Release Notes Rollup 31


Rollup 31 focused on enhancing the usability of the Recruiting module and improving Leave Management processes. Additionally, a new integration and different functional and technical updates are included. Please find below all features which have been refined and extended.

Leave Management

Options for Carry Forward Process

To ensure a clear understanding of the options for carrying forward leave entitlements, the "Expiry Date" was renamed to "Transfer Until". This date is only used and can only be filled in case the process remaining is "Transfer To New Period". When selecting "Book Out", any positive remaining leave entitlement is booked out after its end date, i.e. a negative offsetting entitlement is created. As before, the process remaining "No Action" will not trigger any actions. Though, it is only possible to select this option if the end of the leave entitlement is similar to the end of the fiscal year. However, you are still able to do "Custom Transfers" of leave entitlements by creating or using your own specified behavior.

Overbooking of Leave Entitlements

A leave entitlement record can no longer be overbooked. In case an employee's leave request is approved exceeding the amount of leave entitlements, the overbooked days will be collected in a dedicated entitlement. This means that a leave allocation is created for a new leave entitlement the amount of zero for every overbooked leave request. This leave entitlement has the start date equal to the start of the leave request. The automatically created leave entitlement for overbookings is by default valid until the end of the fiscal year and set to "Transfer To New Period" as the process remaining. The "Transfer Until" date (formerly called "Expiry Date") is by default the end of the next fiscal year but can be changed.

Offset Process

The solution supports offsetting leave entitlements. On creation or update of the leave entitlement's amount or taken value, the system checks if there is a leave entitlement to be offset. Offsetting a leave entitlement means covering negative remaining leave entitlements against positive existing leave entitlements. For example, if an employee overbooked his leave entitlement and later receives a new leave entitlement, or if a negative remaining entitlement was carried forward to the next fiscal year, the new leave entitlement would first be used to offset the negative entitlement and then the remaining entitlement can be used for requesting leave.

The offset is handled via a new entity "Leave Entitlement Offset" which connects two leave entitlements. The amount on the leave entitlement offset is taken from "Offset From" and given to "Offset To".

Leave entitlements which are created to book out a positive remaining entitlement after the end date of a leave entitlement are not offset. In order to ensure this a flag is used in the background to highlight that it is booked out. Records with a flag set to "Yes" - which is taken as default for the case the field is empty - are neither considered for leave entitlement offset, nor for connecting to a leave allocation. The record is only related to the parent leave entitlement where it is booked out from.

Process Execution for Carry Forward and Roll Out of Leave Entitlements

In order to improve the performance and reliability of the "Carry Forward" and "Roll Out" of leave entitlements, the creation of leave entitlements on both processes is done by Microsoft Power Automate.

This feature noticeably reduces the system load and improves the performance so that server time outs are avoided. Nevertheless, the process should ideally be run during a dormant phase of the system in order to ensure a smooth use of the system.

To further improve the consistency in data and support, the update of already carried forward leave entitlements makes sure that the processes are executed synchronously. This means that the procedure of approving leave requests might take a couple of seconds, e. g. in case of an approval in the past when the leave entitlement is already carried forward. Therefore, all related processes will be executed in the background and you no longer have to execute "Carry Forward" yourself. The related records are updated immediately.

Hourly Absence

Further guidance is provided for the process of requesting leave on an hourly basis with manual entry of hours is enabled. The system prevents entries with wrong data, e. g. when the checkbox "All Day Event" is ticked, no hourly value different from allocated hours of this work day can be entered.

This feature allows for a more precise planning of absence times for the management and increased flexibility for the workforce. Out of the box the respective settings are only set for the absence type "Overtime". However, in the absence type settings, every absence type can be configured to use hours as time unit and for the duration to be entered manually in the leave request.

When a leave request for half a day off is created and saved, by default the "Hours" field shows half of the employee's allocated hours on the specific date (e.g. 4 hours for a working day of 8 hours). The user can modify the duration of the leave request to any amount less than the full 8 hours. In case he enters 9 hours, the system will throw an error reminding the user that it is only possible to enter a duration of min. 0.1 hours to 7.9 hours for a "Half Day Leave Request" in this case.

You can find more details in our Use Case about Overbooking and Offsetting Leave Entitlements.


Recruiting

Approval Process for Position Planning

A streamlined business process flow is now available for planning and approving new positions.

