This article provides a list of frequently asked questions about the new Payroll Processing features.
Issue Resolution & Notification and Alerts
Retro Pay & Historical Corrections
Payroll Imports & Batch Processing
Payroll Calculations & Recalculation Engine
Employee Pay Statement Experience
Payroll Administration & Audit Controls
Continuous Payroll Processing
Q. What is Continuous Payroll Processing?
A. Continuous Payroll Processing automatically synchronizes approved time data into payroll and continuously recalculates pay statements throughout the pay period. This eliminates the need for payroll administrators to manually perform actions to pull in time and helps ensure payroll information remains current. Continuous payroll does not change how the system is interconnected, simply add triggers and schedules around things you would have manually had to click or take action on in the past.
Q. What are the benefits of Continuous Payroll Processing?
A.
- Reduces manual payroll preparation steps
- Automatically updates payroll calculations when time data changes
- Improves payroll accuracy
- Reduces last-minute payroll processing activities
- Provides earlier visibility into payroll results and exceptions
Q. How often does payroll update?
A. Payroll continuously refreshes in the background as approved time and payrollrelated changes occur. The time data is refreshed frequently to ensure the payroll changes are recalculated periodically. Updates are processed automatically without requiring payroll administrators to manually initiate synchronization.
Q. What happens if payroll processing is delayed?
A. Continuous Payroll Processing continues to synchronize and recalculate payroll information until payroll is finalized, helping ensure the most current information is reflected.
Q. Will the need to manually pull in time at the beginning of payroll still be required?
A. No. One of the primary goals of Continuous Payroll Processing is to eliminate the need for manually pulling time into payroll.
Q. Can payroll be synchronized for a single employee?
A. Yes. Employee-specific synchronization scenarios are supported when needed.
Issue Resolution & Notification and Alerts
Q. What is Payroll Issue Resolution?
A. Issue Resolution provides payroll processors with visibility into payroll exceptions and potential problems before payroll is finalized, allowing issues to be identified and corrected earlier in the payroll cycle. These issues are surfaced on the Review and Resolve Issues page.
Q. Who uses Issue Resolution?
A. Payroll administrators and payroll processors are the primary users of Issue Resolution.
Q. What types of issues are identified?
A. Examples include: Unapproved timesheets, Missing payroll information, Payroll calculation discrepancies, Time and attendance exceptions, Approved Expense Reports, Historical Timesheet Corrections, Retro Pay from previous Pay Periods, and Other payroll conditions requiring review.
Q. Does this apply to exempt employees?
A. Yes. Applicability depends on the specific issue being evaluated, but exempt employees are included where appropriate.
Q. Will payroll administrators be informed of issues in advance?
A. The new experience is designed to provide earlier visibility into payroll exceptions and processing issues. With time and payroll data continuously processing, issues are identified as soon as they occur and surfaced on the Review and Resolve Issues page and the Payroll Processing page.
Q. What notifications are available?
A. Notifications may include: Approval reminders, Payroll issue alerts, Payroll exception notifications, and Workflow-related reminders.
Q. Can reminder notifications escalate?
A. Reminder and notification functionality continues to evolve, with additional enhancements planned to improve payroll and manager awareness.
Timesheet Management
Q. Will manager approval processes change?
A. No significant changes are planned for approval workflows. Existing approval structures remain in place.
Q. Are multiple levels of approval supported?
A. Yes. Multi-level approval processes continue to be supported.
Q. Can managers receive reminders for unapproved timesheets?
A. Yes. The Review and Resolve Issues page has a "Remind Manager" feature that will allow the admins to send reminders for all pending timesheet-related To Do items.
Q. Can timesheets be locked?
A. Yes. Existing timesheet locking functionality remains available.
Q. What happens if a locked timesheet requires correction?
A. Corrections can still be made through the established correction process and will pull into the next pay period as a timesheet correction, which can be processed to be included in that next pay period.
Retro Pay & Historical Corrections
Q. How are retroactive pay adjustments handled?
A. The new payroll experience automatically calculates many retroactive adjustments resulting from timesheet corrections, backdated pay rate changes, and historical payroll corrections.
Q. Is retro pay a new feature?
A. Retro pay functionality already exists, but the new experience enhances the process by showing you a preview of what the retroactive pay changes will result in if they are processed and included in the pay prep results to be sent to payroll.
Q. What happens if a pay rate is changed retroactively?
A. If Retro pay functionality is enabled for your company, the system will automatically detect a retroactive pay change that overlaps with any locked pay periods. When processing the next pay period, you will see Retro Pay items on your Review and Resolve issue for each locked pay period that the retroactive change overlaps with and you will have the option to include the difference in pay owed to the employee in the current pay period you are processing or to ignore it and exclude from payroll.
