Summary

The Generate step determines the following:

• The bank account where the paychecks in the batch will be drawn from
• The employees included in the batch based on the selected pay schedule
• The pay schedule pay period, which determines the timecard cycle, deduction cycle and if accruals will be calculated on the timecards in the batch
• The default timecards on the employee records included in the batch based on the selected timecard date

Only Active status employees will be included in a Computer Checks batch. Employees with a Pending, Purge or Terminated status will not be included in the batch. You can view the status of an employee record using the Employee Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Employee> General tab> Status field).

Step by Step

1     Open or create a new Computer Checks batch.

• Open the Computer Checks window (PR> Computer Checks). The Batches window will display all the open Computer Checks batches.
• Select a batch and click DETAILS to open the selected batch.
• Select a batch and click the Delete button to delete the selected batch. Any uncommitted checks in the batch will be deleted.
• Click the Create New Batch button to create a new batch. This will open the Create Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Computer Checks process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• The batch month and batch year of the Computer Checks batch determines which year to date quarter and year the checks in the batch as posted to.
• Click CREATE to create the new Computer Checks batch.

2     Open the Batch Overview page. 

• The Batch Overview page provides a general overview of the selected batch.
• The left navigation menu displays all the steps in the Computer Checks process.
• In the main section you'll see information about batch steps that are currently processing, next available batch steps, and the last completed batch step.
  • Batch steps that are currently processing will display a blue indicator bar to alert you that the step has not yet completed.
  • Once the preceding batch step is complete, the next available batch steps will be enabled and you can select the next step you would like to run.
    • While some batch steps are optional, any batch step that includes the Required tag   must be completed before the batch is allowed to proceed through to the Commit step.
• The Batch Outputs section on the right will display any reports or exports that have already been generated in the Computer Checks process.

