Key Features
Other Features
Miscellaneous Enhancements
Key Features
Release v16.3 includes a number of new features which significantly enhance the functionality of AssignmentPro.
Assignment Packages – Rebuild All Feature
Assignment Packages now have a Rebuild All feature, which allows users to rebuild everything in the package with the click of a button. This should improve both productivity and accuracy when creating assignment packages.
Compensation Worksheets – New Batch Feature
Using the new company-level Compensation Worksheet Recalculation Batch screen, users can now recalculate a batch of existing effective worksheets. This eliminates a lot of manual effort and helps to get payroll completed on schedule.
Widget Dashboards – Look & Feel Improvements
The look and feel of the widget dashboards has been improved to make them more consistent, modern, and visually appealing.
Other Features
Assignment Packages
Users now have the capability to rebuild all outputs of a package with a single click. Also, a number of bugs have been corrected.
Assignment Packages now have a Rebuild All feature, which allows users to rebuild everything in the package with the click of one button. This includes the Cost Estimates, Compensation Calculations, Reports, and Merge Documents. Very often, the results of one item in a package flow down to subsequent items in the package. For example, if a user manually adjusts a cost estimate in the package, that change will likely need to flow down to subsequent items in the package. Prior to this feature, the user would need to know and remember to rebuild each of the subsequent items in the package individually. This feature allows the user to click one button to get all the items in the package to rebuild in the correct order, so they include any manual changes that have been made.
There was a defect when clicking the Submit Request button on the Assignment Package tab of an Authorization which caused the page in Internet Explorer 8 to become unresponsive. This has been corrected.
There was a defect in dropdown inputs for spreadsheet calculations which caused them to display the item’s code instead of the display value. For example, they would show “EQTRUE” instead of “Yes”. This has been corrected.
There was a defect in dependent dropdown inputs for spreadsheet calculations which caused only those that did not have default values to display instead of the entire group. This has been corrected.
There was an issue when trying to request an Assignment Package from an Authorization with only one request type. The request type would be defaulted as the only choice, but when submitting the request, any request types with non-defaulted Cost Estimates values that needed to be prompted for would not show. This has been corrected to now show those prompted values.
When posting to or updating documents manually from an Assignment Package to an Authorization, the Post To Authorization button was available to the user when no documents had been selected. When clicked, this incorrectly caused an error. This has been corrected so that either button is not available until at least one document has been selected.
For Assignment Packages being requested through an Authorization, when using Internet Explorer, an incorrect error message would occur when attempting to request an Assignment Package. This has been corrected.
Assignment Package-related Last Updated Date fields were not updating when documents or elements of an Assignment Package, including Cost Estimates, Compensation Calculation, Merge Documents, or Reports, were updated. This has been corrected to show the correct date when updated.
When Assignment Packages were requested from an Authorization, documents and reports posted automatically or manually back to the Authorization were failing. This has been fixed.
When trying to undo a completed Assignment Package Batch, the undo process was taking more than the amount of time allotted by the system to complete. The process has been changed to allow for more time and a different way of processing, which fixes this issue.
Assignment Package Cost Estimates were prompting for compensation/custom calculation inputs that were defaulted by a User Report on the calculation when they should not be. This has been corrected.
There was a defect which caused the Assignment Package Calculation Prompts Screen to ask for inputs having to do with database row and ID values when it should not. This has been corrected.
User Reports were unable to utilize individual line items for compensation calculations or Cost Estimates, which would allow them to associate several calculations together by their package ID. This has been corrected.
The appropriate exchange rate was not always being used within Custom Calculations backing Cost Estimate and/or Compensation Calculation line items in an Assignment Package. This has been corrected. Note: there was no issue with the exchange rates within Custom Calculations outside of Assignment Packages.
Compensation Worksheets
Users can now recalculate a batch of existing effective worksheets, eliminating a lot of manual effort and helping to get payroll completed on schedule.
