1. Introduction
Like any other system, we at Bezala have user roles and the more user roles you have, the more access you have to different parts of your Bezala environment. Since Bezala has expanded from our traditional travel and expense claim features to now include our new Time & Attendance features, we also saw the need for a new user role - hence the HR role was developed.
Some of the previous Manager and Beta-tester role abilities has been moved to the HR role. This article will give you a comprehensive report of the HR role abilities, but also a comparison between these roles.
Most HR role abilities are connected to Time & Attendance features and the user edit page. See section 3.1. how to give yourself an HR role if you already have a manager role.
2. HR role abilities
This section is divided into unique (2.1.) and shared (2.2) HR role abilities.
2.1. Unique HR role abilities
Here is the list of unique HR role abilities, which means that you need the HR role to access these settings in your Bezala environment:
Create and Edit access to all users' SSN field. The user can edit their own SSN in their profile, but the HR role can put in/edit all users SSN in the user edit page/create new user page. This is only possible for users with access to 1 Bezala environment. Read more here.
Access to the Time & Attendance Reporting-tab. When you generate a report for a work time group you simultaneously make the time entries and absences view only. That means you can't delete or edit time entries and absences that are included in the generated report. Read more here.
Can add project time entries and absences for all other users. (But approvers can do this for the users they are approvers of without HR role).
OBS! If your company has enforced SSN, only the HR role can add new users to the system. As a manager you can also avoid the problem by disabling the SSN enforcement setting. See more down below, section 3.
2.2. HR role abilities shared with other user roles
Can add users to your Bezala environment, but only users with the employee role (i.e. can't give more than employee role to new users). Managers have full access to edit and create users with different user roles.
Can edit the user's information in the user edit page. Needs Beta-tester role to have access to "Advanced preferences"-section of user edit page.
Can add time entries and absences, but needs an employee role to add expenses.
Can function as an approver for absences, but needs an employee role to function as an approver for expenses.
3. SSN enforcement and the HR role vs. Manager role
By enforcing the SSN for your company, you are saying that every new user needs an SSN, when added to your Bezala environment. Since only the HR role has access to SSN field for other users (see above 2.1.1.), an HR role is needed to add users to that environment (3.1.) or you could disable the SSN-enforcement setting (3.2.)
3.1. As a manager give yourself the HR role
Go to "Users" in the main menu and search for your own name in the search field.
Click edit pen on your user row.
Click the HR check box in the User roles section.
Remember to lastly click "Save".
Now, when you create a new user, you can see and edit the SSN field.
3.2. Or disable the SSN-enforcement
The SSN-enforcement is a setting available for Finnish and Swedish companies. If your company is based in Sweden, you should contact our support to disable the SSN-enforcement. If you are a Finnish company, a manager role user can disable the setting themselves.
Click on "Company settings" in the main menu ==> "Basic settings"-tab
Click on the "Reimbursement & Accounting"-tab.
Open "Income Register"-section.
Unclick the "Require SSN from all users" check box.
Lastly remember to click "Save" in the lower right-hand corner.
If you do this as a manager, remember to remind the new users to add their own SSN to their profile, so their expense claims can be sent to accounting. Remember that missing SSN and/or missing IBAN will cause a accounting batch failure.
4. Comparing other roles with the HR role
The HR role has been added to the system, so the responsibilities of our expense claim and Time & Attendance features can be given to different people in the company.
To have full access to everything related to the user edit page you need the following roles:
employee + beta tester + hr + manager
The main decision to make is who should have HR role and who should have Manager role and who needs both of them.
Give Manager role if:
User is going to need to access company settings, such as cost centers, chart of accounts and other company settings.
Needs to add users with larger user role (e.g. accountants, managers)
But doesn't need access to other people's SSN or make entries for other users in the Time & Attendance section.
Give HR role if:
User needs to be able to access SSN field for other users,
Needs to be able to add project time or absence entries for other users that they are not approvers of.
Needs to be able to generate Time & Attendance reports from Reports-tab.
Give both Manager and HR role if:
User is going to need to access company settings, such as cost centers, chart of accounts and other company settings.
Needs to add users with larger user role (e.g. accountants, managers)
User needs to be able to access SSN field for other users
Needs to be able to add project time or absence entries for other users that they are not approvers of.
Needs to be able to generate Time & Attendance reports from Reports-tab.
5. Comparison table of Employee, HR and Manager role
Action | Employee | HR | Manager | Is the Beta tester role needed? |
Create/edit own expenses | Yes | Not without Employee role | Not without Employee role | No |
Create Time entries and Absences | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Create new user | No | Yes, but new user can only be given employee role | Yes, but not if SSN is enforced | No |
Edit settings behind users | No, only some of their own in their profile | Everything, except user role section | Everything, except SSN field | Yes, to see and edit advanced settings section |
Can disable SSN enforcement (Finnish companies) | No | No | Yes | No |
Can see/edit company settings | No | No | Yes | Yes, for some advanced settings |
Can see/edit cost centers, accounts and tasks | No | No | Yes | Yes, for some advanced settings |
Can see/edit other users' expenses | Only if he/she has also approved the expense in question | Not without employee role and then only those expenses he/she has approved | Not without employee role and then only those expenses he/she has approved
i.e. accountant role is needed for this action | No |
Can create, see and edit other users' time and attendance entries | Yes, if user's approver | Yes | Yes, if user's approver | No |
Can see and generate T&A reports in Reports-tab | No | Yes | No, (i.e. not without HR role) | No |