From “Prepare payroll” to a locked pay

When a period ends and its data is complete, the payroll is prepared by itself: the button at the top says “Prepare payroll” and opens it right away, already done (while it is being prepared, “Preparing the payroll…”); once you have been in and left, it says “Continue closing”. If you arrive before it is ready, “Prepare payroll” prepares it right away. “Prepare payroll” calculates the period and opens the payroll closing: a screen without the menu, with three steps at the top. Step 1, “Review”: one line with how many caregivers get paid, how many need you, how many are left out and the total to pay (on a phone or tablet, the total on top and the four numbers below, two by two); below, the same list as the Payroll Center, which on a phone or tablet you go through by scrolling the whole page: one row per caregiver with “Visits”, her name (which opens her file), “+ Add payment”, the hourly rate, her total hours, the total, her visits, her insurers, her identifier in your visit system and her status; with the same “Filters” button as the Payroll Center. Those who need you come first; below, “Ready to pay”. Nothing opens on the side: the visits number in her row (“See visits”) opens her visits in this payroll as in your visit system’s report (patient, date, time, service, hours, rate, amount, each patient’s total below its visits, separate payments, overtime and the total); her name (or double-click) opens her full file; “+ Add payment” opens the separate payment (bonus, reimbursement, salary) with its reason; once something is added, tapping its amount shows the separate payments of that period and each one can be voided with a reason. If she is missing a rate, her status says “Set her rate”: tap it and her file opens at “Patients and rates”; you tap the patient that is missing, set it, close it and you are back in the list: as soon as you confirm it, her row shows ready to pay with its amount, without waiting (the system finishes pricing each visit in the background; if that failed, the row would ask for the rate again and the bell would tell you). If something else stops her or waits, her status opens it so you can decide. While something is left to fix, “Confirm payroll” stays off: tap it and it tells you what is missing and takes you there. Once everything is fixed and you make another change, “Updating the payroll…” shows at the top in the place of the “Confirm payroll” button, which disappears for those seconds; when it finishes, the notice goes away and the button comes back. Step 2, “Confirm”: a single card with the total and where it comes from (visits, overtime, separate payments, earlier periods); next to it, “Close payroll”, with who prepared it and the button with the amount; and below, “Checked”: whether everyone has a rate, whether anything is left out (with its reason), whether anything is pending, and overtime, with the comparison with the previous cycle at the bottom. Step 3, “Paid”: one card with the closed payroll (the total, how many workers, visits and hours, and who closed it and when); next to it, “Pay them”, where you record what you paid with “I’ve paid them” (how much, the day and, if you want, a reference) or, if you turned on “Pay through your bank”, the file for your bank; and below, the reports for this payroll (payment register, hours and cost by insurer, overtime, separate payments and paid vs. confirmed) as PDF or Excel. When what was recorded reaches the total, it says “Paid · Matches ✓”. While the payroll is being prepared, “‹ Payroll Center”, at the top left, takes you back to the Center: the payroll is always saved as it is, and there the button will say “Continue closing”. Once the payroll is closed, that button is “‹ Payrolls” and takes you to the payroll history: a closed payroll no longer shows in the Payroll Center. Visits that your visit system still has on hold do not appear in the closing: they are not in this payroll and enter the next one by themselves once your visit system releases them. If something is missing before confirming (a rate, a separate payment added after preparing), the “Confirm payroll” button tells you when you tap it. When you change something after preparing (a rate, a pending item, a difference, a separate payment), the payroll updates by itself: the top says “Updating the payroll…” and, in a few seconds, you can confirm it. If you change several things in a row (for example, several rates), it waits a few seconds until you finish and updates once; if you just set a rate, it waits for that rate’s recalculation to finish; meanwhile, “Updating the payroll…” shows in the place of “Confirm payroll”. If something on our side fails while updating it, you do not need to do anything: it keeps saying “Updating the payroll…” and tries again by itself. Only if something you set up is missing (for example, the pay calendar), “Prepare again” shows at the top in amber, and tapping it tells you what is missing. When it updates, if the new data gives the same payroll, it is not rebuilt: the same payroll stays, checked against the latest data; and if you tap “Prepare again” and nothing changes, it tells you: “The payroll was already up to date”. Its statuses are: “In preparation”, “Prepared — review it”, “Stopped — needs you” (something stops the pay), “Ready to close”, “Approved — ready to lock” and “Locked — official”. The button depends on who is looking. The account owner and the partner, with the pay prepared, see “Close the payroll”: a single act that submits, approves and closes it, with one confirmation stating the period, the amount and how many workers, what stays on hold and the differences not applied. The payroll manager finishes their part and sees “Let them know it is ready”: the pay becomes “Notified: waiting for the close”, with the date, and they can carry on; the owner and the partner get “Payroll is ready to close” in the bell and by email, with the link to the pay. They open it, review whatever they want, caregiver by caregiver, and see “Approve and close” or “Send back” with the reason; as soon as they decide, the manager gets the notice and the email (“Your payroll was approved” or “A payroll was returned to you”, with the reason). If the owner turned on “The manager can close payroll” (in My account → Payroll rules, or when giving a manager access in My account → Team), the manager sees “Close payroll” and closes it themselves, without waiting; the owner and the partner then get “Payroll was closed: review it”, in the bell and by email. With the rule on or off, paying them (“I paid them”), the bank file and account changes always belong to the owner and the partner: those buttons do not appear for the manager. If the owner turns the rule off right while the manager is closing, the owner wins: it does not close and the manager is told to let them know it is ready. The notice “Payroll is ready to close” clears itself when the pay is closed or sent back; the others clear when you open them. If the email cannot go out, the bell says so (“A payroll email did not go out”) so you can let them know another way. If the office has separation of duties turned on, the same person who prepared cannot close (not even the manager with the rule): they see “Let them know it is ready”. When the system prepared the payroll by itself, whoever sends it for approval counts as the one who prepared it: someone else signs it. Underneath, they are the same steps as always, with their checks, and all of them stay in the pay history with who and when. They go together: if one cannot be taken, none is, the pay stays as it was and the dialog says why. While your company’s data is being brought in and calculated (after “Update payroll”, when you upload a report, or when it updates by itself), “Prepare payroll” waits for it to finish, so nobody prepares with half-updated data. If the update does not finish properly, it stops waiting and says so. If, after preparing, a new visit arrives, you add or void a separate payment, or you change whether someone in that pay is an employee (W-2) or a contractor (1099), the pay updates by itself to include the latest; meanwhile, sending for approval waits and says so. If someone signs right when the pay changed, they are asked to review it first: nobody signs a version they did not see. Locking is final: those payments are protected against double payment. If a visit from that pay changes later, it is not adjusted on its own: the difference is shown in the next pay and you decide whether it applies (see “An already-paid visit changed”); what was left on hold and gets fixed goes into the next pay on its own. “Send back” returns the pay to preparation without losing anything. Each preparation creates a new version; under the history in “Paid”, the versions are compared. You only see the buttons your permission allows: the preparer prepares; approving and locking belong to whoever has those permissions (see “Team permissions”).

Related instructions

• Who can access Payroll →
• How the amount is calculated →
• The pay’s pending items: blockers and warnings →