PeopleSoft HRMS Interview Questions and Answers

If you’re looking for Peoplesoft HRMS Interview Questions for Experienced or Freshers, you are at right place. There are lot of opportunities from many reputed companies in the world. According to research Peoplesoft HRMS has a market share of about 9.9%. So, You still have opportunity to move ahead in your career in Peoplesoft HRMS Functional Analytics. Acte offers Advanced Peoplesoft HRMS Interview Questions 2021 that helps you in cracking your interview & acquire dream career as Peoplesoft HRMS  Analyst.

1.What are checklists? Give an example from the delivered checklists. How will you create a checklist of your own? Explain by giving an example.

Ans:

Checklist is a handout type of a utility for the user that can be referenced to ensure that all the tasks the user has to accomplish are done and noted. Say, a recruiter or HR admin wants to hire a new joinee in the HRMS system, there is a recruitment checklist the user can use. When the user is done with all the data entry, he can refer to this checklist in the system. Checklist has a bunch of tasks like passport and documents verified, bank documents sent, offer pack issued, identity check etc. Users can put the status against each task like initiated, completed etc.

2.What are all the main components for setting the hire template?

Ans:

• Template Record/Field
• Template Section
• Template Category Table
• Template Creation

3.When do we use the concept of effective sequence?

Ans:

Effective sequence concept is used in some key tables like Job. Job table has a high volume of employee transaction data. There are multiple types of transactions and they are all action driven. It is very likely in a business scenario that an employee has the same type of transaction more than once in the same day. For example: Employees can have a data change action happening on the same day more than once. In such a situation, for the same employment instance, we now have more than one row with the same effective date. In order to uniquely store this second transaction, we need another primary key which is where effective sequence comes into play. Hence Job table has a primary key structure: Employee id, employee record number, effective date and effective sequence.

4.What are Establishments?

Ans:

You use the Establishment component to define distinct physical places of business (establishments) within your company, to enter address information, and to enter regulatory reporting information. In PeopleSoft Human Resources, you define establishments that are consistent with the regulatory requirements of your business operations.

5. What are all the main components for setting the hiring template?

Ans:

• Template Record/Field
• Template Section
• Template Category Table
• Template Creation

6.What is a dynamic view?

Ans:

Dynamic View is similar to SL View but we cannot build the dynamic view. When we do not want to store the database then we use dynamic views.

7.What is the difference between SL View and query View?

Ans:

In Sl view, manually write the SQL statement, query view uses the PS QUERY tool.

8.What is ERP and how it is related to SAP?

Ans:

ERP is generally referred to a class of business software that addresses a business firm in totality, rather than one or two functions.For example, there are accounting software, inventory software, etc. that addresses a specific function of a business. However, ERP class software addresses all the functions of the business and provides an integrated view of the business to the management. SAP is a German company and is the world leader in ERP software across various industries.

9.How is standard hour and FTE auto calculated when entering job details for a new hire?

Ans:

Standard hour is defined in multiple ways in the system. Under Setup HRMS – Installation table in HRMS options, there is a standard hour rule setup. This is at the system level. Here the admin will define the minimum and maximum hours for the HR system and also the default hours. The second place where the setup can be done is in the job code table setup. Under Setup HRMS -> Foundation tables -> Job Attributes -> Job code table. When a user sets up a job code then the standard hours value can be set specific to that job code. When employee job details are being populated based on the job code, the standard hours and FTE will get refreshed. Also values like regular/ temporary will get populated.

10.What is the difference between a Translate table and a Prompt table?

Ans:

There are few differences between Translate tables and prompt table 1. Translate tables have a max length of 4 char for each element. However, prompt table elements have no such limitation.2. There can be only 30 entries in a translation table. Whereas prompt table can have n number of entries.

11.Explain What is the most important Record in PS HRMS?

Ans:

• 8.3 HRMS
• PS_JOB
• PS_EMPLOYMENT
• PS_PERSONAL_DATA
• 8.9 HCM
• PS_JOB
• PS_PERSONAL_DATA
• PS_PER_ORG_ASGN

12.What are all the various types of SJT?

Ans:

• SJT_CLASS
• SJT_CLASS_ALL
• SJT_PERSON
• SJT_DEPARTMENT

13.How to run the sr in command prompt. What are the parameters that are used for running the sr from command prompt?

Ans:

PeopleTools is installed in D:\PT848\

• D:\PT848\bin\sr\DB2\BINW\srw.exe
• D:\pt848\SR\infup_file_name.sr -i
• D:\pt848\SR\-ZIF
• D:\pt848\SR\pssr.ini -S -DEBUGX -PRINTER:PD -EH_PDF -f
• D:\pt848\output_file_name.pdf -o
• D:\pt848\log_file_name.log

Options:

• i => Input file Directory
• f => Output File Name
• o => Log file Name
• ZIF => SR Initialization File Name

14.What is the difference between Transaction tables and setup tables?

Ans:

Table Data which is going to change on daily is transaction table, Table data (Organisation Address, Phone No, Locations) which is going to change as part of the organisation approval is called setup tables

15.What are all the job level defaults?

Ans:

• Work
• Job Information
• Job Labor
• Payroll
• Salary Plan
• Compensation
• Employment Information
• Benefit Program Participation
• Earnings Distribution

16.How to retrieve the data from the 3rd scroll, using traversing?

Ans:

17.What is the purpose of the Job Earnings Distribution Information Page?

Ans:

• Department
• Job Code
• Earnings Code
• Business Unit
• Shift
• Position Number
• General Ledger Pay type

18.When a user logs into PS by virtue of which security attribute does the system default users country, name format and company etc?

Ans:

When a user logs in PS the system scans through the user profile to see the associated primary permission list.There is a setup called org defaults by permission list. Setup HRMS -> Foundation tables -> Organization -> Org Defaults by Permission list.For every permission list following field defaults are set here: Business unit, Setid, Company, Country, Regulatory region, Currency and name format.

19.Explain the concept of effective date and its advantages?

Ans:

Effective date concept is used in multiple core tables in PS HRMS. For example in a job this is a primary key. Purpose of this field is to differentiate multiple transaction rows for the same employee that have happened on two different dates. Effective date is also used in a lot of setup tables for example location. A location is say active as of today but 5 days later if I wish to make it inactive how does the system recognize the current status of location 5 days in future. It will be done by using the most effective dated row for that location.

20.What are the different kinds of organizational relationships in HRMS? Explain each with relevant examples.

Ans:

Different organization relationships a person can have are: Employee, Contingent worker or Person of Interest as per the person model. Employee is a permanent staff member of the firm who is paid by company payroll and has a hire row in job with all associated information like company, department, location and paygroup etc. Example is a permanent position for a chief executive or sales manager in the firm.

21.What are all the tree manager definitions?

Ans:

• Level
• Node
• Parent
• Sibling
• Child

22.What are all the job instances used for POIs?

Ans:

• COBRA qualified beneficiaries
• Stock employees not administered in Human Resources
• Global Payroll Employees
• Pension Payees
• Stock board members

23.What are Global assignments? What is the Home and Host concept? How is international assignments security implemented?

Ans:

Global assignments enables the organization to assign employees to a global assignment and to monitor, compensate and track education qualifications for the employee and dependents as they move to multiple locations in the organization having presence in different geographies. Employees are based in a Home location. The employee data, benefits and payroll information is maintained at the home location.

24.What are all the organisational instance components?

Ans:

• Add Employment Instance (Job_Data_Emp)
• Add Contingent Worker Instance (Job_Data_CWR)
• Add Person of Interest Job (Jon_Data_POI)

25.When you access an HCM component, say, Job Data, certain values like business unit, company etc are defaulted. What governs this concept?

Ans:

Values like business unit, company, country get defaulted by virtue of the user’s primary permission list. These default values are associated with SetIDs on the Business Unit Options Default page.Using the tableset controls and business unit default options, the system determines the default values to enter in select fields on the component. So, when a user accesses a component that uses a business unit and selects a business unit, the system determines the setID which drives the defaults for the business unit on the Tableset Control –Record group page.

26.What are all the components available under Setup HRMS?

Ans:

• Install
• Security
• Upgrade
• Foundation Tables
• Common Definitions
• Product Related
• System Administration

27.What are the different options of determining reporting hierarchy in PS as delivered?

