Salary Funding Levels Assigned During Payroll Processing in HRS

Overview

This document describes the five types of salary funding levels and order of precedence which may be distributed to an employee's salary expense (e.g. earnings, deductions, taxes) at the time of payroll processing.

These salary levels are assigned by HRS after each preliminary payroll calculation, up to the start of the post-confirmation processing. Refer to the online UW Payroll Calendar for the current payroll processing schedule.

This document also lists helpful funding-related queries and reports you can run during a payroll processing week, ad-hoc reports that can be run at any time, and reports which are available after the payroll has been completed.

You may click on the links below to navigate directly to a section:

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Explanation of Salary Funding Levels

1. Appointment Level Funding  At the time of payroll processing, PeopleSoft HRS first attempts to distribute appointment-level funding to an employee's salary expense (e.g. earnings, deductions, taxes) for each day of their payroll period.
   
   Appointment level funding is entered on the Funding Data Entry page in HRS and includes campus, appointing Department, Fiscal Year, Employee ID, Empl Record Number, and funding string.
   
   Definition: Appointment-level funding means you are funding the salary expense for one employee in one appointment.
   
   
2. Position Level Funding is used only by UW Madison - A80 (Recreation Sports). If part or all of the employee's pay period is missing Appointment-level funding, then PeopleSoft HRS next attempts to distribute Position funding to the employee's salary expense (e.g. earnings, deductions, taxes).  This is only used by Department A80
   
   Position level funding is entered on the Funding Data Entry page in HRS and includes campus, appointing Department, Fiscal Year, Position Number and funding string.
   
   Definition: Position-level funding is used at UW Madison - Recreation Sports most efficiently for groups of employees performing similar functions who are employed for only a few hours. when there are multiple employees in one Position number (e.g. 45 Lifeguards in Aquatics Dept). It means you are funding the Position Number; thus, all the employees in that Position Number have the same funding for their salary expenses (e.g. earnings, deductions, taxes).
   
   
3. Department Level Funding is used as a safety net. If part or all of the employee's pay period is missing Appointment-level funding or Position-level funding, then PeopleSoft HRS next attempts to distribute Department funding.
   
   Department level funding is entered on the Funding Data Entry page in HRS and includes campus, appointing Department, Fiscal Year and funding string.
   
   NOTE: Department-level funding (sometimes referred to as "placeholder" funding, and incorrectly referred as "default" funding) is used throughout the UW System as follows:
   a.  Department level funding will be rolled over from previous fiscal year if the funding is still valid
   b.  Each appointing department should be setup with department level funding
   c. Department level funding is generally intended to serve as a "stop gap" measure to prevent transactions that stop payroll processing for all employees at all campuses and to quickly identify payroll funding aberrations.
   d. Recommend using a funding that is likely to remain valid for a period of several years in the future.
   e. The Funding Edit Error Inquiry Report and the No Appt-Level Funding Report are intended to proactively identify transactions that are being charged to department level funding while a payroll is in calc
   
   
4. Suspense Funding  If part or all of the employee's pay period has no appointment, position, or department level funding entered, then funding is automatically assigned to Payroll Suspense (PRSUSP) funding for the employee's salary or fringe expense.  Payroll Suspense funding is charged as Fund 128, Funding Department PRSUSP, Program Code 1. If funding goes into suspense funding it may stop payroll processing for all institutions. Because Suspense funding always requires that a direct retro be entered,  it is important to prevent salaries from being charged to Suspense Funding.
   
   
5. Default Funding - If Appointment, Position or Department level funding exists for the employee's current pay period, but funding edit errors are detected, then funding is automatically assigned to payroll Default Funding (PRDFLT) for the employee's salary or fringe expense.  Default funding will also be used if the controller has not set up funding in the accounting tree or a paygroup can't be used for that funding stream. Payroll Default Funding is charged as Fund 128, Funding Department PRDFLT, Program Code 1. Because Default funding always requires that a direct retro be entered,  it is important to prevent salaries from being charged to Default Funding.

Helpful Funding-Related Queries and Reports

• Funding Edit Errors Inquiry Report - After each preliminary payroll calculation for the current Pay Run ID, run this report to identify employees who have funding errors on the Funding Data Entry page in HRS.  Funding errors need to be corrected before the Payroll Confirmation deadline for the current Pay Run ID; otherwise the employee's salary expense is posted to the Payroll Default (PRDFLT) chartfield as Fund 128, Funding Department PRDFLT, Program Code 1.  For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Viewing Funding Edit Errors in HRS .

• No Appointment Level Funding Report - After each preliminary payroll calculation for the current Pay Run ID, you can run this report to identify employees who are missing Appointment funding or Position funding for part or all of their pay period. However, if Department level funding has previously been entered for the current Fiscal Year; by default, the employee's salary expense will be posted to the Department level funding chartfield.  For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Running the No Appointment Level Funding Report in HRS .

• Employee Funding Summary Report - The Employee Funding Summary Report can be run at any time, as of a specific funding effective date, to list the funding level (Appointment, Position, Department, No funding), funding source, funding percentage for all active employees in a business unit, division or department. By running this report before the current Pay Run ID, you can be proactive and add or change funding, if needed.  For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Running the Employee Funding Summary Report in HRS .
  
  
• Employee Funding Becoming Inactive- The Project/Dept Inactive Funding Report should be run for a future date range to identify employees' funding becoming inactive due to a Project/Grant expiring or a funding department closing. By running this report before the current Pay Run ID, you can be proactive and change funding, if necessary, before it becomes invalid. For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Running the Employee Funding Becoming Inactive Report in HRS .
  
  
• View HRS Actuals Funding Distribution - After payroll post-confirmation processing (and before HRS payroll is posted to WISDM, the Wisconsin Data Mart for PeopleSoft Financials), you can view funding for an employee's earnings, deductions, and taxes for a particular payroll by navigating to the Review Actuals Distribution page in PeopleSoft HRS.  The Actuals Distribution page will also show whether the funding for an employee's earnings, deductions, and taxes was distributed to Payroll Suspense (PRSUSP) or Payroll Default (PRDFLT).  For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Viewing HRS Actuals Funding Distribution After Payroll Post-Confirmation in HRS . 

• View Payroll Default Funding (PRDFLT) - After the payroll confirmation has been completed for the current Pay Run ID, you can run a finance query by Business Unit, Division or Department to identify employees whose funding went to payroll default (PRDFLT) because funding errors were not corrected in time. You would need to enter a Direct Retro Funding Distribution (also known as Salary Cost Transfer) to correct the funding retroactively. For detailed instructions, refer to HRS KnowledgeBase document, Running a Query to Identify Employees with Payroll Default Funding (PRDFLT) in HRS .