Automatic Schedule assignment during hire

Schedule Assignment to an employee can be done at multiple levels in Peoplesoft. With the continuous improvement in scheduling that Peoplesoft/Oracle has brought into the product, they introduced a feature to directly assign schedules to employees. This feature is available under the Manage Schedule folder in MSS. A lot of clients require the process of schedule assignment to an employee to be automated at the time of hire and I have seen specific application engines being written for this purpose. That is an unnecessary effort as Peoplesoft already provides that feature with the WORKFORCE_SYNC message. The WORKFORCE_SYNC message will assign a row in the PS_SCH_ASSIGN table with the Use Default Schedule option ticked as Yes. The message itself is triggered on the Save Post Change event in the JOB DATA components. For tools versions higher than 8.47, it will be required to write specific handler logic for this to happen. This is because the assignment was handled by subscription peoplecode in versions lesser than 8.48 and this has become defunct with the architectural changes to the IB framework in 8.48. The steps to do that is:
1. Obtain the code of the schedule assignment from the subscription peoplecode assigned to the WORKFORCE_SYNC message.
2. Create a new Application Package and extent the OnNotify method of the PS_PT App Package.
3. Call the code for the assignment in the OnNotify method. The best practice will be to create a function in a custom FUNCLIB record containing the logic for the schedule assignment and calling just the function from the OnNotify method.
4. Add a new handler to the WORKFORCE_SYNC Service Operation with an OnNotify event defintion and give the application package and method details.
5. Ensure that the service operation is active and that the queue is running. Also generate Local routing if that has not yet been done.
6. You are good to go now!

Simulating Time Collection Devices using Peoplesoft Handler Tester Utility

What would you do if you had to send adhoc punches from a TCD to Peoplesoft for testing and you don't have access to a TCD or an immediate mechanism to send offline punches? Use the Peoplesoft Delivered Handler Tester utility. Handler Tester is a tool where you can feed the XML file and simulate the invocation of the handler of a Service Operation. It is an excellent utility while you are developing any service operation.
Any punch time interface that comes from a TCD calls the PUNCHED_TIME_ADD Service Operation. Extract the XML of the message (this can be easily taken from the Service Operation monitor) and make appropriate changes to the XML file (like adding the correct EMPLID, PUNCH_DTTM, PUNCH_TYPE etc.) and submit the XML to the tester using the 'Provide XML' button. To fire the handler - click on 'Execute Event'. If the handler was fired a text - 'Done' will be displayed below the Execute Event button. Check the Process Monitor to see whether there is an instance of the ST_LOADER AE. The handler calls the ST_LOADER AE that actually loads the punch time to the TL_RPTD_TIME table. I found it to be a very handy mechanism to simulate the action of TCDs.
A snapshot of the Handler Tester page is given below: