On or after the "Begin Projecting" date defined for your projected pay cycle, you can run a projected payroll export that you then import into your payroll processing program to generate employee payroll. To reduce the chance of export errors and to minimize the number of reconciliation adjustments that need to be made after the pay period closes, perform the first several steps of the End of Period process before generating your projected payroll export.

Each step in the End of Period process checks the pay period data for specific types of errors or exceptions. Any issues that need attention are listed on the End of Period pages along with links, buttons, and/or instructions to help you resolve the issues. Due to the ample on-screen instructions provided on the End of Period pages, only brief descriptions of each step are given below. If you need more details about a step, click the step to see expanded information.

Notes:
The procedures described below should be performed on or after payroll projection has started for a given pay cycle. If you are unsure what the scheduled projection start date is, check the Projected Pay Cycle Calendar.

Although the procedures for preparing your pay cycle for a projected payroll export are based on the End of Period steps, there are some key differences. For example, do not attempt to resolve Employees without Timecard Approval exceptions, since employees will continue to record time for the rest of the pay period and any timecard approvals they record will be cleared by their future edits. Also, note that only exceptions related to timecard records for days that are not being projected (that is, for days before the "Begin Projecting" date) need to be resolved at this point in the projected payroll cycle. If you are waiting for action by a supervisor to resolve an exception on a projected day, you can continue to process your projected payroll. The projected payroll export uses only projected hours for the "Begin Projecting" date and every day in the pay period after that, even if time pairs (and exceptions) exist on those days.

When projecting payroll, do not lock the pay period or proceed past End of Period Step 5 until the pay period has expired and you are ready to close the pay period. For instructions on that later phase of the projecting payroll process, see Closing a Projected Pay Cycle Pay Period.

To perform End of Period checks in preparation for running a projected payroll export:

1. Click the Home tab then click the End of Period link.

2. From the list of pay cycles on the End of Period page, click the Step-By-Step link for the pay cycle for which you are preparing projected payroll. The End of Period Operations page opens with Step 1: Check Pending Events displayed.

   Notes:
   Do not use the Automatically link to run the End of Period steps in this procedure. Using this link may cause the process to run past Step 5, which will cause the pay cycle to be locked. You want the pay cycle to remain unlocked until the pay period has closed so that your employees can continue to enter their time and attendance data. If you accidentally lock the pay cycle, simply click the Unlock Pay Cycle button. When you complete Step 5, you will leave the End of Period interface and create a projected payroll export from the Export section of the application.
   
   The End of Period Operations page contains a series of steps that must be performed in order. If a step does not apply to your company's ezLaborManager configuration, it is marked as "Option Not Available" and is skipped. You must proceed through the steps in order, although you can return to a previously completed step.

3. On the Step 1: Check Pending Events page, resolve any pending events (such as unprocessed timecards), and then click the Next Step button.

   Step 1 checks for the presence of unfinished or pending events, such as deferred timecards that have not yet been processed. If any pending events are identified, you must take action or wait for them to be completed.

   • If any timecards are found that have not been processed, click the provided link to submit the timecards for immediate processing.

   • To refresh the page and recheck for pending events, click 1. Check Pending Events in the menu on the left side of the page.

   • If/when the Check Pending Events page indicates that "All timecards have been submitted for processing" and no pending events are listed, click the Next Step button.

4. On the Step 2: Check Payroll-Related Exceptions page, resolve any payroll-related exceptions (such as Payroll Approval Required exceptions and Exceeds accrual hours available exceptions), and then click the Next Step button.

   Step 2 checks for any payroll-related exceptions, such as Payroll Approval Required, Exceeds accrual hours available, and Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions. If any payroll-related exceptions are found, click the link indicating the exception type and number of exceptions. Details about the exceptions will be displayed in the right pane, from which you can usually address them. When you have cleared all of the payroll-related exceptions in one category, click the Restart Check Payroll-Related Exceptions link to recheck the pay period, and then click the link for any other category of exceptions that may be found. When you have resolved all of the payroll-related exceptions, click the Next Step button.

   Instructions for resolving the most common exceptions are given below.