A new batch screen has been added at the company level which allows a group of effective compensation worksheets to be recalculated all at once. Prior to this enhancement, if users had invested a lot of time and effort into manually adjusting the effective compensation worksheets for a pay period, and then realized that they needed to update an input to their calculations, they would either have to undo all their worksheets and lose all their work, or take the time to navigate to each worksheet and click the Calculate & Save button. This new batch screen automates the clicking of the Calculate & Save button for all the worksheets.
When a Retro Compensation Worksheet was created after a line item from the Effective Compensation Worksheet had been deleted from the Assignment Compensation Worksheet Template, an error would display. This has been corrected. Now, the Assignment Compensation Worksheet Template’s deleted line item will show on the Retro with a null value.
When a Retro Compensation Worksheet was created and the Effective Compensation Worksheet had a line item that wasn't on the Assignment Compensation Worksheet Template, an error would display. This has been corrected. Now, the new line item from the Effective Compensation Worksheet will display in the Retro with the actual amount that was added to the Effective Compensation Worksheet.
There was a defect in the Payroll Report Comp Periods Diff Export Details view which would sometimes cause duplicate rows when running Export Payroll Batches. This has been corrected.
Previously, when a Comp Worksheet line item that was added on the previously-created Effective Comp Worksheet did not have a Display Order, the Home and Host Currency for the current period Effective Compensation Worksheet would not be displayed on the Compensation Worksheet Periods report. This has been corrected.
Big 4 Tax Engine
A number of enhancements have been made to keep up with ever-changing tax laws.
When using Malaysia as host country, a new input “Calculate Provident Fund Contribution” was added.
When using Japan as a home or host country, a new input “Calculate Employer and Employee Social Tax” was added to calculate social taxes regardless of residency and citizenship status.
When using China as a home or host country, the following inputs were added:
“Calculate 13th Month Bonus from Base Salary”.
“Calculate Preferential Equity Plan”.
When using Canada as a home country, the input “Elect Overseas Employment Tax Credit” was removed due to its expiration.
Cost Estimates
A few reporting enhancements have been made to expand the customization options.
Previously, the Relocation System Number could not be added to a customized header for the Cost Estimate (Years 1-6) report. This field is now supported.
Previously, the ability to create a custom header for the Cost Estimate Comparison report did not exist. Now, a custom header can be created for the Cost Estimate Comparison report. The list of available fields that can be used for the custom header is the same as for the Cost Estimate (Years 1-6) report.
There was a defect which caused a cost estimate or compensation calculation to use an inactive custom calculation if its version had the most recent effective date and the cost estimate/comp calculation used a User Report for input values, resulting in the Report’s input values not defaulting. This has been corrected.
Authorizations
Authorizations have been enhanced to use the Default Currency configured at the Company level when creating an assignment. Previously, when creating an assignment record from an Authorization, the Default Currency field would not be populated. Now it will correctly default when there is a Default Currency configured at the Company level.
Previously, when the Restrict Authorization Coordinators to Current User setting was selected, the Authorization Coordinator dropdowns would still expand to display the names of other coordinators, even though the field was disabled and a selection could not be made. This has been corrected.
When the browser’s language setting is not United States, there was a defect which caused either a wrong date to be the default Effective Date or an incorrect error message in Authorization Cost Estimates. This has been fixed.
When an external approver of an Authorization tried to approve or deny the authorization, and both the Assignment Package and Cost Estimate steps were excluded from that Authorization, the approver would receive an error. This has been fixed.
When an external approver of an authorization approved or denied the authorization on the external page and then clicked the Close button, the approver would receive an error. This has been fixed to no longer show the Close button. The page can be closed by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the window.
Import Data
A few modifications have been made to import capabilities to enhance the user experience.
When running multiple imports, the user can now process a new import from the Import History Screen, rather than having to return to the list of imports to do this.
Previously on the Import History Screen, imports that were processed manually were listed separately from imports that were processed via an automated process. The screen was confusing to use, and the two lists were hard to distinguish. To address this, the Import History Screen was modified to combine the two lists into one. To help distinguish imports that were manually uploaded from those imported automatically, the Source is now listed within the details of the import.
Some imports allow ‘Undo’ capability; however, Undo was not supported for automated imports. This has been changed, and now imports that support Undo can be undone, regardless if the import was created manually or through an automated process.
