Learn how to add and update workflow settings for a company, including FPS submissions, payslip and P45 delivery, pension letters, employee portal access, and automated payroll approval and closure.
This article explains how to add, update, and manage workflow settings for a company.
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Adding Workflow Settings
A workflow defines when specific payroll actions should happen in relation to the employee's payday, bank date, or payroll approval. You can add your company’s workflows when creating a new company or update them later when managing an existing company.
Before adding workflow settings, make sure the company's Pay Cycle has been configured.
Workflow settings are linked to a company's pay cycle, so at least one pay cycle must be available before a workflow can be created. For more information, see the Adding Pay Cycles section.
You can create multiple workflows within a company. This can be useful when different pay cycles require different scheduling or automation settings.
Example: A company may have a monthly pay cycle that requires payslips to be emailed on payday, while a weekly pay cycle may use a different schedule.
Steps to Add Workflow Settings
Workflows are the ninth step in the company setup process. To add a workflow, you need to click on the + Create. This will open up the screen below.
Field | Description | Notes |
Workflow Name | Name of the workflow. |
|
Pay cycle | Select from the created company pay cycles. |
|
FPS Submission Scheduler | Determines when FPS will be submitted. | Options are
|
Payslip Email Scheduler | Determines when payslip emails will be sent to employees. | Options are
|
P45 Email Scheduler | Determines when P45 emails will be sent to employees. | Options are
|
Add Payslips to Portal | Determines when payslips will be uploaded to the employee portal. | Options are
|
Upload P45s Portal | Determines when P45s will be uploaded to the employee portal. | Options are
|
Send Pension Letters | Determines when pension letters will be sent. | Options are
|
Auto-Enable Portal Access for New Employees | Automatically enables portal access when a new employee is manually created or imported and assigned to the relevant pay cycle. |
|
Automatically notify employees when payslips are available on portal | Enable this if you want to notify the workers when the payslips are uploaded to the portal |
|
Automated payroll approval (days) | Enter the number of days before the payday to approve the payroll |
|
Close payroll automatically (days) | Enter the number of days after the payday to close the payroll |
|
Note: Once configured, the workflow will automatically run for both main and supplementary payroll runs.
You will see a confirmation pop-up on the payroll run screen during approval if you have the workflow set up.
Automated Payroll Approval & Closure Process
MDP allows you to automatically approve and close payrolls based on the number of days specified in your workflow settings.
This feature can be particularly useful for payrolls where employees have recurring pay items that do not change from one pay period to the next, such as regular "no-change" payrolls. Once configured, MDP can automatically approve the payroll before the pay date and close it after the pay date, reducing the need for manual processing.
You can configure the following workflow settings:
Automated payroll approval (days) – specifies how many days before the pay date the payroll should be automatically approved. Negative values are not supported.
Close payroll automatically (days) – specifies how many days after the pay date the payroll should be automatically closed. Zero and negative values are not supported.
The Automated payroll approval (days) setting determines when MDP will attempt to approve the payroll before the pay date.
For example, if you set the value to 3 days, MDP will attempt to automatically approve the payroll 3 days before the pay date.
At the scheduled time:
If the payroll is unlocked, MDP will first lock the payroll and then approve it.
If the payroll is locked, MDP will approve it directly.
The automatic approval will only take place if the payroll is still within the applicable workflow stage at the scheduled time.
Note: If the workflow is configured after the specified number of days before the pay date has already passed, the automatic approval will not be triggered for that payroll.
The Close payroll automatically (days) setting determines when MDP will automatically close the payroll after the pay date.
For example, if you set the value to 2 days, MDP will attempt to close the payroll 2 days after the pay date.
Note: Before enabling automatic payroll closure, make sure there is sufficient time after payday to review the payroll and make any required corrections. Once a payroll is automatically closed, this may affect your ability to make changes.
Example
If your payroll has a pay date of Friday and you configure:
Automated payroll approval: 3 days
Close payroll automatically: 2 days
MDP will:
Attempt to approve the payroll 3 days before the pay date.
On the pay date, the payroll will be paid as scheduled.
Attempt to close the payroll 2 days after the pay date.
This allows recurring, no-change payrolls to move through the approval and closure stages automatically.
Workflow failure notifications
If MDP is unable to complete an automatic approval, automatic closure, or another workflow action, you will receive a notification.
You can view workflow notifications by selecting the bell icon in the top-right corner of MDP. Review the notification to identify the reason for the failure and take any required action.
Updating Workflow Settings
To update or create your workflow settings after the initial setup, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Dashboard by clicking the logo. The Company List will then be displayed.
Locate the company you want to update and click the Edit
icon.
On the company details page, locate the Workflow section.
In the Workflow section, you will have two options based on the initial setup
Add: If no workflows were configured during the initial setup, you will see the + Add option. Follow the steps outlined in the Adding Workflow Settings section.
More: If workflow settings were previously added, the More option will be available.
Click More to view the existing workflows. Locate the workflow settings you want to update.
Click the Edit icon next to the scheme you wish to modify.
Click Save to apply changes.
To create an additional workflow setting, click + Create.
Click Save to apply changes.
To delete the workflow, please click the Delete icon and click Proceed on the confirmation pop-up.
To discard any changes you have made and reload the previously saved data, select Reset.
Click the Close icon
at the top right of the slider to discard changes.
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