This article provides step-by-step guidance on processing payroll and accessing employee payment reports efficiently.
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Accessing the Run Payroll Screen
To access the payroll run screen, please follow the steps below
Navigate to the dashboard by clicking on the logo. This will take you to the "Manage Clients" list.
Find the client and click the "People" icon
in the corresponding row. This will open a list of employees.On the employee dashboard, click on the "Payroll" tab. An orange underline will indicate the active tab.
Select the Current Period tab. This tab is selected by default.
Click the Reports icon
in the desired pay period to initiate the payroll process.
Completing Payroll for the Current Period
The system automatically calculates payroll for each pay period once employees are added to the pay cycle. Employees with employment details only will appear in the payroll run.
Note: Ensure all employees' pay data is entered before processing payroll. If pay data is missing, the report and payslip will reflect a value of zero. Learn more about adding pay data here.
Payroll Run Overview
At the top of the payroll run screen, you will find key details:
Payroll Name: Name of the payroll, which can be changed.
Employee Count: The total number of employees included and excluded in the payroll run.
Pay Period: Displays the tax week or tax month based on the pay cycle.
Pay Date: The scheduled payment date, which can be changed.
Current Period Status: Indicates if the period is Completed, Approved, Closed, Error, or Locked.
Steps to Complete a Pay Run
Ensure that all employee pay data is accurately entered before proceeding with payroll processing. If pay data is missing, the report and payslip will reflect a value of zero
By default, the current period status will show as completed.
Verify the Pay Period, Pay Date, and Employee Count.
Edit/Update Pay Date: You can edit the pay date by selecting a different date and then clicking Save to update it. Once the payroll is locked, you can’t update the pay date.
Note: You can only select a pay date that falls within the start and end dates of the pay period defined in the pay cycle settings. Click on "x" to close the pop-up.
Payroll Name: You can update the payroll name by editing it directly. Once the payroll is locked, you can’t update the payroll name.
If you prefer not to process payroll for certain employees, you can easily exclude them from the payroll run. Click on the Employee Excluded & Included Link. Learn more about this here.
Download and resolve Errors and Warnings (if any). Changes will update payroll automatically. Click the Recalculate button at the top if needed.
Download the PBE Report to review payroll calculations, including earnings, deductions, and taxes. Learn more about the PBE report here.
Download the Pay Item Result Listing report to review all pay items, including system-generated pay items for all employees. It will show negative values for the deduction pay items. Learn more about the Pay Item Result Listing report here.
(Optional) Download and verify Payslips. The payslips that are at the completed/locked stage will have the "Draft" watermark when you download them.
(Optional) Use this option to add notes to the payslip. See this section for more details.
(Optional) If any changes have been made to the employee record, click the Recalculate button to update the calculations.
Click Lock Current Period to finalise payroll. The current period status will be changed to "Locked" status.
Once locked, modifications are not allowed. You need to unlock the period to make any changes.
Approve payroll by selecting Approve Current Period. This enables access to pension reports and FPS submissions. Note: Payroll cannot be approved if there is no pay data for all employees on the payroll.
Note: You will see a confirmation pop-up while approving payroll if you have the workflow set up.
After approval, the payroll status updates to Approved.
If the payslip scheduler is turned on, the status will appear as Email Scheduled. If you have also enabled the option to publish payslips to the portal in the workflow settings, the status will display as On Portal.
Note: Refresh the page to see the updated status.
If the workflow settings are not enabled, payslips can be sent by clicking Send Payslips > Email Payslips. After payslip emails are sent, the status will update from Not emailed to Emailed.
(Optional) If the workflow settings are not enabled, payslips can also be shared with the worker portal by selecting Send Payslips > Send Payslips to Portal.
Note: Before using this option, you must enable portal access. If portal access is not enabled, an error message will appear. At a minimum, portal login must be enabled for at least one employee.
(Optional) Access additional reports, such as Pension Reports and FPS Submissions, after approval.
(Optional - FPS) If the FPS scheduler is turned on, the status will appear as Scheduled.
Note: Refresh the page to see the updated status.
(Optional - FPS) If the workflow settings are not enabled, you can download the FPS once the period is approved. The section will show the FPS status as Incomplete before the download. You can also access and do this after closing the current period.
(Optional - FPS) After downloading, the FPS status will change to Pending. You will then have the option to submit FPS. Learn more about FPS submissions here (add link).
(Optional - FPS) Once the FPS is submitted successfully, the section will display the FPS status as Success, along with options to download an Excel file containing the submitted data and an XML file of the submission request.
(Optional - FPS) When submitting a late Full Payment Submission (FPS), a slider will appear with submission details. Select the appropriate option and click Proceed to finalise the submission. The FPS status will be updated based on the FPS submission.
(Optional - FPS) If the FPS fails for some reason, then you can download the report, and the FPS status will be changed to Pending.
(Optional) To generate pension reports, click the Report button in the pension section. To access the letter, click the Letters button in the pension section. For more details, check the respective sections on pension reports and letters. You can also access this after closing the current period.
