HR Screens integration with Payroll

This guide provides information about how changes to screens in IRIS Cascade HR and Administration can affect integration with IRIS Cascade Payroll.

HR screens and Integration

You can configure HR screens to suit your organisation’s needs. However, if you make changes to any HR screens that integrate with Payroll, this may prevent integration from working, or affect the information that’s integrated.

This section tells you:

  • How the HR screens that are enabled for Payroll integration work

  • What information can be integrated into Payroll, and the importance of the fields on the screens

  • How any changes that you make to HR screens can affect integration

Main Screen

Information from the fields on the Main screen listed in this table can be integrated into Payroll.

Field Notes
Title
  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Surname
  • Mandatory field for RTI submissions

  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Firstname
  • Mandatory field for RTI submissions

  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Othername
  • Mandatory field for RTI submissions

  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Previous Name
  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Initials
  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Known As
  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Marital Status
  • Mandatory field for RTI submissions

  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Gender
  • Mandatory field for RTI submissions

  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Employee ID
  • Transferred to Payroll for all new starters, and becomes Payroll ID

  • Used in Integration as reference for Link Employees

  • Must remain text field type (Configure This Screen)

Passport Number
  • Not mandatory, but integrates with Payroll

National Insurance Number
  • Not mandatory, but used in Integration as reference for Link Employees

  • Must remain text field type (Configure This Screen)

Start Date
  • Integration holds new starters until the date in this field falls into the current pay period

  • Must remain date field type (Configure This Screen)

Continuous Service Date
  • Used in Payroll and must not be hidden

Date of Birth
  • Mandatory field for Payroll – needed for HMRC Online Filing and submissions for new starters

  • If this field is blank, a warning is displayed in Integration and the employee is not integrated into Payroll

  • Used in Integration as reference for Link Employees

  • Must remain date field type (Configure This Screen)

 

Job & Salary Screen

Working Calendar

 

  • The working calendar is also used to calculate employees’ daily rate of pay, which is used in several areas of Integration. For example, in the Leaver section, if the pay basis is Yearly and the pay frequency is Monthly, Integration divides the basic pay by 12 to give the monthly salary, and then divides that amount by the number of working days in the current pay period for the employee. This gives a true and accurate figure of the daily rate for an employee who is leaving that month

You need to consider the following points when dealing with sickness and working calendars:

  • If your employees are on a rota and you create a calendar with seven working days, each day is classed as a working day, even if the day has zero hours. When you record sickness, you need to use N/A to indicate days that were not worked. In effect, this won’t integrate the correct sick pay, as the system assumes that the employees returned for the days marked as N/A. You need to be aware of this when setting up working calendars; IRIS Cascade is designed to work on correct, set working calendars

  • Integration calculates pro-rata adjustments for new starters and salary changes. The working calendar is used to determine how many days employees have actually worked in the current pay period. Or for salary changes, how many working days they should be paid at the old rate, and how many at the new rate using the calculation annual salary/12/available working days in that month x actual days worked

This field is key to Integration, because:

  • The Sick Pay section of Integration determines employees’ qualifying days by referring to their working calendar. For example, if an employee has a standard Monday – Friday ‘office calendar’, their qualifying days will be 5

  • If an employee has seven records (Sunday to Monday) on the Work Days screen, this overrides any working calendar assigned to the employee, so you need to check this screen if Integration is calculating an employee’s daily rate incorrectly

Basic Pay

  • This field is typically used to hold employees’ actual annual salary. Employees’ hourly rate is sometimes held in this field, but you must use the field consistently to record the same information for all employees, otherwise this will cause problems when mapping salary data into the Payroll module.

  • It’s also useful to note that if you add any currency field to the Job & Salary screen, using the System Configuration tool, you can create a pay element mapping for the field. For example, if you have employees who receive a car allowance, you could add a Car Allowance field to the Job & Salary screen, and then map it to a Car Allowance pay element in Payroll.

Pay Basis

This field defines the amount type that’s currently held in the Basic Pay field:

  • If employees’ annual salary information is held in the Basic Pay field, the Pay Basis is Yearly

  • If employees’ hourly rate is held in the Basic Pay field, the Pay Basis is Hourly

You cannot add new Pay Basis options, as this would cause problems when salary changes are made.

