Iterations Overview

The options for creating and applying iterations are found on Personnel Budgeting's Iterations menu. They include:

• Iteration Information

• Load Position Budget Iteration

• Save Position Budget Iteration

Menu Path:  Personnel Budgeting > Entry & Processing > Iterations > select an option

Understanding Personnel Budgeting Work Files

When you extract and modify data, add and delete records, run calculations, and perform other functions, the information generated is stored in Personnel Budgeting's work file. This file is comprised of a set of tables relating to your budget.

Following are the types of tables found in a work file, along with a listing of their source tables in the Human Resources System:

Additional Tables

Besides the work file tables, Personnel Budgeting uses the following tables:

• Human Resources' Salary Schedule table. The system draws on this table for increasing rates in the AutoStep Scheduled Employees option.

• Human Resources' Calendar table. Personnel Budgeting uses this table to look up the calendars assigned to pay rates.

• Personnel Budgeting reference tables that apply to whatever iteration you currently have loaded.

• Tables for saving iterations.

• History tables that record changes made in Personnel Budgeting.

• Interface tables for exporting budget information to Position Control.

Protecting Your Work File's Data

There are several ways to replace data in your active work file:

• By running the Extract Human Resources Data option.
  When you extract information into Personnel Budgeting, you erase all of the data in the work file and replace it with data from Human Resources.
  The only way to protect your data in this case is to save the current file as an iteration, then run the extraction. If needed, you can retrieve the original work file data by loading the iteration.

• By loading an iteration.
  An iteration includes the same table structure as your active work file. When you load an iteration, its data replaces all of the data in the work file's tables with data stored in the same tables in the iteration.
  You can preserve your current work file by saving it as an iteration before loading another iteration.

• By running a process in Personnel Budgeting.
  Some processes change a specific type of data in your work file. Others affect a broad range of data. For example, the Auto-Step Employees option only changes the range-step combinations in scheduled employees' pay rates, whereas the Salary and Fringe Calculation recalculates the pay rates, benefits, FICA/Medicare, and Workers' Comp for all employees.
  In any case, saving your work file before running a process allows you to restore your original data if errors occur.

• By changing a table record in Personnel Budgeting.
  A change to a table record affects all employees who have the record assigned. In this case, you can fix any errors or rectify undesired results by simply adjusting the table record.

Important
You do not need to use a different iteration each time you save your work file. Keep in mind, however, that saving an iteration replaces its data with the data from the current work file.

Using Budget Iterations

Although they are not required for running the Personnel Budgeting System, iterations offer you considerable flexibility in developing a personnel budget. As noted in the previous section, they also protect your data, thereby saving the time required to reconstruct records or re-start the process when errors occur.

Applying Iterations

Iterations can be used in a variety of ways. For example:

• To protect your extracted data:
  After extracting payroll data from Human Resources, you should save this base information as an iteration. Regardless of how far you proceed in the budgeting process, you can always return to your original data by simply loading this iteration.

• To test "what if" scenarios:
  If you want to see how various factors affect your budget, you can save your data at a given point, run a series of procedures, and save the results as a separate iteration. You can then load the original iteration and repeat the procedures using different data.

• To create multiple budgets for comparative purposes:
  You can create an entire budget, save it as an iteration, then reload your original data (or an iteration from any interim stage) and develop a second budget. To compare one budget against another, you can load an iteration, run various reports, then repeat this for the other iteration.

• To protect your work file data:
  You should save your data before running any process that produces significant changes. If the results are not what you intended, you can load the iteration and restore the data that existed just before the changes.

Given these possibilities, you should develop a strategy for applying iterations. For example, you could save an iteration for each stage of the budgeting process, thereby allowing you to start over from any given point. While this is perfectly acceptable, to avoid confusion you should also develop a system for identifying the work files you save.

Setting Up Iteration Templates

Before you can use an iteration, you need to create a template. Templates include a set of blank tables for storing the information from the tables in your work file. They also contain a year and iteration number, the two fields that identify an iteration, plus additional data such as a description, status flags, and notes.

• To set up a template, use the Iteration menu's Iteration Information option. For the procedure to follow, refer to Iteration Information.

Saving and Loading Iterations

After you run the Extract Human Resources Data option and complete other prerequisites for developing a budget, we recommend that you save your initial work file as an iteration. Then if you want to revise your budget for any reason or develop two or more complete versions, you can load the initial iteration and use it as your starting point.

As you develop a particular iteration, you may want to save the work file periodically, especially before running options that affect a large number of records. Should you obtain undesired results, you can always retrieve the saved file (do not save the erroneous work file) and thereby restore your data to its state just prior to the changes.

• To save a work file as an iteration, use the Save Position Budget Iteration option.

• To load an iteration, use the Load Position Budget Iteration option.