Ans:

• To determine the reporting hierarchy for an employee in PS the delivered options are as follows:
• If the organization is position driven and uses full position management then the reporting is based on reports to the field.
• If the organization is not position driven then the reporting can be driven based on supervisor id defined in the job as one option.
• If the organization is not position driven then the reporting hierarchy can be driven based on the department tree structure as well. Example: In a job if the employee is in department X then the line manager will be the manager of that Department X. If the employee happens to be the manager of that department as well, then the line manager will be the manager of the parent department to X in the department tree structure.

28.What are all the statuses available on the template hire status page?

Ans:

• Pending Hires
• Cancelled Hires
• Processed Hires

29.What is a job family? How is it different from job codes in PS?

Ans:

To identify a particular job in PS HRMS we use job code. Example: You can have a job code representing Administrative assistant. This job code will have a defaulted salary grade and standard hours. A collection of multiple such jobs grouped together which use this job code will make a job family.

30.What are all the statuses used to define templates?

Ans:

• Test (Default Value)
• Active
• Inactive

31.How is Geographic location code different from locations?

Ans:

Location is the core table which is used to define all the office locations of the organization. All locations are tied to a company and setid. Location is also tied to a department. Geographic location is a US federal concept. This is specific to a State –City code. Locality pay area and law enforcement officer special pay area calculations are noted in this setup. Based on the geographic location code setup the locality pay percentages are calculated and used in the US payroll process.

32.What are the methods available to update worker’s compensation packages?

Ans:

• Seniority Pay increases
• Grade Advance increases
• Automated step increases
• Step increases using review bands
• Amount increases
• Percentage increases

33. What is the regulatory region?

Ans:

A regulatory region is a region which has laws and regulations that are used by functionality in PeopleSoft HRMS.

34. What are Frequency IDs?

Ans:

Frequency IDs are used in PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources, Global Payroll, and Payroll for North America. Frequency IDs are defined on the Frequency Table component (FREUENCY_TBL). Each frequency ID has a frequency type and an associated annualization factor that represents the number of times that the period occurs in the course of a year.

35.How do you set up a person of interest?

Ans:

To set up a person of interest types, use the Person of Interest Types (POI_TYPE_TBL) component.

36.In which situation will an employee need to have more than one employee instance with an organization? Explain with an example.

Ans:

Options in PeopleSoft to set up the hierarchy

If the organization is not fit to be position driven, then the other options available are:

Purpose of EMPLOYEES table in PS EMPLOYEES table is a current employee information table. This is primarily used in interfacing with third party systems.Purpose of personal data refresh process Personal data refresh process is used to populate the PERSONAL_DATA table. Post 8.8 version, this table has become a main reporting table.

37.How is standard hour and FTE auto calculated?

Ans:

Standard hour is defined in multiple ways in the system. Under Setup HRMS – Installation table in HRMS options, there is a standard hour rule setup.

38.Different options of determining reporting hierarchy in PS

Ans:

To determine the reporting hierarchy for an employee in PS the delivered options are as follows:When a user logs in PS the system scans through the user profile to see the associated primary permission list.

39.In which scenarios can a person hold multiple jobs?

Ans:

A person can have multiple jobs when: i) More than one active contingent worker or employment instance exists.

40.How is the Last Hire Date different from the Hire Date?

Ans:

• Last hire date is the date a person is hired or rehired in the organization. Hire date is the date associated with a hire action job row.
• Person modelIn person model, when the first time a person is added in the system, some of the key tables like NAMES, ADDRESSES, PERS_DATA_EFFDT.

41.What all components will have data permission security control access?

Ans:

• Departments
• Employee, Contingent Worker, and POI with Jobs.
• POI without jobs.
• Recruiting Federal People with jobs.
• Template based hires.

42.What are all the organisational relationships available while hiring an employee?

Ans:

• Employee
• Contingent Worker
• Person of Interest (POI)

43. List down the people part of the POI?

Ans:

• COBRA Participants
• Pension Payees
• Global Payroll Payees
• Stock non-HR Person
• Stock board members
• External Instructor
• Payroll Employees
• External Trainers

44.What are all the People Tools Security?