Pay Frequency

IRIS Cascade Payroll can hold different types of pay frequency within each payroll company: Monthly, Weekly, Fortnightly and Lunar. These are the only options, as they reflect the frequencies held in Payroll.

Make sure you select the correct pay frequency in HR, as Integration will transfer the employee to the same pay frequency within the payroll company.

Hierarchy

To enable Integration to access their information, employees must be assigned to one of the Hierarchy nodes in HR. The hierarchy forms your organisation’s structure, so if your Payroll departments have a similar structure, you can map each hierarchy node to a Payroll department. This ensures that if employees are relocated within your organisation, Integration updates their Payroll department accordingly and assigns costs to the correct GL code. If you change your hierarchy structure, you should take into consideration any effect this will have on Payroll. However, if it’s not possible to avoid restructuring, you can use GL splits (see page 14). You can’t split departments when mapping to Payroll, but you can map multiple departments in HR to a single department in Payroll.

Hours

This field holds employees’ weekly contracted hours. This information is used to calculate the full time equivalent (FTE), and if you use pay grades and pay spines, it will also pro rate the annual salary. This field can be integrated to Payroll for use in formulas, for example, to calculate employees’ hourly rate.

Position

This field holds employees’ job title and can be integrated to Payroll.

Currency

All currency fields on the Job & Salary screen integrate to Payroll. Any additional currency fields can only be mapped from the Job & Salary screen.

Absence Screen

Sickness

When a sick record is added to an employee, Integration uses this information to calculate:

  • Any occupational sick pay (OSP) due to the employee, using the sick pay scheme rules

  • Any Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) due to the employee, using the HMRC SSP rules

Other attendance categories

In Integration, you can map any attendance categories to Payroll pay elements.

This is typically used for unpaid leave and Keeping in Touch days e.g., you can create an appropriate pay element in Payroll, based on the hourly rate pay element, and then map it in Integration and as a negative earning. Integration then checks employees’ working calendar and deducts the number of hours that they should have worked on that day.

Integration can’t synchronise past absences if the employee has had other absences already integrated into payroll after that specific date. E.g. If you have already integrated an employee’s absence for May and then add an absence record for March in the HR screen, Integration will not synchronise that into Payroll, resulting in no amendments being made to an employee’s pay record and a potential overpayment.

Bank Screen

Bank details on the Bank screen are integrated into Payroll one line at a time. Integration needs this screen to be a single screen, as set by default. If you use Payroll, it’s not advisable to change this screen (for example, change it to a list screen to record history), as this will prevent integration of bank details to Payroll.

Benefits Screen

To integrate benefits information, you also need to add all the benefit types you want to use to the benefit type system list (called BENEFITTYPE) in Administration, so that they can be selected on the Benefits screen in HR and mapped to Payroll elements in Integration. This system List cannot be renamed as this will stop integration from working. The fields from the Benefits screen listed in this table integrate with Payroll.

Field Description
Type
  • Maps the benefit to the appropriate pay element

Start Date
  • Populates the element start date in Payroll

End Date
  • Populates the element end date in Payroll

  • The element will no longer be paid to or deducted from the employee if the end date is before the current payroll period

Value

  • The amount that will populate into the standard/period amount for the pay element

Suspended
  • When this option is ticked, the benefit pay element is suspended for the employee This field must remain a Yes/No field

The P11d value won’t integrate into Payroll, nor will any additional user-defined fields that your organisation has added to the screen. The Suspended field is a new field added in IRIS Cascade. You can add this field to the Benefits screen using Configure This Screen.

Holiday Screen

If you have assigned an average holiday pay scheme to your employees, any holidays recorded are integrated into Payroll to calculate their AHP.

If you do not use Average Holiday Pay, then no holidays will integrate into Payroll.

Home Address Screen

Employees’ details on the Home Address screen are integrated into Payroll one line at a time. Integration needs this screen to be a single screen, as set by default. If you use Payroll, it’s not advisable to change this screen (for example, change it to a list screen to record history), as this will prevent integration of home address details to Payroll.

The first line and second line of the home address are mandatory fields, as they are submitted to HMRC via RTI submissions. Either the Postcode field or the foreign country field needs populating. Do not populate both as this will prevent your submission from HMRC sending.

Leaver Screen

Employees’ left date is integrated from the Leaver screen to Payroll, and their final salary is pro-rated using their working days in the current period. A holiday calculation is available on the screen to show holiday adjustment for the last salary payment, but this does not integrate to Payroll.

Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Screen

When a parental leave record is added to an employee, Integration calculates a payment schedule detailing statutory and occupational maternity, paternity or adoption pay, based on the employee’s average gross pay history. Integration uses the HMRC statutory rules, so it’s important that there’s a date in the ‘Form Received’ field for all statutory types and a date within ‘Baby Actual Date Of Birth’ for a paternity record. If no date is recorded, Integration won’t allow the maternity, paternity or adoption details to be synchronised. Integration also enforces the HMRC qualifying conditions for:

  • Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

  • Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)

  • Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)

You’ll see a warning message if an employee is not entitled to receive statutory pay, and Integration won’t allow you to synchronise their record into Payroll. Some fields on this screen are needed for maternity pay but not paternity, and vice versa. For this reason, if you need to configure the screen to suit your organisation’s requirements, it’s advisable to add any new fields that you need but leave existing fields in place and unchanged.

Parental Bereavement Screen

When adding a parental bereavement leave record to an employee, Integration calculates a payment schedule detailing the statutory parental bereavement pay, based on the employee’s average gross pay history.

Payroll Screen

The Off–payroll Worker field is a new field added in IRIS Cascade. You can add this field to the Payroll screen using Configure This Screen.

Field Notes
Include in Payroll
  • It’s crucial to tick this box (i.e. set to Yes), because if the field is left blank, the employee is not included in Integration, and could, therefore, be missed from the payroll.

  • It‘s not advisable to amend this field (using Configure This Screen), as changes could affect its functionality for integration

Payroll Company Name
  • You must select a payroll company, even if your organisation only uses one payroll company, as this field is not set to any default value.

  • It‘s not advisable to amend this field (using Configure This Screen), as changes could affect its functionality for integration

Payroll ID
  • Not included in Integration: the Employee ID field on the Main screen is used as the Payroll ID

 

Payroll Overtime Screen

To integrate Payroll Overtime information, you also need to add all the Overtime rates you want to use to the Overtime rate system list (called Overtime Rate) in Administration. You can map these rates to Payroll elements. The Paid In field is a calculated field and is date-stamped with the payroll period it was processed in once it has been integrated.

Payroll GL Split screen

This screen is the equivalent to the General Ledger Splits screen in Payroll.

You can create departmental costings in HR or in Payroll and they can be integrated accordingly. Use this option for employees who are located in one department, but whose costs are split between other departments.

In the example above, the employee is located in the Head Office department, but her costs are split by percentage over several departments. In Payroll, this information is key to the General Ledger export file and the Departmental Split Costs report.

In the example above, if the employee’s salary was £1500, it would be split as shown in this table:

Department Percentage % Amount £
Head Office IT 30 450
Head Office Accounts 10 150
Head Office HR 30 450

Production Leeds

15 225
Production London 15 225

You can use this screen to:

  • Integrate the information from the GL Split screen in Payroll to this screen in HR: in Integration Configuration, select Payroll as the master source

  • Notify Payroll of a department change, as an alternative to using a hierarchy change

  • Map 100% to the correct department, if your hierarchies don’t reflect the departments in HR

Pensions Screen

The pension information and figures that integrate into Payroll depend on how the scheme has been built in Payroll. If the pension contribution is based on a percentage, the percentage figures are integrated, but if it’s a fixed pension, the pension contribution amount is integrated. Integration won’t use percentage and amount for the same record.

To integrate pension information successfully, you must add all the Pension schemes you have on to a Scheme Name system list (called IRIS Cascade Pension Scheme Names) in administration, even if you only use one pension scheme.

If employees’ records hold pension history, you must mark all historical records as inactive. Pension records can also be integrated from Payroll into HR, select payroll as the master source.

