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Once you have connected a payroll provider (via API Integrations), you’ll need to configure how the system should treat payroll-related data for that provider. Your organisation most likely will only use one payroll provider, but in some cases (most commonly during a migration) your organisation may temporarily have two providers configured at once. The payroll-provider dropdown only shows providers that have been created/added in the back-end system for that organisation. To add more payroll providers, contact us.

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Payroll Provider Settings

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Payroll provider dropdown

Use the dropdown at the top of the page to select which payroll provider you are configuring. Settings in this section are provider-specific: Depending on your provider, you may have custom fields you need to configure.

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Payroll calendars

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Payroll calendars determine when staff are paid (weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc.) and which pay cycle each staff member belongs to.
  • When API syncing is enabled: pay calendars are typically synced automatically from the payroll system.
  • When API syncing is not enabled (manual setup): you will need to create calendars manually, including pay frequency and first pay date.
You can have multiple calendars if different groups of staff are paid on different schedules (e.g., salaried staff monthly, casual staff weekly/fortnightly). To create a new payroll calendar: enter the Name, iPayroll ID and Frequency.

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Cost centre codes

Cost centre codes are used to allocate labour cost to the right place in payroll reporting (e.g., department/ward/room, role type). These codes are used as defaults when exporting or mapping timesheet/rostering data into payroll. Cost centre code rules are configured once (in the Cost Centre Codes area) and can then be selected/used by each payroll provider. This is intentional because organisations usually try to keep codes consistent across payroll systems—especially during migrations. Find out how to build a cost centre code here

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Provider selection of cost centre rules

For each payroll provider, you select which of your defined cost centre formulas it should use. Different providers can use different formulas, but they are commonly kept the same.

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Default cost codes for different work types

Within provider settings, there are defaults for different sources of time:
  • Rostered timesheets (contracted hours / recurring roster patterns)
  • Casual/published jobs (work that comes from filling published jobs)
These can be different cost codes if an organisation wants to cost casual work separately in payroll.

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Custom fields (provider mapping)

Some payroll providers support extra fields (e.g., for department/division style segmentation). Where API syncing is not enabled, mapping can be used to tell the system what internal field should populate a payroll field during file-based imports/exports. For example, DataPay:
  • DataPay includes fields like Department and Division.
  • You map those payroll fields to fields available in your system (often aligning to existing “payroll code” style fields).
When API integration is used, this mapping is typically handled by the API process and may not be needed/visible in the UI.

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Hourly rates

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This controls whether hourly rates are maintained and used for cost calculations (e.g., for budgeting/forecasting views).
  • If Hourly rates for all staff is enabled and the API is enabled, hourly rates can be synced down from payroll.
  • If API syncing is not enabled, hourly rates can be maintained manually per staff member.
  • The system can support future-dated pay changes (e.g., enter a pay increase effective in October ahead of time).
Many organisations that use Simplifi won’t enable this unless they specifically want cost calculations (hours × rate) visible in the system.

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Timesheet approvals

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Timesheets containing only “not sent to payroll” activities

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Timesheets are made up of “activities” (e.g., work, breaks, leave types). Each activity can be configured to be sent to payroll or not sent to payroll. This setting controls whether timesheets should still require approval when all activities on the timesheet are not being sent to payroll (e.g., leave without pay). You may still want them approved for internal control; or you might prefer they don’t show at all. Approving future timesheets (one-off, for shutdown periods)
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By default, approvals are intended for work up to the date of approval (i.e., you approve what has actually happened). A future-date option supports one-off scenarios where an organisation is closed (e.g., Christmas shutdown) and wants to approve/process leave timesheets in advance for a future period (e.g., next two weeks).

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Timesheet payroll hours tolerance (clock-in/out “clean timesheet” rules)

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These settings are for organisations using clock-in/out behaviour, and control what gets flagged for review in payroll approvals.
  • A “clean” timesheet is one where clock-ins/clock-outs are close enough to scheduled times that it’s not worth reviewing.
  • The tolerance defines how many minutes outside the scheduled time are allowed before the system highlights it as something to check (e.g., 2 minutes late might be ignored; 20 minutes early/late should be reviewed).
  • E.g. Stephen clocks out at 4:57 when his shift ends at 5. He still has a clean timesheet as the time tolerance is 6 minutes, therefore his 3 minute early clock out comes under the tolerance time.

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Break tolerance

Break tolerance applies the same logic as above, but specifically to clocking in/out for breaks (how strict/lenient you want to be about break timing).

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Rate codes

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Rate codes support choosing which pay rate applies to a timesheet entry during approvals (e.g., standard rate vs overtime rate). This isn’t commonly used by many clients, but where enabled it lets approvers select rate code(s) such as:
  • Rate 1 = normal pay
  • Rate 2 = overtime pay
To create a new rate code, press New Rate Code; Type in a name, select which payroll providers will use this rate code and enter the rate code that you’d like each payroll provider to use when sending to your payroll provider. Make sure to press Save Rate Code Details when you are finished.

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Custom fields (additional staff/profile fields)

This area allows creating additional fields that can be attached to a person’s profile for payroll-related use.

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Salary loadings and deductions

Salary loadings/deductions allow adding extra amounts on top of base pay for costing/budgeting calculations (and where enabled, can also flow through timesheet/payroll processes depending on configuration). Examples could include:
  • Social club contribution
  • KiwiSaver contribution (e.g., adding an employer contribution percentage)
  • Travel allowances

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Notifications

Notifications can be used as reminders (for example, a daily prompt) when there are timesheets waiting to be approved—helping payroll approvers remember to return to the system and process them.