This section contains recommendations you should consider before and after setting up a pay group in Pay Setup > Pay Group.
| Before Pay Group Configuration | After Pay Group Configuration |
|---|---|
Pay Groups with Customized Pay Periods
Depending on the pay period frequency you selected in the Frequency drop-down list in the Pay Group Properties tab, Dayforce might generate the pay group’s pay periods automatically. Dayforce generates pay periods automatically when most frequency options are selected in the Frequency drop-down list. However, this isn’t the case if you configure a customized frequency. If you select Custom in the Frequency drop-down list, you need to create the pay periods manually.
Configure the Export Definition
A pay group's export definition is an XML file which tells Dayforce how to construct the pay export file and export pay information. This export definition should be performed by the Dayforce team implementing Dayforce.
You can define a pay group’s inclusion or exclusion from payroll exports in the Export Options section. See The Export Configurations Tab.
Configure Direct Deposit Settings
If employees belonging to the pay group are paid by direct deposit, make sure to configure the settings in the Direct Deposit section. See Enter Direct Deposit Information.
Two background jobs help to consolidate, recalculate, and generate pay: the Pay Summary Recalc job and the Prior Pay Group Calendar Generator job. There is also a background job that locks and unlocks pay periods of your choosing: the Pay Period Unlock background job.
Pay Summary Recalc
This background job recalculates pay for the pay periods that occur during or intersect the time period defined by the job's settings, and should run daily.
Consider the following recommendations for the Pay Summary Recalc job:
- You shouldn’t run the job during WFM pay transmission because it might result in pay discrepancy.
- Schedule the job to run daily during off-peak hours. For example, if your organization’s business hours run from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, you should schedule the job to run overnight.
For more information on this background job, see:
Prior Pay Group Calendar Generator
This background job generates pay group calendars for past pay periods. You can schedule the Prior Pay Group Calendar Generator background job to run every day to generate additional pay calendars.
Consider the following recommendations for the Prior Pay Group Calendar Generator job:
- Schedule the job to run daily during off-peak hours.
- This job shouldn’t overlap with the Pay Summary Recalc background job. It’s recommended that you schedule this job to run before the Pay Summary Recalc background job, which should also be scheduled daily and run during off-peak hours.
See Prior Pay Group Calendar Generator.
Pay Period Unlock
This background job lock or unlocks transmitted pay periods. You can select specific pay groups and sites to include in the job’s evaluation. When the job runs and detects transmitted pay periods for the specified pay groups or sites, Dayforce locks or unlocks the pay periods, depending on your configuration.
It’s recommended that you don’t make changes to pay groups for pay periods in the past that were already committed. For example, you shouldn’t mass update employee pay group assignments through a data mapping rule in HR Admin > Employee Data Mapping Rules for periods in the past. This might result in a large number of retros for the employees that were moved to a different pay group.
Migrating Employees to New Pay Groups
If you need to move employees to a different pay group, consider the following recommendations:
- Create a new pay group that is effective at the beginning of the year.
- Move employees to the new pay group when the current pay period is still open and overlaps with the first pay period defined for the new pay group.
- To ensure that pay from the current pay period is consolidated with the new pay group, confirm that the Consolidate employee pay transactions to new pay group effective start client property is configured. See Timesheet.
You can modify the pay group’s approve-by or transmit dates for any pay period. By default, Dayforce generates pay periods so that there is one approve-by and transmit date for each pay period. These dates are offset according to the pay group’s configuration. You can adjust these dates so that multiple pay periods have the same approve-by or transmit dates.
Pay Current Transmission Dates
If you’ve configured pay current functionality without forecasting, you must configure the appropriate WFM time collection dates in the Payroll Properties tab in the Time Reconciliation section. If your transmit date falls before the pay period’s end date, some WFM data might be excluded from the pay transmission. It’s recommended that you set up your time collection dates so that they include all relevant WFM data up until the end of the pay period.
For example, consider a pay period from June 15 to June 28 with a transmit date of June 24. In this scenario, the WFM data for June 24 to June 28 will be excluded from the transmission. To avoid this, align your pay transmit date to your time collection dates.
See also: