What's new: Human resources features

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Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

We have changed and added functionality in the Human resources area for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. To learn more, see the tables that apply to your version of the product.

What’s new in AX 2012

What’s new

Description

Employees

Employees are now a type of worker.

For more information, see What's new: Employees.

Terminating workers

You can easily modify a worker’s employment status to indicate employment termination. You can also specify the last date that the worker was employed and the date of the final pay period.

For more information, see Terminate employment.

Track and manage work-related injury and illness incidents.

You can track and manage work-related injuries, accidents, and illness incidents.

For more information, see Maintain employee injury and illness information.

Number sequences for employees, positions, and applicants

You can set up number sequence codes for employees, positions, and applicants.

For more information, see Set up number sequences for Human resources.

Maintain a list of dependents and beneficiaries.

You can maintain a list of dependents and beneficiaries.

For more information, see Maintain information for dependents and beneficiaries.

Hiring workers

By using information that was entered in an applicant record, you can more easily create a worker record.

For more information, see Hire an applicant.

Access employee goals in Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Employees and managers can create and manage employee goals. For example, employees and managers can create new goals, update the status of goals and activities that are associated with those goals, and enter comments.

For more information, see Create, modify, and delete employee goals.

Benefits setup

You have more flexibility to set up and define worker benefits, such as health or investment benefits. You can create and assign workers to current and future benefits customized plans and coverage levels.

For more information, see Benefit setup tasks.

Transfer workers from one position to a different position.

Previously, you had to update multiple forms when a worker switched positions in your organization. Now you can use the Transfer workers form to record transfer-related information when a worker transfers to a different position.

For more information, see Key tasks: Workers.

Updates to questionnaire configuration keys

The Questionnaire I and Questionnaire II configuration keys are no longer available. The questionnaire functionality is available when the Basic configuration key is selected.

Create and manage teams of people.

You can now create and manage teams of people who collaborate to perform work by using Microsoft Dynamics AX. These people can be Microsoft Dynamics AX users, employees, contractors, vendors, customers, or contacts. Teams can include people from different locations and entities, such as organizations, legal entities, and departments.

For more information, see Create a team.

Applicant list page

A new list page that lists applicants is available, so that you can quickly find and maintain your applicant records.

List of benefits and enrollments

You can use a new list page to view which workers are enrolled in a specific benefit. You can also filter the list and export it to Microsoft Excel for additional analysis.

Mass benefit enrollment

You can enroll multiple workers in a benefit at the same time.

For more information, see Enroll multiple workers in a benefit at the same time.

Track the expiration of worker certifications.

Generate an individual or batch report for certifications that are near the expiration date, or that have already expired.

Enhanced benefit setup for dependents and beneficiaries

You can assign benefits to dependents and beneficiaries, based on your organization’s eligibility rules. The Personal contacts form has additional fields that you can use to include more information about dependents and beneficiaries.

For more information, see Maintain information for dependents and beneficiaries.

Onboard workers from application records.

You can now create a worker record by using information that was entered in an applicant record.

For more information, see Hire an applicant.

Anonymous questionnaires

You now can create questionnaires in which users can answer questions anonymously.

For more information, see About questionnaire parameters.

What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

What’s new

Description

Create a budget for filled or vacant positions.

You can identify salary and benefits for each position. You can also create budget amounts by budget cycle, account, and dimension, and import your forecast data into the budget planning tool. You can complete these changes in a temporary environment, without affecting your live data. Alternatively, you can make the changes directly to your live data. In this case, the changes become effective immediately.

For more information, see Key tasks: Forecast positions.

Worker education enhancements

You can enter additional details about worker education in the Education form. For a completed degree, you can enter the credits that were completed and the credit basis, such as semester or quarter. For a degree that is in progress, you can enter the credits that have been earned and the credits that are required. You can also enter any additional notes that are related to the worker's education, and also enter a secondary emphasis, or minor, such as Business or Economics. This information can be viewed and entered on the Employee services site, and can appear on the Worker and Applicant resume reports.

For more information, see Education (form).

You can require that applicants and employees pass certain tests to obtain and hold certain positions.

Create tests, set up minimum requirements for test scores, and set up recurrence details for tests. You can require that workers receive a passing test score to be eligible for and remain in employment. After you create a test, you can assign it to a job template, a job, or individual workers. After tests are assigned, they all can be tracked at the individual worker level.

For more information, see Using questionnaires and Key tasks: Jobs.

Copy existing positions, mass update positions, and block position assignments.

You can create individual or multiple positions by copying an existing position. You can also update multiple positions at the same time. Additionally, you can prevent positions from being assigned to workers, without having to delete the positions.

For more information, see Key tasks: New worker positions and Key tasks: Existing worker positions.

Adjust multiple values in the compensation grid for fixed compensation plans at the same time.

You can apply a percentage or flat rate adjustment to one column or multiple rows in the compensation grid. For example, you can apply a 3 percent increase to all grid rows, a 1 percent decrease to a particular step plan, or a reduction of 15.00 to all hourly workers who use the same compensation structure. Additionally, you can review the values before you save them and revert to the previous values if the grid is not accurate.

For more information, see Key tasks: Compensation plans.

Use an Actions process, together with optional workflow, to gather details and easily track history when positions are created or edited.

You can require that workers use an Actions process to create and edit positions, so that you can track position activity. You can also require that additions and changes to positions go through a review process.

For more information, see Key tasks: New worker positions and Key tasks: Existing worker positions.

Staffing manager Role Center

This Role Center has been enhanced to provide the most relevant information to the Staffing manager. This information includes the average days to recruit by department, job application sources, and the applications that each open recruiting project has received.

Eligibility rules provide greater control and fewer errors when you sign up workers for benefits.

Worker benefits can include anything from a cell phone plan to medical insurance and investment plans. Some benefits might be available to all employees. Other benefits might be available only to full-time workers or workers in a particular location. The Microsoft Dynamics AX policy framework provides a common set of patterns and features, so that users can define business rules that help control business processes and enforce the overall business strategy. By taking advantage of the capabilities of the policy framework, users can create rules to define and exercise eligibility rules for each benefit that the company offers to workers.

For more information, see Key tasks: Benefit eligibility policies.

HR manager Role Center

This Role Center has been enhanced to provide the most relevant information to the Human Resources manager. This information includes position hierarchy information, active workers by department, and injury and illness incidents by month and year.

HR training and development manager Role Center

This Role Center has been enhanced to provide the most relevant information to the Training and development manager. This information includes open courses and the number of workers who have taken a particular course.

Enhancements to the benefit setup and the Benefits list page

You can create new benefits and maintain benefit versions on the Benefits list page instead of in the Plan Setup form.

Changes to the HcmWorkerImportService service for Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Integration Framework (AIF)

The HcmWorkerImportService service, which lets you import basic worker information, such as name, address, personnel number, email address, and title, now has read and update capabilities.

For more information about HcmWorkerImportService, see the blog post Calling the HcmWorkerImportService in AX 2012 to Import Employees on the Microsoft Dynamics AX Support blog.

You can require that applicants and employees take or pass designated screenings.

You can require that applicants and workers take or pass medical and drug screenings that are associated with a particular job. You can set up recurrence information for screenings that recur on a predetermined schedule, such as every year or every other year.

For more information, see Screening types (form) and Screenings (form).

What’s new in cumulative update 6 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

What’s new

Description

Mass expiration of benefit enrollments

You can now change the expiration date of a benefit and the affected worker enrollments in that benefit at the same time. You can also change the expiration date of the benefit enrollment for multiple workers at the same time, without changing the expiration date of the benefit. This functionality resembles the functionality for mass benefit enrollment. The benefit administrator can maintain the expiration date of benefits without having to change the benefit expiration date individually for each worker who is enrolled in the benefit. This feature saves time for the benefit administrator and reduces the risk of errors.

