What are Filter Groups?
Filter Groups are used to create conditional rules for specific groups of employees within Empeon Workforce. Filter Groups play a critical role in supporting various other features and calculations within the system, particularly when there is a need within these aspect of the system to apply only a subset of employees.
Where are Filter Groups applied?
When configuring Filter Groups, understanding their relevant system application will help to ensure they are set up according to preference. Below are some examples of system features where Filter Groups can be applied within Empeon Workforce:
- Accrual Policies - This is the most common use case for Filter Group setups. When setting up an accrual policy, any required employee group filter beyond Employee Status must be created as a Filter Group and linked to the policy.
- Live Reports - On certain live reports, there is the option to filter the results to show only the employees assigned to a particular Filter Group.
- Employee List - In the People tab, a Filter Group can be applied to refine the employee list, displaying only those employees assigned to the selected Filter Group.
- Request & Approvals - For certain requests, such as Reimbursements and Time-Off, a Filter Group can be set up and applied to establish the "Allowed Requesters" for that request type.
Please note that once a Filter Group is set up, any new employees added to the system will automatically be included within the Filter Group if their employment information matches the Filter Group's criteria.
Adding Filter Groups
When configuring Filter Groups, be sure to have a high-level understanding of the filtering need and which calculation(s) for your organization the Filter Group is applicable. Understanding the need will help to ensure that they are set up correctly. To set up a Filter Group, navigate to the Rules & Alerts section within the Company tab and select the Filter Groups Card.
Any previously set-up Filter Groups will be displayed here and can be maintained as needed. To create a new Filter Group, simply click the blue "+ New Filter" button.
Upon initiating a new Filter Group, the first step is to assign a code Name and Description that best reflects how the filter will be applied within the system and/or who will be included in this group. From there, the Filter By Employee Status will determine what employment statuses should be included. Select all that apply.
Configuring Filter Conditions
The next steps on this screen will be to establish the conditions associated with this Filter Group. This will be how the Filter Group gets configured so that when it is applied elsewhere within the system, it includes the appropriate employees.
For all Filter Groups, the section titled "Meet This" will be where the Filter Group conditions are established. Conditions are the categories of employee information that are linked to the Filter Group. There are many kinds of conditions that can be applied within this section, and multiple conditions can be set up to help precisely define which employees should be included in the filter.
Here is a straight-forward example of the conditions set up for an accrual policy intended for all full-time employees:
- The first dropdown is establishing what piece of employment information will be applicable. Selected in the screenshot is "Employment Type", however Cost Centers and Job Info categories can be used as filter options as well.
- The middle dropdown defines how the employment information from the first dropdown will be applied to the Filter Group. The options available here can vary based on what is established in the first dropdown, however for most Filter Groups the options for 'In' and 'Not In' are most appropriate. The option for 'In' essentially means what should be included in the group whereas as 'Not In' defines what should be not be in the group.
- The third dropdown will be used to select the assigned employment information that should be associated with the condition. In the condition set up above, Employment Type codes for Hourly Full-Time (HFT) and Salary Full-Time (SFT) are assigned since this accrual policy is for all full-time employees.
Meet This - Adding "And" Conditions
Should there need to be multiple conditions to define a Filter Group even further, select "+ Add Condition" to set up an "And" condition. An "And" condition helps to further refine a Filter Group. For example, the Filter Group example below would only include Hourly Full-Time (HFT) and Salary Full-Time (SFT) in the Administration department.
"Or This" Conditions
Within the Filter Group setup there is also the option to "Add Group". This creates an additional "Or This" condition that can be configured and tied to this Filter Group. While "Or This" conditions are not often applied, they can be very helpful when there exists an exception to the first condition set up in the Filter Group.
An example of an "Or This" condition is shown in the screenshot below relating to a Filter Group for an accrual policy.
In this scenario, company policy allows both full-time and part-time nursing staff to be eligible for accruals. For any other department however, it should only be the full-time employees who are eligible. To accommodate this exception, an "Or This" group was added, ensuring that the policy applies either to all full-time employees or specifically to any employee in the Nursing department, regardless of employment status.
Viewing & Maintaining Filter Groups
As more and more Filter Groups are added, it may be helpful at times to quickly review the configuration of each group and see which employees are included. The system provides options to view existing Filter Group setups, as well as the employees included when a Filter Group is applied elsewhere within the system. If changes are needed, there are also options to edit or delete the Filter Groups.
The 'pencil' icon will offer the option to edit, whereas the three-dot menu offers the ability to View, Delete or Preview employees.
