Follow this article to set up full integration using NEST web services.
There are 2 parts to the integration which operate independently:
- A Data feed that can fetch Opt-outs at the beginning of the pay cycle (like Tax codes).
- A submission report that will submit the information to NEST (like FPS and EPS)
Opt-Out Data feed #
Company setup > Report Definition > Add…
- Select your Company
- Select the GB Nest Opt-Out Template
- Enter your NEST Username and Password twice
- If you are a bureau, leave the credentials blank – instead, enter your agent credentials in Setup > Add credentials which will be used for all clients
- Decide if you want to check the operation first with Dry run without actually updating any AE Pay Items
- Click Add:
This data feed will appear along with the other data feeds and will scheduled to run automatically by Payroll Debbie. You can also run it any time by pressing the Start button.
Verify Operation #
We recommend that when you first set this up, you select Dry run. You can then Start the data feed to see exactly what it will do and check everything is working correctly. Then disable Dry Run.
When an Opt-out is retrieved successfully this will be automatically applied to the AE pay item on the relevant worker. in effect, the data feed is entering opt-out information (Opt-out date, reference) for you automatically.
Enrol and Contribute Report Definition #
Important: We strongly recommend that you retain the standard CSV report definitions GB Nest member and GB NEST contribution if the API integration does not work. This will allow you to log into NEST and upload the files as a backup.
Company setup > Report Definition > Add…
- Select your Company
- Select the GB Nest Enrol and Contribute Template
- Enter your NEST Username and Password twice.
- Decide if you want the schedule to be Auto Approved for payment so that you won’t need to log into NEST after submission
- Click Add:
Multiple Report Definitions #
If you need to add multiple report definitions, edit the Name e.g. GB NEST Enrol and Contribute Monthly to ensure each Report Defintion is saved with a different and unique name.
Verify Operation #
After you have added the report definition you must do a pay run Redo.
This will check that your paiyroll® NEST scheme settings match the settings on your NEST portal. The settings will include EMP reference number, payment Source and Pay period dates. If you see an orange warning or red error, check the details and modify the NEST scheme in paiyroll® or the NEST settings to match.
Repeat the pay run Redo until you see a Green Success flag.
Every time you perform a pay run Redo, the above validation is automatically repeated.
Submission #
When you approve the Pay run, the following will occur:
- Any new Member enrolments will be submitted
- The system will wait 30 minutes or longer depending on the number of enrolments for NEST to process the employees. This may take some days in the case of future enrolments as NEST will not accept future enrolments
- The system will then submit the Contributions
- If Auto-Approve is set, the schedule will be approved immediately for payment (usually by Direct Debit)
- All transation informaiton is recorded
- The next pay run will be started
You may also wish to log into NEST to check everything has been completed successfully.
Wait; Pay run Exception reports taking too long #
If you are enrolling workers, the entire NEST report submission may take some time – for example, several hours. When this occurs the pay run workflow will go into an error exception state and the Pay run will show Wait:
The Pay run logs will show an Error: Payrun.bpmn#12345: reports taking too long.
A task will appear in My tasks, which allows you to handle the exception. Is it very important that you verify that the NEST Enrol and Contribute report submission has completed all phases successfully, which may take several hours. Be sure the report has finished by checking the Status is Done
Then resume the Pay run by:
- My Tasks
- Resume Submission as Payroll Approver
- where you may need to assign the task
- Resume report submissions (any issues have been resolved)
Details of the above steps can be found here.
The Pay Run workflow will then be completed.
Errors #
Unprocessable Entity (422) #
The following credentials error is due to an incorrect Reference in a Pension Scheme:
Unable to verify credentials for reference EMP0001: Transport error: Unprocessable Entity (422), headers=('content-length'...Go to Company Setup > Pay Definitions and check for all NEST pension schemes (entering NEST in the Search box generally filters only NEST schemes). Update each NEST scheme and check/ change the Reference to your own EMP number. Finally, check and delete any imported schemes that use the default EMP0001 number which you are not using (any uses of a scheme will be checked first and you will be asked to confirm).