Saturday, October 21, 2017

Payroll Tracing for debugging and error correction

What is Logging in payroll?
In Payroll it is very normal that you come across the issue and the resolution varies based on type of issues such as Data, Configuration or technical reason. However, figuring the root cause of the problem is covered underneath how you troubleshoot the issue. Here, we are going to discuss the how you can enable logging, running trace and turning off logging in Oracle Fusion Global Payroll, for PeopleSoft folks this exactly means “How to enable trace on the Payroll program and review the trace file”. The logging process uses a series of pay action parameter settings to debug different issues with certain payroll processes, such as Payroll run, Quick Pay, and Costing. The parameter values are set by a user in the application. The payroll process affected will be run to capture the debugging information in a log file. The logging action should be turned off after the process completes and the user will provide the process id to Oracle Support to retrieve the log file and begin to troubleshoot the reported issue.

Details of Turn On, Run and Turn Off the tracing or logging.
Setup a Oracle Fusion Global Payroll configuration group. Once you sign in to the Oracle Fusion Global Payroll application using an account that has the Manage Payroll Process Configuration privilege. Typically the account that have access are Payroll Manager, Human Capital Management Application Administrator, and Payroll Administrator.
Navigate Setup and Maintenance, In the Overview screen that appears, click the All Tasks tab. In the Search field, select Task Lists and Tasks. In the Name field, enter Manage Payroll Process Configuration.
Click Search. In the Search Results panel, click the Go to Task icon for Manage Payroll Process Configuration.
In the Manage Payroll Process Configuration screen, click the Group Overrides tab and then Configuration Groups panel, click the Create icon to display the Create Configuration Group dialog.
In the Name field, enter a name of your own choosing for the new configuration group.
Click Save and Close to return to the Group Overrides tab of the Manage Payroll Process Configuration screen.
In the Configuration Groups panel, select the configuration group you just created.
In the Configuration Group Details: panel, select the "Logging Category Detailed information that is used for investigating problems. Default: no logging" parameter and click the Edit icon to display the Edit Parameters dialog box.
In the Override Value field, enter the parameter values as a continuous string of characters, in any order. Do not use spaces or other characters as delimiters between parameter values

Note: For processes that do not provide a Configuration Group parameter, the logging will need to be set on the Default Group (such as QuickPay).  It is therefore imperative that the parameter be removed immediately after retrieving the log.
 The parameter that you can use for logging in Oracle Fusion Global Payroll
B-Balance maintenance information: Provides output information that show the creation and maintenance of balances used during Oracle Fusion Global Payroll processing.
C-Cache structures information: Provides output information that shows details of the Oracle Fusion global Payroll cache structures and changes to the entries within the structures.
E-Element entry information: Provides output information that shows the state of the element entries in the process memory after the entries are retrieved from the database.  The information is provided whenever data for an entry is changed during processing.
F-Formula information: Provides output information that shows details of formula execution, including formula contexts, input, and output.
G-General logging information: Provides general information, rather than a specific information type.  This parameter does not provide sorted output.  In general, it is recommended that you choose parameters that provide specific types of information.
I-Balance output information: Provides output information that shows details of values written to the database from balance buffers.
L-Balance fetching information: Provides output information that shows the balances retrieved from the database and whether or not the process will use those balances.  (If balances such as Year to Date totals have expired because the year has changed, the process resets them and uses the new balance.)
M-Entry or exit routing information: Provides output information that shows when any function is entered or exited, using messages such as the following:
In: pyippee Out: pyippee - The information is indented to show the call level, and can be used to trace the path taken through the code at the function call level.  This parameter is typically used when trying to diagnose a problem such as a core dump.
P-Performance information: Provides output information that shows the number of times certain operations take place at the assignment and run levels, and why those operations took place.  For example, this parameter provides information about the balance buffer array write operations.
Q-Cache query information: Provides output information that shows the queries being performed on the Oracle Fusion Global Payroll cache structures.
R-Run results information: Provides output information that shows details of run results and run result values just as they are about to be written to the database from the Run Results buffer or the Values buffer, to allow verification that buffer contents were correct.
S-Cache ending status information: Provides output information that shows the state of the Oracle Fusion Global Payroll cache before the process exits, whether that process ends with success or an error.
V-Generate Vertex logging, including data file version and location and geocode processing information.
T/Z-PL/SQL detail and PL/SQL output: To obtain detailed information about the PL/SQL calls made by the Oracle Fusion Global Payroll application use the combination of the T parameter and the Z parameter.  This combination is typically used to obtain information about Oracle Fusion Global Payroll processes that use a large amount of PL/SQL code, such as prepayments and Archive.  The output from using these parameters is buffered while the process is running and is placed at the end of the log file after processing is complete.

Each Oracle Fusion Global Payroll process instance has its own log file, located under the log sub-directory for the particular Process Id. Click Save and Close. Click Save.
Sign in to the Oracle Fusion Global Payroll application using the account that was previously used for running the job in which the problem occurred.
From the Payroll section of the Navigator menu, choose Payroll Calculations.
In the Payroll Flows section of the Tasks panel, click Submit a Process or Report.
From the Legislative Data Group drop-down list in the Submit a Process or Report: Select Flow Pattern screen, select the appropriate value for the job you are about to run.
In the Process or Report table, select the Flow Pattern for the job, such as Calculate Payroll.
Click Next to display the Submit a Process or Report: Enter Parameters screen.
In the Parameter Details panel, click the Search icon to the right of the Process Configuration Group field to display the Search and Select dialog.
Click Search to display a list of available Process Configuration Group values.
Select the Process Configuration Group value that has the logging parameter values you want to use.
Enter any other appropriate parameters for the job, and complete the process of submitting the job as it would usually be done.
Make a note of the ProcessId value for each process you execute.
You may find the ProcessId value useful when you are ready to view the logged results.


What should be done when the process completes?

You will need to capture the log for the process id from within the application to provide to Oracle Support:
From the Payroll section of the Navigator menu, choose Payroll Calculations
In the Search panel of the Overview tab, specify the appropriate information about the processes for which you want to view logs, and then click Search.
In the Search Results panel, click the Payroll Process Flow Name value of the process for which you want to view log entries.
Click the Payroll Flow: FlowInstanceName tab.
Click the Processes and Reports tab.
Make a note of the value that appears after the word Process. For example, if the page shows Process 10483, record the value 10483. This is the process number of the Oracle Enterprise Scheduler job. Click the link for the process number to display the ESS Output: Process Number tab. If no details appear, click the Refresh icon.
Select the appropriate Search Results listing.
Scroll down to the Log section of the detailed information about the selected process.
 Click the LogFileName link in the Attachment field to display the log file.
Upload the log file to the Service Request and provide the process id


Note: After you finish troubleshooting, you must disable the logging functionality for Oracle Fusion Cloud Global Payroll processes that are submitted using configuration group.