Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks
CHAPTER 4: PAYROLL ADMINISTRATION PROCESSING TASKS Objectives The objectives are •
Provide background and conceptual information about payroll processing and reporting.
•
Perform routine payment processing procedures.
•
Perform occasional payroll processing tasks.
•
Perform payroll inquiries and reports that contain organization-wide and employee-specific information.
Introduction As the prime users of the Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2009 Payroll module, payroll administrators are responsible for tasks in three functional groups: •
Employee data management
•
Payroll processing
•
Payroll reporting
The previous course looked at employee data management tasks; this course explains payroll processing and reporting tasks. Payroll processing tasks are divided into those used routinely during most pay periods, and those that are used occasionally, on an as-required basis. The employee data from course 3, "Payroll Administration Data Tasks", provides a framework for pay period payroll processing. During the basic payroll process, payroll administrators must: •
Capture time
•
Make payment calculations
•
Approve payments
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll •
Distribute payments
•
Make pay period reports
FIGURE 4.1 HIGH-LEVEL PAYROLL PROCESS DATA FLOW.
About Payroll Processing and Reporting Payroll processing and reporting were explained at a high level in earlier courses within this collection. This section provides conceptual information about the main payroll administrator tasks associated with payroll processing and reporting. Implementers must be able to differentiate between the four sources the Payroll module can use for time data, and the six sources it can use for earnings data. These sources can affect how that data processes. The general payroll process includes the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Recording time data Recording earnings data Updating entitlements Updating earnings-related accumulators Generating allowance earnings Generating payments (including gross-to-net and benefit/deduction calculations) 7. Approving and posting payments (which also produces checks and direct deposit statements)
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks 8. Generating entitlements 9. Closing the pay period
FIGURE 4.2 OVERVIEW OF TYPICAL PAYROLL PROCESS
Payroll processing can be performed automatically by the system, or manually by payroll administrators. Implementers must know when and why a company may want to process automatically or manually.
Automatic and Manual Processing When data preparation tasks are completed for a current pay period, you can process payments and create the payroll. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll, payments to employees are calculated as an employee's earnings less all applicable benefit/deductions. During implementation, Microsoft Dynamics AX Payroll is set up to make sure that most employees' earnings can process automatically, but the system also can process "exceptions." Remember that in the Payroll module, time and earnings are separate concepts. This section provides conceptual information that implementers must evaluate how to set up the Payroll module best to meet a client's payroll processing needs. Course 9 (Set Up Time and Earnings) provides detailed procedures for setting up time and earnings. In Course 3 (Payroll Administration Data Tasks) you learned that there are four possible sources for time data. In this course, you will see that six possible sources for employee earnings exist.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Remember that implementers can set up automatic processes for recording time data, and that they can manage exceptions in several different ways. Similarly, when you implement Payroll, you must be aware of how the company wants to routinely record employee earnings, and how they will handle exceptions to that routine. For example, one company with a regular shift schedule may routinely create earnings from time data that was created from a rotation, whereas another company may use a pay period salary, and another company might import all its earnings from a spreadsheet. However, all these companies may encounter exceptions that require manual entry of earnings, imported earnings, generated allowances, or earnings from entitlement overflow (for example, a payout of unused vacation time).
Recording Time Recall from Course 3 (Payroll Administration Data Tasks) that time can be captured by four methods:
FIGURE 4.3 FOUR SOURCES OF TIME DATA
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Create Time from Rotation Creating time from rotations is the process of creating time records for employees who work shifts, based on their assigned rotations.
FIGURE 4.4 CREATING TIME FROM ROTATIONS
If this process is used routinely, then it is one of the first steps in the payment processing sequence. Time created from rotations is automatically approved. Payroll administrators should run this process before they run time to earnings, which creates the earning records based on the time records for all employees in a pay group. If the time from rotations process is not run before the time to earnings process, then the time to earnings process will have to be run again.
Enter Time Manually Payroll administrators can enter time manually for employees. If the Create Time from Rotations procedure has already been used, then the payroll administrator must first "unapprove" the hours that have already been generated - this is because hours that are automatically generated are also automatically approved. Manual entry of hours is frequently used to enter changes for a regular employee, such as adding an overtime shift or vacation time. You can enter time for the current pay period, or modify the time that has been generated by the employee's rotation or schedule information. You also can click Quick entry to enter multiple time entries. Time approval must be run for manually-entered time records.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Import Time Payroll administrators can import time records from comma-delimited text files into Payroll. They can generate those text files from a time and attendance system, Microsoft Excel, or any other software that can create text files. The text file must follow Payroll's format requirements (also described in this course). Payroll administrators can also import time through customized code that uses the Payroll application programming interface (API).
Recording Earnings There are six sources of earnings data in the Payroll module.
FIGURE 4.5 SIX SOURCES OF EARNINGS DATA
Here are brief descriptions of each of these six earnings data sources:
Turning Time into Earnings Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll can create time records into earnings automatically , and also can update entitlements, accumulators, and generated earnings (allowances) at the same time. The calculations used to create earning records from time are based on the rules that the company sets up during implementation. This is also the same process that is used to create earnings for salaried staff. If earnings have been manually entered for a salaried employee, the remainder of the employee's salary records will be filled in around the manually entered time when you run the time to earnings process.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Importing Earnings Payroll administrators can import earnings records from comma-delimited text files into Payroll. The text file must follow Payroll's format requirements (also described in this course). You must also verify the imported earnings.
Importing from API Payroll administrators can import earnings through customized code that uses the Payroll application programming interface (API). A white paper that contain information on how to use this feature is available for download from the Partner Source web site.
Manually Entering Earnings Payroll administrators can enter earnings for an employee manually. This would be used most frequently for earnings such as bonuses or commissions, and would be used when small numbers of earnings are involved.
Setting Up Entitlement Overflow You can set up entitlements so that when certain conditions are met (at a particular date, or when an entitlement reaches a specified value), any unused entitlements (such as unused vacation) can be converted into an earning and paid to the employee.
Generating Allowances You can generate non-time-based earnings for all employees in a pay group. Typically, these earnings are for items such as uniform allowances or signing bonuses. Non-time-based earnings can be generated immediately or at a scheduled time by using batch processing.
Verifying Earnings Payroll administrators verify the earnings by navigating to Journals > Earnings, and ensuring that the earnings comply with company policies.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Updating Entitlements There are five sources of data that affect entitlement banks.
FIGURE 4.6 FIVE SOURCES OF DATA THAT AFFECT ENTITLEMENT BANKS.
During a pay cycle, payroll administrators must update entitlement banks to reflect the earnings processed. After they have processed time and created earnings from that time data, they then must update employee entitlement banks with the impact of those earnings. Also, any time that new earnings (that affect entitlements) are added, administrators must update entitlements. Payroll administrators usually will not have to adjust entitlements for individual employees. If a rare set of circumstances does require this, then the administrator must make the time/earnings adjustment before updating entitlements. Typically, entitlement balances are established when the employee is hired, and then are maintained automatically on a predictable accruing period - with no manual intervention required.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Entitlement banks that increase because of time worked or earnings received must be updated with the impact of that employee's time or earnings for the pay period (for example, banking overtime hours). Entitlement banks that reduce because of time used by the employee also must be tracked, for example, sick leave or vacation. As soon as an entitlement bank has been depleted, any further time taken will be handled by: •
processing against a different earning code (unpaid sick leave, unpaid vacation)
•
re-directing, so that another entitlement bank is depleted instead
•
allowing the entitlement bank to be overdrawn, with the balance becoming negative
At the end of the pay period, and immediately before closing the pay period, you will generate entitlement accruals in preparation for the next pay period.
