Ensure Smooth

Integration with SAP

Cross-Application
Time Sheets (CATS)

Michael Timm
Integrated Consulting Group LLC
© 2004 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
Session Objectives …

• Learn how CATS enhances support and the user

experience
• Understand in basic terms how CO is updated by
CATS and HR
• Gain efficiency and minimize headaches with user
profiles
• Learn how to reduce employee data entry errors by
90%

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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 CATS Basics
• CATS = Cross-Application Time Sheet
Time capture and data transfer tool
Additional functionality for Payroll and FI/CO

• CATS uses the SAP Human Resources authorization concept

• CATS may be updated via transaction code CAT2 or via a

company intranet Web site

• Data entry in CATS may be done by individual employee or by

defined groups of employees

• CATS may be used as the time transfer tool to update Human

Resources with hours worked by employee

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 CATS Basics (cont.)

• CATS may be used to enter one-time

earnings/deductions for employees

• Data entered in CATS may be set to require a procedure

for approval

• Using CATS, you may capture an employee’s time

across different cost centers, plant maintenance,
service orders, and networks
Update HR, CO, PM/CS, PS (or a combination of any or all of these)
with time worked by employee by activity

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CATS Basics (cont.)

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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 Using CATS Data: Updating CO

• CATS updates CO with hours actually worked by cost

center for an employee

• The payroll expense posting for an employee is sent to

the employee’s home cost center in the Payroll to FI/CO
Update

• Using CATS, you can create an activity allocation to

credit the home cost center for hours not worked by the
employee and debit the cost centers where the
employee actually worked

• Actual costs may be derived from the standard activity

price of an activity or from Payroll
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 Using CATS Data: Updating PM/CS

• Generates confirmations for:

Maintenance
Service orders

• Confirmation generation from:

Receiver order
Operation number
Sub-operation

• Performs simultaneous activity allocation in CO

• Processing time can be a major issue if there’s a large

volume of open PM/CS orders
Nightly batch runs with narrow periods may reduce processing time
However, narrowing the period can cause prior period corrections to be
missed
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Using CATS Data: Updating PS

• Hours entered in CATS as hours transfer as minutes

• Generates confirmations for networks
• Performs activity allocation in CO at the same time
• Processing time can be a major issue if you have a large
volume of open PS orders
Nightly batch runs with narrow periods will reduce processing
time
However, narrowing the period can cause prior period
corrections to be missed

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 Using CATS Data: Updating HR

• Attendances/Absences (Infotypes 2001/2002)

CATS feeds HR actual hours attended or absent
CATS validates absences with absence quotas
Payroll uses Infotype 2001/2002 data during processing

• Substitutions (Infotype 2003)

Position option may be used to assign payment for the work
according to the specifications of a different position

• Employee Remuneration Infotype 2010)

One-time earnings/deductions may be passed from CATS to HR
Used to process manually – calculated wages or bonuses

• Work Tax Area (Infotype 0208)

CATS allows a work tax area to be entered that is different than the
default area in Infotype 0208
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 Using CATS Data: Updating HR (cont.)

• Hours saved in CATS transferred to HR Infotype 2002

• Payroll will access Infotype 2002 during processing
and pay the employee
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 Transferring CATS Data
• Methods for transferring CATS data:
All Components
Individual Components
Accounting (CO)
Human Resources
o CATS profiles may be set to automatically transfer data
to HR when saved
o Or, profiles may be set to require data to be transferred
manually
Plant Maintenance/Customer Service
Project System

• I will demonstrate* the manual method of

transferring data to the following modules:
Human Resources
Controlling

* I will demo these in R/3 4.6C; the process is similar in other versions
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Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

• All Components
• Accounting (CO)
• Human Resources
(manually)
• Plant
Maintenance/Customer
Service
• Project System

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

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 Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

• An example
Master data
Employee John works 80 hours over a two-week pay period
John is an hourly employee who makes $15/hour and is
assigned to cost center 123-A as his home cost center
John’s company uses CATS as a time entry/capture tool
Work data
Over the two-week period, John worked 40 hours in cost
center 345-B, 30 hours in cost center 678-A, and 10 hours in
his home cost center, cost center 123-A
His gross pay for the period is 80 hours x $15/hour = $1,200

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 Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

• Data transfers
From Payroll to FI/CO
John’s home cost center, 123-A, is debited $1,200 (the entire 80 hours that
he worked)
From home cost center 123-A
The CATS interface will credit John’s home cost center (123-A) 70 hours
(multiplied by a predefined activity rate, $15/hour), for a total of $1,050 –
via an internal activity allocation. This will leave a net debit of $150 (10
hours x $15/hour) on John’s home center
To cost centers 345-B and 678-A
The other side of the CATS interface activity allocation will debit cost
center (345-B) 40 hours, for a total of $600, and cost center (678-A) 30
hours, for a total of $450

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Transferring CATS Data (cont.)