Ans:

• Permission List
• Roles
• User Profiles

45. What are all the default programs you need to run after creating the user profile?

Ans:

• Refresh SJT CLASS ALL
• Refresh Trans. SJT tables
• Refresh SJT OPR CLS

46.What are all the default Permission List used while creating the User ID?

Ans:

• Navigator Homepage Permission List
• Process Profile Permission List
• Primary Permission List

47.What are all the methods for assigning Data Permission Access to Permission List?

Ans:

• Tree based data permission security
• Role based data permission security

48. What are all the Access types for Department security sets?

Ans:

• Departments by Tree
• Departments by non – tree
• Departments by set id

49. What are all the Access types for People with jobs security sets?

Ans:

• Job department tree
• Job location
• Jon business unit
• Job Company
• Job regulatory region
• Job salary grade
• Person organisation
• Department ID – non tree
• Company – Pay group

50.What isEffective Date?

Ans:

Information Component /Record linked to the data EFFDT. Information changes based on the EFFDT.

51. What is Effective Sequence?

Ans:

Identifier to find the order of multiple transactions occurring on the same EFFDT.

52.What’s the difference between a position number and a job code?

Ans:

Position number is the unique identification number for driven by business unit , department ,location , job code and other parameters

53.What is the purpose of update/display mode?

Ans:

To add the new information current and future as well view the current data.

54. What is the purpose of correct history mode?

Ans:

To correct the past and current information based on the EFFDT.

55.What is the purpose of including history mode?

Ans:

To view the past information based on the EFFDT.

56.What is an Employee Record Number?

Ans:

Number to identify an employee’s different organizational relationships.

57.What are all the mandatory fields needed to key in while adding a person on the system?

Ans:

• Name
• Organizational relationship

National ID , Address, Birthdate gives us warning messages.

58.What is an employment instance?

Ans:

Employee relationship with organization. Where employees can have multiple relationships (instances) with the organization.

59. What is the difference between Set Id and a Business Unit?

Ans:

Where a Business Unit organizes your company or your organization, SetIDs help you organize your data within the system. The HRMS system uses tables(Control Tables or  Prompt Tables) that use a high-level key that enables you to identify and retrieve data from the system. A secondary high-level key.

60.What is HCCPALL?

Ans:

Delivered primary permission list with access to all the components and pages

61.What are all the Access types for Recruiting Job Opening security sets?

Ans:

• RS Company
• RS Business Unit
• RS Department ID
• RS Location
• Recruiting Team

62.What are all the Access types for Template Based Hire security sets?

Ans:

• Template ID
• Template Category
• Person Organisation
• Country

63.What is the default tree name needed to give while creating the new tree?

Ans:

Dept_Security followed by any name as per your requirement.

64.What would be the default effective date for creating the new tree?

Ans:

1/1/1900 or 1/1/1901

65. What is PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS is an integrated suite of applications and business processes that are based on PeopleSoft’s Pure Internet Architecture (PIA) and enterprise portal technologies.The sophisticated features and collaborative, self-service functionality available in PeopleSoft HRMS enable you to manage your human resources from recruitment to retirement while aligning your workforce initiatives with strategic business goals and objectives.

66.What is PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS Integrations?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS integrates with other PeopleSoft applications, such as PeopleSoft Enterprise Financials, PeopleSoft Enterprise Workforce Analytics, and PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management. PeopleSoft HRMS also integrates with other third-party applications. PeopleSoft HRMS uses various integration technologies to send and receive data.

67.What are the different components and component interfaces in PeopleSoft HRMS?

Ans:

Component Interface:

• Departments component (DEPARTMENT_TBL) – DEPARTMENT_TBL
• Establishment component (ESTABLISHMENT_DATA) – ESTABLISHMENT_DATA
• Job Code Task Table component (JOBCODE_TASK_TABLE) – JOBCODE_TASK_TABLE
• Job Code Table component (JOB_CODE_TBL) – CI_JOB_CODE_TBL
• Job Tasks component (JOB_TASK_TABLE) – JOB_TASK_TABLE
• Location component (LOCATION_TABLE) – LOCATION_TABLE
• FLSA Calendar Table (FLSA_CALENDAR) – FLSA_CALENDAR
• Pay Run Table (PAY_RUN_TABLE) – PAY_RUN_TABLE
• Tax Location Table component (TAX_LOCATION_TBL) – TAX_LOCATION_TBL

68. How does PeopleSoft HRMS store data?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS is a table-based system that stores critical general data, such as companies, work locations, and system specifications in a central location. The system enables users to access the same basic information while maintaining data accuracy and integrity.

