Skip to main content

Run payroll for a pay period

Use this each pay period to calculate pay, have it approved and release payslips and payments.

Before you start​

  • Pay periods exist in the payroll calendar for the year.
  • Employees have approved salaries. See Set an employee's salary.
  • Attendance for the period is processed, and variable pay is approved.
  • A second payroll administrator is available to finalize. The person who processes a run can't finalize it.

1. Create the run​

  1. Go to Payroll Runs and select New payroll run.
  2. Choose the Payroll policy, Payroll year and Pay period.
  3. If you use pay groups, choose the Pay group, or Employees with no pay group. Each pay group is run separately.
  4. Add Remarks if needed, and create the run.

Everyone with an approved salary on that policy during the period is added to the run. If the period list is empty, generate the periods in the payroll calendar first.

2. Process​

  1. Open the run and select Process.
  2. The run moves to Queued, then Processing, showing how many employees are done. When it finishes, its status is Ready for review.

When a run is processed for the first time, attendance and leave for the period are locked. Employees and managers can't apply, approve or cancel leave or attendance requests in the attendance window until the run is published. You can also Lock attendance or Unlock attendance yourself from the run. After unlocking, requests can change pay, so reprocess afterwards.

3. Review​

On the Employees tab:

  • Check each employee under Needs a look, for example Joined this period, Loss of pay, Negative net pay or Net pay changed over 20%. See Payroll run statuses and checks for the full list.
  • Open an employee to see the breakdown of their pay.
  • Select employees, or use Select by codes, to act on several at once:
    • Reprocess recalculates the selected employees. Reprocess all recalculates everyone.
    • Hold pay calculates pay but doesn't release it. Release hold releases it later, even after the run is closed.
    • Exclude leaves employees out of this period. Include again brings them back; reprocess them afterwards.

Then work through the Before you finalize list on the run. It lists anything that blocks finalizing, such as employees not processed or failed.

4. Finalize​

A different administrator selects Finalize. Results become permanent, year-to-date totals are updated and the salaries used are frozen.

5. Publish and pay​

  1. On the Payslips tab, select Generate payslips. Employees are notified as each payslip is ready. Use Retry failed payslips if any fail.
  2. Select Publish. Employees can see their pay for the period, and the run can no longer be reversed.
  3. On the Payments tab, download the bank file. Employees on hold are left out of it.
  4. On the Journal tab, export the accounting journal.

If something is wrong​

SituationWhat to do
The run isn't finalized yetFix the cause and Reprocess.
The run is finalized but not published or paidSelect Reverse and give a reason. Year-to-date totals and frozen salaries are rolled back so the period can be run again.
You want to start the period again from scratchSelect Cancel run. Its results are kept for reference, and you can start a new run for the period.
The run is publishedCorrect the salary or attendance. The next regular run pays the difference as arrears.

A run can't be reversed while its payments are initiated or paid.