This article describes the steps needed to process and approve time sheets prior to processing payroll. Complete steps in order. Finally, lock the pay period to prevent further edits, ensuring data integrity before finalizing payroll.
Export Time to External System
Creating the Payroll Export File
Time Prep
Navigate to Team > Payroll > Process Payroll and locate the next open pay period. The top section will be Payroll Prep-Pre-Processing.
The next scheduled pay date will be listed (depending on your filter more check dates may display), click the 'Payroll Prep Process' button to go to the Payroll Prep Process.
- Select Go To Time Prep to prepare your timesheets to pull into the payroll. There will be Time Prep steps to complete for each pay period.
Please note: Some clients may have a separate step or shortcut on their dashboard to process timesheets.
2. Select the blue links to view Pending Time Off Requests and view Pending Timesheet Change Requests to approve any outstanding requests or changes for this payroll. If there are no pending requests, there will be a message stating 'There are NO pending time off or change request(s)'. The payroll admin may mark the step to the right as complete to continue to the next step(s).
3. Select the blue link View Timesheet Status for Review to review any timesheets not previously approved by managers and to give a final approval as an admin.
In this report, you want to review the Approval State column. If the Approval State is still ‘Open’, the employee may need to make edits to their timesheet if it has not been signed off/approved by their manager. If necessary, a manager may reject a timesheet with notes to have the employee make corrections and resubmit for approval. 'Submitted' means the employee has marked their timesheet ready for manager approval.
- Once a manager has completed their final step of approving timesheets, the Approval State should be ‘Approved’. After approval, the timesheet status window will display a message that 'XX' timesheet(s) are ready for payroll.
4. Select the button 'Reapply Pay Calculations' to calculate all timesheets and apply rules for Overtime, Double Time, etc.
5. Select the button Process Records to gather time and prepare it for payroll. This step maps the hours recorded on the timesheet to earnings codes in payroll. This step must be completed before you may sync time to payroll.
6. Select the blue link for View Pay Prep Records to review a report of hours that are going to be synced into the payroll.
- This step will notify you of any last-minute errors.
- Employees will be listed multiple times in the report to list all Regular, OT, DT, Sick, PTO etc. hours on their timesheet.
7. Click the Lock Pay Period button to lock the previous pay period timesheets and uphold the integrity of your historical data. This will stop employees from submitting any further Timesheet Change Requests or Time Off Requests for that pay period and prevent any edits (unless unlocked).
Once locked, 'Pay Period Locked' will display at the top of the time prep screen. If any further timesheet changes are needed prior to finalizing payroll, the pay period may need to be unlocked to make corrections, process, and re-lock.
Export Time to External System
When exporting to an external system, a file needs to be generated following specifications from the external payroll system. Prior configuration is required.
Creating the Payroll Export File
From Payroll > Process Timesheet (Process & Export), select the Pay Period Functions icon for the payroll to export. From the Create Payroll Interface step, you can generate the actual payroll export file.
Any of the existing payroll formats can be selected. Export files are generated by selecting the Export icon or the link next to the icon. If you would like to export multiple versions of the data, you can select the different formats, then select Export Selected Files as One Zip.
Troubleshooting
- If an employee was recently terminated, you may see one or both of these when you Process Records.
- Error: Missing Payroll E/D Code for 1 Record, Entry is Not in a Valid Date Range
- Warning: Entry is not in a valid date range
The possible reasons include: An employee was terminated before the end of the pay period, and Termination Status has the IN PAYROLL set to: No. Or, an employee was terminated with time entries on their timesheet beyond the termination date. Also, check for Time Offs approved for future timesheets that were not removed during the termination process.
Possible resolutions:
- Do not terminate an employee until their Pay Period is completely processed.
- If the employee is already terminated: Rehire the employee so they are active through the end of the current Payroll, then terminate them again once payroll is complete.
- Rehire the employee and verify the time entries to ensure there are no time entries after the term date.
- When you are syncing time and receiving an 'Internal System Error: failed to update batch record for (employee name)', this could be caused by Time being passed for hours that do not have an Earning Code in the Payroll Export Code List. Or it could be the Payroll Export List is missing Earning Codes and does not have "Exclude From Payroll' checked off. If this is the cause, it must be updated by your Inova Account Manager.