Cluster Tables in Payroll

Question

Hi
what is the functionality of cluster tables in payroll.
Rex

Answer 1

hi,
For: u201CTwo Ways to Easily Access Payroll Information,u201D by Rehan Zaidi, senior SAP consultant, Siemens Pakistan. The author provides a detailed introduction of clusters, describes their structure, and explains the purpose that they serve in SAP HR.
Usage of Clusters Within HR
The HR module utilizes clusters for storing information in a variety of areas. Some of the tables available for storing data clusters are PCL1, PCL2, PCL3, PCL4, and PCL5, as shown in Table 1. Clusters provide numerous advantages. For instance, they are best for storing long texts and notes related to infotypes. The monthly payroll results and payroll directory of an employee are also stored in cluster form in table PCL2. 
PCL1     TX     Infotype texts
     TE     Travel expenses
     TA     General data for accounting of travel expenses
PCL2     ID     Interface toolbox u2013 directory of interface results
     ZL     Time wage types and work schedule
     RU     Payroll results (US)
PCL3     TY     Applicant data texts
     AP     Applicant actions
PCL4     P2     Log for RPCALX0 and RPTIME00
     U1     Tax reporter forms for US
PCL5     PY     Payroll data for personnel cost planning
     CP     Planning run data for personnel cost planning
STXL      TX     Notes related to infotypes
Table 1     HR tables that use clusters
All these tables have a predefined structure. The structure of one of these tables is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1     Structure of table PCL1
The tables that store clusters have the following fields in common:
RELID u2013 This is a two-character field that identifies the cluster, e.g., TX, RX, etc.
SRTFD u2013 This field denotes the key passed by the application program while importing and exporting data stored in a particular cluster. This is similar to key fields for a database table that uniquely identify a record. Generally, the key is comprised of the fields mentioned between RELID and SRTF2 in the table definition. In the case of table PCLX , there is only one u2013 field SRTFD. However, in the case of table STXL, fields TDOBJECT, TDNAME, TDID, and TDSPRAS collectively make up the key.
SRTF2 u2013 This serves an additional or a duplicate key field. This field is utilized when the fields SRTFD and RELID alone are not sufficient for uniquely identifying a table record. If a record is more than one line long, then a new row is inserted with a different SRTF2. For the first (or the only) row, this field has a value of 0. If the cluster data corresponding to the same SRTFD value extends over multiple lines, new rows are inserted with an incremented value of SRTF2 such as 1, 2, 3 and so on. The system judges the size of data and the possible increment in the SRTF2 field value, so the developer need not worry about it.
CLUSTR u2013 This field shows the size (in bytes) of the data stored in a particular table row
CLUSTD u2013 This contains the actual data, for instance the infotype text, stored in compressed form
Storing data in the form of clusters lets you create logical partitions within one database table. A single table may be used for storing data from different functional areas. This relieves the developer from creating separate tables (and programming update functions) for data belonging to each application area. For example, PCL1 table comprises of clusters TX and TE for storing infotype text and data of travel expenses, respectively. A two-character ID in field RELID identifies each cluster. Via clusters, a single table may be used to store data (such as long text related to a variety of application areas) under a separate cluster ID with a single key value. Otherwise, this information (e.g., long text, internal tables, and flat data structures) would have to be stored in separate table. Data may be exported to and imported from the table via the usage of EXPORT and IMPORT statements, respectively. For more information about these two ABAP commands, refer to the SAP documentation (SAP Library>mySAP Technology Components>SAP Web Application Server>ABAP Programming and Runtime (BC-ABA)>The ABAP Programming Language>Saving Data Externally>Saving Data Objects as Clusters>Data Clusters in the Database).
Rupa Prasad