Pay Group Editor

Use the Pay Group Editor wizard to create and edit pay groups that organize employees into groups for payroll processing purposes.

The Summary page opens all of the current pay groups in the Dayforce environment. You can expand the pay group to view a description of the pay group setup. You can also use the wizard to edit or copy the existing pay groups, or create new ones.

Before you begin

Note the following:

• If you completed the Getting Started wizard, pay groups have automatically been added based on the countries, pay frequencies, and pay period start dates of the imported employees.
• You can edit any questions in the Pay Group Editor to regenerate the pay calendars associated with an already installed pay group.

  You must regenerate the pay calendars before you click Done & Install. When you regenerate the calendars, the following are deleted: payroll (pay run) data, timesheet data, and entitlement balance data.

• User access to country-specific wizards is restricted to countries that are:
  • Specified in their initial employee dataset using the Getting Started wizard.
  • Associated with a Pay Group that’s relevant to that country using the Pay Group Editor wizard or directly in Dayforce.
  • Configured using the Manage Countries wizard.

Future periods value installed by default

For all of the newly added or updated pay groups, the Future Pay Period field defaults to the following based on frequency:

Future Pay Period field defaults

When the frequency is...	The field defaults to...
Weekly	52
Bi-Weekly	26
Semi-Monthly	24
Monthly	12
4-Weekly	7

New Canada pay group is created for the first time

When no previously installed Canada pay group exists and a new Canada pay group is created for the first time using the Pay Group Editor, and the alert job isn’t already scheduled in the Dayforce environment, the following is applied to the Dayforce environment:

The Late Payroll Reminder Alert is scheduled with these parameters:

• Alert Definition: Late Payroll Reminder (Canada)
• Days Threshold: 2
• Schedule: Daily @ 7:20 am

New USA pay group is created for the first time

When no previously installed USA pay group exists and a new USA pay group is created for the first time using the Pay Group Editor, and the alert job isn’t already scheduled in the Dayforce environment, act applies the following to the Dayforce environment:

The Late Payroll Reminder Alert is scheduled with these parameters:

• Alert Definition: Late Payroll Reminder (USA)
• Days Threshold: 2
• Schedule: Daily @ 7:20 am

Prerequisites

Before you can use the Pay Group wizard, you must complete one of the following:

• Getting Started
• Bypass Getting Started

Key concepts

Pay groups

Pay groups define the frequency of pay periods for a group of employees, and when their payroll records need to be reviewed, approved, and transmitted to your payroll application.

• Employees of multiple countries can’t be in one pay group.
• One pay group can have both Salary and Hourly pay types.
• One pay group can pay out to employees in different Federal Identification Numbers (FEINs) and Business ID Numbers (BIN) but creates only one general ledger.
• Employees can only be in one pay group at a time.

Note: If you’re only using Dayforce WFM and not the Payroll module, employees’ timesheets from one pay group are transmitted to your third-party payroll software together.

Existing Dayforce Pay Groups

Existing Dayforce pay groups are pay groups that are already installed in Dayforce. You can copy or edit them.

New pay groups

Pay groups that you created in Activate but haven’t yet installed in Dayforce.

Pay frequency

How often and when employees in a pay group are paid. Options include:

• Weekly: Every Week
• Bi-Weekly: Every 2 Weeks
• Monthly: Every Month
• Semi-Monthly: Twice Per Month

  Note: Dayforce doesn’t support this frequency for UK pay groups. For existing UK pay groups, you can use the wizard and install changes; however, you can’t edit the frequency.

• Lunar: Every 4 Weeks: Available for the UK only.

Tasks

To add new pay groups:

To install pay groups:

When the pay group configuration in Activate is complete, you must install the pay groups in Dayforce.

1. On the Pay Group Summary page, click Done & Install.

   Activate generates the pay calendar for each pay group and updates the information in Dayforce.

   A confirmation message states that you’re about to install new pay groups or make updates to existing pay groups. When you update the existing pay group configuration, all records from the following areas are permanently deleted: Pay Group Calculation Calendar and Pay Group Calendar.

   Important: If someone is signed directly in to Dayforce and potentially applying manual configuration, Activate shows a warning at Done & Install. Don’t continue with the Activate installation if users are actively applying configuration changes. Users’ changes might be lost if a failure occurs during the Activate installation. Download the User Report and follow up with the team members before you continue with the Activate wizard.

