Responsibility Central
Responsibility Central is the list of desks: the Payroll desk, the Compliance desk, the Time Office. Like Responsible it is picked on other screens, and like Responsible each entry names the screens it appears on. The difference is that this one is a function, not a person, so it never goes stale when somebody resigns.
What it is for
A named person is the wrong answer for anything long lived. The leave file for a factory worker belongs to the Time Office for as long as the company exists, whoever is sitting in it this month. That is what this list is for.
An entry is a code, a name and a list of the screens it is offered on. There is no phone number, no email address and no employee link, because a desk has none of those. If the client needs a contact point with a number and an address, that is Responsible.
The screen list works exactly as it does on Responsible. An entry with no screen lines is picked up by nothing, and an entry that is appearing where it should not has a line for a screen it does not belong on.
Block takes the entry out of circulation without deleting it, which is what you want when a department is reorganised and the old desk should stop being offered while the records that already point at it stay readable.
Every field, in plain words
Header
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responsibility Central | Your short code for the desk. | TIME-OFFICE | Required. It must be unique. |
| Name | The name shown wherever this is picked. | Time Office, Spinning and Weaving | Required. Name the desk, not the person sitting at it. |
| Block | Takes the desk out of the lists without deleting it. | Leave it clear while the desk is in use. | Tick it when the desk is retired. Existing records keep their reference. |
Process Code
One line per screen this desk is offered on.
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process Code | A screen where this desk appears in the list. | Employee Request Leave | Required on every line, picked from the list of screens. Add one line per screen. |
How to configure it
- List the desks the client actually works in. Four or five is normal. Twenty means somebody has listed people, not functions.
- Open Responsibility Central and create a record. Type the code and the name.
- Add a Process Code line for each screen the desk should be offered on.
- Save, then open one of those screens and check the desk is in its list.
- When a desk is retired, tick Block rather than deleting it.
Scenarios
"Every leave file is against a person who left the company"
Create the desk here, give it a line for the leave screens, and point new records at the desk. The person who answers for it changes without a single record changing.
"We reorganised and the old desk should not be picked any more"
Tick Block. It disappears from the lists and the older records that reference it still read correctly.
"The client wants a phone number against it"
Then it is a contact, not a desk. Use Responsible, which carries a position, a phone and an email.
What it is connected to
- Offered on whichever screens its Process Code lines name. In PeopleNest those are typically the leave screens, Offer, Recruitment Requisition, the loan screens and Employee Basic Information.
- The parallel list of named people is Responsible. Most clients end up using one or the other on a given screen, not both.
If something looks wrong
- "The save says the code cannot be empty" - the Responsibility Central field is blank.
- "The save says it already exists" - that code is already used. Codes must be unique.
- "The desk is not in the list on the screen where I need it" - there is no Process Code line for that screen. Add one.
- "A retired desk is still being picked" - Block is not ticked.