State Agencies Bulletin No. 77

Subject
The Payroll Process and Schedule
Date Issued
February 26, 1999

Purpose

This bulletin provides agencies with an overview of the process and schedule for producing payroll at OSC.

Since the final conversion of all agencies to PaySR in November, OSC staff has continued to refine the payroll schedule and process in order to produce on-time paychecks and direct deposit advices. Adjusting to many of the new and complex steps in this process has resulted in some changes in the schedule over the last two months. The cooperation of agency payroll staff during this period has been much appreciated.

Questions on this Bulletin should be addressed to (518) 474-6427.

PaySR PAYROLL PROCESS

Terms

Data Capture - the process in which some agencies that maintain their own automated human resource management systems send electronic files of payroll appointment and removal type transactions for entry into PaySR by OSC.

Time Entry - the PaySR panel in which overtime, overtime meals and other miscellaneous payments are entered.

Miscellaneous Payment File - the batch interface file sent by some agencies for overtime, overtime meals and other miscellaneous payment transactions.

Online Cutoff - the deadline for agency online entry of transactions in PaySR for the given payroll period.

Pay Calc - the payroll process that performs calculations of employee paychecks.

Pay Confirm - the process that finalizes payroll and updates employee balances.

Schedule Summary - see attached calendars
  • 3 weeks before pay date - agency data capture files due; agencies may send one or more data capture files in the pay period by the deadline.
  • 2 weeks before pay date - data entry is complete, audit begins
  • 1 week before pay date - audit ends, pay calc and pay confirm processes run, checks printed.
Data Input
  • Data capture files are due 6 p.m. Wednesday, 3 weeks prior to pay date. PaySR staff begins to enter transaction on Thursday and continues through Wednesday. PaySR will enter Hires, Rehires, and Concurrent Hires first, in order to provide agencies with the greatest opportunity for completing other related transactions, such as taxes or miscellaneous payments.
  • Online data entry complete 6 p.m. Wednesday, 2 weeks prior to pay date.
Time Entry
  • Agencies enter data in Time Entry panel from Thursday, 3 weeks prior to pay date, through Wednesday, 2 weeks prior to pay date (same day as online cutoff).
  • Miscellaneous Payment files are due 6 p.m. Wednesday, 2 weeks prior to pay date.
Audit
  • Starts Thursday, 2 weeks prior to pay date, and continues through Monday, 1 week prior to pay date.
  • When errors are identified by the auditors, they will put all corrected information on correction sheets for agencies. Agencies will be contacted only if the auditors require an explanation to clarify a transaction.
  • Auditors have been assigned, once again, to work with specific agencies. This is expected to aid communication between OSC and agencies.
Pay Calc
  • Tuesdays, 1 week before pay date. This is the batch process that is run frequently to calculate payroll.
  • Pay data verification queries are run Tuesday and Wednesday as part of this process. PaySR runs and reviews these queries to identify potential errors and take appropriate action to correct those identified. This part of the process took one day following the first and second conversions. It takes two days at full volume, which has resulted in the earlier deadline for data entry and file submission.
Pay Confirm
  • Wednesday night, 1 week before pay date. The payroll is finalized and employee balances updated. This process has occasionally run into Thursday, sometimes due to delays in the previous steps. It must be completed Thursday so checks can be run Thursday evening.
Pay Generation
  • Checks and direct deposit stubs are printed and sealed.
  • Checks are delivered to Treasury for distribution to agencies
  • Direct deposit stubs are distributed to agencies
  • Direct deposit transactions are sent electronically to financial institutions.
Back-End Reporting
  • Files are sent to the OSC accounting system, vendors, unions, and agencies.
  • Agencies enter back-end splits the Friday through Monday before the pay date. Back-end splits are used to distribute the salary for the current period across multiple cost centers.
  • Reports are available to agencies the Monday before the pay date.

Attachments:    

Institution Pay Cycle Calendar 
Administration Pay Cycle Calendar
Both Payroll Cycles Calendar