, and another definition for all other employee types, to enter these fields.

NOTE: Not every screen in HR has been enhanced to implement the skip/force feature yet. The simplest way of determining which screens have the skip/force feature is to run the FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS AVAILABILITY REPORT. The screens that appear on this report have been enhanced to use the skip/force feature.

FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS ADDITIONS

The FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS ADDITIONS module lets you add field skip/force status definitions. 

UNIQUE ID

Enter the unique ID of the screen to access. Search to view all the employee based screens. In the list you will notice that the description of all screens indicates they are only ADDITIONS screens. This is not true. Although the description says ADDITIONS, it in fact means ADDITIONS and CHANGES. The field status's you set up will automatically apply for the addition and change screens. Leave this field blank and enter to exit.

EMPLOYEE TYPE  *DEF

Enter the employee type code you want this field status definition to apply. Enter *DEF to enter a default status definition for a screen. Each time you go into an employee based screen, the system will look at the skip/force definition file to see if it can find one for the screen. If it does not no fields will be skipped and none will be forced (with the exception of fields the system needs for system integrity). If there is a definition for a screen, matching the employee type code of the employee entered, this definition is used. If there is no definition for the specified employee type, then the default definition will be used.

For example, go into the demographics screen and enter employee 1 who is a teacher. The system will search the field skip/force definition file for the demographics screen with an employee type of lets say 'TEAC' (teacher). If one is found, that definition will be used to control which fields will be skipped and which will be forced. If none is found for the employee type of teacher, the system will search for the default (*DEF) status definition. If one is found, that definition will be used to control which fields will be skipped and which ones will be forced. If a default definition is not found for the demographics screen, no fields will be skipped or forced.

Once you have entered the employee type code, a window will open displaying the field numbers (1-50) for a maximum of five pages. In most cases, a screen will only have a single screen, so you will only deal with the first column of status information.

The left most column will contain field numbers. These field numbers correspond to the field numbers of the screen that you are working on.

The next three columns are entitled MOD SKP FRC. Each field can contain only a 'Y' for yes, and a 'N' for no.

They mean the following:

MOD

This field determines whether or not you can modify the skip or force status's of the corresponding fields. You cannot modify this field.

If set to 'Y', you can modify both the skip and force status's.

If set to 'N', you can modify neither.

SKP

This field holds the skip status. A 'Y' in this field, will cause the system to skip over the specified field. The value of this field can be toggled from a 'Y' to 'N' and back by simply moving the cursor with the arrow keys and pressing enter.

FRC

This field holds the force status. A 'Y' in this field, will cause the system to force valid information to be entered into the specified field. The value of this field can be toggled from a 'Y' to 'N' and back by moving the cursor with the arrow keys and pressing enter.
 

FIELD SKIP/FORCE STATUS DELETIONS

01 = UNIQUE ID

Enter the unique ID to delete. Search to view codes. 

DELETE RECORD [Y/N]

Enter 'Y' to delete this record, 'N' to abort the deletion.
 

STATUS REPORT

The STATUS REPORT will list the modules that have been set up to use the skip/force function by the user. It will display the module, employee category, and a detailed listing of each prompt and whether it will be skipped or forced.

STATUS AVAILABILITY REPORT

The STATUS AVAILABILITY REPORT  provides a detailed listing of all modules that have been defined to use the skip/force option. This report also displays all prompts that cannot be modified because they are automatically forced by the system.
 

STATUS AVAILABILITY SUMMARY REPORT

The STATUS AVAILABILITY SUMMARY REPORT  provides a summary listing of all modules that have been currently defined to use the skip/force option.