Feeding Payroll
The boundary where a punch becomes money. What crosses it, what must not, and the reconciliation nobody runs.
Putting it in · Procedure
Everything else in this collection can be imperfect for a day. This boundary cannot.
What crosses
Times, sites and dates.
Flags and corrections, so payroll knows which entries were adjusted.
Hours by pay category, where the attendance system classifies.
Not coordinates. Payroll has no use for them and sending them widens the data flow for nothing.
Not accuracy figures.
Say so in the integration specification, because the default export frequently includes everything.
Who applies which rule
Decide once and write it down.
The attendance system can classify into pay categories, and payroll applies rates.
Or it sends raw times and payroll classifies.
Both work. Both doing some is where double-counted overtime lives.
The audit question — why was this person paid this — must have one answer.
The cut-off problem
Corrections arrive after the period closes, always.
Decide what happens: held for next period, an off-cycle payment, or a re-run.
Whichever it is, say it in advance, because the worker's question is when they will be paid and "we'll see" is not an answer.
And do not let the cut-off force approval of unreviewed corrections, which produces errors in the following period that nobody tracks.
The reconciliation
What the attendance system sent, what payroll received, what was paid.
Three figures, per period, compared.
Differences investigated rather than absorbed.
A recurring difference on one site is a configuration finding; a scattered one is usually manual intervention.
Most organisations do not run this and discover the gap when a worker does.
Testing before trusting
Run two periods in parallel against whatever you use now, compared per person rather than by total.
Include the awkward cases: someone with corrections, someone who works at two sites, someone whose shift crosses midnight.
Sign off in writing before the old process stops.
What to keep
The chain for each paid hour: punch attempt, result, correction if any, approval, exported figure, paid figure.
Because that is what a dispute asks for, and a system that can show a paid figure but not how it was arrived at explains nothing.
Run the reconciliation
Three figures per period, compared.
What the attendance system sent.
What payroll received.
What was paid.
Differences investigated rather than absorbed.
A recurring difference at one site is a configuration finding; a scattered one is usually manual intervention. Most organisations do not run this and find the gap when a worker does.
A concrete product reference
When translating this principle into a buying test, online timesheets provides a concrete workflow reference. Verify current behaviour in a trial and judge it against the purpose and limits above.
Independent reference
For an external point of reference, see official UK guidance. This popular specialist source offers a useful reference beyond product documentation.