This article explains how to setup the automatic calculation of leave days in APM.

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction

In the Maritime industry it is most common that sailors earn leave days for the time they are onboard.

Meaning that for each day onboard the vessel a person earns certain amount of leave days (e.g. 1 day onboard gives 0.5 leave day). After the person accumulated certain amount of leave days, he/she can use them to go on a paid Leave/Vacation.

Leave days may be a synonym to vacation days. However, some maritime companies still differentiate between those two terms and may use both Leave days and Vacation days. Each one having different special rules for days earning.

In APM it is possible to setup the calculation of earned and deducted leave days the person has during his/her employment for the company.

That functionality not only allows you to keep precise account of the current leave days balance, but also to view the history of leave days movements and even make calculation of leave days for the future.

2.  Setup and Configuration

2.1.  Leave Days Accumulators

The whole leave account setup is based on the activity as the main calculation principle, since we identify if leave days are to be earned or deducted by activity type.

All the leave days in the system are collected into permanent Leave Days Accumulators, so it is necessary to identify Leave Days Accumulators and link them to the corresponding activity codes.

Accumulators can be of different types, but the common ones are – Earning and Deduction – that can be added under Setup -> General Codes -> Leave Days Accumulators.

Open

In order to link certain Activity code to the corresponding Leave Days Accumulator please go to Setup -> General Codes -> Activity Codes Details.

Open

As you can see the system handles up to two leave accounts running in parallel – Leave Days 1 and Leave Days 2.

Usually only Leave Days 1 is used. Both are needed only in situations where one activity should be used at the same time for earning and deduction of leave days, which is specific to certain countries agreements (e.g. in Sweden).

2.2.  Leave factor

In addition to the Leave Days Accumulators it is also necessary to define the earning/deducting factor, which identifies how much leave days should be earned/deducted for 1 day of the selected activity.

The Leave Factor can be set on 5 different levels:

The primary ratio is set on the Activity Code. The leave factor set on each of the following levels overwrites the setup on the previous ones.

1. Individual Level
   
   First the system checks if the Leave Factor is set for a certain person on Payroll -> Constants tab (that is also accessible from Personal Details- > Payroll -> Constants tab) and takes this value.
   
   

    

    

2. Payscale Code level
   
   If the Leave Factor is not set on the Constants tab, then the system checks the Leave Factor on a Payscale Code and takes this value.
   
   It is setup under Payroll Module -> Payscales -> Payscale Code Properties or under Setup > Tables -> Payscales -> Payscale Code Properties.
   
   

    

3. Payscale Table level
   
   If the Leave Factor is not set on the Constants tab, then the system checks the Leave Factor on a Payscale Table.
   
   It is setup under Payroll Module -> Payscales -> Payscale Table Properties or under Setup > Tables -> Payscales -> Payscale Table Properties.
   
   

    

4. Company level
   
   If the Leave Factor is not set on Payscale table, the system checks the Leave Factor on the Company level.  The Company to which a crew profile is linked to in Personal Details > Employment is checked.
   
   It is setup under Setup -> Organization Structure -> selected company details -> Leave Days Accounting.
   
   

    

5. Activity level
   
   If the Leave Factor is not set on Organization level, the system checks the Leave Factor on Activity code.
   It is setup under Setup -> General Codes -> Activity Codes Details.
   
   

   
   IMPORTANT NOTE: the Leave factor in activity code has to be 0, less or more than 0.
   
   If the leave factor is left blank in activity properties, leave days calculation is disabled and overruling does not work for this activity code.
   
   It is strongly advisable that each activity is linked to some Leave Days Accumulator. Otherwise the leave days will be calculated on activity but will not be included into Leave Account Overview Screen.

2.3.  Disable Calculated Leave End Date By Vessel (FIFO).

2.3.1.  Functionality overview

Disable Calculated Leave End Date By Vessel (FIFO) option is located under Setup -> Organization Structure -> selected company details -> Leave Days Accounting and is always set ON by default for the newly created companies.

• If the option is cleared/ un-ticked, the leave will be calculated based on FIFO principle.

• If selected/ ticked, it will disregard the principle. The property is applied to a currently opened client.

The FIFO principle (First In First Out) means that if a person had onboard activities on several vessels, first this person should spend all his leave days for the first vessel, and only then for the second vessel and so on.

It means that the person can not have a leave activity on the second vessel until all his leave days for the first vessel are spent.

When a user creates a leave activity for a person and FIFO principle is enabled, the system automatically enters the needed vessel name in the activity details.

NOTE: Common practice is not to use FIFO principle.

2.3.2.  Influence on the Leave Account screen

If Disable Calculated Leave End Date By Vessel (FIFO) is OFF on organization, meaning that FIFO principle is enabled, the Leave Account -> Remaining Fractional Leave row will show the fractional part, while the field Balance Per date will contain only the whole number.

The row "Remaining Fractional Leave" summarizes the fractional leave of the individual vessel columns. It does not split the leave days balance as it does when the FIFO is disabled.

3.  Leave Days Calculation

After you completed the setup part the system starts to automatically calculate leave days based on person’s activities.

This means that for each newly created activity the system will automatically count either earned or deducted leave days. But no changes will be applied for already existing activities.

Please also note that, if you change the leave days calculation rules on one of the levels after activity is created, the system will not automatically recalculate leave days for the already existing activity records.
But the leave balance for these activities will be recalculated if you make some updates:
e.g. update a date back and front (from 19th to 18th and back again -> then click save).

You can then include a column for Leave Days into the Activities View next to the No of Days column for more convenience.

3.1.  User Options affecting leave days calculation

Under the Application Menu you will find a tab called User Options. It contains a generic set of options that will be applied only to your user account.

It can also be accessed from direct account access menu.

Among them there is one option that affects the calculation of leave days. It is called Calculate Current and Planned Opened Activity to Estimated End Date. The option influences the account of leave days under the Datagroup > Activities.

Workflow:

• When the option is ON and Estimated End Date (EED) is after the balance date (today’s date), for current activity the system calculates days to EED, but leave days are calculated till the balance date. However, when EED is before the balance date (today’s date), the system calculates both days and leave days till EED. For Planned activities both days and leave days are always calculated till EED.

• When the option is OFF, days and leave days for current opened activity will be calculated to the balance date (by default equals to today’s date), but days and leave days for planned activities will still be calculated till EED.

4.  Leave Days Account

4.1.  Location

In the system it is also possible to get an overview of the total current leave days balance per person under Leave Account screen.

In order to open this tab you need to go Activities datagroup -> Manage menu -> Leave Account Button.

You may do the same from Payroll Module by pressing the “Summary” button located under the Constants tab.

4.2.  Leave Account Screen Overview

Leave Account shows leave days balance of a person starting from the very first activity and up till the Balance Date (by default set to today’s date) that is split into different accumulators and views.

4.2.1.  Leave Days Accumulators

Leave Days Accumulators can be Default (hard-coded into the system) and Customized (that are setup in General Codes).

Is a necessary part of a setup that is used for collecting earned and deducted leave days based on activity factor. For more information see section 2.1 Leave Days Accumulators.

The most frequently used ones are – Earning and Deduction. But there can also be accumulators for Manually liquidate leave days, Extra Earned Days Off etc.

• Initial balance

If you have a personal data migrated from another system and you don’t need to import activities history, it is possible in the system to set Initial Leave Days Balance for each employee. In order to do this you need to click the Initial balance button at the bottom of the Leave Account window and add the needed number of days for the selected vessel. The vessel should previously be added in Organization Structure.

• Settled Via Payroll

Displays the number of leave days that were paid from payroll. For more details see section 6.

• Remaining Fractional Leave

Works only when FIFO option is OFF organization (not recommended setup). This row summarizes remaining fractional leave balance of the individual vessels. For more information please see section 2.3 Disable Calculated Leave End Date By Vessel (FIFO).

• Balance Per date

Shows current total balance of leave days collected from all the accumulators per selected Balance Date (by default set to today’s date).

