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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics SL (Archived) / New to setting up bene...
Microsoft Dynamics SL (Archived)

New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

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Posted on by Community Member

Though I have worked with Microsoft Dynamics SL for years, I have never setup Benefits, and I now need to setup Vacation and personal leave, and bring employees' current manually accrued vacation and personal leave into SL.  While I've made a stab at it, when running a test payroll, I don't see either the accrual of new benefits or the decrease in benefits used on payroll, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong. :)  Is there a step by step guide for setting up those kind of benefits and bringing values into the system, so that I can figure out what I'm doing wrong?


Thanks

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  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Rick,

    You mentioned "The time and dollar screen defaults to the employee's default expense account when entering time unless that earnings type has an expense account set up (you would only do that if all employees hit the same expense account for that earnings; e.g., earnings are not departmentalized) so you do have to override that account when the employee spends a benefit if that benefit is not an earned benefit."  

    In this case the Personal leave is not an accrued benefit, and all employees do hit the same expense account for that earnings when they use the benefit.  However, when  the Earnings type is set to Benefit Usage, the Expense Acct field on the Earnings type screen is also locked, so you can't put an expense account there OR on the Benefit screen, so there is no way in the system that I can see to override the account if it is not an earned benefit.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Dan,

    Glad to hear you got it working.  By the way, that is not a bug on the benefit screen.  those account fields only apply when a benefit is accrue as a liability so that is why they are disabled on a non-earned benefit.  The time and dollar screen accepts earnings types, not benefit types so it has no connection to the benefit screen.  The time and dollar screen defaults to the employee's default expense account when entering time unless that earnings type has an expense account set up (you would only do that if all employees hit the same expense account for that earnings; e.g., earnings are not departmentalized) so you do have to override that account when the employee spends a benefit if that benefit is not an earned benefit.  When an earnings type is set up as a benefit usage and the earnings type is a member of a benefit class for which the benefit is set up as an accrue liability type, the system will then credit the benefit Liability account indicated under that benefit as opposed to the expense account on the time and dollar screen.  The specified expense account on the benefit screen is debited when the benefit is accrued (not spent).  I may not have explained that all that well in this short explanation but the concept is that the expense account and liability account for the earned benefit are hit when the benefit is earned and the liability account is hit when the benefit is used.  If a benefit is not earned then there is no liability booked when it is granted and, therefore, no liability is affected when it is spent and the expense side, when taken, is driven by the time and dollar entry.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Rick, thank you for your assistance with this.  After updating the earnings type and setting it to be a Benefit usage earnings type, I am getting it to decrease benefits.   One thing I discovered is that there is a bug in the Benefit screen that does not allow you to specify an expense account for a benefit that does not accrue a liability.  When the time and dollar entry is entered to use that benefit, you have to overwrite the default account in the time and dollar screen for that.   Otherwise, however, I think I have it working properly.  I appreciate your assistance.

  • Verified answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Dan,

    You have to have separate earnings types that are used when one of these benefits is being paid out so that SL knows to decrease the available benefit if the benefit, itself, is an accrual benefit.  If the benefit is not being accrued then this does not apply.  By definition, an accrued benefit is one that the employee is vested in meaning, that, if they terminate and have not used all of that benefit then you have to pay them the balance of that benefit.  Vacation benefits are typically that type of benefit.  You may have benefits that are made available but are not vested.  For example, sick pay is typically not a vested benefit.  The employee may earning sick hours as they work but, if they terminate, they are not paid out any unused sick hours.

    Fro a time and dollar entry, you would enter the benefit usage earnings id when they actually are taking some of that benefit and utilize some other earnings id when not using an actual benefit.

    If, as you said, that you already have earnings types to be used when a benefit is taken then the first questions is whether the benefit is an accrued benefit and the second question is whether, at some point, you changed your policy where the benefit was not originally accrued and now is accrued.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Rick,

    No, the company already had an earnings types that they used for paying out vacation and personal leave.  On the earnings types screens those are set to the 'Regular' earnings type.  These are the earnings types they put on the Time and Dollar screen when creating a payroll batch.   I understand what you are saying, I believe, in that they need an earnings type that can be credited, but I think I'm a bit confused on what goes on the time and dollar screen.   I appreciate your patience as I try to work through this process.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Dan,

    Sorry, my suggestion was fairly brief.  When I asked if you set up the benefit, I was asking if you set up a corresponding earnings type for paying out that benefit and, when you did, did you set the earnings type to Benefit Usage?  SL needs to know that, when paying out a benefit, that it should be adjusting the available benefit for the employee.  So, the earnings type for paying out the benefit (not earnings types for which the benefit is accrued) must be set to Benefit Usage and the benefit class ID field set to a benefit class that is affected by paying out this benefit.

    The benefit maintenance screen should be allowing you to enter an expense account and sub-account on the rights side of that tab and to enter a liability account and sub-account if this benefit is accrued (e.g., a vested benefit).  This is the case when you set the accrual method to something on that screen.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Rick,

    Thanks for taking time to reply.  I've been away from this project for a bit, so I'm just now looking to apply the information you shared.  I am setting up two benefits: Vacation and Personal leave.   Here's what I've done so far:

    Vacation - Year Type is Employee anniversary, Available to Use Method is annually, Print on Check stub is checked.   There are no accounts listed on the right side of the screen - can't see how  to update those on the screen)    Under Earnings Types ;  VAC-W - Vacation  is the earnings type selected.   Under the Rate table tab, 12 months emloyed, 40.00 Max Annual Carryover, 40 Max Cumulative Available, the rest of the fields in that line are 0.   Then a line for 24 months employed, 440 max annual carryover and 440 Max Cumulative available, and finally 84 months worked, 9999 Max Annual Carryover and Max Cumulative available. 

    The personal leave is set up much the same way, other than it uses the PER-WO earnings type, Available to use monthly, and the Rate table  lists 6 month intervals (6,12,18, 24, etc), since they are to accrue an additional 8 hours every 6 months, based on their employment date.

    Since they accrue based on time intervals (annual anniversary for vacation and 6 month intervals for personal leave), my understanding is that the earnings type is essentially ignored on the benefit setup.  

    I set up the benefit on the employee benefits tab, but I'm not seeing a place referred to in the comment: "When you set up the benefit earnings to be used when paying out the benefit did you set the earnings type to benefit usage? "

    Again, setting this is up is brand new to me, so I do appreciate your assistance very much.

    Dan

  • Suggested answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: New to setting up benefits - need some assistance

    Dan,

    You may have already done this but here are a couple of things to look at.  When you set up the benefit, did you enter the earnings types that earn that benefit under the earnings types tab on the benefit maintenance screen?  This needs to be done to accrue benefits against various earnings.  When you set up the benefit earnings to be used when paying out the benefit did you set the earnings type to benefit usage?  This needs to be done to reduce benefit amounts when the benefit is taken.

    You then indicated that your test payroll did not increase benefits nor take away benefits used.  The benefit increase/decrease does not show on the benefit reports until the checks are kept.  However, you can review what will be added/reduced by running the Benefits format on the check preview report.

    Hope this helps.

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