How to generate Pay Runs

I. Introduction

Pay Run is the process by which you finalize a completed pay period. First, you generate a DRAFT pay run for a selected pay period. While in DRAFT state, you can still make changes to workers' time & attendance data for that pay period. Any such changes will mark the pay run as "Stale", and you can sync those changes into the pay run. Once you're done making changes for that pay period, you Finalize the pay run. Once finalized, all time & attendance data for that pay period is locked and can no longer be changed. Pay stubs for each worker can be printed or exported. This workflow enables you to have an immutable and accurate snapshot of the final payroll for that pay period. There are special reports built around Pay Runs to give you deep analytics on your labor costs. These reports are also much faster than the other Time Cards and Totals reports, and can be run on long date ranges.

II. Set up

Before you can enable Pay Runs, you'll need to set up Pay Classes. Here's another knowledge base article on how to set that up:   How to set up a Pay Class

You may also want to configure each worker's compensation (i.e., pay rates), which is also explained in that knowledge base article link above.

Once you've set up Pay Classes, you can enable the Pay Run feature in the Console under Settings => Payroll => Defaults. Check the box labeled "Enable Pay Runs", and save.

By default, a pay class's Pay Date is the same day that the pay period ends. If your Pay Date is some number of days after the pay period ends, then you can configure that under the Pay Class settings as follows:

Administrators with the "Account Owner" role will always have access to generate Pay Runs and view Pay Run reports. Regular administrator will not have access unless they are granted permission. To edit an administrator's permissions, go to Settings => Users, open that administrator's profile, and expand the Permissions section. In order to access Pay Run data, an administrator must have the "Manage payroll" permission, as follows:

III. Generate Pay Run

Once the pay period ends, you will generate a Pay Run by going in the Console to Manage => Payroll.

Recent Pay Runs will be displayed in the list. To filter the Pay Run list, click on the Filter button at the top. You will be able to select a Pay Date range and one or more Pay Classes.

To generate a new Pay Run, click on the "Add Pay Run" button at the top right. There you will be able to select the Pay Class and Pay Period.

Once you create the Pay Run, its details will open and show in PROCESSING state.

After a few moments, initial processing will complete, and all the details will populate in DRAFT state.

At the bottom, each individual worker's pay summary is displayed. To open more detail on a particular's worker pay run information, just click on that worker's row.

In particular, you'll see each pay segment for that worker at the bottom. A pay segment corresponds to a punch or a time off entry. Shift and job information can also be viewed for each segment. Some columns are hidden by default, so just click on the gray Columns button above the Pay Segments list to change your columns options.

While the Pay Run is in DRAFT state, you can still edit time & attendance data for workers in that pay class during that date range. If any changes are made, the Pay Run will display as Stale.

To import the changes into the pay run, open the pay run and click the yellow Sync Changes button near the top.

Once refreshed, the changes will appear in the Pay Run. In the example screenshot below, we just imported changes to add Vacation time off for Jane Smith.

While in DRAFT state, any changes made to any worker's pay class, org unit, department, and/or labels will also mark the Pay Run as stale and can be imported.

However, there are several other types of settings that can not be changed while there is a DRAFT Pay Run: Pay Class settings, Pay Codes, Job and Shift labels, and Org Unit timezone. Attempting to change these settings while there is a DRAFT pay run will show an error message.

When you're done make changes for that pay run's pay period, you're then ready to Finalize the Pay Run. To do so, open the pay run and click the green "Finalize Pay Run" button. Note that Finalize will lock your time & attendance data and can't be undone, so make sure you're ready.

Once finalized, you can print or export Pay Stubs to CSV, Excel, or PDF. Just click the blue "Pay Stubs" button at the top right of the Pay Run Details.

If you want to print or export a single Pay Stub for one particular worker, just select that worker's pay summary at the bottom of the pay run details, which will open the worker's pay details. From there, click on the Pay Stub button near the top right.

IV. Reports

There are three reports designed exclusively for Pay Run data analytics. These reports can be access from the left menu under Reports.

These reports are:

1. Pay Run Analysis - This report displays pay run totals, dated by the Pay Date. You can filter and/or group by worker, with many additional customization options.
2. Pay Run Code Analysis - This report breaks out each pay code and time off code to separate lines.
3. Pay Run Labor Analysis - This report analyzes the pay segments, and is dated by the Entry Date (i.e., punch or time-off date). It includes job costing and shift information.

These reports are faster and more capable of running over longer date ranges than other reports, such as the Time Cards and Totals reports. All reports can be printed, or exported to CSV, Excel, or PDF.

Here is an example screenshot of the default Pay Run Analysis report, run without any customizations set. The screenshot also shows the Customize drawer on the right side with many options, including additional columns that can be enabled. To open the Customize drawer, click on the Customize button near the top left of the report.

If you'd like to Group By Worker, you can do so.

There are also many other Group By options, and you can even have multiple grouping levels.

Here is an example of the Pay Run Code Analysis report.

Of course you can also group this report by Worker and/or many other options.

And here is the Pay Run Labor Analysis report.

That report can also be grouped and/or filtered by Worker, Job, and/or more than 10 other fields.

V. Time Off Policy

Time Off Policies can be set up with auto accrual and rollover rules using Pay Runs. For more information, check out our knowledge base article on Time Off Policies:

https://support.fareclock.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500002458662-How-to-set-up-Time-Off-Accruals-and-Policies

VI. Roadmap

We plan to use Pay Runs as the basis for a payroll platform. Other features will be added on top of it, such as:

• Manual pay segments and adjustments (e.g., worker was underpaid or overpaid in a prior pay run)
• Pay Ledgers (e.g., deductions, loans, garnishments, etc.)
• Approval policies and notifications (e.g., supervisor, project manager, executive, and/or worker must approve before pay run can be finalized)
• Bonuses
• Ad hoc pay run (e.g., outside regular pay period and/or for selected workers, final termination or severance pay)
• Net Pay calculation