   Notes:
   At this point in the projected payroll process, ignore any Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions. If your company allows employees to approve their timecards, this exception identifies those employees who have not yet approved their timecards. However, because you are preparing projected payroll for a pay period that is not yet closed, it is not reasonable to require or expect employees to have approved their timecards. Employees will need to continue to record their time for the remainder of the pay period, and any future edits they make will clear their approvals. After you have resolved any other payroll-related exceptions so that only Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions are listed on Step 2, click the Next Step button.
   
   The available solutions for each exception depend on the severity level assigned to each exception type by your company. The severity level can determine whether an exception can be cleared simply by noting it, or whether the timecard has to be edited to remove the condition that caused the exception. The severity level assigned to an exception also controls whether or not a pay period can be closed if the exception is not resolved.

   • Payroll Approval Required exceptions

     If Payroll Approval Required exceptions exist, click the Payroll Approval Required link to view a table of the records requiring approval. From this table:

     • To view complete time pair detail information, including distribution and exception information, click the status icon next to a record. When you are finished viewing the detail information, click the Close button to return to the End of Period interface.

     • To clear the Payroll Approval Required exceptions by approving the timecard records listed in the Payroll Approval Required table on the End of Period page, select the check box in the header row of the Solution: Approve column, and then click the Submit button. (You can also select individual check boxes if you do not want to approve every record.)

     • To resolve a Payroll Approval Required exception by editing a time pair, click the date in the Pay Date column of the Payroll Approval Required table. This opens the Timecard Manager, from which you can edit the time pair. When you are finished editing the time pair, click the Save & Calculate button. After the page refreshes, click the End of Period Operations link in the Back to: field at the bottom of the page.

     After you have addressed each Payroll Approval Required exception, click the Restart Check Payroll-Related Exceptions link near the bottom of the End of Period page to recheck for payroll-related exceptions.

   • Exceeds Accrual Hours Available exceptions

     An exception of this type indicates that an employee has exceeded a negative threshold determined by your company for a certain accrual. For example, an employee may have taken a vacation day that brings his accrued vacation balance to -8.0 hours, but your company only allows 4 hours of negative vacation balance.

     If these types of exceptions exist, click the Exceeds accrual hours available link to view a table of the records with this exception. From this view:

     • To view complete time pair detail information, including distribution and exception information, click the status icon next to a time pair. When you are finished viewing the detail information, click the Close button to return to the End of Period interface.

     • To clear the exceptions by noting them, select the check box in the header row of the Solution: Note column, and then click the Submit button. (You can also select individual check boxes if you do not want to note every record.)

     • To resolve an exception by editing a time pair, click the date in the Pay Date column of the Exceed Accrual Hours Available table. This opens the Timecard Manager, from which you can edit the time pair. When you are finished editing the time pair, click the Save & Calculate button. After the page refreshes, click the End of Period Operations link in the Back to: field at the bottom of the page.

     After you have addressed each exception, click the Restart Check Payroll-Related Exceptions link near the bottom of the End of Period page to recheck for payroll-related exceptions.

   • Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions

     Do not attempt to resolve Employees without Timecard Approval exceptions at this point in the projected payroll cycle, since employees will continue to record time for the rest of the pay period and any timecard approvals they record will be cleared by their future edits.

   When you have resolved all of the payroll-related exceptions other than Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions, click the Next Step button.

   Note: At this point in the projected payroll cycle, do not resolve any Employees with Unapproved Timecard exceptions.

5. On the Step 3: Check Time Pair Exceptions page, resolve any time-pair-related exceptions (such missing supervisor approvals and missing punches, early outs, or other timecard errors). When no employees with exceptions are displayed, click the Next Step button.

   Step 3 checks for any time-pair-related exceptions, such as Supervisor Approval Required, Missing In/Out Punch, Clocked In/Out Early/Late, and other timecard exceptions. This step also identifies any supplemental earnings exceptions, such as Supplemental Earnings Supervisor Approval Required. If any of these exceptions are found, they are listed in an Employees with Exceptions in Current Pay Period table in the right pane. As an administrator, you have two basic ways to address these exceptions:

   • E-mail supervisors - If you do not need to complete the projected payroll export immediately, you can e-mail the supervisors of the employees with exceptions, and then wait for the relevant supervisors to resolve the exceptions.

