Pay Holiday & Holiday Group

Activate User's Guide
Version
2025.1
Pay Holiday & Holiday Group

Use the Pay Holiday & Holiday Group wizard to build Pay Holidays and group the holidays into Holiday Groups to be assigned to employee records in Dayforce. Because holiday dates change every year, you can also use this wizard to update the information as needed.

Holiday Groups are useful for countries with regions that contain a different subset of public holidays. For example, a retail customer with multiple shops that has standard public holidays in addition to local public holidays in different regions that are observed on unique dates. For every variation in the pay holiday – pay holiday group assignment, there must be a separate public holiday group defined with the relevant public holidays.

Errors, warnings, and messages

The rules set up in Dayforce generate any Error or Warning indicators shown above the grid's column headings.

  • Errors prevent you from continuing with the Wizard.
  • Warnings are informational and indicate potential problems that you need to be aware of.
  • Messages are informational and identify a deviation from the rules.

To refer to the errors, warnings, and messages while you correct the data, click Download Errors File.

To correct the errors, messages, or warnings, do one of the following:

  • Update the information directly in the grid.
  • Click Download Errors File to download the list and then upload an Excel file containing the corresponding corrections.

Whether you edit the data directly in the grid or upload the file, Activate shows validation warnings or errors to indicate problems with the data. To review and correct any warnings or errors that display, either edit the records in the grid or upload the corrected information in a template again.

Always enter required changes in the Excel document to ensure that future uploads are accurate. If you make edits directly in the grid, click Download File and save the updated file for record keeping purposes.

Tasks

To complete and upload the Pay Holiday & Holiday Group template:
  1. In Activate Central, click Build Dayforce. The Build Dayforce wizards show.
  2. Click Pay Holiday & Holiday Group.
  3. On the Holiday Data page, click Download.
  4. Select the location where you want to save the template document.
  5. Open the HolidayDataTemplate.xlsx template on your computer.

    Note: You can also download an empty Holiday Data template from the Download Template Files page.

  6. On the HolidayData tab, complete all columns with the data for all holidays.

    Note: The Activate release version shows in cell B3 on the Instructions tab of the template. This information helps you later determine the version of Activate you were using when you downloaded the template.

    Note: Instructions for populating the fields are in the Holiday Data template fields section (below) and on the Instructions tab of the template.

  7. Click Save and close the template.

    Important: Don’t change the name of the tab in the template. Activate uses the tab name to validate that the correct template is being uploaded. In addition, don’t change the column headings.

    You can use any file name for the template you upload. The document must be an Excel or CSV (Comma-Separated Value) document and contain the data in the required format.

  8. On the Holiday Data page, click Upload.
  9. Go to your completed Holiday Data template in the location where you saved it.
  10. Click Open. The Pay Holiday & Holiday Group wizard validates the data.

    Note: If the uploaded file has errors, a Validation Failed message shows in red on the page. You must correct the errors in the file on your computer and upload the file again.

    Note: When you upload an Excel file, Activate includes the name of the uploaded file in the name of the XML file it generates and loads to the Dayforce File Server. The format of the generated XML file name is <NamespaceName>_<Import Type>_<file name provided>_YYY-MM-DD_HHMM. This naming convention makes it easier to audit files later.

  11. Click Next.
To review the summary table information:
  1. On the Holiday Review page, review the code table created by the wizard.
  2. Make sure that the data looks correct.
  3. Click Load.
To install holiday information:

When the holiday information is complete in Activate, you must install the holiday information in Dayforce.

  1. After making any necessary corrections, on the Holiday Review page, click Load.

    The Load page opens with a list of the steps to complete and an estimate of how long the installation usually takes. During the installation, the current step in the process is bolded so you can monitor the progress.

  2. 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.

    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 correct errors in the grid:
  1. Click in the field containing the error.
  2. Enter or select the correct information. If you make a change by mistake and haven't saved the change, click Refresh to undo the change. To navigate in the grid, click Tab to move to the right and Shift+Tab to move to the left on a row. Use the scrollbars on the right side and bottom of the grid to go to other areas of the grid.
  3. Repeat this process for every error.
  4. Click Save. Activate verifies the information again.
  5. ClickNext.
To correct errors in the grid:
  1. Click in the field containing the error.
  2. Enter or select the correct information. If you make a change by mistake and haven't saved the change, click Refresh to undo the change. To navigate in the grid, click Tab to move to the right and Shift+Tab to move to the left on a row. Use the scrollbars on the right side and bottom of the grid to go to other areas of the grid.
  3. Repeat this process for every error.
  4. Click Save. Activate verifies the information again.
  5. ClickNext.
To correct errors in the template:
  1. In the template document in the location where you saved it, make the necessary corrections.
  2. Click Save and close the document.
  3. Click Upload File. A message shows stating that importing a file overrides all data in the grid.
  4. Click OK. The grid refreshes with the corrections included.
To save errors, warnings, and messages:
  1. Click Download Errors File.
  2. Save the document to the appropriate place on your computer.
  3. Review the document.