Updating Earnings-related Accumulators Payroll administrators must update time and earning-related accumulators for all employees in a pay group. Updating accumulators is as a critical point in the process: after these time and earning-related accumulators are updated, the only way you can then adjust them is to use the Time/Earning adjustments feature. You can update the accumulators manually or at a scheduled time (batch processing). You can perform batch processing on a one-time or recurring basis.
Generating Earnings Generated earnings are automatically generated, allowance-type earnings. Depending on how a generated earning is set up, it can be provided to either: •
eligible employees
•
all employees in a group
For a detailed description of setting up generated earnings, see Course 9 (Set Up Time and Earnings). If the generated earnings are eligibility based, each employee's eligibility is determined based on the characteristics of their generated earning enrollments. Generated earnings are not dependent on time worked; the generated earning setup and schedule determines how and when the generated earning calculates. For example, you can set up a uniform allowance, signing bonus, or car allowance to generates during the first pay period of each month. You can use the Earnings generation and accumulator updates form to generate non-time-based earnings for all employees in a pay group. You can generate non-time-based earnings immediately or at a scheduled time by using batch processing.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll Generating Payments When payments generate, the Payroll module calculates the benefit/deductions, performs gross-to-net calculations, and produces payments. Payments must be approved before you can produce checks or make automatic deposits.
FIGURE 4.7 TWO SOURCES OF PAYMENT DATA
Payroll administrators use the Payment generation form to generate payments for employees in each pay group. They can generate the payments immediately or at a scheduled time through batch processing. Before running this process, however, administrators must first make sure that:
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•
earnings have been generated
•
entitlements have been processed
•
earning accumulators have been updated
•
generated earnings have been created
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Approving and Posting Payments Payroll administrators send payments through an approval process, which produces checks and deposit statements. Administrators must also post payments to the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and (if necessary) Projects.
FIGURE 4.8 PAYMENTS AND POSTINGS
The payroll administrator usually prints the pay register and sends it to appropriate management levels to help make sure payments are accurate before they are approved in the system. After the pay register is reviewed, the payroll administrator runs the approval process. After all payments and benefit/deductions (including taxes) for a pay period are issued, administrators post the transactions to the general ledger and close the pay period. Administrators can post payments immediately or at a scheduled time, by using batch processing.
Entitlement Generation When entitlements are set up, they are associated with either calculations or earnings. If entitlements use calculations, they are scheduled to generate for appropriate pay periods. At the same time, rules are defined for how earnings affect entitlement banks. Accruals are always added to the current accrual date period for the entitlement bank, whereas decrements always come out of the bank's oldest taking date period.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll If payroll administrators discover a problem in how accruals were calculated, they can reverse them, as long as the pay period that they were calculated in has not been closed.
Closing the Pay Period The last step in processing payroll is to close the current pay period. After closing the pay period, you must make any changes to that pay period through the time/earnings adjustments procedure. NOTE: The pay period will not close unless you complete all postings to the general ledger for the selected pay group and all earnings and time records from this period have been processed for the selected pay group
Routine Payment Processing Procedures The procedures in this section are used by payroll administrators during virtually every pay period. They are presented in the general order in which they would be used in the basic payroll process described in earlier courses.
Scenario Mia needs to process the hourly worker's pay for the current pay period. To do this, she will use the "Create Time from Rotations" procedure for each pay group. She must be careful to use the procedure before creating earnings based on the time records for all employees in each pay group, because if she does not use that procedure, then she will have to run the time to earnings process again.
Create Time from Rotation Creating time from rotations is the process of creating time records for employees who work shifts based on their assigned rotations. Follow these steps to create time from rotations. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic and select Create time from rotation. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. To replace any unprocessed time records that have already been created for the pay period, select Overwrite existing time for pay period. 4. Click OK.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Scenario Mia can obtain all hourly employees' scheduled hours by running time from rotations, but she knows that two employees also worked overtime. Although the overtime information can also be imported by using a spreadsheet or from a time and attendance system, because only two employees are involved, Mia will enter the overtime hours manually. The system will use the overtime rules set up by the company automatically to process these overtime payments.
Enter Time for an Employee This procedure allows payroll administrators to enter time manually for employees.
Unapproving Automatically Generated Hours If Mia is going to enter time manually, and she already has used the "Create Time from Rotations" procedure, then she must remember that the hours she automatically generated also are approved automatically. To be able to modify these hours by adding overtime, Mia must first "unapprove" the hours that already have been generated. If necessary, follow these steps to unapprove automatically generated hours. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, click Pay Period, and then click Time Approval. 2. Select the time record. 3. Click the Unapprove button.
Entering Time Follow these steps to enter time manually for an employee. 1. 2. 3. 4.
In the Payroll area page, click Journals and select Time. Select the Pay group. Select the Employee. Press CTRL+N and enter the required information.
Follow these steps to enter time for multiple entries for an employee. 1. 2. 3. 4.
In the Payroll area page, click Journals and select Time. Select the Pay group. Select the Employee. Select the Quick entry button.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll 5. Enter the time in the Input area. You can enter all the time in the pay period, or you can enter individual days by using the two-digit numeric value representing the day in the current pay period. Separate multiple days with a semicolon. 6. Click Submit.
Scenario Mia discovers that many employees worked overtime, and that the overtime information was recorded in a comma-delimited Microsoft Excel worksheet file. She decides that it would be faster to import the overtime hours for these employees than to enter time manually for them all. Mia first will make sure that the format of the information in the Excel file is correct, and then will save it as a .csv file. Then she will import these time records into Payroll, and then verify that the imported data is correct. Mia also must approve the imported time (by committing that time).
Import Time for Employees These procedures allow payroll administrators to import time records from comma-delimited text files into Payroll, and then verify that the imported data is correct.
Required File Format Formatting element
Required properties
File type
ASCII text
Valid file name extensions
.csv
Field separator
Comma
Record separator
Return
Surround character
Alphabetical data must be surrounded by quotation marks
You can generate a file of the appropriate format by saving an Excel spreadsheet as a .csv file. Field separators, record separators, and surround characters are added automatically.
Rows Most of the rows in the file describe a one-time record for one employee on one day. If an employee works some hours with one shift code on one day (for example, eight regular hours), and some hours with a different shift code (such as two hours of overtime), then there will be two rows in the file for that employee and date.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Usually, the first row in the file contains column headings, which identify both the fields you are importing into Payroll and the order that they are imported. If you do not include a row of column headings, then the file must include all the columns specified in the Payroll Help system, in the order that they are listed. NOTE: All the rows in a file must belong to a single pay group. If you have multiple pay groups, import their time in separate files.
Import Follow these steps to import time for employees from a comma-delimited text file. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Import time. 2. Select the Pay group and an import file. 3. Select Column heading if the first row of your file contains column headings. 4. Select Already approved if management already has approved the time records that you are importing, and if they should not be included in the Payroll time approval process. 5. Clear Check only unless you only want to verify that the file is valid, and you do not want to import it yet. 6. Click OK. 7. When you receive an Infolog message, confirm that the import was successful, and then click Close. After your time records have imported, verify them before incorporating them into your regular payroll time records.
