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      Configuring the Timecloud Award Engine: A Seven-Step Guide

      This guide outlines the seven-step process for successfully configuring and publishing an Award in the Timecloud Award Engine. Following these steps will ensure your Award is set up correctly and takes effect as intended.

      Part 1: Configuring the Award

      This section outlines the seven-step process for successfully creating and publishing an Award in the Timecloud Award Engine.

      Step 1: Create a New Award

      1. Navigate to the Awards page within the Timecloud web application.
      2. Click the Create New + button to be directed to the "Award Configuration" page.
      3. Choose your starting point:
        • Use a Template: We have a number of  available Awards configuration based on APA intepretation. Select from one of the current supported templates for a pre-configured foundation.
          • Clerks Private Sector Award [MA000002]
          • General Retail Industry Award [MA000004]
          • Hospitality Industry General Award [MA000009]
          • Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award [MA000010]
          • Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award [MA000073]
          • Commercial Sales Award [MA000083]
          • Marine Tourism and Charter Vessels Award [MA000093]
          • *If your Award is not listed above, please contact our team for more information.
        • Start from Scratch: Choose the blank template to build a completely custom Award.
      2. Enter a descriptive Award Name for easy identification.
      3. (Optional) Add an Award Description to provide context for yourself or other administrators.
      4. Click Next in the upper right corner to proceed.

      Step 2: Define Employment Types

      Link specific employment types to this Award. You can apply a single set of rules to multiple employment types or create distinct rule sets for different types.

      1. Click the New Employment Type + button.
      2. Select Start from Blank Employment Type.
        • Pro-Tip: To efficiently apply similar rules to multiple employment types, configure the rules for one type first. You can then return to this step, add another employment type, and use the Copy from... option to duplicate the existing rule set. This avoids redundant configuration.


      3. Click Next to continue.

      Step 3: Configure Payroll Settings

      Define the core payroll parameters for the employment types linked to this Award.

      Award Engine requires users to configure the Payroll rules independentaly from the Timecloud settings page. It's best practice to align this to one and another, but conflicts shouldn't cause any errors.

      • Apply Settings Across All Employment Types: Use this toggle to either apply a single configuration to all employment types or set up unique payroll settings for each one individually.
      • Payroll Period: Select the roster period from the dropdown menu (e.g., Weekly, Fortnightly). When downloading the Award data, you should align the report period with the configuration here. This is the period that period overtime threshold will act across, indenpendent from how often you run payroll.
      • Payroll Period Overtime Threshold: Enter the number of hours after which Roster Overtime rules will apply. If you don't have Roster Overtime rules, the threshold will be ignored.
      • Rounding: Only IN/OUT rounding is available in Award. Toggle this on if you want to apply rounding rules to the data used in the Award calculation. Configure your specific rounding preferences once enabled. 

      After configuring these settings, click Next.


      Step 4: Establish Rules

      This is the most critical step, where you define the calculation rules that govern payroll. Award rules will be applied sequencially from top to bottom, starting from Daily Minimum Engament to Penalties. 

      1. First, select the Employment Type you wish to configure.
      2. Follow the appropriate path based on your choice in Step 1:
        • If you started from a blank template: Systematically work through each section from top to bottom, click the + Add Rule button to add the necessary rules. You can have multiples rules of the same type, but it's important to test the rules throughly. Each section and rule includes a description on the page to guide you.
        • If you started from an existing template: Review the pre-configured rules in each section, moving from top to bottom. Modify any rules that do not align with your business requirements.
      3. Once all rules have been added and verified, click Next.
      4. *Once all rules have been established, you can go back to Step 2, and add a new Employment Type using the Copy from... option to duplicate all the added rules and apply them to the new Employment Type.

      Step 5: Set Pay Rates

      Establish the base pay rates for this Award. You can create multiple pay rate tiers. When you later assign the Award to an employee, you will be able to select the appropriate base pay rate to use for their payroll calculations. 

      These rates are not utilized during the payroll export process on Timecloud; instead, they serve solely for forecasting purposes within the Timecloud platform.

      After setting the pay rates, click Next.


      Step 6: Configure Allowances

      Define any allowances that apply under this Award. Currently all allowances need to be manually assigned on the Attendance page once the Award is published.

      • Use the Apply Settings Across All Employment Types toggle to apply allowance settings universally or individually per employment type.
      • You can configure three distinct types of allowances:
        • Cumulative Allowances: When an employee is eligible for multiple allowances of this type, they are paid only the one with the highest monetary value.
        • Non-Cumulative Allowances: These allowances can be paid out daily or weekly and can be capped at a specified maximum value.
        • Unit Allowances: Employees receive a set rate for each unit of a specific item or service provided (e.g., a per-delivery payment).

      After adding and reviewing all necessary allowances, click Next.


      Step 7: Publish the Award

      Finalize and activate your new Award.

      1. By default, the Award's status is Draft. In this state, it is inactive and does not affect payroll.
      2. Crucially, before publishing, you must test your Award configuration. Use the Award Version Testing Report to apply your "Draft" Award rules to a selected period of timesheet data. This allows you to validate all calculations and ensure the output is correct.
      3. You can freely make adjustments to the Award as long as it remains in Draft status.
      4. After you have thoroughly tested and validated that the Award configuration is correct, change the status from Draft to Live, acknowledge the Warning displayed at the bottom of the page,  and click Save to publish it.
      5. Warning: Once you change the status to Live, the Award becomes active and is no longer editable. If you need to make adjustments while the Award is in Live status, you will need to create a copy of the current Live version. This copy will revert to Draft status, allowing you to implement any necessary changes. After making your updates, you can set the new version's status to Live, at which point the original Live version will automatically be marked as Inactive.



      Part 2: Applying the Award to Employees

      Once an Award has been configured and published, follow these steps to assign it to your employees.

      1. In the Timecloud web app, navigate to the Employees page.
      2. Select the employee to whom you want to apply the Award.
      3. Click on the Awards tab in the employee's profile.
      4. From the dropdown menus, select the correct:
        • Award
        • Employment Type
        • Base Pay Rate
      5. Click the Save Changes button to confirm and apply the Award.