• Conclusions
CATS is a great tool to use when you have hourly
employees, especially when these employees can do work
over several projects or cost centers
CATS even allows you to “charge” the worked cost centers for
different activity rates depending on the type of work/project the
employee is working on
CATS allows you to spread costs over the cost centers
actually worked in instead of the employee’s home cost
center (which is the SAP default when posting from Payroll
to FI/CO)

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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Creating CATS Profiles

• Profiles are used by CATS to determine the data entry

process
• Profiles also determine how the Time Sheet will be
displayed on the screen
• 8 sections make up the profile
General settings
Time settings
Person selection
Cost accounting variant
Default values
Worklist
Data entry checks
Workflow

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Creating CATS Profiles (cont.)

• Checking
“Immediate
transfer to HR”
transfers the
data to infotypes
upon save

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 Creating CATS Profiles (cont.)

• After creating the profile, the fields displayed in the Time

Sheet when maintaining or displaying are defined
• Selecting the fields and setting attributes makes user entry
easier and reduces error
• Attributes set for a field influence the target component
• Displaying fields is done by configuring modifiable fields
and influencing fields
Modifiable fields are set as the base for all data entry profiles
Influencing fields are profile-specific field attributes
• Keep number of fields displayed on the screen to the
absolute minimum

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Creating CATS Profiles (cont.)

• Modifiable is the
standard field
attribute
• Influencing is a
profile-specific
field attribute

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 Creating ESS Profiles
• ESS profiles and CATS profiles are set up in the same manner
Profiles set up under CATS may be used by ESS
However, CATS data entry is typically done for several employees at a time,
and ESS is done for an individual

• The person selection section in the profile is not supported

The other seven sections may be utilized

• Typically, data entered will not be set for “Immediate transfer to HR”
Batch programs should be set to run periodically to transfer the data

• Employees accessing ESS Time Sheets need to have a default

profile set along with a link between their user record and ESS

• Setting field attributes is the same as in CATS

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Creating ESS Profiles (cont.)

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 Creating ESS Profiles (cont.)

• Web settings allow for the customization of the Time Sheet layout
when viewed as a Web page
e.g., to specify how many lines for data entry appear
• Functionality available to the user may be determined
e.g., when copying the previous period work lines, whether hours
should be copied as well 27
User Parameters

• Several user parameters may be entered to simplify

data entry for a user
• If employees will enter data themselves, user
parameters CVR and PER are extremely useful
CAC Controlling area
CVR Data entry profile
KOS Cost center
PER HR personnel number
PON Personnel development object
SAZ Time administrator
SGR Administrator group
VSR Personnel number selection report variant

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 User Parameters (cont.)

• To set:
System > User profile > Own data > Parameters
Transaction code SU3

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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 ESS Time Sheets
• Internal and external employees may use ESS Time Sheets to record
their own (or others’) working times via the Internet or company
intranet

• The Internet Time Sheets tool for recording the times transfers data
to other modules the same as CATS does
The same data elements and process shown earlier are available via CATS or
the Internet Time Sheets
Data collected from both may be processed together

• The user may enter hours or clock times, quantities, monetary

amounts, work tax area, and confirmation information

• The previous-period working time and attributes may be copied,

requiring the user to only enter the current period hours
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ESS Time Sheets (cont.)

• Several advantages to both employee and employer

are easily identifiable

Employee Employer
Time entry at any time, anywhere Decentralized time recording
Fewer administrative steps Reduction in administrative work
Ease of use Standard Web browser

• The link between the Time Sheets and SAP is Infotype

0105, Communication
This link looks at the user parameters and determines the
profile to be used
Authorizations also are validated through this link
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 ESS Time Sheets (cont.)

• In this case, the employee email address is

used to authenticate and link with ESS
• Other communication types may be used
also, such as NT logon ID
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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

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User Exits

• 14 user exits are available for use with CATS

A little over half of the user exits may be used with ESS Time
Sheets

• Utilizing user exits allows for additional functionality

and behind-the-scenes data processing

• Some of the more useful user exits are

CATS0002 – CATS: Supplement entered data
CATS0003 – CATS: Validation of entered data
CATS0005 – CATS: Customer field enhancements
CATS0006 – CATS: Validation of entire time sheet
CATS0008 – CATS: Determine workflow recipient for
approval

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 User Exits (cont.)

• Employees may enter time to less than a tenth of an hour

• User exit CATS0002 is called and calculates the time to
the nearest tenth of an hour
• The time is then transferred to a component without
causing an error

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What We’ll Cover …

• Understanding the basics of CATS

• Updating HR, CO, PM/CS, and PS with CATS
• Maximizing the effective use of profiles and user
parameters
• Utilizing Employee Self-Service for time entry
• Managing CATS with user exits
• Wrap up

37
 Resources

• http://help.sap.com – SAP help web site accessible via

the Internet

• OSS Note 555947 – Project System: Confirmation via CATS

• OSS Note 376188 – Supported CATS User Exits for Internet Time
Sheets

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7 Key Points to Take Home

• CATS uses SAP HR authorization concept

• Labor costs may be spread over cost centers, plant
maintenance, service orders, or networks
• PM/CS and PS confirmations may be generated from CATS
• Data transferred to HR is used during payroll processing and
eventual posting to accounting
• Profiles for CATS and ESS Time Sheets are created and used
similarly
• User parameters CVR and PER make ESS Time Sheets more
efficient
• User exits may be utilized to reduce data entry errors and
enhance data entry
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Your Turn!

Questions?

How to contact me:

mtimm@icgllc.net
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