Domestic Gross Up
A new view has been made available in the User Report writer: Tax Calc Payroll Details (view). This view includes US domestic tax and payroll data, including business expenses and payroll dates. This view can be used to mimic and/or replace the standard US domestic payroll report.
The Payroll Sent Date was not visible on the Expense Screen in the Reported Date column after the Tax Calc Payroll Report Process had completed for Canada. This has been fixed.
Widget and Dashboard Enhancements
Widgets and Dashboard layouts have been updated to improve their look and feel, and to allow super users more flexibility when creating modern, attractive dashboards.
The background color of the application has been changed from white to light grey. Prior to this change, there were white widgets on a white background and white pages on a white background. Now the white widgets and white pages are on a light grey background. This allows the widgets to appear to pop out from the page a bit.
Widgets have been updated to be more consistent in their style and format, so they look like they belong next to one another. The font size used in the title and the horizontal alignment of the title, as well as the border of the widget have been standardized.
The font size of the titles has been standardized to be the same size as the Medium font size used when configuring Employee Task Tile, Summary, and Shortcut widget types. Chart and Data widgets had their title font sizes increased
The horizontal alignment of the Title has been standardized to be left aligned. Employee Task Tile, Shortcut, and Summary widget types had their titles changed from right-aligned to left-aligned.
The border or outline of the widgets has been standardized to be a shadow. All widget types had their border changed from a line to a shadow.
The Export Options menu (that allows for a widget to be exported or printed) on Chart Widgets has been moved out of the header where the title is shown. It now appears in the upper right hand corner of the chart. A new Chart Option for Show Export Options has been added to allow users to decide whether the menu appears or not
When creating or updating widgets, widget titles are no longer required.
Previously, all widgets had a default container that could not be removed. This limited the ability to create custom widgets. To allow for more flexibility, users can now create widgets that do not use the default container, which enables users to change settings for padding, background, shadow, etc. using HTML.
Previously, all Dashboard Layouts displayed widgets within a grid system. Now, users creating or updating a Dashboard Layout have the option to display widgets using the existing Grid placement (in which widgets are arranged in specific rows and columns in a given sequence) or to use a Size-based layout (in which widgets are automatically arranged based on width and height). See the Internal Dashboard User Manual for more information.
Most Recently Used Assignments
A performance improvement was made to the logic used by the Most Recently Used list to reduce the time needed to load the list. Users may notice screens loading faster because this feature is now faster.
There was a defect in the Most Recently Used list causing the list to return what appeared to be a static list of assignments when two system preferences were configured in a certain way. This has been corrected.
Miscellaneous Enhancements
Quick Workflow: Company-level data is now available in Quick Workflow. Users can create a Quick Workflow that monitors the following data sources: Company, Cost Estimate, and Cost Estimate Cost Estimate Template, and What-If Cost Estimate.
Pay Register Import: An enhancement has been made to the Pay Register Import to allow pay register line amounts with positive Deduction wage type values to be converted into negative values when imported into AssignmentPro. This feature is set via a new pay register system preference. This change will increase the functionality of the Pay Register import when used by clients with payroll systems that store deductions as positive amounts.
Compensation Calculations: There was a defect which caused a compensation calculation or cost estimate to use an inactive custom calculation if its version had the most recent effective date and the cost estimate/comp calculation used a User Report for input values, resulting in the Report’s input values not defaulting. This has been corrected.
User Report Function: The function dbo.EQ_STD_USER_TYPE_GET() can be used to return the user type that last updated a table. Acceptable parameters to pass are:
[Table Name: Create by]
[Table Name: Last Update By]
Example: dbo.EQ_STD_USER_TYPE_GET([Service Order: Last Update By])
Assignment/Relocation Contacts: Previously, the Resource Name field in the Assignment/Relocation Contacts section was not filtered based on Company association. This has been corrected.
Assignment Dependents View: Previously, some of the Dependents fields were excluded from the Assignment Dependents View. This has been corrected to make all of the Dependent fields available for use in User Reports.