    The document lists the Severity, Employee Identifier, Column Name, Message, and Value for each item.

  4. Click Next.
To delete information in the grid:
  1. Click in the row to be deleted.
  2. Click Delete. The row no longer shows in the grid.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Click Next.
To refresh the data in the grid:

If you make a change on the page that you don't want to save, click Refresh. The page refreshes and any unsaved changes are removed.

Results

When the installation completes, the holiday data is available on the following pages in Dayforce:

  • Pay Setup > Pay Holidays
  • Pay Setup > Holiday Group

 

Fields populated in Dayforce

The data uploaded from the Holiday Data template populates the fields on the Holiday Review page in Dayforce.

Note: You must select an employee if you haven’t already done so.

Dayforce fields populated by the Holiday Data template
Field in Template Field in Dayforce Page in Dayforce
Pay Holiday Name Holiday Name Pay Setup > Holiday Review

 

 

 

 
Pay Holiday Date Holiday Date
Is Bank Holiday Is Bank Holiday
Holiday Group Name Holiday Group Name
Organization Organization
File generated by the Holiday Data wizard

After completing the Pay Holiday & Holiday Group wizard, a single import file is automatically generated and placed on the customer's FTP site.

Holidays Import

  • FTP Subdirectory: Import/HolidaysImport
  • Filename: <Namespace> HolidaysImport <DateTime>.xml
For an example illustrating how Activate translates the template data to XML, click here.
Copy 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<Holidays xmlns="http://tempuri.org/HolidaysImport.xsd">
    -<Holiday>
        <Name>ActivateHoliday2023</Name>
        <HolidayDate>2023-04-17</HolidayDate>
        <IsBankHoliday>false</IsBankHoliday>
    </Holiday>
    -<HolidayGroup>
        <Name>ActivateHolidayGroup2023</Name>
        -<Org>
        <OrgXref>T_AND_K_CAFE_SD_PIERRE</OrgXref>
        </Org>
    </HolidayGroup>
</Holidays>

Next steps

Complete the next wizard, as appropriate.

Holiday Data template fields

All templates have the same basic structure:

  • Instructions tab: Helps you understand the purpose of the data and complete the fields in the template.
  • Data tab: Contains headers for the data to be included in the template. The headers remain the same, but you can change the column order. If you add more columns, Activate ignores them.

All number ranges in the templates include the numbers at both ends of the range.

To see a list of the fields in the template, click here.
Pay Holiday Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed
1 String1 between 1-64 characters The short name of the pay holiday to be created in Dayforce. Victoria Day (05/22)
Independence Day (07/04) 		Describes the holiday name that’s visible in schedules, timesheets, and reports, and should reflect the common holiday name.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Pay Holiday Date (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed
2 Date. Excel right-justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd). This date indicates when this Pay Holiday comes into effect.

Date formatted cells:
09/24/2015
24/09/2015

Text formatted cells:
2015-09-24

 Indicates the pay holiday date. This information ensures that holidays are configured correctly in Dayforce for pay and schedule compliance.
Is Bank Holiday
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed
3 Boolean. This value identifies if a pay holiday is considered a Bank Holiday.

Yes/No
True/False

 Indicates whether a Pay Holiday is considered a Bank Holiday. This flag ensures that bank holidays are configured correctly in Dayforce for pay and schedule compliance. Activate will default the flag to “FALSE” if left blank.
Holiday Group Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed
4 String1 between 1-64 characters. The short name of the pay holiday group to be created in Dayforce.

Canada - Ontario
USA - Federal

 Describes the holiday group name. An employee HR record must be assigned a holiday group for accurate pay calculations on holidays, and to respect schedule rules around holidays.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Organization
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed
5 String1 between 1-64 characters. The short name of the location org unit that the holiday group was assigned to. The organization structure has to be created in Dayforce.

ST104_Retail
404_MGMT

This information is required to manage holiday groups visibility based on org structure, and where it was assigned. Activate defaults the value to “Corporate” if left blank, and the holiday group is assigned to the top level.
         

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &