This is a general overview of essential Human Resources (HR) and payroll steps necessary to ensure faculty and staff are paid on the scheduled pay date.
The proper and timely completion of each step by the employing department, the Office of Human Resources or the appropriate HR Service Center, and the University Payroll & Benefits (UPB) office is critical to ensuring that faculty and staff are paid on the scheduled pay date. Follow the Payroll Schedule to meet all deadlines. See Decoding the Payroll Schedule for more information.
Step 1: Review Job Records for Accuracy
New hire jobs and changes to existing employment must be entered and routed in HRFE. Departments and HR should follow the Payroll Schedule to meet all HRFE transaction deadlines. Payroll is calculated according to job record data at the moment of the Job System Change Cutoff identified in the Payroll Schedule.
For all categories of employees, verify the job’s effective date, termination date, and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) are accurate.
Check the job hourly rate and salary for accuracy.
In addition, the three categories of bi-weekly employees need specific elements of the job records to be verified.
- Civil Service Exempt – Default earnings must be set up (there should be no work schedule).
- Civil Service Non-Exempt – Work schedule must be set up (there should be no default earnings).
- Extra Help/Student Employees – These should never have default earnings or a work schedule set up on their jobs.
NOTE: Feeder employees of any category should never have default earnings or a work schedule set up on their jobs.
Step 2: Set Up and Maintain the Time Reporting Structure
Each department needs to set up a payroll reporting structure. This includes setting up timesheet orgs, routing queues, and maintaining unit security. Structures should be set up so employees cannot approve their own timesheets.
See the Time Entry and Approval Security course and the following job aids for more information.
Step 3: Process Time Entry for Bi-weekly Employees
To ensure that bi-weekly employees are paid on the scheduled pay date, time entry originators must submit timesheets in time for approvers to meet the noon time entry cutoff identified in the Payroll Schedule (5 p.m. for superusers). Pay period beginning and ending dates, payroll calculation dates, and pay dates are identified in the payroll schedule.
For bi-weekly payroll, departments use one of three methods for populating Banner with time reporting data:
- Web time entry requires the employee to enter and submit time in an online timesheet. The department approver reviews and approves the timesheet online or in Banner prior to the time entry cutoff identified in the Payroll Schedule. Web time is the preferred time entry method.
- Department time entry requires the department originator to extract timesheets in Banner and key in time according to the paper or digital timesheet provided by the employee. The department approver reviews the timesheet and approves it in Banner prior to the time entry cutoff identified in the Payroll Schedule.
- Feeder units use their own clocking system to report time. Payroll data gets “fed” into Banner according to the deadlines on the Payroll Schedule. NOTE: Stringent guidelines and requirements must be met before a unit is approved to become a feeder for time reporting. See the Mass Time Entry Feeder Requests forms.
For time entry job aids and training materials, see UPB Time Reporting Resources.
Step 4: Verify and Adjust Employee Pay
Errors identified during the Current Pay Adjustment Window can be corrected with a Current Pay Adjustment (CPA) in the Payroll Adjustment Request Interface System (PARIS). All other errors can be corrected with a Prior Underpayment Adjustment (PUA) in PARIS or with a transaction in the Adjustment Notification Application (ANA).
Payroll reports are available in Mobius View three days prior to the pay date. These reports can help you determine if you need an adjustment. Find information on Mobius View, how to view, print, and download the payroll reports in the Payroll Reports Guide.
See the Payroll Adjustment Processing page and review the guides for Payroll Correction and Adjustments to learn about the corrections that can be made during the payroll payment process.
Request a Payroll Loan
When significant changes in jobs are not completed in Banner or new hire paperwork and job setup is delayed, it is possible the scheduled payroll deadlines will not be met. Also, payroll adjustments are not possible until job records are available or updated. In this situation, departments may request a payroll loan for an eligible employee to ensure the employee will be paid on or near the scheduled pay date.
The procedure to request a payroll loan is managed by University Payroll & Benefits. The updated process is explained in the job aid Requesting a Pay Loan. Units/departments must submit an Expedited Payment Request (EPR) in Chrome River. A signed Pay Loan Request form and HRFE substantiation must be uploaded into Chrome River.
For assistance with this process, contact UPB through the University Payroll & Benefits Service Portal.