1) Overview
2) Troubleshooting steps
i) Category Name and Payroll Code [Unmatched]
ii) Another example of [Unmatched] data
iii) Overtime
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Timesheets | Rules and Functions
1) Overview
Processing payroll with Easy Employer (EE) can sometimes produce results that may seem unexpected at first. EE is highly customisable, and it is this flexibility that can pose a challenge when it comes to understanding award interpretation results.
Knowing how to troubleshoot award interpretation issues in Easy Employer is an important skill to develop in order to get the most out the system's award interpretation capabilities.
2) Troubleshooting steps
The system relies on the information provided by the organisation to do the award interpretation and payroll calculations. The accuracy of those results rely on the rules and settings it has been configured with; therefore, troubleshooting award interpretation issues in Easy Employer comes down to reviewing –and adjusting when necessary, those rules and settings.
Given Easy Employer's highly customisable nature, there is no "one-size-fits-all" rule to troubleshooting these issues, but in general terms, checking the specific details of the wages that have been call into question is usually the easiest way to get started.
We have used some specific examples below in order to illustrate how to resolve most award interpretation problems (click on the heading to expand/contract it):
i) Category Name and Payroll Code [Unmatched]
In some cases, the Payroll Report displays the Category Name and Payroll Code for the timesheet data as [Unmatched] and no calculations are produced.
This occurs when the system cannot match the timesheet data with any of the configured settings and/or rules, and it doesn't have the information required to process it. In order to troubleshoot this particular example:
- Start by determining which shift is triggering the issue:
- On the Payroll Report, find the employee with unmatched data.
- On the Timesheet section under the employee's name, click Payroll cost report (the link in between brackets).
The report shows on a new page. - Look for [Unmatched] under the Category Code and/or Category Name columns.
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- Optional: Find the shifts with unmatched data by filtering the results by Category Code:
Click Edit on the Category Code row at the top of the report. - In the popup window, select only [Unmatched] and click Set scopes.
- The filtered report is displayed.
- Optional: Find the shifts with unmatched data by filtering the results by Category Code:
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- The report shows the shift that contains the unmatched data.
- Find the shift in the timesheets.
- Check the actual shift information, to do this you can either:
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- Hover over the shift with your mouse pointer and it will display some basic shift details.
- Or, to get the complete shift information, click on the shift to get an array of actions to select from,
and click View shift details (magnifying glass icon). - It displays the complete actual shift information in a pop up window.
- Hover over the shift with your mouse pointer and it will display some basic shift details.
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- The shift information shows the employee actually worked on a public holiday, therefore:
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- It is possible that the unmatched data relates to worked public holiday settings.
- Public holiday settings are configured on the award pay groups.
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- Find which award pay group the user belongs to:
In the Timesheet, click the user's name and select Manage User from the drop down.
This opens the user's profile in a new page. - Click Payroll.
- Under the User award section, click on the user's pay group.
- Find and check the Public Holiday Rates - Worked Shifts section of the award pay group.
In this instance, the pay group has no public holiday rates set for worked shifts.
Conclusion: This is the reason the data for this shift is showing in the payroll report as "unmatched".
- Take corrective actions:
- Under Award pay group information (and right above the Standard Days section),
click Edit Award pay group. - Click Yes to confirm the action.
- Find the Public Holiday Rates - Worked Shifts section.
- Add the rates.
- Click Save and Update at the bottom of the page.
- Any time an Award gets updated, it is recommended to process the changes:
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- Click Organisation.
- Click Awards.
- In the Manage awards page, select the Award.
- Under Award Updated, click Process.
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- Under Award pay group information (and right above the Standard Days section),
- Check the changes have taken effect in the Payroll report:
If the issue occurred in a previous payroll period, the award pay group that has just been changed needs to be backdated for those changes to also apply for that payroll period. There are two ways of doing this: through the Payroll report for the particular payroll period, or through the user's profile:- Through the Payroll report:
- On the Payroll report for that particular payroll period, find the user.
