This guide covers the different scenarios for importing an entire payroll and creating a company and workers. This is a fully automated process with manual steps only required where data is unavailable.
Overview #
An FPS contains 2 sections per worker:(1) Each worker’s year-to-date (YTD) values and (2) Each worker’s pay run Pay value. This allows the Importer to be used in 2 different ways:
| A. Parallel run by rewinding FPS YTD (Year To Date) values will Import Submitted YTD figures, subtracting the Pay with a parallel run and auto-compare of the last pay run. This is the recommended approach | B. Next pay run with FPS YTD (Year To Date) values will Import Submitted YTD figures only and disregard the pay run Pay. It is used when a parallel run is not required. |
Import #
This section covers the steps for both options, noting that some steps are common, whilst others differ. If you are unsure, we recommend starting with a parallel run of the original FPS from your existing payroll software. This will allow you to become accustomed to the software and verify that everything is correct before a go-live run.
Collect the required files #
This importer requires an FPS (Full Payment Submission) XML format file and a Worker Details CSV or XLSX format file. Optionally, if required, you can also import EPS and History files.
Important: The FPS must contain all workers, including zero-paid. FPS files may include or exclude zero-paid employees. If you always pay all employees, then your FPS will include everyone. If you have any zero-paid employees, you must do one of the following:
-Ensure the relevant setting is set to always include zero-pay employees before submitting the FPS
- Pay all employees 1 penny to ensure that they appear in the submitted FPS and set W1/M1 to suppress any tax refunds.
- Create an un-submitted FPS using, say a 1p payment (noting that not all payroll systems support this)
- Import multiple FPS files together with an editted Worker Details CSV or XLSX that only includes the selected workers
Quickstart / HMRC FPS Importer #
Quickstart is a subset of the full HMRC FPS Importer with fewer options and only uses 2 files—it is recommended for the first import. Typically, you will then switch to the full importer, which provides all file and control options.
Setup > Import > Quickstart
Select or drag and drop the FPS and Worker details file on the 1st wizard page and click Upload files
The 2nd wizard page shows:
- The pay schedule and the target payday – there is generally only one (if more, select the one you want to import)
- Select the YTD and pay run scenario pay scenario required
- Let the software know if you use Postponement and the Pension basis – If you don’t know, use the defaults
Click Import files. After some time, the following are automatically created:
- Company
- Employees
- 1 Test (Template) Employee per schedule
- for companies with more than 5 employees – useful for automated worker file upload, or can be deleted
- Pay schedules
- Pay Run
- Workflow Definitions
- Report Definitions
- FPS Pay Definitions and Pay Items:
- An essential Pay Item called Pay and NonTaxOrNICPmt for non-tax or NIC payments such as expenses or deductions
- Automatic Enrolment (AE) Pay Definitions, default NEST schemes and AE Pay Items with migrated status
Any errors or missing data will be highlighted and can be viewed later with the View button.
Complete missing data #
Some data may be missing from the imported company, so the following steps are required after an import to complete the payroll.
Company #
Setup > Update to rename the imported Test company and complete all the missing fields, e.g. Address and Last enrolment date.
PAYE Previous pay/tax, Student Loan (SL) plans and HMRC DPS Data feed #
During import, you will be notified if any workers are missing previous pay/ tax values and possibly student loan plans, as these are unavailable in the FPS. Update these as follows.
| If you are moving to the Next pay run with FPS YTD, using the Data Provisioning Service (DPS) is useful. If so: – add DPS credentials in Setup > Report Definitions > GB HMRC DPS > Update. You can also Rewind to a date in the past to pick up Prev Pay/Tax and Student Loans. – run the GB HMRC DPS Data feed. Note: some older tax codes may be unavailable if they were supplied on paper or before online notices were enabled on a particular date. | If you are moving to the Next pay run with FPS YTD, it is useful to use the Data Provisioning Service (DPS). If so: – add DPS credentials in Setup > Report Definitions > GB HMRC DPS > Update. You can also Rewind to a date in the past to pick up Prev Pay/Tax and Student Loans. – run the GB HMRC DPS Data feed. Note: some older tax codes may not be available if they were supplied on paper or before online notices were enabled on a particular date. |
Pension AE Setup #
Company Scheme Pay Definition: The importer will set up all workers with a company AE Auto-Enrolment default Pay Definition scheme set to NEST calendar PRP. See this article to switch the scheme provider and all AE Pay Items. Scheme settings are covered in this article.
Employees AE Pay Item: The importer will set each worker’s AE Pay Item. The item will have a Migrated status/date and an Opt-out date determined from the FPS using heuristics. Generally, this works well but may not be accurate in all cases.
If you need to change Worker %, Migrated status/ Date, or Opt-out, you will do so on each employee’s AE Pay Item accessed from the Pay Item Editor. Bulk changes can be done with Pay Item upload.
If you are using Salary Sacrifice (SS), the importer cannot recover AE as there is no company pension pay in the FPS. These workers will need to have their AE Pay Item inputs set or uploaded.
Tip for Bulk changes: Change one worker in the Pay Item Editor, then Create a Pay Item workbook that can be easily edited and then uploaded by using Upload Pay Item workbook to change all workers.
FPS Salary/ Pay #
| An FPS parallel run import will recover an annual Salary item for monthly and a Pay item value for other frequencies. This is because the FPS holds a single value payment for every worker. In most cases, these values are correct. However, you may need to amend or replace these with higher-level pay items, such as bonuses, commissions, and hours, and adjust the salary. In Setup > Pay Definitions, you first need to create the required company pay definitions and then add Pay Items for each worker. If you have a large number of Pay items to delete and replace, the quickest way is to delete the Pay definition in Setup > Pay Definitions > Pay > Delete – this will delete all the Pay Pay Items items in one step. | Selecting Next pay run with FPS YTD (Year To Date) values will not create any pay Items. All pay will need to be added. Follow the tip above by adding one Pay Item and using a Pay Item workbook. |
Employment Allowance (EA) #
If the company is making use of the Employment Allowance (EA), you will need to update the EPS Report Definition in Setup > Report Definitions > GB RTI EPS > Update. You may also wish to update the EA YTD value by following this article on Mid-year Employment Allowance.
RTI FPS/EPS Report Definitions #
Setup > Report Definitions > Update GB RTI FPS/EPS| Set to Dry-run for a Parallel run | Enter credentials for a go-live run – your credentials will be verified. |
Pay Schedule #
If the imported pay schedule does not accurately reflect your pay dates, navigate to Setup > Pay Schedules and Update… the schedule. You will need to clear the Enabled checkbox to disable the schedule and click Update. Now, you can update the schedule with your dates. Don’t forget to click Enabled before updating the correct schedule.
Redo #
Navigate to Pay runs. If you altered the schedule in the previous step, you will have 2 Pay runs – delete the old one.
Pay runs > Redo will perform an entire pay run, checking everything and generating all of the reports in Documents. It will check for any obvious errors, which can then be amended before a subsequent redo.
Compare #
When the import is complete, you can use the automated graphical compare feature to compare the generated pay run files such as FPS XML, bank files and pension provider files. Any files in text, CSV or XML formats will work. Ensure you have your reference files ready from your existing payroll system.
- Go to Pay runs > View the required pay run > Click on the Reports tab
- Click Compare…
- Click Choose file and choose your reference file
- Click Upload
- There are many options on the next screen, but we suggest you accept the default and click Save options
After a few seconds, your reference file will be uploaded and automatically compared. On the left will be your reference file and on the right is the generated file from paiyroll®. All differences are shown in Red and Green. You can easily compare the side-by-side and line-by-line styles.
Ideally, you will look for a near-perfect match. Typical differences are 1p rounding errors and address formats.
Documents and Pay runs #
All pay run reports are available in Documents. You must Verify payslips, pension, bank and pre-approval reports.
Go to Pay runs > View the required pay run > Click on the Reports tab and verify each report by clicking on the View button. A summary that lists all key report information will be shown below.
Invite workers #
At this point, everything is ready. If you are in go-live, you will want to invite workers to set their passwords and log in to view and check their unapproved payslips, which are in progress. Download this Word template and edit as required.
The pay run is open, and you can continue to make changes or amendments as required. At any point, click redo to regenerate all the documents.
Approve #
The final step is to approve the pay run, noting that Dry-run reports will not be submitted to the live HMRC server.
Pay runs > Click Approve. on the next screen, you will see a summary of the report’s status as a final check. Change the approve option to Yes and tick the confirmation box.
Your payroll will be approved, and shortly after, the next pay run will automatically run.
Subsequent imports #
In addition to the A and B scenarios above, other scenarios may require running the importer again. This section covers the following scenarios:
| Parallel run from next FPS | Go Live from next FPS | Go Live with the current FPS |
| You did not have time to finish A, and you wish to use the next FPS for a 2nd parallel run | You did not have time to finish A, and you want to use the next FPS for a go-live pay run | The original FPS parallel run will not compare, and not you need a YTD import |
Pay Item Workbook #
Most edits made to a company above, including new/changed Pay Definitions, Report definitions, etc., will be preserved when the next FPS is imported. However, If you changed AE Auto Enrolment pay items after the 1st import, these may be changed [overwritten] on a subsequent import. A worker may be enrolled or opt-out between successive pay runs. Below are the AE Pay Item changes made during an import:
| Pay Item | Inputs Changed | Inputs Not changed |
|---|---|---|
| AE Pay Item | Worker % Migrated Status & Migrated Date Opt-out date | Scheme |
If you made AE changes that may be overwritten, you should save a Pay Item workbook from Home > Create a Pay Item workbook > Create Template > Download to a file. Then, you can quickly upload the Pay Items from the file after import. If you made no AE changes, then you may wish to skip this step.
Import #
Run the main importer: Import > FPS Importer, not Quickstart.
On the 1st wizard page:
- Select the Company
- Select the next FPS
- You must also provide the original or a newer Worker Details file
Click Upload Files to move to the 2nd wizard screen page:
- Ensure the Mode is Update workers in <Your> Company. This will update any existing workers’ YTD values and also add any new workers:
- Ensure you correctly select Parallel run by rewinding FPS YTD or Next pay run with FPS YTD for your import scenario:
Click Import Files. The import process will proceed, and all YTD year-to-date values will be updated from the FPS
Delete old pay run #
The next FPS import will update the Pay Schedule and start a new Pay run. As there will be 2 Pay runs, in Pay runs, delete the old Pay run in Pay runs, which is no longer required.
AE Pay Items #
If the FPS Import has overwritten any AE Pay Items, then upload the original ones from the saved Pay Item workbook using the Upload Pay Item workbook tool. You will select the AE sheet. Remember that workers may have been enrolled or upped out between the pay runs
Delete Leavers #
In general, all workers will be updated on a new import. Therefore, the import process will highlight all workers who were not updated as errors—this is to make it easy to identify potential workers who need to be deleted. If you had any leavers in the previous pay run, and they should not be present in paiyroll®, then delete these employees.
Repeat all and any relevant steps as per Phase 1 #
Finally, repeat all steps as per Phase 1 to complete the Phase 2 pay run.
Your 1st go-live pay run is complete.
Scenarios summary #
The importer provides for multiple import scenarios, and below is a summary of the 6 typical scenarios and use cases:
- A is the recommended parallel run route for anyone starting
- B is for advanced users who want to skip a parallel run and go straight to the next pay run after the original FPS
- C after A: you’re planning on more than one parallel run because you have a more complex payroll and are planning multiple runs
- D after A: you did not have time to finish A, and you wish to use the next FPS for a 2nd parallel run
- E after A: you did not have time to finish A, and you want to use the next FPS for a go-live pay run
- You can also import newer unsubmitted FPS YTD for workers who missed the initial import and need to be merged.
- F after A: You could not get a parallel run match and wish to switch to a YTD import to go live.
- This approach is also helpful if there are errors in the previous payroll system and the first pay run in paiyroll® must cumulate from the submitted figures without correction.
The table below shows these scenarios. Each step for a scenario is followed from top to bottom in the direction of the arrow (click for a larger image).
There are other scenarios: the importer will allow you to delete and re-create, which can be used in cases where you just want to start over. You can also import just a subset of workers from an FPS.
The importer will also handle multiple schedules – where multiple FPS files can be read, e.g. Weekly and Monthly. It can also be used in multiple phases where you’d like to perform one parallel pay run in Phase 1 and another in Phase 2.