3     Generate the paychecks based on the default timecards.

• The Generate step is used to generate paychecks based on the default timecards attached to the employee records (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Timecards tab). Select a pay schedule and a pay schedule period in the Generate window, and the employees attached to that pay schedule will be included in the batch if there is a default timecard section on their employee record. If there isn’t a default timecard attached to an employee record, the employee will display in the first Exceptions step (PR> Computer Checks> Exceptions). You can add a default timecard to the employee record and regenerate the batch, or you can manually add the employee to the batch using the Timecards step (PR> Computer Checks> Timecards).
• Open the Generate window (PR> Computer Checks> Generate).
• The Bank Account drop-down menu is used to select the bank account the paychecks in the batch will be drawn from. Select a bank account in the drop-down menu.
  • The drop-down menu will only include bank accounts that are set up to be used by the Payroll module. If you would like to use a bank account that is not on the list, check the Payroll toggle on the Bank Account Maintenance window (SS> Maintenance> Bank Account).
  • The cash account attached to this bank account will be credited for the gross amount of the timecard line items. GL accounts are attached to bank accounts using the Bank Account Maintenance window.
    • The fund number is removed from the GL cash account when it is attached to the bank account. The fund of the cash account will be pulled from the GL account that is debited for the gross amount of the timecard line items.
  • Bank accounts are created and maintained using the Bank Account Maintenance window (SS> Maintenance> Bank Account).
• If you are importing timesheets or you would like to manually enter each timecard, you can click the Submit button now.
  • The Bank Account field is the only required field on the window. If you click the Submit button to generate the batch, no employee timecards will be added to the batch.
  • For example, if you would like to import employee timesheets rather than use default timecards, you can just select the bank account and then generate the batch. Once the batch has been generated, use the Import Timesheets step to import timesheets that have been approved using the Timesheets Approval process (PR> Timesheets Approval).
• Click ADD PAY SCHEDULE PERIOD to add a pay schedule or pay schedule period to the batch. This will open the Pay Schedule Period Selection window.
• The Pay Schedule Period Selection window is used to select the pay schedule or pay schedule period you would like to use to generate paychecks.
  • You can either select a pay schedule and pay schedule period or just a pay schedule.
    • Select a pay schedule and a pay period - This is how you will probably generate regular paychecks. The timecard cycle, deduction cycle and whether accruals will be calculated on the timecards in the batch can be set up on the pay schedule pay period using the Pay Schedule Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Pay Schedule). When the Computer Checks batch is committed, the pay period will be closed.
    • Select only a pay schedule - This is how you will probably process miscellaneous paychecks that are not part of your normal pay cycles. If you only select a pay schedule, all of the employees attached to the pay schedule with a default timecard that has an effective date that is less than the timecard date entered during the Generate step (PR> Computer Checks> Generate> Timecard Date field) will be included in the batch. 
    • If the selected pay schedule/pay period includes a holiday set up on the PR Holiday Maintenance screen, the Holidays tab will flash and the holiday will automatically populate.
  • The pay schedule is important because it determines which default employee timecards are included in the Computer Checks batch, if accruals will be calculated on the timecards and which deduction cycle will be used to pull in the deductions and benefits on the employee records.
• An employee default timecard will be included in the Computer Checks batch if all of the following are true:
  • The employee record is attached to the selected pay schedule.
    • You can view the pay schedule attached to an employee record using the Employee Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Finance tab> Pay Schedule field).
  • The effective date on the default timecard is less than the timecard date on the pay schedule.
    • You can view the effective date of a default timecard using the employee maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Timecards tab> Effective Date field). The timecard date of a pay schedule period displays on the Pay Schedule Period Selection window.
  • The default timecard on the employee record is attached to the same timecard cycle that is attached to the pay schedule period.
    • When a default timecard is attached to an employee record, you select the timecard cycles the default timecard should apply to using the Cycle 1 thru Cycle 7 toggles (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Timecards> Cycle 1, Cycle 2, Cycle 3, etc. toggles).
• Accruals will be calculated on the timecards in the Computer Checks batch if the Calculate Accruals toggle is checks on the pay schedule period (PR> Maintenance> Pay Schedule> Calculate Accruals column).
  • The accruals included in the Computer Checks batch will prorate based on the number of hours on the timecard if the Prorate Accruals toggle is checked on the employee record (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Financial tab> Prorate Accruals toggle).
• Deductions and benefits attached to the employee record will be included on the paychecks if the deduction cycle on the employee record matches the deduction cycle on the pay schedule period (PR> Maintenance> Pay Schedule> Deduction Cycle column).
  • When deductions and benefits are attached to employee records using the Employee Maintenance window, you select which deduction cycles the deductions and benefits should be included on (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Deductions/Benefits tabs> Cycle 1, Cycle 2, Cycle 3, etc. toggles).
• Highlight a pay schedule period and click the Select button to select a pay schedule period. This will return you to the Generate window.
• The Period, Period Begin Date, Period End Date, Timecard Date, Timecard Cycle, Deduction Cycle, Days in Period, Weeks in Period, and Calculate Accruals toggles will all populate based on the selected pay schedule period. The only field that will be enabled is the Timecard Date field.
  • If there are accruals attached to employee records in the batch that are calculated based on the number of months the employee has been employed, the Period End Date field will be compared to the Anniversary Date field (PR> Maintenance> Employee> General tab) on the employee record to determine the number of months the employee has been employed.
  • The Period End Date field will also determine which revisions are included in the batch.
  • The Timecard Date field will default to the timecard date attached to the pay schedule period (PR> Maintenance> Pay Schedule> Timecard Date column). The Timecard Date field will be blank if a timecard date has not been set up on the pay schedule period.
    • The timecard date determines which default timecard will apply to the Computer Checks batch. The default timecard on the employee record with an effective date that is less than or equal to the timecard date on the Computer Checks batch will be included in the batch.
      • You can view the effective date of a default timecard on an employee record using the Employee Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Employee> Timecards tab> Effective Date field).
• The Bonus Accrual tab is used to calculate bonus accruals in the Computer Checks batch. Bonus accruals are accrual codes that are credited when an employee limits their usage of another accrual code. Bonus accruals are set up on the Accrual Code Maintenance window.
  • The Date Type field is used to select the type of date that will be used to determine if an employee is eligible for the bonus accrual.
  • The From and To fields are used to filter the employees included in the batch by date range according to the Date Type selected above.
  • The Probation Days field is used to specify a probation period that will be considered when filtering employees that are eligible for bonus accruals.
  • The All employees toggle is used to include all employees in the pay schedule when evaluating for bonus accrual eligibility. Even those employees that do not have a pay check that falls within the From and To date filters.
  • Click ADD to add an accrual to the Bonus Accruals data grid below.
    • The selected accrual code details that were set up on the Accrual Code Maintenance window will populate the data grid. At this point, you can edit the accrual that is credited, the Bonus Amount, and the Qualifying Amount.
• The Holidays tab will populate with any holidays that fall within the pay schedule specified on the General tab.
  • Select an optional Pay Code and enter the number of Hours for the holiday.
  • If the Pay Code and Hours are not specified, you will receive a warning message when the Submit button is clicked. However, this is only an informational warning and can be skipped.
• You can process multiple pay schedule periods in a single Computer Checks batch, but you can process only one pay schedule period from each pay schedule (for example, you cannot process pay schedule period 4 and 5 for the same pay schedule in a single Computer Checks batch). Click ADD PAY SCHEDULE PERIOD again to add another pay schedule period to the batch.
• Click the Submit button when all of the pay schedule periods have been added to the Generate window to process the paychecks.

4     View the exceptions generated by the batch.

• The Exceptions step will display a list of employees that are attached to the pay schedule selected during the Generate step (PR> Computer Checks> Generate), but not included in the batch. For example, if an employee does not have a default timecard, or the default timecard has an effective date that is after the timecard date, the employee will display on the Exceptions step.
• There are two exceptions steps on the Computer Checks process: one after the Generate step and one after the Calculate Payroll step. Open the Exceptions step after the Generate step.
  • The Exceptions step after the Calculate Payroll step will display the employee records that do not have any deductions/benefits attached to the deduction cycle set up on the pay schedule period selected during the Generate step.
• The Computer Checks will only include Active status employees. Employee records with a Pending, Purge, or Terminated status will not be included in the batch. You can view the status of an employee record using the Employee Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Employee> General tab> Status field).
• Open the employee records of any employee that appears on the list and then regenerate the Computer Checks batch if you would like to include the employee in the batch.

5     Once the batch has been generated, you can modify the timecards in the batch.