   Before the install, Activate generates an impact report that details the changes that occur during installation.

2. If you want to view the report:
   1. Click Download Impact Report to see the impacted SQL database tables and the pay groups these changes impact.
   2. Save the report to the appropriate location.
   3. After you review the report, click one of the following:
      • Yes to continue.
      • No to undo the pending changes on those pay groups.
3. Click Yes.
4. Click one of the following:
   • Add Email and enter your email address to receive an email when the installation process ends, instead of waiting for it to finish.
   • Next w hen the installation is complete.

   Activate Central opens with the name of the Wizard now shown in green text and a green checkmark to the left of the wizard’s name. The current day, date, and time of completion are included, along with your name as the user who completed the Wizard. The environment in which the installation was applied (Stage, Config, or Train) is also shown.

   At install, Dayforce shows the day, date, and time of completion. Your name shows as the user who made the change to the pay group, in the Audit tab of Pay Group setup. This information is useful for change tracking.

   Note: If you want to add more information, click I want to add more. See “Executing a Rollback When Using the “Add More” Feature in the Payroll Wizards”.

To edit existing pay groups:

To edit new pay groups:

To copy pay groups:

To delete new pay groups:

To remove pay group edits:

Results

The new and edited pay groups are installed and available in Dayforce under Pay Setup > Pay Groups. A new Pay Group Calculation Calendar and Pay Group Calendar are generated.

Next steps

• Review all pay groups with the customer and add new pay groups using Activate, as required.
• Use the Mass Employee Policy Changes wizard to assign the new pay groups to employees.

Important considerations

You can’t use Activate to delete pay groups that the Getting Started wizard created. You must remove all employees from a pay group before it can be deleted in Dayforce or the SQL data.

Commonly encountered issues

Duplicate XRefCodes in earnings/deductions cause the pay group installation to fail. If the pay group installation fails, make sure that there aren’t any duplicate XRefCodes in earnings/deductions.

Questions

Where do the employees in this Pay Group reside?

Each Pay Group can only include employees from one country.

• Canada
• United States of America
• Ireland
• Australia
• United Kingdom
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Singapore

Note: Can be set if you’re Creating a New Pay Group or Copying an existing one. Locked if you’re editing an Existing Pay Group

Let's name your pay group.

A descriptive name for the pay group. Dayforce uses the Pay Group name in the Payroll module to select the Pay Group's Pay Period, and assigning an employee to a Pay Group.

Provide a brief description of this Pay Group.

A description of the pay group. The description should be detailed enough to identify the pay group such as the country the employees in the pay group reside in and the payroll frequency. This field is expandable, so you can enter as much text as needed to describe the pay group adequately. Pay Group Description is solely informational and only shows on the Pay Group page in Dayforce.

The Canadian pay group identifier is used by the Dayforce Back Office. Enter your pay group identifier here. (Canadian Pay Groups Only)

Can also be known as the Payroll Service Identifier. This information is necessary to Commit a Canadian Payroll, and required to fund Canadian pay.

The Identifier must be five characters in length. The first character of the identifier must be E, F, or L. The third, fourth, and fifth characters of the identifier must be digits (0–9).

How do you pay this group of employees?

• Dayforce Payroll: Using the Dayforce HCM system to pay employees.
• Exported to another system: Adjusts settings in Dayforce so that the Pay Group can’t Commit from within Dayforce Payroll.
• Not paid; tracking time only: Adjusts settings in Dayforce so that the Pay Group can’t commit from within Dayforce Payroll, and it doesn’t disburse or print data from the Payroll Back to the Dayforce office.
• Connected Pay: Using a standard set of imports and exports that allows Dayforce to connect to local pay providers. If this option is selected, Activate enables the Connected Pay Enabled checkbox in Dayforce.

What pay frequency do you use for paying this group of employee?

• Weekly: Every Week: Pays every week.
• Bi-Weekly: Pays every 2 Weeks (26 Annual).
• Monthly: Every Month: Pays every month.
• Semi-Monthly: Twice Per Month: Pays twice a month (24 Annual).
• Lunar: Every 4 Weeks: Pays every four weeks.

