Run monthly payroll

This workflow starts with an Attendance closed period and ends when payment orders are complete, the payroll run shows Paid, and payslips have been made available to the correct employees.

Run preparer: HR or payroll.

Approver: the person assigned to the current approval step, not the person who submitted the run.

Payment owner: finance or the salary-payment owner.

If the run includes Service Charge

Open Payroll → Policies → Service Charge, select the matching allocation period, and confirm that its points and money are balanced. Choose Close period, then confirm the period shows Locked before creating payroll.

To correct it, open the period menu and choose Reopen period. This is available only before the period is linked to payroll. If it is linked to a Draft payroll run, remove that exact draft through the payroll workflow, then return and reopen the Service Charge period; Rifena never unlinks it automatically. Preserve approved or paid history and use an authorised adjustment instead.

Five states to follow

State	What it means	Normal next action
Draft	The run exists and is being reviewed	Resolve exceptions, then Submit for review
Pending approval	A decision is waiting in the approval workflow	The current approver approves or rejects
Approved	Payroll results are confirmed	Create payment
Payment orders created	Payment orders exist and need processing	Record each payment result
Paid	All required payment orders are complete	Deliver and verify payslips

The state is not just a label. Check it before each action so that corrections are made at the right stage.

1. Create the payroll run

Open Payroll → Payroll runs.
Choose Create payroll run.
Under Attendance-closed period, select the period handed over by HR. Only eligible periods appear.
Confirm the Payroll run name and choose the Payment date.
Select the Scope:
- Entire company for all eligible employees in the period;
- By organization for selected organisational units;
- Select employees manually for a fixed list;
- By salary template when the template owns the intended scope.
Select the template or employees requested by the chosen scope.
Recheck the period, payment date, and employee count, then choose Create payroll run.
Confirm the new run shows Draft.

If no period is available, return to System → Settings → Payroll periods. The source period must close attendance successfully before it appears here.

2. Review the Draft run

Review from summary to employee detail:

Reconcile Total earnings, Total deductions, Net pay, and employee count against the intended scope.
Compare the total payroll cost with a recent run that has a similar scope. Explain every material movement.
Review warnings and employees with negative, zero, or unusually high net pay.
Open representative employees: a full-period worker, a starter, a leaver, and someone with overtime, leave, or an approved tax exemption.
Reconcile each earning and deduction with its verified source.

Submit only when: the employee scope is correct, totals are plausible, and every exception has an explanation.

3. Correct errors according to state

Draft run with incorrect attendance

From the run list, choose Delete for the exact Draft run to recreate.
Open System → Settings → Payroll periods and choose Reopen attendance.
Correct the source record in Operations → Timekeeping, leave, overtime, or holiday work.
Reconcile and choose Close attendance again.
Create a new payroll run from the newly closed period.

Pending approval

The current approver opens HR → Approvals, selects the run, and chooses Reject with a reason specific enough for the preparer to act. After rejection:

the approval request shows rejected;
the payroll run returns to Draft;
the preparer resolves the actual cause and submits again.

Approved, payment orders created, or Paid

Stop changing source data. Do not delete the run, reopen attendance, or create a replacement by guesswork. Record the run, state, affected employees or amounts, then use Payroll and payment support.

4. Submit for review

In the Draft run, choose Submit for review.
Confirm the state changes to Pending approval.
Hand the approver any documented exceptions from the review.

If the action is unavailable, confirm that employee data exists and calculation has completed on the screen. Do not create a duplicate run to avoid the message.

5. Approve the payroll run

The approver opens the assigned work from HR → Approvals or from the payroll run.

Confirm the run name, scope, total earnings, total deductions, net pay, and employee count.
Review the preparer’s exception notes.
If correct, choose Approve run or the approval action shown.
If several approval steps exist, wait for every required decision. The run becomes Approved only after the final approval.

The submitter cannot approve their own run. If no approval action appears, find the person assigned to the current step instead of widening a role arbitrarily.

6. Create payment orders

When the run shows Approved:

Choose Create payment.
Review the employee count, total salary, payment method, and payment date.
Add an internal reference when the organisation requires one.
Confirm creation.

If payslips do not yet exist, Rifena creates them before the payment orders. Use Manage payments to open the orders for this run.

7. Export the bank file

If the organisation uses a bank upload file:

Under payment management, choose Export bank file.
Select the payroll run, source account, and export template.
At Validate, choose Validate and read every error or warning.
Continue to Review only when recipient details and amounts are valid.
Choose Generate files, move to Download, and choose Download.
Upload the file through the organisation’s approved banking channel.

Never edit an amount in the file to force a match. Correct missing recipient details, source-account issues, template errors, or reconciliation differences in Rifena, then generate a new file.

8. Record payment results

After the bank or payment process returns a result:

For a successful order, choose Confirm completed.
For an unsuccessful order, choose Mark as failed and record the reason.
After resolving the cause, choose Retry processing when that action is available.

Track Pending, Processing, Completed, Failed, and Cancelled orders. The run becomes Paid when every required order is complete; do not try to set the run state through an unrelated action.

9. Deliver and verify payslips

Open the run’s payslip area.
Review a sample payslip: employee, period, earnings, deductions, and net pay.
Choose Email all only when the complete recipient scope is ready, or send in smaller batches when needed.
Confirm employees can open their own payslips in Rifena.

The payroll cycle is complete when the run is Paid, every failed payment has a clear result, and payslips are available to the right employees. Continue with tax-exemption requests and insurance and statutory reports as separate compliance journeys.