Payroll Comparison

1. In Activate Central, click Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live. The Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live wizards show.
2. Click Payroll Comparison.
3. On the Payroll Comparison page, click Add Test.
4. On the Test Parameters page, complete the questions.

   For information on each field see the Questions section (below).

5. Click Done. The Payroll Comparison page opens with the new test included in the list of tests in the wizard.

1. In Activate Central, click Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live. The Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live wizards show.
2. Click Payroll Comparison.
3. On the Payroll Comparison page, select the test to run.

   The Payroll Comparison page shows all of the tests that were created. Each test corresponds to a pay run in Dayforce.

   Note: If the organization has more than one pay group, you must add a separate test for each pay group.

   The Pay Run Test Steps page opens, The Parallel Comparison workflow indicates the completion status for each step on the list. The steps include:

   • Edit test parameters: Change the test name and whether the legacy data will be imported. If the test was created in error, you can delete it.
   • Review employee data in Dayforce: Run a standardized set of employee data audit reports provided in Activate directly in the Dayforce instance at any time to audit employee data. The audit reports show in the Report folder in Dayforce.
   • Generate Company Totals from Dayforce: You can create several payroll comparison tests. When you download the results file, Activate uses a naming convention that shows the actual test name that you populated. This naming convention enables you to differentiate between the files that you downloaded based on which organization you used. The naming convention for the results file is <File Type><Test Name><Date and Time file was downloaded>. The results file provides the Company ID, Type, Tax & Compliance Code, Source, Earning Name, Earning Description, Employee Count, Amount, and Hours.
   • Generate Employee Totals Report from Dayforce.
   • Upload data from legacy system: Use a guided process to upload payroll data for the entire pay period from the legacy system to Activate. This data is for comparison against the Dayforce selected pay run. If your legacy system doesn’t use two separate deductions for HSA, based on Self and Family limits, you can upload the HSA deductions as a single combined code with the HSA System Code - Federal Limit Unknown code. If you have more than one type of HSA code, a warning shows. You can click Next to continue.

     Note: Uploading the legacy data into Activate doesn’t import any data directly into Dayforce.

     The first step is to upload a Company Totals file that contains the total amount for each code for the entire payroll period. This information gives Activate the ability to run a comparison across organization totals between the legacy data and the payroll data in Dayforce.

     Compare company totals: The Compare Company Totals step, which becomes available after you complete the Company Upload of legacy data, shows an at-a-glance summary of the high-level variance between payroll and the legacy system.

     When discrepancies exist, you can make corrections that will result in a recalculated pay run in Dayforce. Refresh the values on this page to pull the updated payroll data from Dayforce into Activate and recalculate the variances. You can generate a Detailed Comparison report to review the line-by-line differences.

   • Track company review progress.
   • Compare employee totals: The Compare Employee Totals step becomes available after you complete at least one Employee Upload file for legacy data. It shows an at-a-glance summary of the employee-level variance between Dayforce payroll and the legacy system.

     Similar to the Company Totals page, when discrepancies exist, you can make corrections that result in a recalculated pay run in Dayforce. Refresh the values on this page to pull the updated payroll data from Dayforce into Activate and recalculate the variances. You can also generate a Detailed Comparison report to review the line-by-line differences. The format of the Employee report is similar to the Company report, with one significant difference: on the far left are several columns with details of the Employee record in Dayforce that can help with filtering and troubleshooting discrepancies.

   • Track employee review progress: The detailed comparison reports for Company Totals and Employee Totals include review tracking columns at the far right of the data set (Review Status, Review Owner, Root Cause, and Comments). After filling them out, you can import them back into Activate for tracking. Each time the comparison report is generated, it includes the latest review status on each row. You can iteratively update and upload the review columns to track the root cause and status of the variances.
   • Complete this test: You can mark the overall status of the test as Passed when you believe your review is complete. You can also save overall testing notes on this page.
4. Select the step that you want to do from the list.

Important: Because the employee data drives the payroll calculations in Dayforce, complete this step first.

This step makes sure that the payroll calculated in Dayforce is accurate and the employee records are complete.

1. On the Pay Run Test Steps page, select the radio button by the Review employee data in Dayforce field. The Review Employee Data page opens with a checklist of audit reports that are relevant for Parallel testing. This checklist is a way to track whether each audit report has been reviewed or not.

   Note: If you want to suggest a change to the checklist for all customers, log the suggestion in the Aha! Portal.

2. Log in to Dayforce.
3. Go to Reporting > Reports > Employee Data Audits.
4. Run the reports listed on the page to verify the data.

   Note: You can run similar reports, if you prefer.