4.2.2.  Leave Account Views

Leave Account information is shown in four different ways which makes it easier to work with:

• Total (earned / used days)

Shows total leave balance from all the activities.

• By Vessel

Shows leave balance split by activity vessels.

• By Payscale

Shows leave balance split by Payscale Tabe/Code in persons activities.

• By Vessel and Payscale

Shows leave balance at the same time split by Vessel and Payscale Tabe/Code in persons activities.

• Accumulator by Year

Displays earned leave days based on activity end date. Please note that in order that data is displayed you should define the web-service url under Setup > Global Options > Web Service.

4.2.3.  Leave days from date

In case you do not want the calculation of leave days to start from the very first activity, but from some specific date, it is possible to set Leave days from date for an individual person.

This may be required if the person has a probation period that you want to be excluded from his leave days account.

5.  Manual Correction of Leave Days

Sometimes there are cases when you need to make correction/ adjustment of the Leave balance for the person.

This can be done with a help of a special activity that will add/deduct the needed number of days.

5.1.  Setup part

In order to setup such activity please go to Setup -> General Codes -> Leave Days Accumulators and add new accumulator for manual correction of leave days.

Then go to Setup -> Genereal Codes -> Activity Codes and add new activity code. You can call it Leave days correction or Manual correction of leave days.

After you created a new activity code turn ON option Manual Liquidate Leave Days and then link newly created accumulator to this activity under Leave Days 1 section. Please leave the Factor field blank.

5.2.  Usage

When the setup has been completed, you can then go to activities datagroup and add this activity to the person in question.

Due to the option Manual Liquidate Leave Days, this activity:

1. Can overlap with the existing activities;

2. Be added as Historical (with Date To) for the future;

3. Allows manual input of any number of Leave Days, regardless of activity length. That is why it is recommended to make it a one-day activity.

4. The Leave Day can be added either with “+” or “-“ for earning or deduction at the same time.

Example of added activity:

The system will then include the Manually Liquidate Leave Days into the Leave Balance calculation.

This amount will be summed up with the values from the other accumulators in the Total Balance.

6.  Leave Days paid from Payroll

There are cases when instead of using earned leave days the person prefers to receive a payment for those days. This means that if there is such a payment, it should reduce the leave balance of a person by the number of paid leave days. In Adonis we provide a possibility to make this process automatic.

6.1.  Setup part

In order to setup automatic deduction of leave days from the payment entry code it is necessity to:

1. Create new activity code Paid Leave Days or Leave Days Paid from Payroll under Setup -> General Codes -> Activity Codes and turn on option Leave Days Paid from Payroll on this code.
   
   There is no need to add a separate Leave Days Accumulator for such activity. The is a standard, hard-coded accumulator for this purpose called Settled Via Payroll. However if you want to use a different name for the paid days accumulator, you can create a customized one and link it to Paid Leave Days activity.
   
   

    

2. Go to Payroll Module -> Entry Code Maintenance (that is also accessible from Setup -> Entry Code Maintenance).
   
   Create a new allowance Entry Code for Paid Leave Days (or select the existing one) -> turn on option Generate Leave Days Paid Activity and link it to the new activity you created.
   
   

6.2.  Usage

1. When the setup has been completed, you can then open Payroll Module and add Paid Leave Days Entry Code to the person in question with the number of leave days to be paid -> calculate -> save the changes.
   
   

    

2. After this is done the system will automatically create a new activity for this person.
   The activity will pick up the number of days you inputted on the Entry Code, but with the minus sign for deduction.
   
   

3. In the Leave Account Window you will then see that the number of days from Paid Leave Days activity will be added to the Settled Via Payroll accumulator (or user-defined accumulator) and deducted from the total.
   If you'd like to you can define some other accumulator for those days and link it to this activity. Then days will be added to your customized accumulator instead of Settled Via Payroll accumulator.
   
   

7.  Standard Reports for Leave Days Account

Please check our manual: http://doc.adonis.no/www.adonis.no/APM_doc.nsf/c6508c606183ed5ec1256c32002aa063/bb7b1ed3fc9dc214c1257054004900ea!OpenDocument