     • To e-mail only selected supervisors, select the check box in the E-mail column for each supervisor you want to notify. If the list of exceptions spans more than one page, use the Next> and <Previous links to view the other pages and select all of the supervisors you want to e-mail. After you have selected all of the supervisors you want to e-mail, select Selected recipients only from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page, and then click the E-mail button.

     • To e-mail all supervisors of employees who have exceptions, select All supervisors on all pages from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page, and then click the E-mail button.

       Note: The icon indicates that no e-mail address is available for a supervisor.

   • Resolve exceptions yourself - If you cannot wait for supervisors to resolve the exceptions, you can resolve them yourself. To do this, click the button in the Edit Time Pair column for an employee listed in the Employees with Exceptions in the Current Pay Period table. The employee's timecard is displayed. Time pairs with exceptions are indicated with a (Warning) or (Error) icon, and a description of each exception is given underneath the time pair. Many time pair exceptions have common solutions that can be easily applied by making a selection from a drop-down menu. Other types of exceptions can only be resolved by editing the associated time pair.

     • For each exception with a drop-down Solution box, click the and select an appropriate solution. For example, to resolve a Supervisor Approval Required exception, select Approve. To resolve a Missing Out Punch exception, select Use Schedule. To resolve a Clocked Out Late, select either Note (to allow the late out punch) or Use Schedule (to replace it with the employee's scheduled out time). After you have selected solutions for each exception, click the Submit button. The employee's timecard refreshes. If other exceptions still exist that do not have a Solution drop-down box, or if you do not want to use one of the available solutions for some exceptions, you must edit individual time pairs to resolve the remaining exception (see below).

     • For exceptions that are marked No Solution, or that you want to edit manually, click the time pair in the Time Column to open the time pair in the Timecard Manager. Edit the time pair as necessary and then click the Save & Calculate button. After the page refreshes, click the End of Period Operations link in the Back to: area at the bottom of the page. Repeat this procedure for each time pair with an exception. When you have completed correcting exceptions for an employee, click the Submit button on the employee's timecard (on the End of Period Operations page) to reprocess the timecard.

     • If Supplemental Earnings exceptions exist, click the button in the Edit Supplemental Earnings column to open the Supplemental Earnings page. Edit the supplemental earnings record as necessary, select the Supervisor or Loan Approval check boxes (if available) for each transaction, and then click the Submit button. After the page refreshes, click the End of Period Operations link in the Back to: area at the bottom of the page.

   Note: All time pair exceptions must be resolved before you can move to the next step. After you have entered solutions and/or edited time pairs to resolve all time-pair-related exceptions, click 3. Check Time Pair Exceptions in the menu on the left side of the page to restart the step and verify that all exceptions have been resolved. If no exceptions are found, click the Next Step button.

6. On the Step 4: Check Attendance Exceptions page, perform any necessary attendance-related activities. When no attendance exceptions exist, click the Next Step button.

   If your company uses ezLaborManager's attendance tracking features, Step 4 displays the number of employees with pending Attendance events, runs the attendance processor, and then lists any employees who require attendance corrective actions. Depending on your company's end of period settings, any required attendance corrective actions may need to be completed before you can proceed to the next step. You can either e-mail supervisors to notify them to perform the necessary corrective actions, or you can record the actions yourself.

   • E-mail supervisors - If you do not need to complete the projected payroll export immediately, you can e-mail the supervisors who have employees requiring attendance corrective actions, and then wait for the relevant supervisors to perform and record the attendance corrective actions.

     • To e-mail only selected supervisors, select the check box in the E-mail column for each supervisor you want to notify. If the list of employees requiring attendance corrective actions spans more than one page, use the Next> and <Previous links to view the other pages and select all of the supervisors you want to e-mail. After you have selected all of the supervisors you want to e-mail, select Selected recipients only from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page, and then click the E-mail button.

     • To e-mail all supervisors of employees requiring corrective actions, select All supervisors on all pages from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page, and then click the E-mail button.

       Note: The icon indicates that no e-mail address is available for a supervisor.

   • Record corrective actions yourself - If you cannot wait for supervisors to perform and record the corrective actions, you can do them yourself:

     1. In the Attendance Corrective Action table shown in the right pane of the End of Period Operations page, click the link in the Event Date column for an employee requiring an attendance corrective action. An Attendance Infraction Requiring Corrective Action page opens and displays the necessary corrective action.

     2. To view more information about the circumstances leading up to the infraction, click the Information link in the upper right corner and the Details link near the bottom right corner.

     3. To record the corrective action using its default values, click the Submit button. The Attendance Corrective Action table opens again in the right pane of the End of Period page and shows any other employees requiring attendance corrective actions.

     4. If other employees require attendance corrective actions, repeat steps 1-3.

     5. When no employees are listed in the Attendance Corrective Action table, click the Restart Check Attendance Exceptions link to check again for attendance exceptions. If none are found, click the Next Step button.

        Note: Corrective actions are events, such as verbal or written warnings, that must be performed by a supervisor or administrator with an employee. The ezLaborManager application does not perform these actions. It only stores corrective action records, which are entered by supervisors and administrators. You or the supervisor must ensure that the actual verbal warning or other event occurs. For more information about attendance, see Managing Employee Attendance.

   Note: This step is only available if your company has configured ezLaborManager to track attendance exceptions. If your company does not use attendance tracking, this step is not available. After you click the Next Step button on the Step 3 page, the Step 5: Check Payroll Reconciliation page is displayed instead.

7. If the Step 5: Check Payroll Reconciliation page indicates that any unreconciled records exist, accept or reject each record.

   Step 5 checks for any unreconciled projected payroll reconciliation records. If any reconciliation adjustments have not been reviewed and either accepted or rejected, Step 5 displays an error message and provides a link to the Reconciliation Page. You must reconcile all records before you can proceed to the next step. To do this:

   1. Click the Reconciliation Page link. The Payroll Reconciliation Summary page opens for the first employee with an unreconciled record.

   2. Review and accept or reject each reconciliation adjustment for the pay cycle.

      • To accept all of the reconciliation adjustments for an employee, click the Accept All button on the Payroll Reconciliation Summary page. This has the effect of adjusting the employee's payroll so that he/she is paid for the exact hours he/she recorded during the last projected pay cycle. After you click the Accept All button, the Payroll Reconciliation Summary page refreshes and displays the unreviewed reconciliation adjustments for the next employee.

      • To reject all of the reconciliation adjustments for an employee, click the Reject All button on the Payroll Reconciliation Summary page. Clicking this button cancels the adjustments and results in the employee being paid according to the projected hours that were exported with projected payroll. No payroll adjustments are made in this case. After you click the Reject All button, the Payroll Reconciliation Summary page refreshes and displays the unreviewed reconciliation adjustments for the next employee.

      • To view more details about an employee's reconciliation adjustments so that you can accept and reject individual adjustments, click the Details link in the menu on the left side of the Payroll Reconciliation Summary page. On the Details page, click in the Accept or Reject column for each row to accept or reject each transaction. To accept all of the adjustments, click the All button in the header of the Accept column. To reject all of the adjustments, click the All button in the header of the Reject column. After you have reviewed and marked each adjustment, click the Submit button. The Payroll Reconciliation Summary page refreshes and displays the unreviewed reconciliation adjustments for the next employee.

   3. After you have reviewed all of the reconciliation adjustments, click the End of Period Operations link at the bottom of the page. Step 5 now indicates that there are "No unreviewed records."

   Notes:
   Do NOT click the Next Step button when you have completed Step 5.
   
   If you are processing your first projected payroll for a pay cycle, there will not yet be any reconciliation records. Reconciliation records are based on the previous pay period's projected payroll.

You have now fixed all exceptions in the pay period to date and you are ready to run your projected payroll export. You will run this export outside of the normal End of Period Operations so that you do not have to lock the pay cycle. (The pay cycle must remain open, since employees need to be able to continue recording their time until the end of the pay period.)

Next Step: Run reports before exporting projected payroll.