The Schedule Cost/Time Aggregation background task controls when Dayforce calculates both the schedule and actual cost and refreshes the values displayed in Plan.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Offset Start (Periods) | Defines the number of weeks either from or prior to today that Dayforce starts calculating costs for. |
| Length (Periods) | Defines the duration in number of weeks of data that Dayforce calculates when the task runs. For example, to calculate last week’s actual costs, enter -1 in the Offset Start (Periods) setting field and 1 in the Length (Periods) setting field. |
You can schedule the task to run multiple times each night, with different offset start values each time to account for changes in the schedule or actual costs. For example, if you typically create schedules one week out, set the Offset Start as 1 so that, when the task runs, it’s calculating the schedule cost of next week’s schedule. As you build and edit the schedule, the cost information in the Schedule column of Plan is updated by the task each night.
The task should also be scheduled with an Offset Start of 0 and -1 to calculate the cost of the current and previous week. As actual costs are recorded by employees clocking in and out for work or recording time on the timesheet, Dayforce examines the time and attendance records for eligible time and updates the Actual column of Plan for the current week when the task runs. If scheduled to run nightly, any time and costs recorded from the previous day is accounted for in Plan at the start of each day. As well, the task running with the offset start of -1 calculates the previous week’s actual cost.
If there are typically changes to data that impacts actual costs even after the week is over, customers can schedule the task to run with a larger offset. Running with an offset start of -2, the task calculates the cost information for two weeks ago.
Note: When configured to use the task for schedule and actual costs in Plan, Dayforce calculates only schedule and actual cost data for the time periods that fall in the task’s offset. Running the task three times with an offset of -1, 0, and 1 is a common configuration, but wouldn’t calculate the cost of schedules two weeks from the current week, as an example.