   For System Integrators:

   Note: The Dayforce Super User role and all customer Admin roles have access to the reports. The Dayforce System Administrator role also has access to all features and reports, updated nightly. The full list is: Dayforce Super User, Admin with Powerpay, Customer Admin, Client Administrator, HR Admin, PR Admin, WFM Admin, MS Client Admin, MS Benefits Admin, MS HR Admin, MS PR Admin.

   Add role access to the Report folder and the desired reports in Dayforce. You can also edit the report configuration in Dayforce. If you delete reports, any missing reports are automatically reinstalled each time you add a new test in Payroll Comparison. Activate can’t tell whether a report was deleted accidentally or intentionally.

   Note: If you want to request changes to the existing reports or suggest new reports, log the suggestion in the Aha! Portal.

5. Review the audit reports on the Reports tab in Dayforce and verify that the payroll calculated in Dayforce is accurate.

   Note: If you didn't complete the Getting Started wizard in Activate, any missing reports will be installed automatically when you add a new test.

6. As you verify the data in each report, select the appropriate checkbox on the Review Employee Data page to record your progress.

1. On the Pay Run Test Steps page, select the radio button by the Upload data from legacy system field.

   Breadcrumbs at the top of the page indicate where you are in the process.

2. On the Load Company Totals page, click Download.

3. Select the location on your computer where you want to save the template files.

   You can also download any of the following files:

   • Current Earning Mappings

     Note: If you load “negative deductions” from the legacy system that are mapped as earnings, Activate converts the amounts to positive earnings, Then, you can view them in the earning comparison without having to tweak the numbers or reload the data as an earning record. This applies to the amount in the Company Earnings from the legacy system section of the Upload Summary table. It also applies to the amount in the Legacy column of the Earnings section in the Compare Company Totals summary. Deductions mapped to a memo earning code retain the original deduction amount.

   • Current Deduction Mappings
   • Current Tax Mappings
4. Open the template files on your computer.
5. Complete all required fields in the template documents.

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

   Note the following:

   • Earnings that are newly mapped in parallel to a memo code show in the Memo Codes row. Earnings that are newly mapped in parallel to a taxable benefit show in the Taxable Benefits row. Deductions that are newly mapped in parallel to a memo code show in the Memo Codes row on the Compare Company Totals Summary page.
   • If you’re working with a long list of earnings or deduction codes and need to stop, click Save in the bottom-left section of the page. You can later return to complete the mapping of the remaining codes.
   • If you don’t want to include an earning or deduction in the Total Amount, Total Hours, or count of Unique Legacy Codes in the Company Deductions and/or Deductions and Employee Deductions and/or Employee Earnings section of the upload summary, click Drop Deduction from Importand/orDrop Earning from Import as appropriate. Dropped deductions and earnings aren’t included in the Summary page amounts for the Compare Company Totals, Company Totals comparison report, summary page amounts for Compare Employee Totals, or the Employee Totals comparison report.
   • Dropped taxes aren’t included in the following: the summary page amounts for Compare Company Totals, the Company Totals comparison report, the summary page amounts for Compare Employee Totals, or the Employee Totals comparison report.
   • When uploading legacy company totals, you can upload Company ID values that are 1–20 characters in length. Doing this enables you to upload legacy files for all supported countries for any pay group.
   • The upload of company totals from the legacy system is required. You can provide at least some totals data from your Payroll Register, even if you can't provide line items for every single code or tax. If you can’t upload this information, edit the Test Parameters page and click No for the Will you upload data from the legacy system question.
   • When the test Pay Group is in the USA or CAN, the Work Location field is required for rows with Code Type = Tax. This field is ignored for Pay Groups in other countries, and for the Deduction or Earning rows across all countries.
   • If you upload a Legacy Company Totals file that contains records for the same tax code or description with both Y and N values for the Employer Tax, a message shows in Activate that states that the Tax code {code name} is listed as both employer and employee tax.
6. Click Save and close the files. 

   What happens next

   If you...	This page opens...
   Can click Upload data from legacy on the Test steps page	Upload Employee Totals.
   Haven’t mapped all codes from the Company Totals	Mappings.
   Uploaded bad employee data	Employee Upload.

1. On the Pay Run Test Steps page, select the radio button by the Compare Company Totals field. The Compare Company Totals page opens with a summary of the high-level variance between Dayforce payroll and the legacy system. This variance is for the entire pay period.
2. Click Generate detailed comparison report.

   The Detailed Comparison report enables you to review the line-by-line differences.

   Note: Activate shows the deduction type based on the pay group country if the deduction is used in more than one country on both the Company and Employee Comparison reports.

   A prompt opens to help you filter the comparison results by a variance threshold to focus on large discrepancies. The report file name includes the test name to enable you to differentiate between files when working with multiple pay groups or pay periods.

