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Pre-Calculation

Use this option to simulate payroll calculations for the employees in your pay run. The results appear in the Pre-Calculation Journal files.

The purpose of pre-calculation is to identify any data that needs to be changed before you calculate the pay run. This may include changes to employees' timecards or pay rates, adjustments to table records, or changes in your pay run setup. You should rerun the pre-calculation as many times as needed until the information reported is correct.

22.4 and later: Output can be exported to Excel.

Menu Path

From the Human Resources menu, select Entry & Processing. From the Payroll menu, select Pay Run Processing. From the SetUp/Timecards section, select Pre-Calculation.

Page Sections

The Pre-Calculation Report page includes the following sections:

Pre-Calculation Report Set Up

Displays the pay run's pay cycles and indicates which cycles apply to advanced pay, if any.

Deductions

Displays the deduction frequencies selected in the Pay Run Setup - Step 3 page.

Special Pays

Displays the special pay frequencies selected in the Pay Run Setup - Step 3 page.

Report Criteria

Specifies the sort order for the Pre-Calculation Journal and Exception reports. If desired, you can select the Run for Selected Employees checkbox to limit the pre-calculation to selected employees or the Run for Selected Pay Groups checkbox to limit it to selected pay groups. You can also choose whether you want to print the deduction register or not.

Action Buttons

The page's Report Criteria section displays the following action buttons:

View Deductions

Accesses the Deductions section so you can see any additional deduction frequencies selected for this pay run.

View Special Pays

Accesses the Special Pays section so you can see any additional special pay frequencies selected for this pay run.

Output Options

You can select to export pre-calculation information to File, Screen, or Excel. Excel requires version 22.4 or later.

File

Select File to run the reports in the background to review later. They do not immediately download through the browser. They are located in your user report (rpt) folder and open as PDF files. Go to e-Forms & Tools, select All, then View Files to locate the reports.

Screen

Select Screen to download the reports immediately to your browser downloads. They open as PDF files.

Excel (22.4 and later)

Select Excel to produce a single spreadsheet file with a worksheet tab for each report.

Generate the Pre-Calculation Journal

The purpose of the Pre-Calculation Journal is to let you see what your payroll results will be before the system performs the actual calculations. After you verify all information is correct, you can proceed with calculating your payroll.

The Pre-Calculation Report page enables you to review deduction and special pay frequencies for the pay run cycles. It allows you to run the pre-calculation for either selected employees or pay groups, or all employees included in the pay run.

The Pre-Calculation Journal is divided into multiple report files (File or Screen) or a single spreadsheet file (Excel). If your pay run includes multiple pay cycles, the system produces separate journals or worksheet tabs for each cycle. The journal's reports include:

Report Name

Description

Available Formats

Default Report File Name

Parameters for Pay Run

Lists settings from the Pay Run Setup - Step 2 page and includes information for the cycles displayed in the Pre-Calculation Report page. When run to Excel, there is a tab for each cycle.

All

  • File or Screen: precal-a1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Selected Employees

Identifies the employees included in the pre-calculation if you selected them individually. This report is skipped if you did not choose Run for Selected Employees. When run to Excel, there is not a tab for this information.

  • File

  • Screen

  • File or Screen: precal-b1.rpt

  • Excel: Not applicable

Pre Calculation Journal Exceptions

Lists employees with exception messages. The report lists all employees who have exception messages in their timecards. If you ran pre-calculation for selected employees, only those employee exceptions are listed.

  • If you have more than one pay cycle, the report provides a separate Exceptions report section for each cycle. When run to Excel, there is a tab for each cycle.

  • All pay checks issued in a separate pay cycle appear with the exception reason Paid in Advance.

  • A listing in this section does not mean the employee's pay will not be processed. Generally, most exception messages are warnings. You should review the listings and make the corrections needed before running the calculation.

All

  • File or Screen: precal-c1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pre Calculation Journal

Provides a breakdown of each payroll check calculation based on the information entered during setup. Before running the actual calculations, you can use this section to review all information that will be updated in employees' records as a result of payroll processing.

  • This journal is sorted by department, check location, or name. When run to File or Screen, the sort order you select in the Pre-Calculation Report page appears at the start of each page in the journal. When run to Excel, information is grouped for each employee along with an employee total.

  • If a payroll has multiple pay cycles, the information from all cycles is combined in this report or tab.

  • There are two entries for employees receiving two payroll checks, one for regular checks and the other for second checks. If the Pay Cycle fields in all rates assigned to an employee are set to Second Check, an error message appears in the error log, and the system skips the employee.