69. is a control table in Peoplesoft HRMS?

Ans:

Control Tables – Control tables store information that is used to process and validate the day-to-day business activities (transactions) users perform with PeopleSoft HRMS applications The information stored in control tables is common and shared across an organization, for example, master lists of customers, vendors, applications, items, or charts of accounts. By storing this shared information in a central location, control tables help to reduce data redundancy, maintain data integrity, and ensure that users have access to the same basic information.

70. What are transaction tables in Peoplesoft HRMS?

Ans:

Transaction Tables – Transaction tables store information about the day-to-day business activities (transactions) users perform with PeopleSoft HRMS applications.The information stored in transaction tables often changes and is updated more frequently than the information stored in control tables.

71. What are Prompt Tables in PeopleSoft HRMS?

Ans:

Prompt Tables – Prompt tables are tables that are associated with fields on PeopleSoft application pages and which display valid data values for those fields when a user selects a prompt or search option.

72.What are Business Units in PeopleSoft HRMS?

Ans:

Business units are logical units that you create to track and report specific business information. Business units have no predetermined restrictions or requirements; they are a flexible structuring device that enable you to implement PeopleSoft HRMS based on how your business is organized.

73.What are Tablesets and SetIDs in PeopleSoft HRMS?

Ans:

Tablesets and setIDs are devices that enable you to share – or restrict – information across business units. For example, with tablesets and setIDs you can centralize redundant information such as country codes while keeping information such as departments and job codes decentralized.The overall goal of tablesets and setIDs is to minimize data redundancy, maintain data consistency, and reduce system maintenance tasks.

74.What are Effective Dates and what are the benefits of it?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS uses effective dates to store historical, current, and future information. Effective dates

enable you to: Maintain a chronological history of your data. By storing effective-dated information in tables, the system enables you to review past transactions and plan for future events.

For example, you can roll back your system to a particular time to perform historical analyses for your company. Or, you can set up tables and data ahead of time without using tickler or pending files.

75. What is Person or Position Structure in PeopleSoft HRMS?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS enables you to structure or drive your PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources system by person or by position. Before you set up information in the control tables, you must decide which method to use. The system processes the information differently depending on your choice.

76.What’s the Difference between Person or Position?

Ans:

When you drive PeopleSoft Human Resources by person, you use job codes to classify job data into groups. You use those codes to link person data to job data. When you drive PeopleSoft Human Resources by position, you still use job codes to create general groups, or job classifications, in your organization, such as EEO (equal employment opportunity) and salary survey data, but you also uniquely identify each position in a job code and link people to those positions.Job codes primarily have a one-to-many relationship with workers. Many workers share the same job code, even though they might perform the work in different departments, locations, or companies, as shown in the diagram below. You identify the job that a worker performs through the data that you enter in the worker’s job records. In contrast, positions usually have a one-to-one relationship with workers. However, you can have several positions with the same job code; positions track details of a particular job in a specific department or location.

77.Which Method Should You Use Person or Position?

Ans:

• To determine whether you should drive your system by person or position, consider the following:
• If your organization is fluid (that is, if you tend to look at broader groups of workers and create new jobs often), then driving the system by person is probably best for you.
• This method is useful if your organization is continually expanding or if new projects require that you create new jobs or job types regularly.
• If your organization is fairly static (that is, if jobs and job descriptions are mostly fixed, and people move in and out of the same positions), then driving the system by position is probably best for you.

78.What is your understanding of PeopleSoft HRMS System Data Regulation?

Ans:

As companies grow larger and more complex, they often need to collect the same type of data across many locations. PeopleSoft business units and setIDs enable you to organize businesses into logical units other than companies and departments and to define how organizational data is shared among these units. PeopleSoft HRMS system data is regulated through the use of business units, tablesets and setIDs, and tableset sharing. Business units are logical devices that enable you to implement PeopleSoft HRMS based on how your business is organized.

