Performance

Since the Lawson OLE DB Provider operates over the HTTP (or HTTPS, if you desire) web protocol, and Lawson itself sits on top of a database, there are a number of layers that it must transcend. For that reason, you would expect it to be slower than the database native drivers. Informal benchmarks show it to be about 10 times slower. For small reports this may be acceptable, and the benefits of having built-in Lawson security may prevail over the need for speed.

Deployment with Lawson Enterprise Reporting

The other significant component of Lawson Enterprise Reporting that adds some value to the Crystal solution is called the "Crystal Integration Pack" (formerly "Enterprise Reporting Integration Pack"). Remember that Lawson Enterprise Reporting does not include its own report designer-Lawson uses Crystal for that.

So, once you've designed a report, you have to decide how you're going to deploy it. One of Crystal's big advantages is its various deployment options. For a report that only a couple of people are going to run, you might choose to simply run it from the Crystal developer. But you'll probably want to deploy it to a number of users, and that requires some sort of web-based intranet/internet application.

You can go with the standard Crystal Enterprise, which is a web-based framework for deploying reports. You can choose from several other options that Crystal provides (more about that later). Or, you can go with Lawson Enterprise Reporting, which is a bundled version of Crystal Enterprise, combined with a little bit of Lawson Portal integration (notably, single sign-on and support for DrillAround).

The Lawson Reporting Suite (which replaces Lawson Enterprise) replaces Crystal Enterprise with Lawson's own report management framework.

Summary

While utilizing Lawson's OLE DB Provider in combination with Crystal Reports has significant advantages, there are some serious issues you should consider before choosing it for serious use, and there are some report requirements that may require you to stick with your native database drivers. That being said, built-in security makes Lawson's OLE DB Provider a compelling choice for simple reports.

The bottom line is that Lawson Enterprise Reporting can add some significant value to Crystal for your reporting needs; however, there's still a lot you can do with Crystal's products alone, including adding Lawson DrillAround to your reports.

What Else?

Like they say on those Ginsu TV ads: "Wait, there's more!" Well, there's one more reason to use the Lawson OLE DB Provider. And it does something you simply can't do with any of the other data sources. Tune in next month.

Streamlined Plan Set Up

Currently, limitations in varying accrual rates by employee group, position and special cases mean that users must often create multiple versions of the same leave plan, for example, "Vacation," to cover the various scenarios that commonly occur in an organization. This can lead to cumbersome plan maintenance. Rather than setting up multiple vacation plans, with the new Absence Management users can vary accrual rates within a single "umbrella" plan by defining however many accrual rules are required to accommodate the specific positions and groupings of each organization. Clients can even use FTE as a variable for accrual calculations.

Current Time Records Not Required

In Time Accrual, if no time record exists, accruals are not processed. However, in Absence Management, accrual calculations can occur, even if there is no current time record present for the individual. When accruals are based on user-defined accrual rules and are independent of time record presence, an employee on leave of absence will be able to accrue vacation. If an employee receives hours-based accruals, then time records will be required. User rules, rather than system restrictions, determine how and when accruals should be calculated.

Date Restrictions Removed

The current "period end date restriction" has been a significant hindrance for users of Time Accrual, because once a pay period is "processed" by the TA cycle programs, it can no longer perform further processing in that pay period. When lagged time records come through payroll, if any usage of vacation or other accrued time is present, it is NOT picked up by TA. Clients are forced to check for late time records to determine if there is any impact on plan balances. With the new Absence Management, the date restrictions are not an issue, since there are virtually limitless dates and rules that define when accruals should occur. In addition, adjustments and late time records can be processes in the time period in which they occurred, providing superior reporting accuracy.

Managing Enrollments

Clients struggle with updating Time Accrual enrollments because there is no automation for situations when eligibility changes or is ended. This leads to frequent manual processes aimed at preventing unwanted accruals that occur when an employee is not terminated from a plan in a timely fashion. Manual stops are also risky and tedious to maintain. The new Absence Management includes automation programs to enroll, change and terminate employees from plans based on position and employee group membership changes. The system does the work for you, ensuring compliance and accurate plan balances.

Leave of Absence Tracking - Emergency and FMLA

Currently, no processing, and limited date tracking are available to users of Time Accrual. The new Absence Management introduces several features to help keep organizations in compliance with leave of absence tracking, especially related to FMLA-type leaves. A new type of plan for up front allotments, 12-month rolling calendars, in addition to a new leave tracking record, which permits the tracking of multiple dates, and eligibility calculation reporting make Absence Management a critical tool for Human Resources Professionals.

Processing Options - Dependency on Payroll and Order of Processing

The current Time Accrual system is tightly linked to Lawson Payroll for processing order and accrual calculations, making it impossible for users to allow employees to accrue and immediately decrement usage balances from the accrued amount in the same pay period, without creating negative balance edits at time record entry. Absence Management includes the ability to process and calculate accruals and eligibility transfers independently so that usage can be processed within the same period. This allows clients to accrue and update balances, with the newly accrued amounts, if employees can accrue and use accruals in the same pay period. In addition, real-time Payroll integration remains an option for Lawson Payroll users, although it is not required with the new Absence Management system.

Negative Balance Edits

Time Accrual provided users with a "soft" warning when a balance was negative at the point of time record entry or interface. In Absence Management, clients can choose to display no warning, issue a warning, or create an error and prevent the time record from being entered, if the employee's absence plan balance will go negative as a result of the hours or earnings on the record being entered. This allows users to fine tune processing to suit their organizational leave policies.

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- QUOTE OF THE ISSUE -

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."
- Henry Ford
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Specifically, you'd use the global search-and-replace command in SED:

$ sed 's/00\/00\/0000//g' /tmp/emps.csv > tmp.$$
$ mv tmp.$$ /tmp/emps.csv

To learn more about the power (and arcane syntax!) of the SED editor, I recommend visiting http://sed.sourceforge.net/grabbag/tutorials/.