IRIS Portal
Implementing Timekeeping in Employee Self Service (ESS)
The purpose of this page is provide agencies guidance for the steps necessary to implement timekeeping in IRIS Employee Self Service (ESS), including:
- Department Readiness
- Employee Home Unit Verification
- Work Cycle Assignment Review
- Workflow Rule Verification
- Timekeeper and Supervisor Worklist Verification
- Security Roles Verification
- Training
- Additional Resources
Department Readiness
It is recommended that you give your agency enough time to complete the steps outlined below prior to asking for a slot to implement timekeeping through ESS. Once you have worked through the steps below, you may contact the IRIS HRM Team at iris.project@alaska.gov to schedule your implementation. Your IRIS HRM contact will work with DOP&LR Payroll Services to finalize the schedule.
After reviewing the material below, please let your IRIS HRM contact know if a meeting to further discuss the preparation steps, or process in general, will be useful. We are here to make this transition as smooth as possible.
NOTE: The following types of employees are not good candidates for ESS TIMEI entry:
- Short-term Nonpermanent
- On-call Nonpermanent
- Interns
- Those that receive frequent premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, recall pay, etc.
Employee Home Unit Verification
Review the IRIS HRM Listing of Employees by Department and Home Unit with Work Cycle [XLSX] spreadsheet to verify the accuracy of the home unit assigned to each employee. Corrections must be submitted to the Division of Personnel and Labor Relations (DOPLR) through the Online Position Description System (OPD), finalized, and processed in IRIS HRM prior to the creation of TIMEIs for the implementation pay period. The effective date of home unit updates must be on or before the first day of the implementation pay period.
Note: The batch job that creates TIMEIs runs following each payroll. For example, payroll for the pay period ending March 15th ran on March 27th. TIMEIs for the pay period ending March 31st were available on March 28th. Therefore, for the TIMEI to reflect the correct home unit, updates need to be final no later than March 27th with an effective date on or before March 16th.
Work Cycle Assignment Review
Hours are populated in the TIMEI based on the employee’s work cycle. Review the IRIS HRM Listing of Employees by Department and Home Unit with Work Cycle [XLSX] spreadsheet to verify the accuracy of assigned work cycles. For those requiring an updated work cycle prior to ESS implementation, you will need to submit a Personnel Action Request Form (PARF) request to DOP&LR Payroll Services for processing. A complete list of available work cycles is available here [PDF].
Within IRIS HRM, the work cycle assigned to an employee can be viewed in IRIS HRM in the Employee Profile Management (EPM) Activity Folder, Employee Status Maintenance (ESMT) tab, Assignment Information section. If the work cycle field is blank, the employee’s work cycle defaults to the standard workweek such as 7:30 per day Monday through Friday for employees that work a 37:30 work week.
Workflow Rule Verification
Review the Configured Workflow Rules [XLSX] spreadsheet for workflow configured in IRIS HRM. Use the report filters to narrow your search to your department and the document type of TIMEI. An additional filter by division may be useful as well.
Timesheet documents submitted by employees must be approved by a Supervisor (Level 1) and then a Timekeeper (Level 2) prior to going to DOP&LR Payroll Services for final certification.
The columns labeled “CONDITIONS LVL XX/XX” will assist you in identifying the workflow for TIMEIs submitted through ESS. The workflow condition ESS_TIME evaluates whether a TIMEI was submitted by the employee or a Timekeeper and will determine workflow based on this information.
If updates to workflow rules (routing) are necessary, these updates can be communicated via email by an IRIS Workflow Contact [XLSX] to the DOF SWAT group.
Timekeeper and Supervisor Worklist Verification
Review the Configured Workflow Rules [XLSX] spreadsheet for workflow configured in IRIS HRM. Use the report filters to narrow your search to your department and the document type of TIMEI. An additional filter by division may be useful as well.
In the example above, APPROVAL LVL 01 represents the supervisor approval group. In this instance, the groups are established at the Bureau level. Click on the APPROVAL LVL 01 ID to view the supervisors included in the approval group.
Updates to role assignments for the approval groups are made through completion of the IRIS Security Request Form [XLSM]. These updates are processed by the DOF Security and Workflow group (SWAT); please expect a minimum of two business days for your updates to be processed, depending on the volume of changes this turnaround may be longer. All Security Request Forms must be approved by your agency's IRIS Security Contact.
For users who do not already have access to IRIS HRM, an IRIS Access Affidavit [PDF] must also be completed and submitted with their IRIS Security Request Form.
Security Roles Verification
Without the appropriate security role, users will be unable to interact with documents that show up in their worklists. To update security roles, an IRIS Security Request Form [XLSM] is required (see above for more information).
Users must have the DEPT_TIMEKEEPER or DEPT_SUPERVISOR security role in order to work with TIMEI documents. These roles can take the following actions on TIMEI documents:
| DEPT_TIMEKEEPER | DEPT_SUPERVISOR |
|---|---|
| Open, Save, Edit, Attach, Validate, Submit, Print, Approve, Send Message, Reject All, Add Comments | Open, Save, Validate, Submit, Print, Approve, Send Message, Reject All, Add Comments |
To view the security roles assigned to an employee review the IRIS Security and Workflow (Approval) Role Assignments [XLSM] spreadsheet. There are options to view a report by employee, or to filter by department and division.
Training
Prior to implementation, encourage all employees to view the following resources posted on the IRIS Portal References and Resources page for Employee Self Service (ESS).
- ESS TIMEI Job Aid [PDF]
- Change a Labor Distribution Profile [MP4] video tutorial, if applicable
Those supervisors that have not read IRIS-660: IRIS HRM for Supervisors [PDF] will want to do so to ensure they have an understanding of the approval and workflow process and the employee information available to them in IRIS HRM. In addition, employees who are on an alternate workweek and their timekeepers must review the Alternate Workweek Training [PPTX].
Additional Resources
- ESS TIMEI Helpful Hints for Timekeepers [PDF]
- Email Template [OFT] may be distributed to employees/supervisors at the end of each pay period
IRIS Information Mailing List
IRIS users are encouraged to subscribe to the IRIS Information mailing list to receive important information regarding system updates, outages, and other relevant topics.
Questions?
Contact the IRIS HRM Team at iris.project@alaska.gov