Payroll foundations

At the end of this stage, the organisation has an attendance period, a published payroll template, and enough verified configuration for a draft payroll run after attendance closes.

Before you begin

Owner: the payroll owner, with a second person reviewing the result.

Prepare a representative employee, work schedule, leave types, statutory overtime rules, a payroll approver, pay frequency, earnings, deductions, and bank information if salary payments will be exported.

Create an attendance period

Path: System → Settings → Payroll periods.

1. Choose Create period.
2. Enter the Period name, select the Period type, and enter the Start date and End date.
3. Choose Save period.
4. Confirm the period appears as Attendance open.
5. If future periods are needed, choose Auto-create, review the proposed dates, and only then confirm.

The date range determines which attendance data is handed to payroll. Do not create overlapping periods as a test.

Review payroll policies

Path: Payroll → Policies.

Configure only the areas the organisation uses, such as tax, deductions, leave balances that affect pay, and service charge rules where applicable.

For annual data, confirm the effective year before saving. For an employee-level item, confirm the employee, effective dates, and state after saving.

Create and test a payroll template

Path: Payroll → Payroll Builder.

1. Choose Create new template.
2. Enter a clear name, then select the Employee scope and applicable Contract types.
3. Add the required earnings, deductions, tax, and employer contribution components.
4. Open each component and configure its calculation, value, conditions, and relevant attributes.
5. Choose Save draft.
6. In the payroll preview, select one representative employee and period.
7. Reconcile each component, total earnings, total deductions, and net pay with an independently confirmed result.
8. Correct the draft and test at least one materially different employee.
9. Choose Publish, read every warning, and confirm.

A valid template is Active with a Published version. Later draft changes do not alter the published version until you publish again.

Prepare bank accounts and templates when used

Path: System → Settings → Bank accounts & templates.

1. Under Source accounts, choose Add account and enter Bank, Account number, Account holder name, and Branch.
2. Only VCB currently has a built-in format. For another bank, under Bank Excel templates choose Add template.
3. Upload the original file with the intended worksheet first, map unaccented recipient name, recipient account, amount and transfer narrative, then choose Generate test file.
4. Open the test file and verify its headers, column order, and formatting.
5. Choose Save template, then attach the template to the source account.

Avoid real payroll data in the test file unless it is necessary and authorised. The bank setup is ready only after the payment owner can open and verify the generated file.

Result to confirm

• The attendance period shows Attendance open.
• The payroll template is Active with a Published version.
• Preview results for the representative employees have been reconciled.
• If bank payments are used, the source account shows the intended export template.
• Recheck in the Operational readiness hub recognises the payroll foundation.

If publishing is blocked, resolve each visible warning, save the draft, and test again. Do not create another template to avoid a problem in the current draft.

Next step: Complete only the advanced settings the rollout actually needs, then return to operational readiness.

If the payroll run, payslip, or payment does not show the expected result, see Payroll and payment problems.