- On the Award pay group section, click Change.
- On the Select award pay group popup window, click Save.
- Confirm you want to apply the latest version of the pay group to a time period in the past, click Save.
- Through the user's profile:
- Click Organisation.
- Click Users.
- Select the user.
- Click Payroll.
- On the User award section, click Change.
- On the Select award pay group popup window, click Save.
- Select the previous payroll period.
- Click Save.
- Through the Payroll report:
ii) Another example of [Unmatched] data
The Payroll report shows the following:
In order to troubleshoot this particular example, start by determining which shift is triggering the issue:
- Use the steps described in the previous example to find the shift with "unmatched" data
(Payroll report > Payroll cost report, find [Unmatched] under the Category Code).
The report helps determine the shift date and time. - Find the shift in the timesheets.
The shift occurred on a weekday in the afternoon: - Check the weekly rates for the award pay group the employee belongs to.
Use the same steps described in the first example to find the user's award pay group
(Timesheet > user's name > Manage User > Payroll > user's pay group). - Scroll down to find the Weekly Rates section.
- In this instance, the Award had been set up with the incorrect End Time (11:59 AM instead of 11:59 PM) for Monday to Friday on the Weekly Rates section, effectively leaving any afternoon shifts for these days without a rate.
- When the system tried to process shifts occurring from Monday to Friday between 12:00 PM and 11:59 PM, it wasn't able to find the corresponding rates and couldn't produce any calculation, displaying them as [Unmatched].
Conclusion: The problem was caused by a configuration error. Correcting it fixes the issue.
iii) Overtime
In some instances, it may not be clear why overtime has been calculated in a shift.
In the example below, the Timesheet shows an employee who has two shifts incurring overtime.
To understand why these shifts have incurred overtime costs:
- Click the OT (overtime) icon on the shifts to display the Shift costs for each particular shift.
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- The Shift costs on the first one shows this employee is getting overtime as a casual from 6pm on a weekday, at 1.5 times for the first two hours and then double after that.
- The Shift costs on the second shows the employee is getting overtime payment (x2) as a casual for the whole shift, between 10:50 am and 1:50 pm.
Based on this, the next logical step is to check the weekly rates for the user's pay group.
- The Shift costs on the first one shows this employee is getting overtime as a casual from 6pm on a weekday, at 1.5 times for the first two hours and then double after that.
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- Use the same steps described in the first example to find the user's award pay group
(Timesheet > user's name > Manage User > Payroll > user's pay group). - Scroll down and check the group's Weekly Rates.
The group has been set to get normal pay Monday to Friday from 6am to 6pm (at 1.25 times for casuals), and overtime at any other times, as well as overtime all day on weekends. - Check the Overtime Periods.
The first two hours of overtime from Monday to Saturday are set at 1.5 times (effectively 1.75 times for casual rate) and double after that (effectively 2.25 times for casual rate), and Sundays get double all day.
Conclusion: Assuming all configurations are correct, the system has accurately calculated the overtime based on the organisation's rules and settings for the employee's Award pay group.
3) Troubleshooting tips
- When troubleshooting award interpretation issues, it is important to review specific sections of the award configuration at a general level (organisation) and individual level (user): Check Award triggers, Interpretation periods, the user's Award Pay Group for missing weekly, public holiday, or overtime rates; or for any [Unmatched] tags displayed under any of the Pay Group sections, as well as checking minimum and maximum hours set for that particular employee.
- When troubleshooting a specific user's wages, if there are other users with similar award settings that are presenting no issues, you can use them to compare their pay configuration with the one you're having issues with, observe the differences and make any changes as required (it is recommended to use Sandbox to test the changes before implementing them in the production environment).
- Keep in mind, from rosters and timesheets through to payroll processing, examining the number warnings and reports Easy Employer offers at different levels, can help you understand how the system has done its calculations, which in turn can assist you in clarifying any payroll processing/award interpretation issues.