  • When run to Excel, the following fields are included which are not in files run to File or Screen:

    • Pay Group

    • Pay Code

    • Vendor Code (associated with the deduction)

    • Vendor Name

    • Deduction Code

    • Leave Code

All

  • File or Screen: precal-d1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pre Calculation Journal Deduction Summary

Lists totals for payroll taxes, deductions, benefits, and arrears amounts. The summary is sorted by tax code and then deduction/benefit code. If you have multiple pay cycles, the report or tab combines information from all cycles.

All

  • File or Screen: precal-e1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pre Calculation Deduction Register

Excel: Deduction Details

If you select Print Deduction Register and run this report to File or Screen, it lists each deduction code on a separate page with a list of employees where the deduction was applied, taxable wages, deduction and benefit amounts, and arrears.

If you run this report to Excel, you can choose to have all information on one worksheet tab (the label is Deduction Details), have separate worksheets (tabs) by vendor (labeled with the Vendor Name), or both. If you select separate tabs for each vendor, or both, and there are multiple deductions set up with no vendor information, they are grouped on a No Vendor tab, sorted by the Deduction Code.

All

  • File or Screen: precal-f1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pre Calculation Journal LWOP Summary

Lists the hours and amounts for leave without pay (LWOP) in the current pay run. The report lists the employee name and number, department, check location, leave hours, and system-calculated leave without pay amounts. The system generates a separate summary report or worksheet tab for each pay cycle.

All

  • File or Screen: precal-g1.rpt

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pay Details

Similar to Pre Calculation Journal but it only includes pay and leave information.

Excel

  • File or Screen: Not applicable

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Pay Summary

Lists total amounts for each Pay Code.

Excel

  • File or Screen: Not applicable

  • Excel: precalrpt.xlsx

Run Pre-Calculation

  1. On the Pay Run Processing page, click Pre-Calculation.

  2. Review the information in the following sections: Pre-Calculation Report Setup, Deductions, and Special Pays.
    To display full information in the Deductions and Special Pays sections, click View Deductions or View Special Pays to access the desired section, and then click Previous to return to page itself.

  3. Click Next to access the Report Criteria section.

  4. Select a Report Sorting option.

    • C - Check Location (default)

    • O - Department

    • N - Employee Name

  5. Select an Exception Report Sort Order.

    • Employee Number (default)

    • Exception Message

  6. If desired, select Run for Selected Employees or Run for Selected Pay Groups. You can only choose one of these options. Leave blank to run pre-calculation for all employees in the pay run.

  7. If desired, select Print Deduction Register. If you select this option, another field appears: Group Deduction By (Excel Only). If you intend to export the pre-calculation to Excel, select one of the options, otherwise leave it at the default.

    • All Deductions in One Worksheet

    • Separate Worksheets by Vendor

    • Both

  8. Your next step depends on the following:

    • If you selected Run for Selected Employees, the Employees for Pre-Calculation Reports page appears. Use Lookup to select the employees to include, press <Tab> after you enter the last employee ID, and then click Next.

    • If you selected Run for Selected Pay Groups, the Pay Groups for Pre-Calculation Reports page appears. In the Selected Pay Groups section, select the checkboxes of the pay groups to include, or click Check All to select all pay groups. Click Next when you finish your selections.

    • If you did not select either checkbox, the Print window displays.

  9. In the Print window, enter settings for generating the pre-calculation reports.

    • Select File or Screen: Multiple files are produced that display in PDF format.

    • Select Excel: A single file is produced with a worksheet tab for each report.

  10. Click OK to begin processing.

Fields and Descriptions

Field

Description

Select Report Sorting

Select one of the following to set the sort order for the Pre-Calculation Journal reports:

  • C - Check Location

  • O - Department

  • N - Employee Name

Exception Report Sort Order

Select one of the following to set the sort order for the Pre-Calculation Journal Exceptions report:

  • Employee Number

  • Exception Message

Run for Selected Employees

Select this checkbox to limit the report to selected employees. When this box is selected, you cannot select Run for Selected Pay Groups. If you select both boxes, the system issues an error message.

Run for Selected Pay Groups

Select this checkbox to limit the report to selected pay groups. When this box is selected, you cannot select Run for Selected Employees. If you select both boxes, the system issues an error message.

Print Deduction Register

Select this checkbox to generate the Deduction Register report. If selected, Group Deduction By (Excel Only) appears and is a required field. If you intend to export to Excel, choose your preferred grouping. Otherwise, leave it as the default.


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