Options vary based on Country selection.

Note: Can be set if you’re Creating a New Pay Group or Copying an existing one. Locked if you’re Editing an Existing Pay Group

What is the next pay period start date for this pay group?

The start date sets the start day of week for the pay group.

What is your work week?

Used for Overtime calculations. If you have weekly or biweekly overtime, this field determines when overtime is reset.

Are your pay periods paid on the same day of week or on a fixed date each payroll?

• Pay by day of week: Always paid on the same day of the week.
• Pay by fixed day: Can be used to identify that pay will occur on the last day of the month.

When does the pay date occur for this group of employees?

• The pay date occurs before the pay period ends: Select the number of days before the pay period end date that the pay date occurs.
• The pay date occurs after the pay period ends: Select the number of days after the pay period end date that the pay date occurs.
• The pay date is the last day of the pay period: Employees are paid on the last day of the pay period.

How many days after the period ends does the pay date occur?

Select the number of days from the list.

Which day of the week is your pay date?

The day of the week, Monday through Friday, when the employees in this Pay Group are paid.

Should Dayforce stop processing employee forms during the payroll commit process by closing the data gate?

• Yes: You set up a period of time in the pay period during which the system delays workflows affecting employee information that might otherwise impact a pay run in the middle of the commit process. When the data gate is closed, workflows that would impact a pay run are paused. When the data gate is opened, they’re automatically resumed and processed as appropriate.
• No: Data from HR continues to update Payroll until the Pay Period is "Locked."

How many hours prior to commit time on the day of the commit should the data gate close in order to stop form workflows from processing?

Determines when the Data Gate is closed to stop the flow of data. The number corresponds to an hour amount. For example, entering a value of 3 will set Dayforce to stop processing any forms submitted after 10 am on the day of commit if the pay group's commit time is 1 PM

Note: The standard commit time might differ by country.

How many hours should pass until Dayforce re-opens the data gate to start processing forms again on the day of commit?

Determines when the Data Gate is opened and the flow of data resumes. The number corresponds to the hour amount and is counted from the time that the Data Gate was closed. For example, if the Data Gate was closed at 10 am, entering a value of 8 here sets Dayforce to open the data flow again at 6 pm on the day of commit.

What is the payroll cutover date for this pay group?

Select the first pay period start date when live payroll data is generated and calculated in Dayforce Payroll instead of the previous payroll application. This might need to change over the life cycle of the project and vary based on the Dayforce environment.

How many days do you want to offset the pay period by?

Enter a nonzero value to offset the WFM Calculation period from the Payroll period in the pay calendars. Accepted integer value is from 0 to 31. The default is 0.

This field sets the Offset Pay Period Days field in the Settings for ConnectedPay section on the Pay Setup > Pay Group > Select Pay Group > Payroll Properties tab.

When a new value is entered in the offset, Activate triggers the pay calendars to regenerate. Adding a nonzero number of days as the offset causes Dayforce to show the following two columns to the Pay Calendar table in Dayforce after the generation is complete:

• Offset Pay Period Start Date
• Offset Pay Period End Date

After entering the value, a confirmation dialog box opens to prompt you to make a conscious decision.

Note: This question shows and is required if "ConnectedPay" was selected for the question "How do you pay this group of employees?"

Will this Pay Group use the standard Dayforce processing and funding dates?

• No: The system requires more specification regarding the funding date and commit date.
• Yes: The system does the following based on the country selected for the pay group.

Note: The standard commit time might differ by country.

Australia:

• Commit by Offset=1
• Commit by Time=12:00pm
• Impound by Offset=0

Canada:

• Based on 2 Day Funding Contract: 
  • Commit Offset = 1 Business Day
  • Impound Offset = 2 Business Days
• Based on 1 Day Funding Contract:
  • Commit Offset = 2 Business Days
  • Impound Offset = 1 Business Days

New Zealand:

• Commit by Offset=1
• Commit by Time=12:00pm
• Impound by Offset=0

Republic of Ireland:

• Weekly
  • Approve by Offset = -5 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 1 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Biweekly
  • Approve by Offset = -5 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 1 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Monthly (Pay by day of week)
  • Approve by Offset = -28 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 1 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Monthly (Pay by fixed day)
  • Approve by Offset = -28 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 1 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days

