Financial
Operations There are two important aspects of
monthly LDS processing, a) Automated
Processing, directed by the LDS staff in
the first few days of the month, and b)
User Variance Processing. Automated Processing: At month-end,
Payroll feeds its records to the SAP
system. LDS processes the Payroll input,
and uses the appointment headers to match
Payroll and LDS records. When there are
header, salary or monthly distribution
variances, LDS generates a list of the
variance records for user processing. You
will notice that Payroll actual records
always display $0.00 for unloaded and
loaded distribution amounts. User Variance Processing: To find and
reconcile these discrepancies, you must
perform variance processing for each LDS
organization in your department, lab, or
center, including transfer-in
appointments. This process should be done
as soon as feasible after you receive
notification that the LDS staff has
finished the automated month end process.
Reports generated before the variance
process is complete may not accurately
reflect the DLC's current financial
personnel picture. Important The
Person Variance process
is optional. Its purpose
is to assist you in
associating your LDS
appointments with their
correct MIT ID number.
LDS requires that you
process the other
variance steps in the
order listed below. You
should not proceed to
the next category until
all errors are resolved
unless you have a
problem record to be
retained for assistance
from your LDS
representative. The following are the six essential
steps in the user's variance
processing: The process of reconciling variances
for (1) appointment headers, (2) salary
information, and (3) distribution
information must be handled separately and
in sequence. When variances in these areas exist,
you will see an interactive screen
displaying one of three types of
discrepancies as lines in a table. The variance screen for each type
(appointment header, salary, or
distribution) displays fields appropriate
to its purpose, but all three screens
share the following fields, described in
their order of appearance: Field
Name What to
Enter MM Match ID code. This field is
blank until the record line or
lines have been reconciled. Then
LDS generates a four-digit
sequence number. Orig The origin and status of the
record: LDS or PAYR
(Payroll). C Correct indicator. As you
compare LDS and Payroll record
lines in the "Match Appointment"
screen you will click here to
designate the correct record. An
"X" or a check mark will appear
in the box. Cr Created indicator. A check
mark will appear in this field
when a new LDS record is created
by the system. This occurs, for
example, in the header variance
process when you indicate that a
Payroll record line is correct
and there is no matching LDS
record line. A similar process
occurs in the salary and the
distribution variance
processes. Appt ID LDS Appointment ID. Name The employee's last name,
first name, and middle
initial. If the
Payroll If you indicate that the
selected line from the payroll
record is correct, generally the
payroll record will automatically
overwrite the LDS record as soon
as you save the variance
reconciliation. You do not have
to enter the correct payroll data
in LDS record manually, but you
may be required to manually
change additional data in the LDS
record. In a number of
circumstances, LDS directs you to
a problem the system has
discovered. You are required to
fix the problem before you can
complete the process of saving
the record. In other cases, since
the program logic cannot handle
all conceivable complex
circumstances, it will be
necessary to open and change the
appointment manually in a
separate SAP session window. If the LDS If the LDS record is correct,
check the "C" box. Later you will
have to contact the Payroll
Office to discuss the error in
their records for the current
fiscal year. This step is not
necessary for future projections
in future fiscal years. Some
errors can be fixed through the
SANDI or ESANDI. You cannot make
changes to Payroll information
from the LDS system. From the SAP User Menu screen, use the following navigation
path or type the transaction code from any screen in SAP: Navigation
Path: - User menu Transaction
Code: /nzLv2 (Appt Var) 1st
step. Result: The "LDS (type) Variance"
screen appears. LDS inserts the name for the
variance-processing step in the screen title. This section describes a simple
variance procedure applicable to all
discrepancy types. Variance processing for
weekly work hours and vacation are
significantly different and are described
separately below. After completing each of
the steps (e.g., Appt., Salary, or
Distribution), you must back out to the
Tools menu or use the fast path to proceed
to the next step. Steps one through nine below
demonstrate a salary variance example. 1. Enter your organization number in
the Organization field. This is
your department's (or a transfer-in
department's) organization ID also known
as the Appt Org Note Org
ID - After you enter
the organization number
the first time, LDS uses
it as a default on
subsequent selection
screens until you either
log out or access a
different organization.
The other fields can be
filled in according to
your
requirements. Pay
Periods - The
Variance Start
Date and Variance
End Date fields can
be limited to the
current monthly and
weekly pay periods to
best match LDS and
Payroll
records. Dates
- What dates should you
use in the selection
screen? The fiscal year
beginning and ending
dates appear by default,
which normally is fine.
However, if you are
interested in including
weekly payroll data
different conditions
apply. If you have
continuously maintained
your weekly appointments
so that they are
current, using the
default dates will not
display an excessive
number of variances. If,
on the other hand, you
have been unable to keep
weekly records
up-to-date via the
variance process, change
the beginning date to
the Monday of the fourth
week of previous month
(the date used to
include appropriate
weekly
records).
Variance Screen: Reconciling
Records Variance Screen: Reconciling
records 3. Decide which records you wish to
reconcile. 4. Each time you wish to process the next single record or
paired records, click in the small gray box at the far left
of the chosen line or lines. The line or lines thus selected
will be highlighted. 5. Click on the Match Appointment button in
the Function Bar to move the record(s) to the processing
screen. Choose one of the following methods to resolve the variance: 6. When there are two records displayed
and once you have determined which record
is correct, click the box under the
"C" (Correct) column to indicate
the correct record, either "LDS" or
"PAYR". If there is only one record for
this appointment, the box is automatically
checked for you. 7. Click on the Appt Match
button. If there are no warnings or
errors, the matched records will reappear
at the bottom of the entire listing of
variance records (you may need to scroll
down to see them). Note that the records
now have a Match ID code, a four-digit
transaction number in the MM column. These
record lines remain on the screen, and
your work will not be saved until you
proceed to next step. Note
If you have indicated that the Payroll data is correct,
the system will copy that Payroll record's data into the
matching LDS record in different ways depending on which
LDS variance process is being used.
Under certain circumstances this copied data can cause a conflict with
other lines of data in the LDS record.
Since the program logic cannot handle all conceivable complex circumstances,
you may be required to manually change some data in the LDS record to
resolve these situations after saving your variance work. Sometimes it
is best to open a separate LDS session and make the changes outside of
the Variance sequence of screens.
In a number of circumstances, however, LDS will assist you and stop
the process as you save the variances and show an error message
describing a problem. 8. Click on the Save button Note If
you want to stop before
saving your work
(perhaps you changed
your mind regarding a
variance action), you
can back out of the
process and LDS will
retain the unchanged
variances for later
processing. 9. Click on the Continue button. The
matched records disappear, leaving the
remaining variance records on screen.
Continue this process until all variance
records have been matched or
reconciled.
..
Labor
Distribution System
LDS/Payroll
Variance: Appointment Header, Salary, and
Monthly Distributions
record is correct
record is correct
- Role ZMIT
- Planning/Budgeting
- LDS
- Tools
- Variance Analysis
- Appointment Variance or
- Salary/Eff. Variance or
- Mntly Distr Variance
/nzLv3 (Salary/Eff. Var) 2nd step.
/nzLv4 (Mntly Distr Var) 3rd step.
2. Click on the Enter button 
.
to return to the LDS Main Menu.
when you are ready to proceed. LDS will remove these records
from this screen listing, since they have been processed.
A confirming information box appears.
SAP for MIT Documentation on the Web
Valid From: 02/28/2001