Process Payroll

This option runs the payroll for real; you would normally have checked that the payroll is correct by running the Check Report described above.

The payroll often means more to employees than anything else in the company. It must be correct, or questions are quickly asked. It is not, in our experience, uncommon for corrections to be needed after the payroll has been run. For this reason, the Datafile Software payroll has an option to make a copy of the payroll files immediately before the payroll is run. Should a correction be required, the copy files can be restored provided the Full Payment Submission has not been sent to the HMRC, the correction made, and the payroll re-run.

Note

As with the ‘Payroll Check Report’ the system checks the links between the employee and department files and asks if you wish to process all employees. Reply ‘No’ to this latter question if you want to run the payroll for just one or two employees (someone who is going on holiday or leaving this period perhaps). Reply ‘Yes’ to process all (or the balance of) employees.

Verify report date

The date shown, for weekly/2-weekly or 4-weekly payroll, is the period up to which the employees are being paid. It is important that the default date reflects this date for tax credit purposes.For monthly payroll the date is the default pay date within the month (tax credits always being paid up to the end of the month). Accept this or overtype with another date – but note that the ‘payment as at’ date remains as per the original default.

Process / Print Sequence

You have the option to print reports either in employee number sequence, or sorted into employee number order within each department. Reply 1 for the first option, or 2 for the second. Diamond and Premier users have the option to nominate a data item on the employee file to use as a report sequence – if configured this is offered as a third option.

Report Employee Birthdays

Set to flag up employees who have birthdays within the current/next pay period.

Run / Printing Procedure

Once you have set the report parameters you select which print device to output the report to.

To ‘print’ you select the desired output device and then click the OK button. Available options are:

Print Device – selecting this option allows you to print the report to any printer configured on your pc. The printer is selected from the NAME drop down list.

Fax-File Server – this option is enabled if you have fax software such as Tobit David or Zetafax that uses a ‘file scan’ folder to pickup faxes. If you use fax software such as WinFax then the fax output can be selected from the ‘print device’ list.

E-Mail– selecting this option creates an email message (Tobit David, Outlook and Outlook Express only) with the report as a PDF file attachment.

PDF File – selecting this option displays the check report as a PDF file.

The other options are disabled for the payroll run report.

The report columns are usually configured to show the employee number, gross pay, additions to gross, deductions from gross, taxable pay, NI deducted (employer and employee), tax deducted, additions to net, deductions from net and net pay. Diamond and Premier users can of course amend the items printed on this report.

As part of the payroll run a transaction containing the current pay details is added to the P11 and, if applicable, the Premier only transaction file.