(Optional) You can also access the Final Reports section, which will include the Bank File, and Journals for this payroll. These reports can be accessed and downloaded even after closing the current period
(Optional) If corrections are needed, you can use the Undo Approval option. This will reset the payroll status to Completed and allow for necessary adjustments before proceeding. Once the corrections are made, you can continue with the payroll process
(Optional) If there are any leavers during that pay period, then you can send the P45s by clicking on the send P45s button in this section.
To finalise payroll, click Close Current Period. This moves the period to Payroll History, and the next pay run is created automatically.
Additional Details for the Pay Run
Excluding or Including Employees from Payroll
If you prefer not to process payroll for certain employees, you can easily exclude them from the payroll run. Follow the steps below to manage employee inclusion and exclusion:
How to Access the Exclusion/Inclusion Panel
Click on the "Employee Excluded & Included" link to open the panel where you can adjust employee selections for payroll processing.
To Exclude Employees:
Use the slider to view the list of employees.
To exclude a particular employee, untick the checkbox next to their name.
To exclude all employees, simply deselect the checkbox at the top of the list. This action will exclude all employees across all pages. If you apply a filter first and then deselect the checkbox, only the filtered employees will be excluded.
The employee will then appear in the Excluded Employees list on the right-hand side.
Click Proceed to save your changes.
To Include Employees:
On the right-hand side (Excluded Employees list), tick the checkbox next to the employee(s) you wish to include.
The selected employee(s) will move to the Included Employees list on the left-hand side.
To include all employees, simply select the checkbox at the top of the list. This action will include all employees across all pages. If you apply a filter first and then select the checkbox, only the filtered employees will be included.
Click Proceed to save your changes.
Additional Tools and Filters:
You can use the filter icon to search for employees by Name, Gross Pay, or Employee Number.
By default, the panel displays the first 10 employees. Use the pagination controls at the bottom to navigate through the full list.
This feature allows you to efficiently manage who is included in each payroll cycle, ensuring you have full control over your payroll processing.
Note: Once the payroll run is complete, this option will be switched to view-only mode, and the checkboxes will no longer be available.
Errors and Warnings
If errors or warnings appear, they will be listed in this section with corresponding counts. If there are any errors, payroll cannot be processed, and the current period status will change to Error.
Errors: Must be resolved before proceeding. Common issues include incorrect tax codes.
Warnings: Payroll can still be processed, but affected employees (e.g., missing bank details) will be skipped.
Download the Error and Warnings Report for more details.
Bank File
To download the bank file:
Navigate to the Reports section.
Click the Download icon.
Possible bank file errors include missing or incorrect employee bank details. If bank details are missing or incorrect, the payroll process may need to be rolled back to the previous period to correct the information. To avoid this, ensure all bank details are entered correctly before running payroll.
A TXT File button appears for successful downloads.
An Error File button appears if issues are detected. Download the file to review and correct errors.
If some details are incorrect, both an Error File and a TXT File will be available for download. If all details are incorrect, only the Error File will appear. Please see the reference images below.
For Zempler Bank, it will also show the option to download the "International File" format.
Adding, Updating, Viewing, and Deleting Payslip Notes
You can add notes to employee payslips once the payroll has reached the Completed status. Follow the steps below to manage payslip notes.
Add Payslip Notes
Go to the Payslip section and click the Note option.
A slider panel will appear, displaying the list of workers.
You can select all employees or choose specific workers to add notes for.
You may also select multiple groups of employees to apply different messages or target a single worker as needed.
Tip: The Select All option only applies to the current page. To manage more employees at once, set the pagination to 100 per page.
After selecting the desired workers, click Add Note. You may select all workers, specific individuals, or multiple groups to add notes. Different notes can be applied to different groups or to a single worker as required.
In the pop-up window, enter the relevant note and click Save.
To make the note appear in the next payroll, check the Make this note recurring option before saving.
The added note will appear at the top section of the payslip.
Update Notes: To update an existing note, select the worker again and click Add Note. A confirmation pop-up will appear—click Yes to proceed.
Enter the updated note in the pop-up and click Save.
If you would like the note to appear in future payrolls, select Make this note recurring before saving.
View Notes: To view an existing note, click the View icon in the Action column.
The note will open in a pop-up window. Click "X" to close the pop-up.
Delete Notes: To delete a note, click the Delete icon in the Action column.
Using Filters
Filters help you quickly locate specific employees. Click on the "Filter" icon
to expand the view below. Click the filter icon again to collapse the filter section.
First Name: In this box, you can enter the employee's first name. You can manually type or click the down arrow to select from the available list. To clear the entered text, click the "X" icon.
Surname: In this box, you can enter the employee's surname. You can manually type or click the down arrow to select from the available list. To clear the entered text, click the "X" icon.
Employee Number: In this box, you can enter the employee number. You can manually type or click the down arrow to select from the available list. To clear the entered text, click the "X" icon.
Department: If a department has been assigned to the employee, you can use this field to filter employees by their associated department.
Cost Centre: If a cost centre has been assigned to the employee, you can use this field to filter employees by their associated cost centre.
Status: You can filter the list by the note status.
Pay Item Result Listing
This report provides a breakdown of all processed pay items, including system-generated pay items for all employees. It will show what each pay item is subjected to.
Journals
The Journal Report contains payroll-related credit and debit entries. Journal codes are derived from pay items and can be edited if needed. To update journal or nominal codes, refer to this guide here.
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