Diary Rules

The system can automate the creation of tasks, based on key dates associated with the employee.

The following are some examples of why you might create diary rules to generate tasks as reminders:

  • Carry out a probation review three months after each employee’s start date
  • Complete an exit interview the day before each employee leaves the company
  • Start retirement procedures a month before each employee’s retirement date

Diary Rules can be used within Queries for date comparison purposes and within Workflow Processes to define how often a process is run.

Diary Rules are managed via System Setup > Housekeeping > Diary Rules

While editing or creating Diary Rules the configuration options need to be considered carefully.

Type

Set this to Event (Workflow)

UNITS

Select, from the drop-down list, the unit of measure (days, weeks, months, or years) to which the value of the Number field refers.

Number

Type the number of units (days, weeks, months, or years) that is added to the key date to calculate the task due date. Note that this should be negative figure if you’re comparing to a day in the past.

The task due date is calculated as the key date + number of units

For example:
In 3 Months = Months, 3
3 Months Ago = Months, -3
In 1 Day = Day, 1

Forward

Using the probation review date as an example, you might want to be reminded of the task seven days before the review, to enable you to gather information from the employee’s line manager.

The task due date is calculated as the key date + number of units in advance days

For example:

Probation Review Date = Start Date + 3 months – 7 days

Hold To

Use this field to change the month of the calculated task due date.

For example, you can use this in a situation where you are monitoring an employee reaching five years’ service, after which the employee is entitled to an extra day’s holiday, but you do not want to be notified until September — when the new year’s holidays are processed.

Revise

Click Revise to create diary entries for new and amended diary rules retrospectively.  Entries that exist in the diary for the selected diary rule will be deleted and recreated.