Shared Parental Leave Screen

When a shared parental leave record is added to an employee, Integration calculates a payment schedule detailing the statutory and occupational shared parental pay, based on the employee’s average gross pay history.

When you add a shared parental leave record to an employee, you also need to complete the Shared Parental Leave Weeks screen, to make sure the correct data is integrated into Payroll.

Shared Parental Leave Weeks Screen

The system automatically populates the weeks schedule with dates starting from the EWC date or placement date, and you need to select who is taking the shared parental leave in those weeks (employee (myself), partner, both or none). The number of weeks remaining is shown in the Balance column.

Work Screen

This screen is used to assign occupational pay schemes to employees, including the average holiday pay (AHP) scheme.

Each scheme field has a drop-down menu that lists the available scheme(s), from which you can select a scheme to assign to the employee. Integration does not calculate any occupational pay for employees with no assigned scheme. The following fields do not integrate, and are purely for reporting purposes if you don’t use Payroll:

  • Eligible for SSP

  • Eligible for Maternity

Integration determines employees’ eligibility using HMRC legislation.

Administration and Integration

Settings in Administration > Application Data > Occupational & Holiday Pay Schemes also affect Payroll Integration.

You can use this area to create your organisation’s occupational schemes for:

  • Sick pay

  • Maternity pay

  • Paternity pay

  • Adoption pay

  • Shared parental pay

  • Parental bereavement pay

  • Average holiday pay

When you assign schemes to employees on their Work screen in HR (See page 15), IRIS Cascade checks employees’ length of service, based on their continuous service date, and then their working calendar in conjunction with the absence or maternity/paternity/adoption record itself.

You can use the Global Reassign option to assign schemes to groups of employees: the current group (typically created by using Query Builder and then selecting Use This Group) or a static group saved within Manage Groups. You can preview the employees in the group before updating their records. If Occupational pay is due, Integration produces a payment schedule, enabling you to view and amend the details where necessary and transfer the information into Payroll.

Occupational Pay Schemes Pay schemes

You can create multiple schemes for sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, parental bereavement pay, and adoption pay. If you need to run different schemes at the same time, for example, because of TUPE, change of contract or prorating for part-time employees.

Parental pay schemes need a start date. If the scheme is still in use, you can leave the end date blank. To create sick pay schemes, you can do any of the following:

  • Specify a start date and an end date. In this case, IRIS Cascade checks all sick absence records between these dates

  • Base the scheme on a rolling 52-week period, specifying a start date but leaving the end date blank and specifying 52 rolling weeks. This is the most common type of sick pay scheme. In this case, IRIS Cascade checks all Sick absence records over the last 52 weeks.

    By default, the Absence screen in HR shows all absence over the last 52 weeks, and the Bradford Factor score is also based on a rolling 52-week period Page 14 of 14

  • Base the year on the employees’ start date. This type of scheme is more difficult to set up and maintain

    For example, for an employee starting in May 2018, you would create a scheme running from May 2018 to April 2019. In May 2019, you would need to create a new scheme running from May 2019 to April 2020 and allocate it to the employee. You would not select the rolling 52 weeks option for this type of scheme.

    When you create occupational sick pay (OSP) schemes, you must always consider part-time employees; you can apply an FTE pro-rata calculation for employees who should not receive the full OSP entitlement. This will only work if your part-time employees work fewer days. If they work 5 days but fewer hours, you will need to build different schemes based on the number of days they work.

In the example above, employees who have been in service for three months are entitled to OSP at 100% pay for up to 20 days of sick absence. However, if they are sick for a further 20 days during the rolling 52-week period, their OSP is reduced to 50% pay. If they are off sick for more than 40 days within the rolling 52-week period, no OSP is paid. Occupational parental pay rates are created in the same way, but entitlement is based on weeks rather than days.

Pay rates

When you have created a scheme, you need to apply pay rates. Rates define the qualifying rules for the scheme and how much occupational pay your employees should receive.

Average Holiday Pay Schemes

Configuring an average holiday pay scheme and adding it to employees’ Work screen determines what pay the employees receive.

In the example above, employees would receive average holiday pay for 20 days. When the scheme is assigned to employees’ records and configured in Integration, the system calculates the average pay whenever a holiday record is added to employees’ records.