Verify Follow these steps to verify. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Commit import time. 2. Select the Pay group that you imported. Your uncommitted imported time records appear in the list. The first column indicates which records have been committed. The second column indicates whether the row is valid. 3. Review the imported time to verify that the data imported correctly. You can make corrections in this list. If you make changes, select all rows by right-clicking the top left corner of the table and clicking Revalidate. Verify that the time records are accurate, select those rows, and then click Commit time. 4. Close the Infolog.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll The imported time records are now available to process in the Payroll module, and must be approved in the Time approval form unless you selected Already approved when you imported them. After they are approved, you can turn these time records into earnings by using the Time to earnings form.
Manual Time Approval Follow these steps to approve time that will be processed for the current pay period. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Time approval. 2. Select the Pay group to view time entries for. 3. To view time entries for a specific organization unit, make selections in the Organization unit and Department filter method fields. 4. Click Approve all to accept the time entries. To reject the time entries, click Reject all. NOTE: Time created from the "Create Time from Rotations" procedure is approved automatically. You do not need to use this approval procedure unless the automatically generated time has been unapproved and adjusted, or new time records have been created, such as when overtime hours are added after automatic time generation has already taken place, or when you have imported non-approved time.
Scenario Mia must create earnings from time. To do this, she will use the Create Earnings from Time and Accumulator Update form. Because she is processing pay for the pay period, Mia wants to select all processing options; if she had wanted to only verify earnings, she would deselect the options to update entitlements, accumulators, and generated earnings. To see how the system processed the overtime she entered, Mia navigates to earnings inquiries and verifies that the earnings comply with company policies.
Create Earnings from Time Records Follow these steps to create earnings from time, or to create salary earnings, for employees in a pay group. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Time to earnings. 2. Select the Pay group. The corresponding pay period displays.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks 3. Select the Time to earnings check box. Select other check boxes as desired: • Remember that entitlements are employee time and/or monetary rights associated with employment. Examples include sick leave, vacation days, and overtime accrual. Updating entitlements updates the entitlement banks that are affected by specific earnings (for example, vacation). •
Accumulators updated at this point are all those associated with time and earnings for the selected pay group. As soon as the accumulators are updated, you must complete time/earnings adjustments to adjust entries.
•
Remember that generated earnings refer to earnings of a different type than are produced by the "Time to Earnings" process. A generated earning is non-time based, such as an allowance.
4. Click OK.
Scenario Mia discovers that ten employees are receiving bonuses for this pay period. The details regarding these earnings were recorded in a Microsoft® Excel® file, which Mia is able to quickly modify and import into Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll. There are three methods Mia can use to create these ten bonuses in Microsoft Dynamics AX Payroll. She can: •
create earnings if the bonuses are for explicit amounts
•
generate earnings if the bonus is based on employee/position attributes or based on other accumulated earnings (only if a specific generated earning/enrollment and schedule was set up)
•
import the earnings
In this scenario, Mia decided to import the earnings because it is the most straightforward process to use when a large number of employees' earnings already have been determined externally. If she had decided to create a bonus within the Payroll module, Mia may have created a set of one-time earnings that are then assigned as appropriate to each of the ten employees. Generated earnings would only be used if the bonus was based on a calculation; for example, if ten percent of an employee's income to date must be paid as a bonus. Mia verifies that the existing Excel spreadsheet has the minimum required fields, that the basic criteria for the Excel file are followed, and that she saves it as a .csv file. After that, she can import it into Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll As soon as Mia's Excel spreadsheet has imported, she can review and verify the ten bonus earnings before they are incorporated into regular payroll time records. As soon as she commits these earnings, the imported records become available to be processed in payments.
Import Earnings These procedures allow payroll administrators to import earnings records from comma-delimited text files into Payroll, and then verify that the imported data is correct. The Excel spreadsheet must have the minimum required fields. You can generate a file of the appropriate format by saving an Excel spreadsheet as a .csv file. Field separators, record separators, and surround characters are added automatically.
Basic File Criteria File type
ASCII text
Valid file name extensions
.CSV, .TXT, or .DAT
Field separator
Comma
Record separator
Return
Surround character
Alphabetical data must be surrounded by quotation marks
Minimum columns
File must include four: Employee identification, Date, Earnings code, and Amount
Rows Most of the rows in the file describe one earnings record for one employee. If an employee has two earnings with different earnings codes, then two rows will be in the file for that employee. Usually, the first row in the file contains column headings, which identify the fields you are importing into Payroll, and the order in which they are imported. If you do not include a row of column headings, then the file must include all columns in the order in which they are listed. All the rows in a file must belong to a single pay group. If you have multiple pay groups, import their earnings in separate files. At minimum, your file must include:
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•
Employee identification, such as an employee number
•
Date of earning record
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks •
Earnings code
•
Amount of earning
See Payroll Help for important guidance on file format and specific data requirements. Follow these steps to import employee earnings from a comma-delimited text file. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Import earnings. 2. Select the Pay group and the Import file. 3. Select Column heading if the first row of your file contains column headings. 4. Clear Check only unless you only want to verify that the file is valid, and you do not want to import it yet. 5. Click OK. 6. When the Infolog appears, confirm that it reports that the import was successful, and then click Close. After your earnings have imported, verify them before incorporating them into your regular payroll earnings records. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Commit import earnings. 2. Select the Pay group that you imported, and the uncommitted imported earnings records will appear in the list. The first column indicates which records have been committed. The second column indicates whether the row is valid. 3. Review the imported earnings to verify that the data imported correctly. You can make corrections in this list. If you make changes, select all rows by right-clicking the top left corner of the table and then click Revalidate. 4. Verify the imported earning records, select those rows, and then click Commit earnings. 5. Close the Infolog. The imported earnings records are now available to be processed in the Payroll module.
Scenario Mia has a bonus earning and a commission earning to add, and can achieve this more quickly by entering them manually than by importing an Excel file.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll Enter Earnings for Employees Follow these steps to enter earnings manually for an employee. 1. 2. 3. 4.
In the Payroll area page, click Journals, and select Earnings. Select the Pay group and Employee ID. Press CTRL+N. Select an earning and an earning date. The earning date must be within the pay period. 5. Enter a pay amount or the number of hours/units.
Scenario An employee tells Mia that he had not been paid for an extra shift he worked in the previous pay period. Mia checks with the manager, who confirms that the employee worked the extra shift. They investigate further and find that the extra work was not recorded in the time records reported to the Payroll office for the last period. Now Mia must record that shift and its earnings, then generate a check. To do this, she needs to perform a time/earning adjustment.
Perform Time/Earning Adjustment Use the time/earning adjustment procedure to change: •
time or earnings from a previous pay period
•
time in the current pay period that has been processed into earnings
•
earnings in the current pay period that have updated accumulators
Follow these steps to make time/earning adjustments. 1. In the Payroll area page, find the Journals area and then click Time/earning adjustment. 2. Select the Pay group and Employee ID. 3. Enter the appropriate date range in the Start date and End date fields, then click the View button to see the employee's time and earnings for that date range. Close the Infolog warning you that the pay run has been completed for this date range. 4. In the Time pane, click inside the Original list, then press CTRL+N to create a new row. Enter the Work date and select the Night shift. The remaining required information appears by default. 5. Click again within the Original list - the Adjusted list is updated in both the Time and Earnings panes. 6. Click Commit adjustments to save the changes, then close the Infolog and the Time/earning adjustments form.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Scenario Mia must now update the employee entitlement banks with the impact of those earnings.
Process Entitlements Use the following procedures to process entitlements during a pay run. Follow these steps to update entitlements with earning impacts. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Entitlement updates (selecting Time to earnings, Accumulator updates, or Earnings generation will also open the same form). 2. Select the Pay group and the processing options to run, including Update entitlements. 3. Click OK.
Scenario After Mia is satisfied with the pay period earnings for each pay group, she can update earning-related accumulators for all the employees in that pay group. Mia is careful to make sure she has accounted for all earnings, and that she has verified them before updating accumulators. She knows that although she can add more earnings and update accumulators as many times as she wants, after accumulators are updated, she can correct errors only in updated data by performing time/earning adjustments.
Update Accumulators Update accumulators immediately, or at a scheduled time by using batch processing. You can perform batch processing on a one-time or recurring basis. Follow these steps to manually update accumulators. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Accumulator updates. 2. Select the Pay group. The pay period displays and the Update accumulators processing option is selected. 3. Click OK. 4. The progress bar shows the status of the records that are updated and the number of records processed. 5. Click Show to see the run control records created by this process. The accumulator amounts also are shown. 6. Click Inquiries to see any exception messages that were created during the process.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Scenario Mia needs to make sure that car allowances generate for the appropriate employees. Car allowances are "generated earnings," which means they are automatically generated, allowance-type earnings provided to eligible employees. Mia will make sure that the appropriate employees have the required generated earning enrollments and that these earning enrollments are scheduled. She then will use the Earnings generation and accumulator updates form to generate the earnings for all employees in a pay group.
Generated Earnings Follow these steps to generate non-time-based earnings for employees. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Earnings generation. 2. Select the Pay group and the generated earnings option. The pay period displays. 3. Click OK.
Scenario Mia has finished generating earnings and now needs to generate payments for each pay group. She uses the Payment generation feature individually for each pay group. She can generate payments immediately, or she can schedule payment generation for a later date. Mia can also check taxes and other benefit/deductions after the payment generation is completed.
Generate Payments Use the Payment generation form to generate payments for employees in a pay group. Generate the payments immediately or at a scheduled time through batch processing. Remember that when payments generate, the Payroll module calculates the benefit/deductions, performs gross-to-net calculations, and produces payments. This information is posted, but payments must be approved before checks can be produced or automatic deposits can occur. Follow these steps to generate payments for employees in a pay group. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Payment generation. 2. Select the Pay group and Payment type. The pay period displays when you select the pay group. 3. Click OK.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Scenario Mia needs to send payments from a single pay group through an approval process, and then post them to the General Ledger. In this case, the payments were generated by using time from rotations, with no exceptions that require manual payments. Mia will send the pay register to Phyllis, the Accounting Manager (AM), and Sara, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), so that they can review gross to net before proceeding with payment approval. This helps make sure that payments are accurate before they are approved in the system. After she receives confirmation from Sara, Mia will run the approval process and post both the payments and benefit/deductions (including taxes). Entitlement accruals also are performed, to make sure entitlement banks are correct before pay period close. Finally, Mia will close the pay period.
Print Pay Register For monitoring, record-keeping, or reporting purposes, you may wish to view and print a Pay Register report; to do so, follow these steps: 1. In the Payroll area page, click Pay Groups in the Places list. Select the pay group. 2. In the action pane, click the General tab. 3. In the Reports group, click Payroll Register. 4. In the Pay register form, select All in the Payments option section (you can choose to report on payments approved or unapproved for that pay period, or both), then click Display report. 5. When you have finished reviewing employee earnings and deductions and the totals at the end of the report, close the report.
Approve Payments Use the Employee payments form to approve payments for the current pay period, to create checks, to create direct deposit statements, and to create the direct deposit transmission file. Follow these steps to approve payments for employees. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Approve payments. 2. To see all payments for that group, select the pay group. All the unapproved payments are selected. If all are being paid by direct deposit, you can select to pay them all at once. Or, select an Employee ID to see payments for that employee.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll 3. Select the payment(s) to approve. 4. Click Approve. 5. Click OK. NOTE: You cannot approve checks and direct deposits together. Each pay method needs to be filtered and approved separately.
Post Payments Post payments immediately or at a scheduled time by using batch processing. Follow these steps to post payroll payments for a pay group. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Payments posting. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. Click OK to post the payments immediately, or click Batch to post the payments at a scheduled time. 4. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 5. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Approve postings. 6. Click Approve all. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. Close the Approve postings form. 7. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Entitlements generation. Click OK in the confirmation dialog. Any entitlements that are adjusted by calculations scheduled for the current pay period are updated. When the process is complete, close the Infolog.
Post Benefits Use the Benefits posting function (which opens the Payroll post to general ledger form) to post all employee and employer benefit/deductions for employees in a pay group to the General Ledger . You can post the benefit/deductions immediately or at a scheduled time by using batch processing. Follow these steps to post benefit/deductions for employees in a pay group. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Benefits posting. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. Click OK to post the payments immediately, or click Batch to post the payments at a scheduled time.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Entitlement Generation Follow these steps to generate entitlement. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Entitlements generation. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. Click OK. Follow these steps to reverse entitlement generation. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Other, and select Entitlements reversal. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. Click OK.
Close Pay Period Use the Pay period end form to close the current pay period. When you close the current pay period, no more processing can be completed in the current pay period. NOTE: You must complete all postings to the General Ledger for the selected pay group before you can close the current pay period. Follow these steps to close the current pay period. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Pay period end. 2. Select the Pay group. 3. Click End pay period. 4. Click OK. 5. When the process is complete, close the Infolog and the End pay period form. 6. The pay groups list displays the end date of the new pay period.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll
Lab 4.1 - Process a Pay Period Scenario Mia needs help processing pay period 4 for the Staff-USA pay group.
Challenge Yourself! To process the pay period, create time from rotation for your hourly employees. Some exceptions such as sick leave and vacation already have been entered. Enter the following additional exceptions, then process the pay period, starting by translating time to earnings and finishing by closing the pay period. You can skip posting to Accounts Payable and posting to project. Changes to time: Employee
Date
Change
1127 Shai Bassli (hourly employee)
1/18/2008
Change the shift from day to sick
1207 Kevin Kennedy (salaried employee)
1/18/2008
Add 4 hours of vacation
Employee ID
Date
Change
1127 Shai Bassli
1/18/2008
Add a bonus earning of $500
1207 Kevin Kennedy
1/18/2008
Add a bonus earning of $500
Changes to earnings:
Need a Little Help? To process a pay group, open the Pay groups list and highlight that pay group. The action buttons on the Pay Period tab contain the steps for processing the pay group as a whole. The Transaction tab contains action buttons for editing time and earnings. To change time generated from rotation, you first must unapprove it. To see approved time in the Approve time entry form, clear the Only view unapproved time checkbox. Click in the top left corner of the grid to select all time records, then click Unapprove. Enter time exceptions in the time journal and additional earnings in the earnings journal. Once all your manual time changes are complete, go back to the Approve time entry form and approve the changes. Manual earning entries do not have to be approved.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Step by Step Start processing a pay group by entering time. Then, enter time from rotation or import time first, then make any necessary manual adjustments. 1. Click Payroll, then click Pay Groups in the Places list. Select the Staff-USA pay group. 2. In the action pane, click the Pay Period tab, then click Create time from rotation. Leave Overwrite existing time selected and then click OK. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 3. To make the time records editable, select Staff-USA in the pay groups list and then click Approve Time Entry. Clear the Only view unapproved time selection to see approved time entries. Click in the top left corner of the table to select all the rows in the table. Click Unapprove. Close the form. 4. To edit the time records, select Staff-USA in the pay groups list, click the Transaction tab in the action pane, and then click Enter Time. 5. In the Employee time journal, select employee 1127, Shai Bassli, an hourly employee. The time records that you created from Shai's rotation appear. Change the shift for 1/19/2008 from Day to Sick leave. 6. In the time journal, select employee 1207, Kevin Kennedy, a salaried employee. Kevin has no time records. To record his half day of vacation, press CTRL+N to create a new row, select Vacation as the shift, enter 1/19/2008 as the date, and enter 4 as the number of hours. Close the Employee time journal form. 7. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA. In the action pane, click the Pay Period tab, then click Approve Time Entry. The unapproved time entries are listed and selected. Click Approve. Close the form.
Enter Earnings You can import or manually enter earnings that are not derived from time or from salary or generated automatically. 1. To manually enter two bonus payments, select Staff-USA in the pay groups list, click the Transaction tab in the action pane, then click Enter Earnings. 2. In the Employee earnings journal, press CTRL+N to create a new row. Select employee 1127, Shai Bassli, select the Bonus earning, and enter 1/19/2008 as the earning date and 500 as the pay amount. 3. Press CTRL+N to create another new row. Select employee 1207, Kevin Kennedy, select the Bonus earning, and enter 1/19/2008 as the earning date and 500 as the pay amount. 4. Close the form.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll 5. Click the Pay Period tab in the action pane, then click Create Earnings from Time. In the form that appears, select all four checkboxes and then click OK. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 6. To review the earnings that have been created, click the General tab in the action pane, then click Earnings and select Earnings from the drop-down list. Review the list, then close it.
Payments After you are satisfied with your earnings, you are ready to generate payments, which also calculate benefits and deductions. 1. In the pay group list action pane, click the Pay Period tab. Select the Staff-USA pay group and then click Generate Payments. Select the regular payment type and then click OK. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 2. To review the payments, click the General tab in the pay group action list pane, and in the Reports group, click Payroll Register. In the Pay register form, select All in the Payments option section, then click Display report. When you have finished reviewing employee earnings and deductions and the totals at the end of the report, close the report. 3. To approve the payments, click the Pay Period tab in the pay group list action pane. Select the Staff-USA pay group and then click Approve Payments. All the unapproved payments are selected. They are all being paid by direct deposit, so they all can be paid at once. Click Approve. 4. In the direct deposit bank account dialog, click OK. 5. In the direct deposit parameter dialog that appears, enter a file creation date that is before the effective entry date and then click OK. 6. When the payments have been processed, close the confirmation dialog. Provide a destination for the pay advice image file and then click Save. You can print this file or configure a production system to print directly to a printer. 7. Close the Approve payments form.
Posting and Closing After all payments for a pay period - including regular payments, supplemental payments, and manual payments have been issued, post the transactions to the general ledger and close the pay period. 1. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA, click the Pay Period tab, then, in the Post action group, click Post Payments. Click OK in the confirmation dialog. When the process is complete, close the Infolog.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks 2. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA, then, in the Post action group, click Post Benefits. Click OK in the confirmation dialog. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 3. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA, then, in the Post action group, click Approve postings. Click Approve all. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. Close the Approve postings form. 4. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA, then, in the Close action group, click Generate entitlements. Click OK in the confirmation dialog. Any entitlements that are adjusted by calculations scheduled for the current pay period are updated. When the process is complete, close the Infolog. 5. In the pay groups list, select Staff-USA, then, in the Close action group, click End Pay Period. Click OK. When the process is complete, close the Infolog and the End pay period form. The pay groups list displays the end date of the new pay period.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll
Occasional Payroll Processing Tasks The following tasks are frequently performed by payroll administrators, but on an as-required basis instead of for every pay period.
Create a Manual Payment Use the Manual payment form to enter a single manual payment for an employee. For example, when employment is terminated before the end of a pay period. Also use this form to pay additional earnings that were not included in a regular payment. Follow these steps to create a manual payment. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Journals, and select Manual payment. 2. Select the Employee. 3. If the employee is in more than one pay group, select the Pay group. 4. Change the Payment method and Payment type, if required. The Pay type indicates which earnings and benefit/deductions you can process by the payment. If time or earnings are not available to process for the employee, a message displays. 5. If the employee is paid on an hourly basis, select the Time tab. The time records created by the Create time from rotation and Employee time features display, as well as those records that have been approved in the Time approval form. 6. If any of the time records are incorrect, click Calc earnings to create earning records. 7. Click the Earnings tab to view the earnings created from the time records or to view earnings created in the Time to earnings form for salaried employees. 8. Select Journals > Earnings to modify the earning records if they are incorrect. 9. Click Calculate payment. 10. Click the Benefits and deductions tab to view or modify the benefit/deductions that are included in the manual payment. 11. After modifying the benefit/deductions, click Recalculate payment. 12. Click Issue payment. The manual payment is created and the Payment tab displays the gross to net results of the payment calculation. 13. Select Payroll > Inquiries > Payments to view payment details, or select Payroll > Journals > Cancel payments to cancel the manual payment.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Manage Advance Payments Advances in pay, and the recoveries of those advances, are common tasks for client payroll administrators. AX 2009 Payroll helps simplify these tasks. For example, Mia may have to set up an advance to an employee for the current pay period, and to set up recovery of that advance over the subsequent two months. If the employee is paid using a weekly pay period cycle, Mia could set up an automatic recovery of a reasonable amount each week. One task that implementers must remember to do during setup is to define the advance recovery deduction code. When a pay advance has been given to an employee, the advance is recovered as a benefit/deduction in a future payment.
Setting up the Advance Follow these steps to set up the advance. 1. Click Journals and select Advances. 2. Create a new advance in the Overview tab by pressing CTRL+N. 3. Click the General tab and enter data for the new advance. Specifying that the advance was not issued outside of the system means that it is being issued through Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll, and not, for instance, directly in cash from the finance office. If the same is specified for the recovery, then the payroll administrator then must set up that recovery.
Setting up the Recovery Follow these steps to set up the recovery. 1. Click the Recoveries tab. The advance amount transfers automatically from the general screen, and one line appears in the table for the full amount of that advance. 2. In the table, press CTRL+N to create a new line, select the desired pay period end date, and specify the amount to recover on that date. 3. The first line moves down in the table and becomes the amount remaining. Continue to press CTRL+N to specify pay periods and amounts, until the planned recoveries equal the full amount of the advance.
Manage Negative Nets and Negative Net Recoveries About Negative Nets A negative net is created if the total deductions from an employee's payment are greater than the gross amount of that payment.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll Negative net conditions are detected automatically by AX 2009 Payroll, but you can set up the module to either permit or prevent negative net from occurring. If you have set up Payroll to allow negative nets, and if a negative net is detected, then: •
the payment to the employee becomes zero
•
recovery is scheduled automatically for the next payment
•
the recovery is always for the total amount, and cannot be divided between successive future payments
If recovery has already been completed outside of AX 2009 Payroll (for example, by personal check), then you must instruct Payroll to not automatically detect and recover that particular negative net.
Conditions for a Negative Net For a negative net to occur, the following conditions must be met: •
A Negative net deduction code must be set up in the General definitions form.
•
Negative amounts must be specified for the particular payment type in the Payment types form.
•
The Insufficient funds option for the particular benefit/deductions involved must allow the entire deduction to be taken.
Automatic Actions If the above conditions are met, then negative nets are detected automatically, the payment to the employee will become zero, and a negative net recovery deduction is scheduled automatically. The recovery is always for the total amount, and you cannot split it between payments. If the payment is not enough to cover the full amount of the recovery, then no recovery is made.
Monitoring and Working With Negative Nets Two forms are used to monitor and work with negative nets in AX 2009 Payroll:
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•
Negative net inquiries (Payroll > Forms > Inquiries > Negative nets). Use this form to view information about the outstanding and recovered negative net amounts recorded by Payroll. You also can specify if a negative net amount must be recovered outside of Payroll.
•
Negative net recoveries (Payroll > Forms > Inquiries > Negative net recoveries). Use this form to view information about negative net amounts that have been recovered from employees. The form is primarily for audit purposes, where it is used to track amounts recovered from employees.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Negative Net Recovery Outside of Payroll If negative nets are recovered outside of the AX 2009 Payroll system (for example, by personal check), then you must tell Payroll to not automatically detect and recover the negative net. To record payments outside the system, and thus make sure that the amount is not recovered a second time by a deduction from the employee's paycheck, follow these steps for negative net recovery outside of Payroll. 1. Click Payroll > Forms > Employees > Payroll profile > Manage > Negative nets. In the Negative nets form, click the Overview tab. 2. Select the employee and the negative net. 3. In the Recovered outside the system field, select Yes (although you can reach the Negative nets form by more than one path, you only can modify this field value if you open the form by using the path specified in step 1). 4. The Recovered field value for the employee also changes to Yes. Close the form to save the changes.
Cancel, Reprint, and Retransmit Payments Cancel Payment Follow these steps to use the Cancel payments form to cancel a payment that has already been issued to an employee. 1. Click Payroll, then Journals, and select Cancel payments. 2. Click the Overview tab, and select the payment to cancel. 3. Click the General tab to verify the payment information. 4. Click Cancel selected payments. 5. Click Yes. NOTE: While this procedure cancels the payment (in other words, the benefit/deductions and gross to net calculation), it does not cancel the time and earnings. If time and earnings must be changed, you must perform a time/earnings adjustment.
Reprint or Retransmit a Check or Direct Deposit Follow these steps to reprint or retransmit a check or direct deposit. 1. In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Pay period, and select Approve payments. 2. Select a Pay group to see all payments for that group. 3. Select an Employee ID to see payments for that employee.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll 4. Select the payment to print the check or direct deposit for. 5. Click Reprint to reprint the check or direct deposit or click Retransmit to retransmit the check or direct deposit.
Create Prior Period Adjustments Payroll administrators use the Time/earning adjustments form to adjust time and earnings data entered for an employee in a prior period. They can adjust or create shifts and pieces in the Time Original section of the form, and adjust or create earnings in the Earnings Original section of the form. Follow these steps to create a time/earning adjustment for an employee. 1. Click Payroll, then Journals, and select Time/earning adjustments. 2. Select the Pay Group and Employee ID. 3. Select the starting and ending dates for the period. 4. Click View to see time and earnings information for the employee during the selected date range. 5. Change information in the Time Original or Earnings Original sections of the form, as needed. To create a new entry, press CTRL+N. 6. The new entry and the canceled original entry appear in the Adjusted area. 7. Click Commit adjustments. If the company owes the employee money, then the amount will be paid in next payment generation or will be paid using a manually created check. If the employee owes money to the company, then payroll administrators can take recovery action.
Entitlement Payouts About Entitlement Payouts Processing entitlement payouts involves two main scenarios: processing entitlement payouts and depletions, and paying out entitlements to an individual employee. For example, a company might have a policy that one or more entitlements are paid out or reset to zero if they are not used in a particular time frame. Payouts and resets do not happen automatically, and must be initiated manually. As a result, Payroll administrators may have to:
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•
Reset the entitlement balance for a specific period to zero for all employees.
•
Pay out the entitlement balance for a specific period to all employees who have a remaining balance.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks You might also have to pay out an entitlement to an individual when an employee is being terminated, is going on leave, or is being prevented from otherwise taking the entitlement due to exceptional circumstances.
Resetting Entitlement Balances for All Employees Follow these steps to reset entitlement balances for all employees. 1. Click Payroll, then Periodic, Other, and Entitlements reset. 2. Select a Pay group, Entitlement, and Entitlement rule group. 3. Select the Accruing period, Accruing period year, and the Period number to reset the balance to zero. For example, in April 2008, you might select the 2007 entitlement year to eliminate unused vacation from 2007. Vacation accrued in 2008 would not be affected. 4. Click OK. Entitlements adjust accordingly. 5. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each entitlement, entitlement rule group, and pay group that you must reset.
Paying Out an Entitlement to All Employees Follow these steps to pay out an entitlement to all employees. 1. Click Payroll, then Periodic, Other, and Entitlements mass payout. 2. Select a Pay group, Entitlement, and Entitlement rule group. 3. Select the Entitlement period year and a Period number. For example, in April 2008, you might select the 2007 entitlement year to pay out unused vacation from 2007. Vacation accrued in 2008 would not be affected. 4. To pay out the full remaining balance in each employee's entitlement bank, select Yes in the Payout outstanding balance field and select a Payout reason code. Or, to impose a maximum on the amount paid out, select No in the Payout outstanding balance field and enter the maximum number of hours or amount to be paid out. 5. Select Reset hours, a Payout reason code, and Reset reason codes. The reset reason code is used only if the remaining hours or amount had to be reset in addition to the payout. 6. Select the Current pay period ending date or, if the payout should appear on a future paycheck, select the ending date for that pay period. Select the payout earning code and the payout earning date for that payment. 7. Click OK. Earnings are added to the employees who had entitlements remaining and the entitlements adjust accordingly. 8. Repeat steps 1 through 7 for each entitlement, entitlement rule group, and pay group that you must pay out.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Paying Out an Entitlement to an Individual Employee Follow these steps to pay out an entitlement to an individual employee. 1. Click Payroll, then Journals and Entitlements. 2. Select the entitlement to pay out, click Functions, and then click Pay out entitlements. 3. To pay out the full remaining balance of the entitlement, select Yes in the Payout outstanding balance field and select a Payout reason code. Or, to impose a maximum on the amount paid out, select No in the Payout outstanding balance field. The Payout hours or amount field shows the current hours or amount remaining for the entitlement. Enter the hours or amount to be paid out and the Payout reason code. 4. The Reset hours or amount field automatically adjusts to show the balance remaining after payout. To further reduce it, for example, to zero, enter that value and select a Reset reason code. 5. Select the current pay period ending date or, if the payout should appear on a future paycheck, select the ending date for the pay period. Select the Earning code and Earning date for that payment. 6. The job information associated with the payout earning that you are generating displays in the Job details section. Enter changes as needed. 7. Click OK. An earning is added to that employee and the entitlement adjusts accordingly.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks
Lab 4.2 - Prior Period Adjustment and Manual Payment Scenario Employee 2248, Sam Abolorous, pointed out that he had not been paid for an extra shift he worked in the previous pay period. His manager confirms that he worked that shift, but it was not included in the time reported to the Payroll office. Now Mia needs to record that shift and its earnings and generate a check for Sam.
Challenge Yourself! Add an eight-hour night shift for employee 2248, Sam Abolorous, on January 12, 2008, which is a date in a previous pay period. Then generate a manual check to pay out those earnings. Sam is in the Staff-USA pay group.
Need a Little Help? Use the Time/earning adjustment form to change: •
time or earnings from a previous pay period
•
time in the current pay period that has been processed into earnings
•
earnings the current pay period that have updated accumulators
To open the Time/earnings adjustment form, click Payroll > Journals > Time/earning adjustments. In the Time/earnings adjustment form, select the pay group and employee ID and a date range that includes the dates that you have adjustments for, then click View. To add a new shift, click in the Original time list, then press CTRL+N. When you finish entering the shift information, click on the next row. The Adjusted lists in both the Time and Earnings sections will be updated. To open the Manual payment form, click Payroll > Journals > Manual payments. In the Manual Payments form, click the Earnings tab, select Manual Payment and Check then click Generate payment. Review the list of benefit/deductions and remove any that you do not want to withhold from this payment before you generate the payment. To generate the check, click Payroll > Periodic > Pay period > Approve payments.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll Step by Step To add the missing shift, follow these steps to make a time adjustment. 1. Click Payroll > Journals > Time/earning adjustment. 2. Select the Staff-USA pay group and employee ID 2248, Sam Abolrous. Enter the date rage 1/7/2008 to 1/13/2008, then click View to see Sam's time and earnings for that date range. Close the Infolog warning you that the pay run has been completed for this date range. 3. In the Time pane, click any shift in the Original list and press CTRL+N to create a new row. Enter 1/12/2008 as the work date and select the Night shift. The remaining required information appears by default. 4. Click on another line. The Adjusted lists in the Time and Earnings sections are updated. Sam receives regular hourly pay and a shift premium for the eight hours he worked. 5. Click Commit adjustments to save them, then close the Infolog and the Time/earning adjustments form.
Manual Payment To create a check for Sam, follow these steps to make a manual payment. 1. Click Payroll > Journals > Manual payments. 2. Select the Staff-USA pay group and employee ID 2248, Sam Abolrous. 3. Click the Earnings tab. The Jan. 12 earnings are listed. Select the Check payment method and the Manual payment type. Click Calculate payment. 4. On the Benefits/deductions tab, to remove the benefits, leaving only the taxes, select the following rows in the upper list, then click the red delete icon in the window heading. o 401K o Dental plan o Health plan 5. Click Recalculate payment, then click Issue payment and close the Manual payment form. 6. Click Payroll > Periodic > Pay period > Approve payments. Select the Staff-USA pay group, select employee 2248, Sam Abolrous, and then click Approve. 7. Click OK in the Check print and Print dialogs and save the check image file.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks
Payroll Reporting Use the Inquiries and Reports features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll to view and print records that have been entered in the system. Inquiries is a "view only" function, and you can use it during the payroll processing cycle to check the accuracy of payroll information or to view historical information. Records print by using the Reports feature. You can use the Reports feature to view all relevant data in the database, or to find specific records through the use of search criteria. Inquiries and reports have many options for helping users quickly retrieve information from any area of the payroll module.
Viewing Records Across the Organization Administrators can verify records in the system across the organization, as well as for individual employees. Follow these steps to view records across the organization. 1. Click Payroll, then click Inquiries. 2. Select the type of information to view: • Accumulators •
Advances
•
Benefit/deductions
•
Benefits/deduction transactions
•
Deposits
•
Earnings
•
Earnings import
•
Employees
•
Entitlements
•
Exceptions
•
Negative nets
•
Negative net recoveries
•
Payments
•
Postings
•
Project postings
•
Retroactive earnings
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll •
Run controls
•
Time
•
Time import
3. View the selected records by clicking Overview. 4. View the details of a single record by selecting the record and clicking General. 5. Select Overview or click the Search button to view the selected records. For example, when you perform an inquiry on Earnings, select a specific pay group, pay period, and earning such as a bonus. Refine the search by entering a Pay amount of $400.00 and selecting the operator Greater than. Earning records will appear for employees who earned bonus amounts greater than $400.00.
Narrowing the Search Narrow the search in text fields by using the question mark and asterisk symbols. The question mark generates a single character wild card , whereas the asterisk generates a multiple character wild card. For example, when making an inquiry on Time, you can use asterisks and work date selection to view only: •
Time records for January 9, 2006
•
Time records of employees in the Staff pay group whose occupations include the word "Clerk."
To do this, when making your inquiry: 1. Select the pay group, pay period, year, and period number. 2. Enter the work date and enter a start time of 12:00 am. 3. Enter *clerk* in the Occupation field.
Viewing Records for an Individual Employee Follow these steps to view employee-specific information. 1. Click Payroll, then click Inquiries and Employees. 2. Select or enter the Employee ID. All employees display in the upper pane on the Overview screen. The selected employee displays in the bottom pane. 3. Select the type of record from the Selection list to display the relevant employee records. 4. Select General to view the details of the record.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks About Reports Use the Reports function to create and print reports.
Selecting and Generating Reports There are two different procedures for selecting and generating reports, depending on whether the data to be reported is for a specific pay period: 1. Procedure to generate a report that is not for a specific pay period. Reports include: • Employee list •
Employee profiles
•
Benefit/deductions
•
Earnings
•
Employee dates
•
Employee entitlements
•
Employee events
•
Entitlement transactions
•
Postings
•
Retro earnings
•
Run controls
•
Statutory reports
2. Procedure to generate a report that is pay-period specific. Reports include: • Benefit/deductions change •
Benefit/deductions enrollment change
•
Benefit list
•
Checks
•
Direct deposits
•
Payroll register
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll Types of Reports In general, you can generate three types of reports - base data, transaction, and other: Base Data reports include: •
Employee List - reports employees and their hire and termination dates.
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Employee Profiles - reports all employee information.
Transaction Reports include:
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Benefit/deductions - reports the benefit and deduction amounts taken from an individual employee.
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Benefit/deductions change - reports changes in benefit and deduction amounts taken in a specific pay period.
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Benefit/deductions enrollment change - reports changes in enrollments in a specific pay period.
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Benefit/deductions list - reports the selected benefit and deduction amounts taken from an individual employee or a group of employees in a specific pay period.
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Checks - reports checks generated for a pay group in a specific pay period.
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Direct deposits - reports direct deposits generated for a pay group in a specific pay period.
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Earnings - reports specific or all earning records for an individual employee or a group of employees.
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Employee dates - reports significant employee dates, such as anniversary dates.
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Employee entitlements - reports specific or all entitlement bank balance information.
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Employee events - reports significant employee events, such as performance reviews.
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Employee payments - reports all payment records generated for employees for a specific pay period. In this report use the Summarize tab to produce subtotals of selected records such as gross, net, payment, or benefit/deduction amount.
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Entitlement transactions - reports detailed entitlement transactions that contribute to employee entitlement banks.
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Payroll register - reports all payroll data for a selected pay group for a specific pay period.
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Postings - reports employee payments postings for a specific pay period.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks •
Retro earnings - reports employee retroactive earnings for a specific pay period.
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Run controls - reports processing information for specific processes in the Journals, Periodic, and Reports functions. You can print a record of what occurred during a process, such as the number of records created, the time the process ran, and the user who ran the process.
Other Reports include: •
Reconciliation - reports summaries of all processes for a pay group and details at the code, department, and employee level.
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Statutory deduction reports - displays statutory reports for employees.
Generating General Reports Follow these steps to generate a report that is not for a specific pay period. 1. Click Payroll, then click Reports, then click the report name. 2. The Report parameters display at the top of the window. For each report there are preset selection criteria which display in the All area. You can select other options for this report and save the report selection criteria to run the same report again. If you select User, only the user saving the report options can access the saved report selection criteria. If you select All, all users can access the saved report options. 3. Use Name to save a new set of report selection criteria. The options that you select on the Sort and Summarize tabs will be saved. Enter a description of these report options in the Description field. 4. Delete saved report options by clicking Delete. 5. On the Search tab, specify the criteria by selecting or entering data in the fields such as Pay group, and select the appropriate operators (equal to, between, etc.). 6. By default only active records will be included on the report. Click on Dropdown filter to include expired and future dated records. 7. To enter sorting information, click on the Sort tab, press CTRL+N, and select the specific sort fields from the Report field name field. 8. The Sequence number for the sort order is supplied automatically based on the order that new rows are created, and are changeable. 9. Page Break defaults to No. You can it to Yes to generate a page break in the report.
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Microsoft Dynamics® AX Payroll 10. On the Summarize tab you can select fields to provide subtotals. For example, to generate a summarized reconciliation report, select a pay group and Date period. Select Summary and then click OK. To generate a detailed reconciliation report, select a pay group and Date period. Select Detail and select Detail's code, Department details, and/or Employee details. You can select a single item in Details or any combination of the three. Click OK. 11. In Report field name click the arrow and select an item such as Occupation, Employee ID, and Full name to indicate the fields to print on the report. 12. Click on the Generate tab and then click on Generate report. For example, select the Employee list report. Click Sort and press CTRL+N to create a new row. Select Department organization as the field name. In the Sequence field 1 is supplied, and in the Break field select Yes. The employees will sort by department and there will be a break between each department in the printed report.
Generating Pay Period Reports Follow these steps to generate a report that is pay period specific. 1. Click Payroll, then click Reports, then click the report name. 2. Select a Pay group for the report. The Date period and End date of the current pay period display. Select a different End date to report on a previous pay period. 3. To report on a specific Payment run, select it from the list. 4. Select the appropriate options for the data to report, and select the Sort option. 5. Click on Display report.
Summary This course explained the two functional groups of payroll administrator tasks that follow Data Preparation Payroll Processing and Payroll Reporting. Payroll processing tasks concern these major activities:
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Capture time
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Make payment calculations
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Approve payments
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Distribute payments
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Make pay period reports
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks Payroll processing tasks are divided into those used routinely during most, if not all, pay periods, and those that are used occasionally, on an as-required basis. Payroll administrators can use the Inquiries and Reports features to view and print records across the entire system or for specific employees.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll
Test Your Knowledge 1. Which one of the following is not a valid method of capturing time data? ( ) Recording time in the rotation. ( ) Importing from a comma-delimited text file. ( ) Manually entering time for an employee. ( ) Create Creating time from rotation. 2. When turning time into earnings, which of the following can Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll also automatically update? ( ) Entitlements, advances, and manual payments. ( ) Entitlements, accumulators, and negative nets. ( ) Entitlements, accumulators, and generated earnings (allowances) ( ) Accumulators, generated earnings, and payments. 3. Once satisfied with the pay period earnings for each pay group, the payroll administrator can update accumulators for all the employees in each pay group. Briefly explain why updating accumulators can be seen as a critical point in pay period processing.
4. Which of the following is a correct statement about "generated earnings?"? ( ) Generated earnings are based on the employee's salary. ( ) Generated earnings are time-dependent. ( ) Generated earnings are created when you create earnings from time records. ( ) Generated earnings are automatically -generated, allowance-type earnings that are provided to eligible employees.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks 5. If a payroll administrator discovers a problem in how entitlement accruals were calculated, the accruals can be reversed - as long as a major condition is fulfilled. Identify the condition, and briefly describe the process that is used to reverse the accruals.
6. After payments are generated, payroll administrators manage a review and approval process. Explain this process, who does the review, and what happens after the payments are approved.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll
Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned Take a moment and write down three key points you have learned from this chapter 1.
2.
3.
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Chapter 4: Payroll Administration Processing Tasks
Solutions Test Your Knowledge 1. Which one of the following is not a valid method of capturing time data? (•) Recording time in the rotation. ( ) Importing from a comma-delimited text file. ( ) Manually entering time for an employee. ( ) Create Creating time from rotation. 2. When turning time into earnings, which of the following can Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Payroll also automatically update? ( ) Entitlements, advances, and manual payments. ( ) Entitlements, accumulators, and negative nets. (•) Entitlements, accumulators, and generated earnings (allowances) ( ) Accumulators, generated earnings, and payments. 3. Once satisfied with the pay period earnings for each pay group, the payroll administrator can update accumulators for all the employees in each pay group. Briefly explain why updating accumulators can be seen as a critical point in pay period processing. MODEL ANSWER: Because as soon as the accumulators are updated, then the only way you can then reverse them is to use Timetime/earning adjustments. 4. Which of the following is a correct statement about "generated earnings?" ( ) Generated earnings are based on the employee's salary. ( ) Generated earnings are time-dependent. ( ) Generated earnings are created when you create earnings from time records. (•) Generated earnings are automatically -generated, allowance-type earnings that are provided to eligible employees.
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Microsoft Dynamics速 AX Payroll 5. If a payroll administrator discovers a problem in how entitlement accruals were calculated, the accruals can be reversed - as long as a major condition is fulfilled. Identify the condition, and briefly describe the process that is used to reverse the accruals. MODEL ANSWER: Accruals can be reversed as long as the pay period that they were calculated in has not been closed. To reverse entitlement accruals: In the Payroll area page, click Periodic, select Other, and select Entitlements reversal. Select the Pay group. Click OK. 6. After payments are generated, payroll administrators manage a review and approval process. Explain this process, who does the review, and what happens after the payments are approved. MODEL ANSWER: After payments have been generated, payroll administrators normally print the pay register and send it to financial managers for review. This helps make sure that payments are accurate before they are approved in the system. After management confirmation of the printed pay register, the payroll administrator approves the payments, posts the payments and benefit/deductions, and closes the pay period.
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