HRMS install testing
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 17:45:15 -0400
From: Rangaraju_Krishna@tmac.com
To: oraapps-l@cpa.qc.ca, OraHRMS-L@mail-list.com
Subject: Oracle HRMS Testing
Hello Folks
We installed Oracle HRMS (HR and Payroll) and applied all the mandatory
patches.
We also completed the set up steps and ready to start the basic testing.
But at this stage we want to know if any one has a "test" plan which helps
us in
testing our system. We also want to know if there are any gocha's need to
take
care during the testing phase.
Any suggestions are appreciated
Thanks
Krishna
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:04:53 -0500
From: "Ken Conway" ken.conway@bosscorporation.com
To: oraapps-l@cpa.qc.ca
Subject: Re: Oracle HRMS Testing
Krishna:
When discussing payroll testing, one size doesn't fit all. There are
numerous test plans that you need to run. I will describe a few testing
strategies; however, the specific steps and variables of each test plan
various from project to project. I would develop test plans for:
1. Testing all Earnings
2. Testing all PreTax and Voluntary Deductions - including limit testing
for all appropriate deductions
3. Testing all Involuntary Deductions
4. Testing all Employer Liabilities
5. Testing for the existence or absence of all tax bodies
6. Testing the accuracy of federal, state, and local taxes
7. Testing the above where appropriate in Regular vs. Supplemental Runs
8. Integration testing with your Time and Attendance System
9. Integration testing with GL
10. Testing SQWL processes
11. Testing Year End processes
12. Testing company specific procedures, such as termination and re-hire
13. Testing Paid Time Off Accruals in relation to vacation/sick/other hours
taken during a payroll run
14. Parallel Testing of small groups of employees
15. Parallel Testing of full employee population
This is reasonable head start on the types of testing but it only scratches
the surface. There is not one test plan associated with these types of
tests. Additionally , there are many other tests I've not mentioned. Each
test plan can be influenced by a number of other factors such as what test
environment are you using; what is the state of the database; is Oracle HRMS
in the same instance as Oracle Financials/Manufacturing; are there API or
other data conversions that need to be tested in conjunction with the
payroll tests; which reports do you want to run to verify testing results,
etc.
Hope this helps your overall thought process. Please feel free to call me
and we can start to add detail to this subject.
Good luck,
Ken
Ken Conway
BOSS Corporation
Better Organization Service Solutions
(214) 495-7654 Voice
(214) 495-7543 Fax
www.bosscorporation.com
Flexfield Setup for HR
From: shane.stephens@ni.com shane.stephens@ni.com
To: Multiple recipients of list oraapps-l@cpa.qc.ca
Date: Tuesday, November 02, 1999 6:33 PM
Subject: HR Flexfield -- "Tricks and Traps"
Hi all,
We're trying to gather as much info as possible on HR implementation setup
"tricks and traps". We are specifically interested in researching the
different
approaches to HR Flexfield setups:
How did you structure each of your key flexfields (ie. Job, Position, Grade,
People Group, Cost Allocation)?
What data elements have you defined as descriptive Flexfields?
What data elements have you set-up as Special Information Types and how have
your defined each of your Special Information flexfield structures?
If you've had problems or issues relating to your flexfields, how would you
have
changed your approach if you could do the set-up all over again, knowing
what
you know now?
We would like to gather as much information as possible on various
approaches to
flexfield setups to help us make a wise decision. We plan on sharing our
new
research results with other companies by preparing a paper for a future OAUG
conference outlining the different methods of flexfield implemention.
Since
there are so many different ways to implement HR, we think that a nice
presentation with several options would be a great thing to offer to other
companies who are about to implement Oracle HR. So, if you could, please
take
a few moments and send us any information you can provide on your HR
flexfield
set-up adventures! We will keep track of all submissions and contact you
if we
plan on including your setup approach in our paper.
Thanks,
Shane Stephens - Programmer/Analyst
National Instruments
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 09:26:41 -0600
From: "Ken Conway" ken.conway@bosscorporation.com
To: oraapps-l@cpa.qc.ca
Cc: shane.stephens@ni.com
Subject: Re: HR Flexfield -- "Tricks and Traps"
Shane:
My experience with Oracle HR/Payroll has been that one size does not fit
all. I'll share a couple of examples but really, there may be solutions
we've accomplished that were excellent for our clients' requirements but
might be poor solutions based on your requirements.
For Jobs and Positions, this can influenced based on whether Oracle
Financials is already live (which was an inspiration for our recent OAUG
White Paper - Challenges Implementing Oracle HR/Payroll after Financials)
... I believe this is the case at your organization. Here's a general rule
but not one to live and die by. For public sector implementations, both
Jobs and Positions will be used as designed by Oracle allowing full Position
budget and control. For private sector implementations, you can often
ignore Positions from an HR perspective and allow the Purchasing department
to have a little more influence on the Position Key Flexfield requirements.
The bottom line for Jobs involves Government Reporting requirements and
internal Management Reporting requirements. We have used between 1 and 5
Key Flexfield segments for Jobs with the majority of implementations between
2 and 3 segments.
Grades seem to be different at every implementation. These are greatly
influenced by whether or not you use Union Pay Scales and Pay Scale
Progression. It becomes a balancing act in creating some of your grades
based on jobs groups for salary staff and some of your grades to correspond
with various union jobs.
Cost Allocation Key Flexfield segments are generally mapped one-to-one with
the GL Accounting Key Flexfield. Tip: Use the exact same Value Sets that
were created by the GL team. This is the easiest part of setup. The
challenge will occur later when trying to meet all your costing requirements
based on Organization, Element Links, etc.
People Group is a good catch-all that might not have clear requirements at
first. The main reasons we create People Group segments is for costing
reasons or benefit eligibility reasons. I've never used less than 1 or 2
segments and in extreme cases have used more than 10. Basically if you
cannot satisfy a costing or benefit eligibility issue with a small number of
Organizations, Jobs, Payrolls, etc., then you may have a candidate for
People Group segment. If have a reporting only issue, then consider a
Descriptive Flexfield segment or Special Information Type Key Flexfield.
For Special Information Types, this can be a project in and of itself. If
you have tight deadlines for bringing Payroll live (perhaps less than 6
months), then may want to defer some SIT definitions to a future phase 2
project. You do not have to do anything with SIT flexfields in order to
bring HR and Payroll live. However, you have an enormous potential with the
types and volumes of information you may want to store regarding
employees... certifications, OSHA reporting, disciplinary actions,
education, performance reviews, etc. This is simply based on your specific
requirements.
Quite honestly, I would be careful with conclusions based on my suggestions
and those of anyone else. These suggestions should be reviewed only as a
good head start. Seriously, this is not one size fits all. I'm amazed when
I look back at past projects and realize that the best solutions for some
clients were sometimes dramatically different than those at other clients.
I recommend that you define solid requirements and then attempt to hire or
obtain outside consulting assistance of an experienced person who has
accomplished these items for past Oracle HR/Payroll implementations. This
will usually save long-term costs and provide for a more robust system
solution.
Feel free to give me a call if I can answer further questions. Hope this
information has been helpful.
Good luck,
Ken Conway
BOSS Corporation
Better Organization Service Solutions
(214) 495-7654 Voice
(214) 495-7543 Fax
www.bosscorporation.com