I am trying to better understand how Use Estimates works in general, but I also need to understand the correct way to fix labor transactions when the calculated labor/burden hours do not come out as expected.
Situation
Today, we had an operator assigned to a group of machines for the full shift. The operator was working within that same group of machines all day. However, when the labor was split across the jobs/resources, the total reported/calculated time did not appear to account for the operator’s full shift. Some of the operator’s time seemed to be missing from the split.
What is confusing is that this does not seem to happen with our other resources or resource groups. It appears to be isolated to this particular machine group, which makes me wonder if there is a setup difference somewhere.
When I go into Time and Expense Entry and try to correct one labor detail line, the line may recalculate in a way that does not make sense. Sometimes it appears to calculate as if that one line is the only job/resource the employee ran. Other times, it only accounts for part of the shift. Because of that, I am not sure whether editing the existing line is the correct approach, or whether I should be deleting/voiding and re-entering the labor transaction.
I am trying to determine whether this is:
- expected behavior with Use Estimates,
- a setup/configuration issue,
- a resource/resource group issue,
- an operation standard issue,
- a reporting issue,
- or a labor correction/process issue.
My questions
-
When Use Estimates is enabled, what exactly does Epicor use to calculate labor hours and burden hours?
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Does Use Estimates calculate from the operation’s production standard, the reported quantity, the resource/resource group setup, the employee’s clocked time, or some combination of these?
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If an employee works a full shift but runs multiple jobs/resources, should the total estimated labor/burden time equal the employee’s full shift, or can it be more/less based on the standards and quantities reported?
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What setup areas should I compare between a resource group that works correctly and the resource group that appears to be missing time?
My main concern is that the operator was on this machine group all day, but the split labor entries did not total back to the full shift. Since this does not happen with our other resources, I am trying to understand whether Use Estimates is working as designed or whether we have a setup difference causing this group to calculate differently.
At the same time, when I try to fix one labor detail line, the correction itself can change the hours in a way that creates more confusion. I need to know the safest correction workflow so we do not create missing time, duplicated quantity, incorrect burden hours, or bad efficiency/job costing numbers.
Any explanation of how Use Estimates is supposed to work in Epicor 10.2.700.12, and the recommended workflow for correcting labor transactions when this happens, would be appreciated.