HR security during payroll Lockout

I actually modified my PR36 to stop people from changing time record during payroll. The same can be applied to the rest HR11 etc. Simply have the program to check for the PRS-PR140-RUN-FLAG. If it has an *, exit out and prevent A/C/D etc. and display a warning msg like "payroll in progress". 

I also improved it further by adding supervisor code override box in PR36 etc. So if provided with a valid code, supervisor can override PR36 records even in mid-payroll cycle.  

The advantage of this is you let your payroll process decide when to lock people out.

Hello Srini Rao,

In furthering expanding on Jimmy's response, what a lot of users of Lawson S3 do not understand, that if Human Resources users are secured out of the payroll module ("PR" screens), there does not need to be any "lock out" for Human Resources.  As a consultant for this product for over 10 years, I've explained many times to even my fellow consultants.  The S3 system is built to allow the Payroll Module operate independently of the Human Resources modules (or TM if you're using them).

The trick is knowing that when the PR530 (PRTRCSV) is brought into Lawson S3, the information that is in the system as stored in HISTORY for that employee at the moment the time record is brought in, this freezes the employee's information.  Thus, the "lock out" is coded into the system.  Jimmy is correct that any person having access to the PR36 would be able to change the time record, but this requires someone to actually delete the time record and re-add.  Typically your Human Resources users do not have this ability.

However, with that said, you do have to mindful of your payroll users, because they are still able to add direct deposits, deductions, and change tax information.  As long as the payroll users are entering accurate information, this should not be a problem.  However, those submitting the payroll jobs typically just don't like the idea of users doing this even though it has no real practical effect.  Good Luck.

Our HR and PR departments coordinate well during the Payroll Cycle so typically there are no issues. Problems did come from when end-users changed deductions during a Payroll Cycle via ESS. We added logic to turn off those ESS pages when the Payroll Cycle began and re-enabled them when the cycle ended. All controlled by Payroll.

Hi J Quinn,

Thanks for the information about the history being used. I'm one of those who was always told that you shouldn't make HR changes during payroll.

With the history being used for the time records, what is used for selection criteria on the payroll jobs like PR132 and PR140? We have 3 payroll staff who run payroll by process level concurrently. So if an employee transferred process levels in the new pay period, which would they come up under when running jobs (assuming that the payroll is processed 3 days after the end of the pay cycle)? Would they be processed with the old process level or the new one?

There is a defaulting order on where information defaults to the time record.  The time record itself is the final stop.  I mention this, because how you pass your time records into S3 will depend on what particular information is processed for that time record.  Whatever you pass in on the time record will not be defaulted/overridden.

So, looking strictly at S3 setup (and assuming you are using positions to default - PA06), if you pass a time record in for a particular date, the "correct" information will default for the employee based on the employee's history if nothing but a time record date is provided {second positions are not part of this assertion - that's a whole different topic}.

However, let's consider this.  Let's say that you only interface your employee demographics into your timekeeping system on less than a daily basis, and the time record is exported/imported out without that identifying information (or blank), or you pass time records by week [with a week ending date], then how will S3 be able to correctly identify the correct information?  This has particular implications especially for mid-pay period changes.  So, when you pass in your time records, be sure to review if you are sending enough information for the defaulting mechanisms (pulling from History) to work.

Don't forget to TEST, TEST, and the TEST again.

Also, keep in mind deductions work differently than time records as far as date processing is considered.  The PR132 is driven by the time record date, however, for deductions the PR140 uses the pay date provided on the PR140 parameters.  When setting up the PR140 parameters, a pay date is required.  Any deduction which is effective on or before this date will be processed by the PR140.

We stated that the GL processing has completed and released and that HR staff should no longer be locked out of Lawson…but for some reason they can’t login. Do you happen to know where that flag is in Lawson and how to Unlock them.

How do you have HS18.1 set up?