The May 2003 update contained my article, “Payroll and Benefits Integration: Understanding Evaluation Dates.” Shortly after that issue was published, SAP released SAP Note 618573. The Note included a subtle adjustment to the manner in which benefit deduction amounts are calculated when the DATES parameter LAST is used. The change does not affect processing for the other values of the DATES parameter, BEG, END, CHK, BEGT, FRST and PER. This update explains how benefit deductions using DATES parameter LAST are now being calculated.

SAP Note 618573 was created to correct two problems that happened when using DATES parameter LAST. The first problem was that a change of benefit plan caused both plans to calculate a deduction in the same pay period even if the two plans were of the same type. For example, employees who changed from the PPO medical plan to the Indemnity medical plan would have full-period deductions for both plans taken from their paychecks. The Note corrected this problem such that only the last infotype record of each plan type valid in a pay period is considered for deductions. This change corrected a flaw in the original design, but it did not change the basic functionality of benefit deductions.

The second problem corrected by this Note is the one that gave rise to a change in how deductions are calculated. Prior to the Note, deductions calculated with the DATES parameter LAST were evaluated on the later of the infotype record begin date or the pay period begin date. After applying the note, deductions are evaluated on the earlier of the infotype record end date or the pay period end date.

You can see this difference by considering the example employee illustrated in Figure 1. This employee had a change of salary on day 7 of the pay period. There is an election for the PPO medical plan that begins before the start of the pay period but ends on day 4. There is an election for the Safety dental plan that begins on day 5 of the pay period and extends beyond the end of the pay period. The employee changed his LTD election from the basic plan to the premium plan on day 5 of the pay period. All of the plans have a change in configured costs starting on day 6 of the pay period.

Figure 1

SAP Note Changes Benefits and Payroll Integration

DATES parameter value LAST results in selection of the PPO plan evaluated on day 4 of the pay period. The deduction amount for this plan is based on the old configuration data and the old salary. The Safety dental plan is selected and the deduction amount is evaluated on day 7 of the pay period. The dental deduction is based on the new configuration data and the new salary. The Basic LTD plan is not selected. The Premium LTD plan is selected and evaluated on day 7 of the pay period. Again, this evaluation date uses the new configuration data and the new salary.

You can determine whether or not your installation contains this change by comparing your current HR Support Package level to those in Table 1. If your R/3 installation currently uses DATES parameter value LAST, you may already be aware of this change, but the change is small enough that you may not have noticed the difference.

Clay Molinari

Clay Molinari has 20 years of experience in the IT industry and has been working as an SAP HR consultant since 1997. He is currently president of C&C Savant, Inc., an SAP consulting firm that specializes in combining standard SAP configuration and custom ABAP programming to help its clients solve unique or complicated requirements.

You may contact the author at claymolinari@comcast.ne.

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