Understanding Pay Code Defaults

When a new project is selected on a timesheet, the pay code field contains a list of values with a single value selected/highlighted by default.  This help page will review the various screens and settings that are taken into consideration for determining the values that appear in the list and which one is selected by default.

Unanet Administrators define the full list of Pay Codes available in your system via the Admin >> Setup >> Pay Codes screen.  The list of available pay codes on the timesheet may be limited by:

• Project Managers can define a sub-set of pay codes as being available for charging on a project by project basis (via the Project Profile >> Pay Codes screen).

• Users can have their pay code options further restricted based on the Employee Type they are associated with (via the Admin >> Setup >> Employee Type screen).

• Administrators can disable pay codes via the Admin >> Setup >> Pay Codes screen.

Note that if a pay code has been used on a timesheet row and then subsequently disabled, it will remain a valid entry on that timesheet row (but will be unavailable for use on any other timesheet rows).   Should you delete that timesheet row, that pay code would no longer be available for use on that row either.

The list of pay codes available for charging will thus vary on a row by row basis on the timesheet depending on the project selected and the user's employee type restrictions.  Should the user's employee type pay code restriction not include any pay code options available for a particular project, then the user would not be able to charge time to that project.

When the pay code field is visible on the editable timesheet, the rules for determining which one is selected / highlighted by default, follow the same rules for selecting a pay code when the pay code field is hidden (see below).

Hidden Pay Code Field

If the Hide Pay Code on Timesheet Edit (unatime.timesheet.hide.pay_code) property is being used, the pay code field will not be displayed on your editable timesheet (but will be populated with a pay code based on the following order of priority):

• Use the Project Default Pay Code (if it is valid for the employee type and restricted project pay code list), otherwise,
• Use System Wide Default Pay Code (if it is valid for the employee type and restricted project pay code list), otherwise,
• Use Person Default Pay Code (if it is valid for the employee type and restricted project pay code list), otherwise,
• Use the first pay code in the resulting alphabetical listing of common pay codes from the valid project pay code list and the employee type pay code list, otherwise,
• If there are no pay codes that are valid for both the project and the user's employee type restricted list, then no pay code is available.  Because pay code is a required field, the user will not be able to charge time to this project.

IMPORTANT:  When hiding pay codes, be careful when changing a project's default value as the change to a project's default value will not automatically update any existing user timesheet entries that were saved with the previous project default value.  

To have existing timesheet records reflect the new project default value, a user would need to modify their timesheet to remove the entry and then re-add the time such that the system will pick up the new pay code.