The process consists of 3 stages: "Request", "Approval" and "Availability". In the first stage, the Supervisor can enter all necessary data to request a new position, including job profile, start date, approver and budget. The department field will get pre-filled with the department from the job profile. The default status is "Requested". When the information is submitted and the business process flow is set to the stage "Approval", the staffing status is set to "In Approval". Also, the responsible manager gets notified and can either reject or approve the position. When the position was accepted, the staffing status is automatically set to "Recruiting" and proceeded to the next stage. In case the position did not get approved, the record is automatically set to "Inactive" and the staffing status is updated to "Rejected". Furthermore, the status is set automatically based on the respective stage of the position, which still can be changed manually. After approval of the position, the last stage of the business process flow is reached automatically and the status changes to "Recruiting". As soon as the "Employee" field contains a value, the staffing status gets updated to "Filled". In case the employee leaves the position and the field gets empty, the staffing status changes to "Open".

GDPR in Recruiting

To ensure a GDPR compliant work during the recruiting process, an "Evaluator Form" on the applicant record is introduced. The form only shows the necessary information for the review of applicants by line managers. It does not include any sensitive data which is only visible for the HR Manager.

Furthermore, Supervisors can now export employee or applicant data to Microsoft Excel only via "Static Worksheets". This way it is ensured that they can only export fields and information they already have access to on the form. Documents provided by applicants can be viewed at a glance in the new section "Documents" in the "General" tab of the "Application" entity. There you can see which documents are provided and open them directly in a new window without automatically downloading them. This section is implemented via a PCF component.

Applicant Rating in Vacancy

Applicant rating is now introduced. This feature allows HR Managers to rate their applicants in order to get an overview of the applicant's suitability for a vacancy at first glance. The rank can be assigned through an intuitive five-star ranking system. The top applicants get five stars and therefore, their rank equals 5.

Transfer of Applicant Information to Employee Profile

Once an applicant is hired, the information from the applicant profile is now transferred directly to the employee profile. This improves the efficiency of the hiring process and decreases the error quote.

In the tab "Business Data", the "Department" field is already pre-filled from the vacancy the applicant applied and got hired for. As soon as the employee is assigned to a department, a new workflow automatically pre-fills the "Department Head" field. The employee's manager is set to the line manager who gave feedback on the application.

In the "HR Management Details" tab, the employee type field is set to active by default when an employee record is generated. Among others, the "Hired On" and "Hired By" fields as well as e.g. the applicant's Skype ID, his or her country/region get prefilled.

Deprecation of Fields

As previously announced in the Release Notes for Rollup 30, some fields were deprecated. Background workflows have been created in order to copy the data of the deprecated fields to the new fields. These will run automatically when the solution is updated with the Package Deployer but also can be triggered on demand if necessary.


Entity Deprecated Fields New Fields
Leave Allocation xrm1_assigned_days xrm1_assigned
Leave Entitlement xrm1_days_available
xrm1_days_taken
xrm1_days_remaining
xrm1_process_remaining_days		 xrm1_entitlement
xrm1_taken
xrm1_remaining
xrm1_process_remaining
Leave Summary xrm1_days_taken
xrm1_days_remaining		 xrm1_taken
xrm1_remaining

The deprecated fields will be maintained in the background as a fallback. With a later following release, the fields will be removed completely. It is recommended to update to the current Rollup 31, so you have the right fields on the user interface. Please ensure that your customizations also use the new fields.

Integration of LMS365

The integration of the Learning Management System LMS356 greatly enhances the training feature of HR for Dynamics 365. You can find the German website of LMS365 here.

LMS365 is available via the Add-On Solution "LMS365 Integration Flows". The integration is mainly covered via Microsoft Power Automate. This solution contains all power automates which transfer the data from the HR for Dynamics solution to LMS365. New fields and business rules are added to HR for Dynamics 365. Currently, this feature is only supported for Cloud-Based customers. Through this integration, LMS365 can be used seamlessly with HR for Dynamics 365. However, this solution is merely an add-on feature and has to be purchased separately (a contract with LMS is required).

There are some requirements which have to be met in order to use the feature:

  • HR for Dynamics 365 Solution with at least Rollup 31
  • Add-on Solution "LMS365 Integration Flows"
  • Microsoft Power Automate
  • Microsoft SharePoint Online Environment
  • LMS365 Application: This should be installed on the same tenant as HR for Dynamics 365 because the credentials of both systems are based on the user of Azure Active Directory.