For more information, see Maintain benefit expiration dates.

(USA) Preparation of regulatory compliance reports for payroll and human resources

The following preparation reports are now provided to make it easier for employers to complete mandatory reports for payroll and human resources:

  • New hire preparation report

  • EEO-4 report

  • EEO-5 report

These reports provide some or all of the information that employers require to complete the mandatory reports. This information lets employers prepare the actual reports in whatever format is required.

For more information, see the following topics:

These topics are also available in the Report catalog for Microsoft Dynamics AX on TechNet.

What’s new in cumulative update 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

What’s new

Description

(USA) Preparation of regulatory compliance reports for human resources

The following preparation reports are now provided to make it easier for employers to complete mandatory reports for human resources:

  • OSHA 300 log preparation report

  • OSHA 300A preparation report

  • OSHA 301 preparation report

  • VETS preparation report

These reports provide some or all of the information that employers require to complete the mandatory reports. This information lets employers prepare the actual reports in whatever format is required.

To support the new reports, the EEO establishment field, which appears in the Worker detail form and related setup forms, was renamed. This field is now the Regulatory establishment field.

For more information, see the following topics:

These topics are also available in the Report catalog for Microsoft Dynamics AX on TechNet.

Changes to the forecast positions area

This feature replaces and expands the existing forecast position functionality. The updates include detailed compensation estimates for new positions, “what-if?” scenarios, and integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX and third-party payroll systems.

For more information, see the following topics:

Require additional details when worker information is entered or changed, and optionally enable workflow.

You can require that users provide additional details when they perform certain tasks that affect employees:

  • New workers are hired, or existing workers are rehired.

  • A worker is transferred to another position.

  • A worker is voluntarily or involuntarily terminated.

This information is tracked for future reference. Additionally, you can require that worker additions and changes go through the workflow process. This process provides a mechanism for approving or rejecting the changes, and for informing the required people about the changes or additions.

For more information, see the following topics:

What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8

What’s new

Description

Family and Medical Leave Act

You can now do the following for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA):

  • Define and view eligibility and benefit limits for your organization.

  • Set up case security.

  • Create and manage FMLA cases.

  • Run reports.

For more information, see Working with FMLA

Changes to the Forecast positions area

  • To ensure that a budget forecast is accurate and complete, you can now copy the worker's fixed compensation earnings to the forecast position's earnings budget cost element.

  • You can copy a forecast position with its attributes, including its cost elements, to a different budget planning scenario.

  • You can add cost element lines that include compensation increases to the forecast position, to account for the cost of upcoming compensation increases. For forecast positions that have an assigned compensation group, level, and step, you can add a budget cost element at the next highest step for the same level.

  • To ensure accurate budget amounts throughout the year, you can use the forecast position’s cost element start date as the effective date of the budget plan line.

  • You can enter upcoming compensation table increases so that the budgeted earnings costs will include the increases. The original compensation table and the increased table exist in the system at the same time.

For more information, see Work with forecast positions.

Total compensation statements

You can set up and print total compensation reports for employees. A total compensation statement is comprised of sections which contain compensation elements such as benefits, tax codes, and earning codes. You can add any combination of compensation elements to each total compensation statement section. The three types of compensation elements that can be added to a total compensation statement section are: benefits, earnings, and taxes.

For more information, see Set up total compensation statement sections.

What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 9

New functionality has been added to Dynamics AX 2012 R2 and R3 to assist employers who need to track information that will be reported on form 1095-C under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) starting in 2016. Note this new functionality is only enabled for US Legal Entities. For more information about how Microsoft Dynamics AX supports these new reporting requirements, see https://community.dynamics.com/ax/b/axhcmnewslearningshighlights/archive/2015/05/28/affordable-care-act-support-for-reporting-requirements.