The following ECA Calculations are supported:

ECA Cost of Living Adjustment

ECA Education Cost

ECA Hardship Allowance (% of Gross Salary)

ECA Host Country Transportation Cost

ECA Host Housing Cost.

Each calculation may have different inputs required to perform the calculation. Please note that the ECA Cost of Living Adjustment expects the Net Pay to be entered as the base salary. The ECA Education Cost, ECA Hardship Allowance (% of Gross Salary), ECA Host Country Transportation Cost, ECA Host Housing Cost expect the base salary to be Gross Pay. Therefore the ECA COLA should not be combined with other ECA calculations on one balance sheet.

The following calculations are implemented as custom calculations. These calculations are delivered with the system but can be added with the help of a Equus Client Account Executive or Account Manager

ECA Education Cost

ECA Hardship Allowance (% of Gross Salary)

ECA Host Country Transportation Cost

ECA Host Housing Cost standard ECA calculations

There are two imports necessary to utilize ECA data. They are the ECA COL Data Import and the ECA Spendable Import. You can access them from the Company Menu in the Processes section and clicking on Import Data there you will find both of the imports.

Importing ECA COL Data

Click on the Process link next to ECA COL Data Import to import the cost of living data from the ECA File.

Browse to the file that contains the ECA COL data and then click on the Upload File button. When the file has uploaded you will notice a View Flat File link underneath the Failure Condition then you can click on the Process Import button.

Importing ECA Spendable Data

Click on the Process link next to ECA Spendable Data Import to import the spendable data from the ECA File.

Browse to the file that contains the ECA Spendable data and then click on the Upload File or Save button. When the file has uploaded you will notice a View Flat File link underneath the Failure Condition then you can click on the Process Import button. This will bring you to the Import History screen.

Once the imports are complete you will see the status change to Processed. You can then proceed to using this data in Compensation Worksheets or to view the Compensation Worksheet Data Provider Data you imported.

You can access the Compensation Worksheet Data Provider Data from the Company Menu under Company Configuration. To view the ECA data select ECA as the Data Provider.

Viewing the Compensation Worksheet Data Provider Data

You can select whether you would like to view the COL Data or the Spendable Data then click the Find button. Feel free to use any combination of the filters on the screen or to see all just click on the Search button. You can also use this screen to override the Effective Date of data by checking the box next to the rows you would like to override and then specifying the override date and clicking the Set Effective Date of Override button.

You can also see additional detail by checking the Show Home/Host Countries and/or the Show Indexes/Rates on the ECA COL screen, and the Show Salary, Gradient and Constant Data on the ECA Spendable screen. To switch from one Data Type to another use the Change Data Provider/Data Type link next to the screen heading.

Important Note: Custom calculations store the data with the calculation and, therefore, the data for those calculation is not available on this screen. The Calculation and data can viewed by opening the appropriate version on the Company Calculations page.

This next section will cover some details related to using the ECA data. For a more detailed general explanation of compensation worksheets please see the Compensation Module User Manual.

ECA COL Calculation Specifics

The ECA COL calculation has the following formula:

COL Calculation = ((Total Spendable Gradient * Annual Base Pay + Total Spendable Constant) * ((COL Index/100) - 1)) / Appropriate Calculation Period

A System Preference has been added to accommodate the ECA COL Calculation; BSHTCACOLN Allow a COL Index less than 1, the Default = EQFALS. This means that the system will default to only producing a Col calculation when the COL index is greater than 100, if you would like a negative COL to be calculated this preference can be changed to EQTRUE.

Here is a legend of how family size will be used:

HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 1 THEN 'S0'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 2 THEN 'M0'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 3 THEN 'M1'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 4 THEN 'M2'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 5 THEN 'M3'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 6 THEN 'M4'
HOME_FAMILY_SIZE = 7+ THEN 'M5'

ECA Cost of Living Adjustment expects the Net Pay to be entered as the base salary.

Important Note: The ECA Education Cost, ECA Hardship Allowance (% of Gross Salary), ECA Host Country Transportation Cost, ECA Host Housing Cost expect the base salary to be Gross Pay. Therefore the ECA COLA should not be combined with other ECA calculations on one balance sheet.

Specifying Salary and Family for Use with ECA Calculations

On the Compensation screen for the employee the Base Salary and the Family Size specified will be used in determining what data line item of the ECA data will be used. The ECA calculations will take into consideration if you choose to override the Base Salary or Family Size at the Compensation Worksheet Template or the Compensation Worksheet level.

Using the ECA Exchange Rates for the Home to Host Exchange Rate

The ECA Exchange Rates can be used for the Home to Host exchange rate by setting the Exchange Rate Method to Data Provider Provided, setting the Data Provider to ECA, and the selecting the appropriate options in the the ECA Inputs section.

Important Note: ECA COL data must be imported.

Here is a list of the required inputs for the supported ECA calculation. This information will come from the Compensation Worksheet and/or will need to be specified in the line item details.

* Once you save the Template Details you will be able to select ECA Inputs, the options available will depend on your ECA subscription and the information you imported. You also have the option of specifying a COL Index Override which will ignore the ECA COL data and use the COL Index Override specified to determine the amount of the Cost of Living Adjustment.

If you want to hand select the ECA data used you can uncheck the Use Current Data Provider Version for Calculation and that will allow you to specify the Spendable Version as well as COL Home Location, COL Host Location COL Index Type, and the COL Version. It will then show you the resulting COL Index based on your selections and you still have the option to override it if necessary.

Adding the ECA Cost of Living Adjustment Line Item to the Compensation Worksheet

Once you have your ECA Inputs specified and Saved you can begin to enter the Compensation Worksheet line items. Here we will discuss adding the line item for the ECA Cost of Living Adjustment. To add this you will want to click on the New link and this will bring up the Assignment Compensation Worksheet Template Line Item Details screen where you will need to select System - ECA Cost of Living Adjustment for the Line Item. You can use the default Caption or modify it if necessary. You will want to select Calculate (Home Currency) for the Calculation Method in order for the system to calculate the Cost of Living Adjustment using the ECA data. Specify the Split Payment Option you would like and then Save your work. You can add any other Line Items you would like on your Compensation Worksheet as well.