Tablesets, setIDs, and tableset sharing are organizational devices that enable you to share – or restrict – the information stored in your HRMS system across business units:

• Business – Unit A logical organizational entity.
• SetID – A high-level key on many control tables.
• TableSet – Set of rows on a control table, grouped by setID, that is available to specific business units.

79.What is the difference between record search from search dialog pages?

Ans:

The difference between record search from search dialog pages and using Search/Match is this: You use search box pages to retrieve existing records using limited search criteria to view or update data, and you use Search/Match to use a larger set of search criteria that detect duplicate or multiple records in your database or to identify different records that contain duplicate data that should uniquely identify only one ID.

80.What are Tablesets and how do you work with them?

Ans:

To work with table sets, you need to be able to distinguish between table sets, setIDs, and tableset sharing:

• tableset – A set of data rows in a control table that is identified by the same high level key.
• setID – The high level key that identifies a set of data rows. There are two types of

setIDs:

• Physical SetIDs – The setID of a business unit (BUSINESS_UNIT = SETID). The rows of data in a physical setID have a one to one relationship with the business unit.
• Logical SetID – A logical setID that is generic and determined by business rules other than business units. Logical setIDs enable you to share rows of data across multiple business units.
• tableset sharing – Sharing rows of data in a table set across business units or limiting rows to a single business unit.

81.What is Data Permission Security for HRMS?

Ans:

Data permission security refers to controlling access to the rows of data in your system. 

82.What are Security Sets and Security Access Types?

Ans:

A security set is a grouping of data that is being secured. The sets differ by the origin of the transaction security data.

83.How do you implement data permission security?

Ans:

• To implement data permission security,
• use the Security Installation Settings component (SCRTY_INSTALL),
• the Security Sets component (SCRTY_SET_TBL), and
• the Security Access Type component (SCRTY_TYPE2_TBL).

84. What is Future-Dated Security?

Ans:

The Security Installation Settings page enables you to select actions that, when used on the Work Location page (JOB_DATA1), trigger the SavePostChange PeopleCode to create a future-dated row in SJT_PERSON.

85.How do you SetUp and Assign Tree-Based Data Permission?

Ans:

• To set up and use tree-based data permission, use the Tree Manager component (PSTREEMGR),
• Security Tree Audit Report component (RUNCTL_PER506),
• Security by Dept Tree component (SCRTY_DATA), and
• Refresh SJT_CLASS_ALL component (SCRTY_OPR_RC).

86.How do you modify Security Trees?

Ans:

You can modify an existing tree by changing either the nodes or the levels. When you modify a security tree, the tree node numbers usually change, so you need to refresh the numbers. You also need to run the Refresh SJT_CLASS_ALL process to update the data access profiles and security join tables.

87.How do you allow Workers to Update Their Own Data?

Ans:

PeopleSoft HRMS doesn’t allow users to update their own data except in the self-service internet applications.However, sometimes you might want them to update some of their own data in other components. To allow users to update their own data, you implement the PeopleCode function Allow EmplIDChg (allow emplID change).The function looks for a single Boolean parameter. When the parameter is set to true, workers can update their own data; when it is set to false, they cannot.

88. How do you administer Country Codes?

Ans:

• To administer country codes, use the Country Table (COUNTRY_TABLE),
• the Country Table – HR (HR_COUNTRY_TABLE), and
• the State/Province (STATE_DEFN) components.

89. What is Search/Match?

Ans:

To use the full functionality of your system, you must maintain the integrity of your database. With users from many departments entering data into your system, you want to minimize the entry of duplicate or multiple records. Search/Match enables you to define criteria to check for duplicate or multiple ID records.

The searchable ID types (called Search Types) are:

• Person (EmplID)
• Applicant (HRS_PERSON_ID within PeopleSoft Enterprise Talent Acquisition Manager)

90.How do you set up Search/Match?

Ans:

• To set up Search/Match use the Search Match Rules (HCR_SM_RULE),
• Search/Match Parameters (HCR_SM_PARM),
• Search/Match Result Fields (HCR_SM_RSLT_FLDS),
• Search/Match Results (HCR_SM_RESULT), and
• Search/Match (HCR_SM_SEARCH) components.