Q. Are special retro earning codes required?
A. Special earning codes for retro pay are not required but they are recommended as they allow you to specifically identify earnings that come from a retroactive pay change or historical timesheet correction on the pay statement by having a unique earning code assigned to them.
Q. What happens if corrections are made after payroll has been finalized?
A. If a timesheet correction is made after the pay period has been locked or payroll has been finalized, it is treated as a historical timesheet correction. The system will calculate the difference in hours and pay resulting from the correction and show it as a timesheet correction in the next pay period and you can choose whether to include or exclude these differences into payroll.
Payroll Imports & Batch Processing
Q. Will payroll imports still work?
A. Yes. Existing import processes and configurations continue to be supported.
Q. Can multiple payroll batches be imported?
A. Yes. Multiple batch import scenarios remain supported.
Q. Can imports be added to existing payroll batches?
A. Yes. Existing import workflows continue to function within the new payroll experience.
Q. Can imported or externally loaded time data be included?
A. Yes. Imported time and external integrations continue to be supported.
Payroll Calculations & Recalculation Engine
Q. What improvements have been made to payroll calculations?
A. The payroll calculation engine has been optimized to recalculate payroll more efficiently and process changes faster. This results in an overall improvement to responsiveness during the payroll review process.
Q. What types of changes trigger recalculations?
A. Examples include: Timecard updates, Pay rate changes, Holiday pay adjustments, Shift differential changes, and Payroll configuration updates.
Q. Will recalculations occur automatically?
A. Yes. Payroll recalculations occur automatically as qualifying changes are made.
Employee Pay Statement Experience
Q. Can employees see pay statements before payroll is finalized?
A. Organizations can control employee visibility to payroll information. Depending on configuration, employees may be able to view payroll information before finalization.
Q. What happens when payroll information changes?
A. Employee pay information updates automatically as payroll calculations are refreshed.
Q. Can payroll administrators manually edit pay statements?
A. Administrators continue to have access to payroll adjustment capabilities consistent with existing payroll processing practices.
Snapshots
Q. What is a Payroll Snapshot?
A. A Payroll Snapshot captures payroll information at a specific point in time, allowing organizations to review estimated payroll results before final processing.
Q. How are snapshots used?
A. Organizations can use snapshots to: Forecast payroll costs, Review payroll before finalization, and Validate payroll data earlier in the process.
Q. Are training resources available for snapshots?
A. Yes. Snapshot functionality is covered in available training materials and payroll education resources.
Reporting & Exporting
Q. Can payroll reports still be exported?
A. Yes. Existing export functionality remains available.
Q. Can reports be downloaded in bulk?
A. Bulk reporting enhancements continue to be evaluated. Standard export functionality remains supported.
User Experience & Navigation
Q. Will there be a new payroll interface?
A. Yes. The payroll experience includes redesigned pages and processing flows intended to improve navigation and payroll processing efficiency.
Q. Will future payroll information be easier to view?
A. Yes. The redesigned experience provides improved visibility into payroll information and processing status.
Q. What impacts to managers and employees will this have?
A. These changes are all just for the payroll/timesheet processing screens, which are generally managed by payroll administrators. The manager and employee experience will not change. They will continue to manage their time-related tasks and approvals as they do today.
Payroll Administration & Audit Controls
Q. How are payroll actions audited?
A. Payroll activities continue to be tracked through existing audit and system logging capabilities, providing visibility into payroll-related actions and changes.
Rollout Experience & Timeline
Q. Where can I find more information about this new experience rollout?
A. A Payroll Processing Experience resource page is available in the UKG Community™. This page includes details about the experience, who it impacts, roll out information, and additional tools and resources to help customers prepare for the change. The page will be updated to include any new information and resources as they become available.
Q. Is the functionality available to all organizations?
A. The new experience will be available to all customers with UKG Ready Payroll and/or UKG Ready TLM. See the Payroll Processing Experience resource page to review a breakdown of what features will be available based on what UKG Ready products you own.
Q. When will the new payroll experience be available?
A. Deployment occurs in phases over the next several months through September 2026. Rollout timing varies by customer.
Q. How will customers know when they are being moved to the new experience?
A. Customers will be notified at least 2 weeks prior to the scheduled rollout. In the event the scheduled date needs to be adjusted, we will notify you accordingly. For more information on the notification process, please review the Payroll Processing Experience resource page.
Q. Can customers opt out?
A. The new payroll processing experience will be the default experience for all customers. During a transition period, a switch to the classic experience button will remain available for the time being, if needed. The official retirement date of the classic experience will be communicated once determined.
Q. Will training and documentation be available for the new payroll experience?
A. The process of running payroll will still be the same at its core. We will provide in-product guides to orient users to the new pages to help familiarize customers will how the actions are carried out. Product documentation in Online Documentation will be updated. Training within the Learning Center is also in the process of being updated to reflect the new experience.