Differences Between Paylines and Paysheets

Before automated data processing, payroll departments used sheets of ruled paper to compile the information required to calculate pay and produce paychecks for the employees scheduled to be paid in a pay period. These were called paysheets, and each horizontal row of data on the paysheet, typically representing one employee, was called a line or payline. Payroll for North America uses an online version of the pencil-and-paper paysheets and paylines.

Before running the Pay Calculation process, you can make pay-related adjustments for the current pay period. Paysheet and Payline pages display the same content, but you access them differently. The Paysheet page includes many paylines. You can view only one payline at a time on the Payline page.

Use the Paysheet pages to scroll through paylines for a paysheet run, entering any required data. After the initial calculation run, use the Payline pages to enter corrections and last-minute adjustments for employees, because you can access the employee much faster through the individual payline.

If you use paysheet reports to enter payroll information, use one of the Paysheet pages. However, to review pay earnings entries for an employee or group of employees, use one of the Payline pages.

Paysheets

The By Paysheet - Paysheet page brings together information from many different sources in the system. The default information appears as a payline for each employee when you access the page. Paysheets are arranged by pages and lines. A paysheet contains many lines. Each employee appears on a separate line that contains standard pay information, such as the amount of regular pay, number of regular hours, and job data.

When you view a printed paysheet report, several paylines appear on the same page. When you view paysheets online, you only see one payline per page on the By Paysheet - Paysheet page. Specify the number of paylines to appear on a paysheet in the Company table. Specify the sort sequence for paysheets in the Pay Group table.

During the Create Paysheet process, the system creates one payline for each employee to be paid:

  • Active employees.

  • Employees who are on leave with pay.

  • Employees who were terminated or on unpaid leave for only part of the pay period.

For terminated employees or new hires who did not appear on the paysheet, create a new By Paysheet - Paysheet page to include last-minute pay data for the terminated employee, or to indicate how much to pay a new hire who you hired after creating the paysheets. If you select the Automatic Paysheet Update check box on the Pay Group Table - Paysheets page, the system creates paysheets for new hires and updates paysheets with employee job, deduction, and other changes during the Pay Calculation process.

In some cases, depending on the data provided, the system automatically creates multiple pay earnings. Otherwise, enter additional records manually before running the calculation. The system automatically creates the following:

  • Multiple paylines, if the employee has multiple Job records and additional Employment records.

  • Multiple Pay Earnings records, if the following criteria are valid:

    • The pay is charged to different departments and account codes as specified in the Job Data record in the Workforce Administration menu.

    • The employee has different rates of pay due to a pay rate change during the pay period.

    • The employee worked in multiple departments, states, or locations during the pay period, resulting from a Job record or location change.

  • Other Earnings records, if the employee has additional pay entries.

Paylines

A payline consists of:

  • Line number.

  • Employee ID.

  • Employment record number (used for multiple jobs).

  • Benefit record number.

  • Employee name.

  • Manual check indicator.

A payline is associated with one or more Pay Earnings records. Each Pay Earnings record that is associated with a payline contains the following information:

  • Amount of regular pay.

  • Number of regular hours.

  • Additional pay.

  • Other earnings.

  • Tax information.

  • Job data, such as department and job code.

Note:

Each employee who you scheduled to pay during a pay period must have at least one payline and one Pay Earnings record. Otherwise, the system has no information with which to calculate earnings, taxes, and deductions.