This solution utilizes two connectors which should be added to Power Automate Connectors. One is Common Data Service (current environment) for the connection to HR for Dynamics and the other one is LMS365 connection for LMS365 App. For this connector, an API key needs to be generated. Please find detailed information regarding the configuration of LMS365 here. After this integration, the learning management solution can be used immediately.

HR for Dynamics 365's "Training" and "Training Category" entities are synchronized uni-directionally to LMS365. This solution is designed to transfer the e-learning trainings to LMS365 App. So that it can utilize the robust features of LMS365 such as course content management, quizzes and certification and then the output of the learning process which is the participation status of the learner and certification is sent back to HR for dynamics to have a comprehensive view of employees completed trainings and planning of further trainings. On LMS365 the HR Manager or Administrator has full control over the configuration of the course, e.g. who can or should participate, when the course should be completed by, or which certificate and skill the participant receives after successful completion of the training. Furthermore, any content can be uploaded and certificates generated with the readily available templates of the e-learning platform.

Employees can sign in for a course via LMS365. They will get to the website via the employee self-service. Also, the employee has the option to view the LMS365 course on Microsoft SharePoint where the content of the course is stored.

The workflow, which maps trainings to the learning platform, checks if the training category already exists in LMS365. If it does, the training is added to this category, otherwise, a new category is automatically created in LMS365. Training categories which were created in HR for Dynamics 365 can also be exported with Microsoft Power Automate by an on demand Workflow in case a user would like to export training categories without trainings.

Per Diem Calculation

Extended configuration possibilities are available now for the per diem calculation. You can set the distance for allowance to be considered not only for domestic travels but also for domestic and abroad travels. Additionally, you have the following different options to calculate the travel day rate:

  • Same as full day: always the full day rate for the selected travel distance is given
  • Specific day rate: If the duration is less than 24 hours, per diem is equal to the "Day of Travel or > x h" amount found in "Travel Destination".
  • Hourly calculated: calculates only full hours, rounded up with every started hour
  • Calculation to the minute: every full minute is taken for the calculation

You can specify the maximum amount of days expenses are generated for. Exceeding this amount of days, no expense will be generated for the following days of travel. The default value is 0, which means that every day of the travel gets considered. More than one travel destination per travel is not supported for this maximum amount of days.

Further Improvements

  • The navigation bar is adjusted so that the different apps follow the same standard and thus, have a suitable default view selected.
  • The user interface, especially in the area of recruiting, is adapted to allow a more intuitive navigation through the form and ensures a better usability during the processes.
  • Public holidays for all cantons in Switzerland are now available. The public holidays for the respective canton have been added to the calendars for every Swiss canton. Please be advised that local holidays which only apply to certain towns or regions, as well as unofficial holidays are not included in the solution.
  • One-time payments with a start date before the start of a new employment term are no longer copied when this contract is set to valid. Also, wages with the status reason Draft and a start date set before the start date of new employment terms are not copied to these new employment terms. If the wage starts after the new employment terms, it will be copied as soon as the status reason is Draft. Furthermore, one-time payments remain without an end date.
  • Goldbright Grids can now be configured to load on the creation of a record, e.g. a leave request. The user can immediately view the contents of the grid and does not have to save the record first. A new configuration parameter was added to the web resources of Goldbright components called "LoadOnCreate". By default this is set to false for backwards compatibility. When it is set to true, then the Goldbright component will load on create.

Solved Customer Tickets

  • Security permissions for time & attendance employees are adjusted (CAS-15011-S3X3S)
  • All currency fields are set to have 2 digit places by default (CAS-16674-M2K1H)
  • Audit history is enabled for applicants (CAS-16670-J2X5W)
  • All job translations for vacancies have the same template (CAS-16480-T6L9Q)
  • Guidance is provided for the process of requesting leave on an hourly basis (CAS-16037-V9R7H)
  • Payments get generated for hourly payments (CAS-15254-S0Z4X)
  • Attendance details cannot be created for the future (CAS-16772-L8R8W)
  • Flow for rolling out daily summaries sets correct employee reference (CAS-16808-B1X3X)
  • Absence type removed from approval mail for leave request (CAS-16250-X7D8W)
  • Security permissions for supervisor are adjusted regarding time & attendance entities (CAS-16413-W8V8S)




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