Centaur - Admin support staff FAQ
Responses to Centaur related questions it's assumed that you have read clerical user guide.
- What format do the time values require?
Both sections of the timesheet, attendance and project hours, require time in the format hh:mm or hh.mm. where a decimal place is inserted it will be converted to a colon eg 3.50 will be converted to 3:50 Where there is a missing minute a leading zero will be applied ie 3:5 is 3:05 NOT 3:50. For the project sheet where 00:00 is required the field can be left blank
- I have got an unusual working pattern. How does
Centaur handle this?
At the beginning of the year your agreed work pattern will be entered by a Centaur administrator. Once entered this will be accessible for you to review from your home page on Centaur. When calculating your Flexi time Centaur subtracts the time you were scheduled to work from the time you worked that day.
- I work part-time hours what would happen when I work
during a week when I am not scheduled to be working.
Several possibilities exist here. By inserting attendance on days you are not scheduled to work your flexi balance will grow. Either this balance is carried and used or HR may subtract from your flexi balance and allow a day to be taken in lieu. What happens depends on your contract please consult HR.
- What would happen if someone is sick for more than a week and
therefore their attendance sheet will be automatically submitted
incorrectly?
Your Centaur line manager would be able to add the sick leave on behalf of the user - the usual procedure is that the user should let the line manager know that they are absent from work in any case and the manager should be able to amend the sheet accordingly.
- What happens if the manager doesn't know that someone is off
sick, i.e. something has happened to the point that the person cannot advise
the manager?
This is an issue beyond Centaur; sheets won't be accepted or rejected until the line manager actions them.
- Who is my Centaur line manager?
Essentially HR should notify you who this is. Your Centaur line manager is likely to be the senior administrator of your group. If you are the Centaur line manager for others your Centaur line manager will be HR.
- Who accepts my timesheet, and how regularly?
Your timesheet will be automatically submitted on the following Monday evening (giving you Monday to complete last week's sheet). These submitted sheets will be ready for checking by your Centaur line manager Tuesday morning.
- What if my Timesheet is incomplete and has been
automatically submitted.
Whilst your sheet is ready for checking by your Centaur line manager they will be able to return incomplete days or fill in 'gaps' on the sheet. A sheet that is returned will be automatically submitted the next Monday evening.
- What happens if I have an appointment at
the Doctor's?
Enter the number of hours and minutes your appointment took in the appointments box. Where your appointment is over two hours Centaur will deduct the appointment time minus two hours from your daily balance. Enter your start and end times for each period as the times you would have left.
- What is the role of a Centaur manager?
A Centaur manager is able to accept and decline timesheets for users in their groups'. They are also able to create Centaur projects that will appear on the members of their group's timesheets (project hour's section of the timesheet)
- What is the role of a Centaur administrator?
A centaur administrator is able add and removed users to groups, edit a user details eg holiday allowance, working pattern and override timesheets, where they have already been accepted.
- My leave balance seems wrong what should I do?
Contact a Centaur administrator who will be able to check your annual allocation.
- Who are the Centaur administrators?
For admin support staff these will be the HR office.
- Who are the Centaur managers?
These are generally the senior administrators of each group. Please see question above (Who is my Centaur line manager?)
- Where can I get help?
In the first instance seek advice from your Centaur line manager. Failing this please contact a Centaur administrator (HR).
- Why is my flexi balance negative during the week?
The balance you see on the right hand side of the sheet reflects the balance you would have at the end of the week if the sheet were to be left and submitted as it is, and is only really useful once you have completed the sheet. The more useful figures are those of th running total under the current day and your balance at the start of the week (shown on the left of the sheet).
- My flexi balance for the start of this week has been
reset to zero.
The flexi balance at the start of the week is an indicator until your previous week's sheet has been accepted by your CEntaur line manager. If your flexi balance appears to have been reset to zero it is possible that you may have a full week's work of leave on a previous sheet and this sheet needs accepting. If your flexi balance at the start of the week seems incorrect the first thing to check is that all previous sheets have been accepted.
- Is it possible to have a floating regular working week?
From time to time, by arrangement with the company supporting my funding, Ill
work on different days to fit in with various diary commitments
Centaur should allow you to insert times for days you are not scheduled to work and then insert the 'O' code into the sheet for the days you will be taking off in lieu. For the scenario you explain this appears to be the best solution the alternative is that your working pattern as set by a Centaur Administrator (HR) is constantly modified.
- If I am ill/forget to complete the Centaur timesheet during the week concerned, and then the following Monday is a BH, or Im on leave (for example) then Im not able to amend the system to input the actual hours worked. Or perhaps someone is able to advise whom I should contact to make a manual amendment.
There are a couple of ways that a unfinished sheet can be edited. On automatic submission of the sheet it will appear in the Centaur line manager's list of sheets to validate, where they are able to correct figures insert missing data (eg the user was off sick), or if they notice that the sheet has not been completed can reject or send back days on the sheet to the user to edit. The user has until the next auto submit date to correct the sheet, after which the process of sending the sheet can be repeated. Note after the sheet has been accepted by the Centaur manager it can be overridden by a Centaur Administrator but this should only occur in exceptional circumstances and within a limited window of opportunity (later on the sheets can not be overridden).
- It would be useful to have external Centaur access
this should help with ensuring that the info is submitted on time.
Centaur is accessible externally.
- Can I suggest improvements?
Yes, please send these to centaur-admin @ eng.cam.ac.uk