Dynamics 365 for Operations Tips & Tricks: Setting up Time Registration for Production

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations (formerly Dynamics AX) has extensive ability to register time on production jobs through the Time Registration function.

What is ‘Time Registration’?

Users can register attendance and absences on production jobs. This allows companies to track employee labor costs from production activities. Supervisors can then go in and approve these registrations.

Dynamics 365 for Operations also provides real time feedback from project time registrations and payroll clock in/out from an HR perspective. After supervisors approve worker registrations, they can go in and transfer them to post financial transactions to the ledger.

Setup and Configuration

There is a lot of setup tied to time and attendance. Dynamics 365 for Operations now has a separate module, Time and Attendance, for setting up related groups, time profiles, and managing registrations. Before time can be registered, groups and time profiles must be setup, parameters must be configured, and workers must be activated for registrations.

• Time and attendance configuration wizard
  • This wizard will create required system jobs in indirect activities (example: clock in/out), terminal configurations, and profile types.
• Indirect activity categories
  • Indirect activities are setup for breaks or overtime. Activity switch codes can be setup for activities that require approval, such as overtime. So if a user clocks in early or clocks out late, it will require supervisor approval. You can also specify whether you want them to make a registration for a switch code and if it is paid/unpaid.

• Time profiles
  • After running the configuration wizard, there will be a number of profile types created (break, clock in and clock out, overtime, standard time).
  • You use these profile types to build a standard “Profile”, which tells AX when you are expected to clock in and out each day of the week. For example, a standard Day Shift profile is shown below for a 7:00AM to 3:30PM work day. If a worker clocks in before 7:00AM or clocks out after 3:30PM, they will receive overtime. Also notice there is a switch code attached to their 12:00PM break.

Once you have created the profile for a standard workday (Example above is for Monday), you can copy the profile to the other work days. Tips: If you have workers who do not follow a standard 8 hour schedule, a 24 hour profile can be setup without clock in and out times.

• Profile groups
  • Profile groups are used to group employees together who work similar shifts. The time profile is tied to a profile group, which is assigned on the worker record. This tells AX when workers in a certain group are expected to clock in/out.
• Calculation and Approval Groups
  • All workers who make time registrations must be connected to a calculation group and approval group. These groups typically consist of a team or shift. A supervisor will validate, calculate, and approve registrations made by workers in the group.

Production Parameters

• Manufacturing Execution Parameters:
  • Here you can specify whether you get registrations from the legal entity or the server. This choice is particularly important if you have workers in different time zones. You can also specify whether you want to use a password or badge ID. These parameters are similar to the Time and Attendance Parameters, but with a few extra options.

• Production order defaults:
  • Here you can specify whether you want to use Manufacturing Execution Parameters or the defaults in Time and Attendance.
  • The Quantity Validation tab is particularly useful for validating registrations made on jobs. For example, you can set a Startup Quantity Validation to check that the quantity started on an operation matches the previous operation’s finished quantity – so if Operation 10 finishes with 5 good pieces, Operation 20 cannot start 6 pieces.

Configure job card terminals

After running the configuration wizard, there are a few default terminals created including one for Production. These forms are highly configurable and easy to personalize.

• Each terminal has parameters you can set
  • The “Start page” parameter defines what you see when first logging in.
  • “Use the actual time of registration” specifies if you want to use the time the worker clocks in or the actual time where they selected the job and started.
• Setup of Action Pane
  • This allows you to move and define the buttons that you see on the Action Pane. You can simplify it for for production time entry by including/excluding or renaming a few buttons.

Activate workers for time registration

• Before workers can login and make registrations, you must activate them for time registration. This is done through their employee record in the HR module:

• You must select the appropriate time and attendance groups (Calculation, Default calculation, Approval, Profile) and a standard time profile. Under the Configuration dropdown, select a job card terminal configuration. Selecting “Supervisor options” will give the user additional options upon login. After selecting OK to activate the worker, you can enter their desired Password (Identification) or Badge ID to be used for login.

Starting a Production Job

Once a worker has been activated, they can log into the Job Card Terminal with their Badge ID or Password. You can access the Job Card Terminal (previously known as the Job Registration form) through a link in the Production Floor Management workspace. Once a worker is logged in, they can start registering time against production jobs and reporting feedback.