Your Time Processing module gives you the all-important tools to ensure that your Payroll and Billing process is as smooth as possible.

This article will be focused on the different features of Payroll and Billing that you'll be using inside this module.

In this article, we're going to explore the following on Payroll and Billing in the Time Processing module in Schedule Xpress:

Payroll

Billing

Auto-recalculation of shifts

Shift Allowances

Shift Start Date vs. Midnight Cutoff

Reason codes

Here, you will see a breakdown of the shift hours and the amount that will be paid to the employee. The amount that will be paid will be based on the hours worked against the rates paid per the shift type (purple box).

But first, it's good to understand where the rates come from. These rates will be pulled from either eTime Xpress or Schedule Xpress.

eTime Xpress allows you to create them in Branch Settings under Branch Bill Rates or Branch Pay Rates as below. Or they can also be done at site and employee level.

In Schedule Xpress, you can change rates per employee in Manage people.

Or you can change Bill rates per site in Manage sites.

Now back to Update rates and hours in Time processing.

You'll be given an outstanding figure which addresses the Pay total, Billing total and the difference between the two. This is further discussed in the Payroll and Billing Difference.

The Payroll and Billing Difference will be shown at the top of the Update rates and hours form. It will order with the Payroll total, Billing total and the Difference between the two.

The Payroll and Billing Difference will change to the following colors:

Let's look at an example.

In the image below, you can see the current difference between the pay total and the bill total is $19.50 positive. This means the amount being paid to the employee is $19.50 less than the customer is being billed.

However, if you changed the employee's pay rate after the shift has been marked with in/out times, you'll find the difference will adjust accordingly. In the case below of increasing the employee's pay rate for this particular shift, you'll see the Difference figure becomes now becomes negative.

You can see Pay settings (red arrow) to find out your Pay information.

You can produce a Payroll export from within Time Processing in Schedule Xpress. This means that you no longer have to log into eTime Xpress to export it.

Ensure the User has Run access to the Payroll export in their Feature access group.

You can run the Payroll export by heading to Time Processing Tools > Export > Payroll export.

Double-check the Date range that you're exporting shifts for is correct. This is located in the top left-corner of the panel.

Then, select your Payroll export template and complete the following details:

Note: The Payroll template(s) will only be available if you have an integration with your Celayix platform.

At the end of the export, click Export CSV and the file will be saved to your Downloads folder. You can then upload the file into your accounting software as usual.

The Export log can be used to track all the Payroll exports.

The date range of the Last export will be listed in the top-right of the panel.

Once you click Export log, you'll see a list of previous exports with export information. This will include which User exported it and when.

Billing is formatted and calculated in the same manner as Payroll.

You can see Bill settings (red arrow) to find out your Billing information.

You can produce a Billing export from within Time Processing in Schedule Xpress. This means that you no longer have to log into eTime Xpress to export it.

Ensure the User has Run access to the Billing export in their Feature access group.

You'll find the Billing export in Time Processing > Time Processing Tools > Export > Billing export.

Double-check the Date range that you're exporting shifts for is correct. This is located in the top left-corner of the panel.

Then, select your Billing export template and complete the following details:

Note: The Billing template(s) will only be available if you have an integration with your Celayix platform.

At the end of the export, click Export CSV and the file will be saved to your Downloads folder. You can then upload the file into your accounting software as usual.

The Export log can be used to track all the Billing exports.

The date range of the Last export will be listed in the top-right of the panel.

Once you click Export log, you'll see a list of previous exports with export information. This will include which User exported it and when.

You will find the Auto-recalculation setup under Other in the Update rates and hours module.

If Auto-recalculation is set to Yes, it will allow the system to calculate any retroactive changes based on business rules (which affect hours types) or pay/bill rates. These will be applied to any given shift marked as Yes.

Example: An example would be if you changed the standard pay rate of an employee, it would consequently impact the pay rate of an existing shift, if the shift was set to auto-recalculate. However, if the option was set to No, then no retroactive changes would be applied to the shift and it will calculate based on current input.

Take a look at other important information to be aware of when using Auto-recalculation.

You'll find you can Update auto-recalculation in your Time processing tools.

Note: For users listed as a Manager, this option is only visible if they have update access to both Payroll and Billing. If any of the section has no access, view only or custom access, the auto-recalculation menu option will be hidden.

For shifts which are eligible, you can click on the option. This will bring up a section called Update shifts auto-recalculation. Yes will show as the default.

Note: By choosing Yes or No, this will reflect in the Rates and Hours form where auto-recalculation can also be processed.

If you try to bulk update shifts for auto-recalculation and some are not eligible, you'll be presented with an errors or warnings.

The shifts which can use auto-recalculation are:

Note: If a single shift is open, not worked or not approved is selected, this option will not be enabled.

You have the option to add pay and bill allowances to shifts if required. If enabled, this will be located at the bottom of the Update rates and hours module.

To enable Shift allowances, you can head to Settings > Branch Defaults > Rates and Hours form. Here, you'll have the option to enable it.

Once enabled, you can locate it in your Update rates and hours module.

If you would like to add a pay and bill allowance, you can simply click the + Add allowance and then fill select the Type, Units, Pay rates and Bill rates. Once you create an allowance, here's some things to remember:

Note: This will impact your Pay total, Bill total and the Difference between the two.

If you'd like to remove an allowance, you can do so by clicking the X in the top right hand corner of the allowance itself.

To configurate a Shift Allowance type, you'll need to head to eTime Xpress. Once inside, click Configuration > Codes Maintenance and find Shift Allowance code in the list of options.

In here, you can add, update or delete Shift Allowance types.

If you already have Recurring Allowances set up for particular shifts, then they will impact the same way. Click the link prior to find out more on how to set them up.

When it comes to reviewing your Payroll and Billing, it's important to understand the difference between the preferences of Shift Start Date and Calendar Date (Midnight Cutoff). Read the explanations below:

Before showing you how this will display in Time Processing, let's look at where to you can set your preference.

From the homepage of eTime Xpress, go to Configuration > Company Branch > Branch Bill/Pay Settings > File > Preferences. Here, you can select the distribution of your hours by Shift Start Date or Calendar Date.

Let's look at how Shift Start Date will display in Time Processing. The example used is for a shift starting at 7pm and ending at 2am the following day.

The Update rates and hours module displays the shift exactly as we would expect.

In contrast, let's look at how it displays when we switch the setting to Calendar Date.

You're also given the option to your Shift Break Allocation. It is currently set to even, which means however many hours fall on each day, the break time will be split evenly across the two days. Oher options include proportionally, current day, next day or middle of shift.

Now you will see the shift is has an extended panel which breaks it down by Start Day and Next Day.

As referenced one step earlier, you'll notice that each part of the shift ends in 45, taking account for the 30 minutes break allocation which is divided into 2 sections of 15 minutes across each day.

The majority of clients will use Shift Start Date, but it's important to have your settings exactly how you'd like before making adjustments in the Time Processing module.

If you choose to adjust any rates before approving time, you'll need to override the rates in eTime Xpress. Any hours or rates that are adjusted will highlight in red if they require a Payroll or Billing override reason.

Note: Reason codes are created in the system account of eTime Xpress. You may need to Contact Support to gain help in creating these.

The image below two significant columns for any pay or hour override. They are labelled Overridden rates and hours, and Pay override reason (green box).

The Overridden rates and hours will display with a Yes (red box) if the regular rate has been updated. While the Pay override reason will display as the reason for override. In this case, because the shift was added at 'Short Notice' (red box).

It's important to note that if a rate is overridden (red box), the new rate will be highlighted in red within the Reg Pay rates column.

If the updated shift hours distribution is not matching with the original distribution, the user will not be able to submit the change and a red exclamation will be shown to alert the user.

You can hover over the exclamation mark which will highlight the original distribution that you need to match with.

So, using the example above, if you want to adjust the shift length to make it 4 hours instead of 3, you can revert to the Update shift tool to make the relevant changes.

It's important to be aware of hour some shift hours can remain hidden if your rates are not selected in the Rates and Hours form. Let's discuss an example.

So, let's say that we had a 16 hours shift. The shift was broken down into 11 Regular paid hours and 5 Overtime (OT) hours, as below. You'll see the Shift total amount to 16 hours as it should.

For example, if your Rates and Hours form had the OT unchecked, you wouldn't be able to view it in the Update rates and hours form. However, the Shift total would still remain 16 hours.

Next to heading Hours, you'll see an exclamation mark highlighted in red. This is alerting you to the fact that the hours within your Shift total is not reflected in the panel.

If you hover your cursor over the exclamation mark, it will read:

"Some hours types containing values are not displayed. Please check rates and hours form settings."

So if you feel that some of your Pay or Bill hours are not equaling the Shift total, then you may want to check for hidden shift hours.

For more information on Payroll and Billing in Time Processing, please Contact Support now!