   Each time you generate the Detailed Comparison report, it includes the latest review status on each row.

   Note: If you load “negative deductions” from the legacy system that are mapped as earnings, Activate converts the amounts to positive earnings. Then, you can view them in the earning comparison without having to tweak the numbers or reload the data as an earning record. This applies to the Legacy Amount column on the Earning tab of the Company Totals Comparison report.

   Note: Activate doesn’t automatically update the review status based on the variance amount. The Testing team determines and updates the status of specific line items.

3. Enter the variance amount threshold for filtering comparison results.

   The default is $0.50. You can change the default in Edit Test Parameters.

4. If you want to exclude codes that are only present in legacy or codes that are only present in Dayforce, select the appropriate checkboxes.

   For example, you can exclude legacy codes that weren’t configured in Dayforce to work with smaller data sets.

5. Compare the legacy and Dayforce totals.
6. If any discrepancies exist, click Download Report.
7. Click the location on your computer where you want to save the Comparison report.

   The Comparison report is an Excel file with separate tabs for Earnings, Deductions, and Taxes. The report also has an Instructions tab that contains information for tracking the review status of the lime item variances in Activate.

   Each tab shows the Dayforce payroll amounts next to the legacy payroll amounts, and calculates the variant amount for review.

1. On the Pay Run Test Steps page, select the radio button next to one of the following fields:
   • Track company review progress
   • Track employee review progress

   The Load Company Comparison Review Status page opens.

2. Complete the fields on the Comparison report you saved on your computer.

   Several columns on the far left provide details about the Dayforce payroll calculation (for example, the Source, Tax & Compliance Code) might help you filter and troubleshoot discrepancies.

   Several columns on the far right of the data set (Review Status, Review Owner, Root Cause, and Comments) provide information for tracking the review progress on each row. Completing these fields helps you to track your progress.

3. Click Save and close the file.

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

4. Click Upload and upload the updated Comparison report.
5. On the Compare Company Totals page, comp hn are the totals.
6. If you find any discrepancies, log in to Dayforce and make the corrections.
7. On the Compare Company Totals page, click Refresh values from Dayforce.
8. Repeat these steps until no discrepancies exist.

Note: The Compare Employee Totals page becomes available after you complete at least one employee upload file containing legacy data.

1. On the Pay Run Test Steps page, select the radio button by the Compare employee totals field.

   The Compare Employee Totals page opens with an at-a-glance summary of the employee-level variance between Dayforce payroll and the legacy system.

2. If you’re testing a sample subset of the entire organization population, select the Display only the employees uploaded from Legacy checkbox.

   Note: The Employee Count row in the summary also includes a Variance report of employees that are present in one system but not the other. This information helps you to identify employees who might have been missed in the legacy data load or aren’t set up correctly in Dayforce.

3. Click Generate detailed comparison report.

   Note: Activate shows the deduction type based on the pay group country if the deduction is used in more than one country on both the Company and Employee Comparison reports.

   The Detailed Comparison report enables you to review the line-by-line differences.

   A prompt opens so you can filter the comparison results by a variance threshold to focus on large discrepancies.

   Each time you generate the Detailed Comparison report, it includes the latest review status on each row.

   Note: If you load “negative deductions” from the legacy system that are mapped as earnings, Activate converts the amounts to positive earnings. Now, you can view them in the earning comparison without having to tweak the numbers or reload the data as an earning record. This applies to the Legacy Amount column on the Earning tab of the Employee Totals Comparison report.

   Note: Activate doesn’t automatically update the review status based on the variance amount. The Testing team determines and updates the status of specific line items.

4. Enter the variance amount threshold for filtering comparison results.

   The default is $0.50. You can change the default in Edit Test Parameters.

5. If you want to exclude codes that are only present in legacy and/or codes that are only present in Dayforce, select the appropriate checkboxes.

   For example, you can exclude legacy codes that weren’t configured in Dayforce to work with smaller data sets.

6. Compare the legacy and Dayforce totals.
7. If any discrepancies exist, click Download Report.
8. Select the location on your computer where you want to save the Comparison report.

   The Comparison report is an Excel file with separate tabs for Earnings, Deductions, and Taxes. The report also has an Instructions tab with information to help you track the review status of the lime item variances in Activate.

   Each tab shows the Dayforce payroll amounts next to the legacy payroll amounts, and calculates the variant amount for review.

1. In Activate Central, click Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live. The Prepare Environment for Parallel or Go Live wizards show.
2. Click Payroll Comparison.
3. On the Payroll Comparison page, click Edit Test next to the test you want to update.
4. On the Test Parameters page, make the necessary changes.

   For information on each field see the Questions section (below).

5. Click Done. The Payroll Comparison page opens.