Singapore:

• Commit by Offset = 2
• Commit by Time = 12:00PM
• Impound by Offset = 0

UK:

• Weekly
  • Approve by Offset = -5 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 2 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Biweekly
  • Approve by Offset = -5 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 2 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Monthly (Pay by day of week)
  • Approve by Offset: -28 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset: 2 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset: 0 Business Days
• Monthly (Pay by fixed day)
  • Approve by Offset = -28 Business Days
  • Commit by Offset = 2 Business Days
  • Impound by Offset = 0 Business Days
• Universal
  • Commit by Offset = 3 Business Days
  • Commit by Time = 12:00pm
  • Auto Update Employee NI Numbers = True (DB field PayGroup.AutoUKNIUpdate=1)

United States:

• Best Practice:
  • Commit by Offset = 2 Business Days
  • Commit by Time = 1:00pm
  • Impound by Offset = 1 Business Days

Select the fixed monthly date for your pay periods

For Monthly Pay Groups with fixed pay dates, select the day in the next month on which the pay date will occur.

Note: If you pay current, the pay date might be in the current month (for example, on the last day of the current month or possibly sooner).

How many days prior to the pay date will the payroll be funded?

Funding here references transferring funds used to cover the pay run from the employer's bank accounts to Dayforce's (typically a few days before the actual pay date). This value might be specified in the funding agreement between Dayforce and the employer.

For Australia, this field defaults to 0.

For Ireland, this field defaults to 2.

For the UK, this field defaults to 0.

For Singapore, when No is selected for the question "Will this Pay Group use the standard Dayforce processing and funding dates?", this field defaults to 0.

How many days before the funding date is the payroll committed?

Committing a pay run is when the data is sent to Dayforce Back Office to prepare, print, and distribute the physical checks (if necessary) and payroll reports, as well as transferring direct deposit pay to employees. This value might be specified in the funding agreement between Dayforce and the employer.

For Australia, this field defaults to 1.

For Ireland, this field defaults to 1.

For the UK, this field defaults to 2.

For Singapore, when No is selected for the question "Will this Pay Group use the standard Dayforce processing and funding dates?", this field defaults to 2.

Select the fixed semi-monthly dates for your pay periods

Assign which days are treated as Pay Dates for Semi-Monthly Pay Groups with fixed pay dates. Because there are only two, the second is for the final pay period of the month. Assign the lowest number to Pay Date #1. To pay at the End of the Month, select 'Last day of the month' as Pay Date #2.

When should the pay date occur when it is scheduled on a banking holiday?

• The pay date occurs before the banking holiday. (For the UK, this value is the default and the option isn’t editable.)
• The pay date occurs after the banking holiday.

Do you want Deposit Advices printed in addition to making them available online?

Note: This field isn’t available for UK pay groups. The Printed Advices pay group setting is always False for UK pay groups because the UK has no print centers.

• Yes:  Earning Statements are printed and sent based on the Delivery Package setup in the system.
• No: Earning Statements are only available digitally unless otherwise specified by the employee.

Note: This field isn’t shown for Connected Pay pay groups.

When can managers begin approving timesheets?

• Managers can begin approving timesheets before the pay period has ended: Select the number of days before and the time of day managers can begin approving.
• Managers can begin approving timesheets after the pay period has ended: Select the number of days after and the time of day managers can begin approving.
• Managers can begin approving timesheets on the last day of the pay period: Select the time of day managers can begin approving.

What time of day can managers begin approving timesheets?

Select the time from the list.

Should Dayforce automatically generate default tax and NI details for starter employees if these are not yet recorded at the time of pay run calculation? (UK Pay Groups Only)

This field is required.

• Yes: This is the default.
• No

For the UK, when creating new UK pay groups, this question defaults to No. You can click Yes, if desired. When editing existing UK pay groups, the question shows the current value for the pay group.

What is the Calculation Frequency?

The Calculation Frequency can be referenced in several pay policy rules including, but not limited to, the FLSA Overtime Rule and Rest Guarantee Based On a Period Rule. This setting ensures accurate gross pay calculations.

• Every 2 Weeks (Bi-Weekly)
• Weekly: This is the default.