Overview of Combining Payroll Flows

Use flow pattern connectors, consolidation groups, and link flow options to consolidate the results of more than one payroll or QuickPay into a single flow. Combine flows to consolidate payroll results for your business activities, such as reporting.

You use flows for monitoring and managing payroll tasks, such as calculating payrolls, running reconciliation reports, and for making payroll payments.

Let's consider this scenario where the Payroll Manager wants to consolidate some of their payroll flows. Each payroll period, Vision Corp completes all payroll tasks within the regular weekly payroll cycle. And the payroll flow ensures that all weekly paid employees receive their payments on the payment date. Every day, the Payroll Manager runs multiple off-cycle payroll runs to handle exceptions, such as late payments or final payments for terminated employees. The manager makes these off-cycle payments on any day within the same payroll period.

Note:

Segregate the regular and off-cycle payroll run results even when payment dates fall on the same day.

As shown in this table, you can use these options to combine both your regular and off-cycle payroll flows.

Task and Option	Page Where You Can Configure the Option	Used To
Flow Pattern Connectors	Payroll Flow Patterns	Segregate and combine flows using the connector rules that you define on the flow patterns page. For example, segregate QuickPay results from calculate payroll results in your daily payroll reporting flows, and combine QuickPay results and calculate payroll results in your weekly transfer to subledger accounting flow. Note: When defining flow pattern connector rules, use the same consolidation group for all calculations within the payroll cycle, such as all regular and on-cycle flows.
Consolidation Groups	Consolidation Groups Note: Assign the consolidation group to a payroll definition.	Segregate or combine the results of multiple payroll runs. For example, limit the payroll results included in the payroll costing report by entering a consolidation group parameter when submitting the report.
Linked Flows	Flow Submission	Link a flow to another completed flow.

Points to Consider

This table lists the points to consider while combining flows.

Combining Payroll Flows

Question	Answer
Can I use flow pattern connectors and consolidations groups together?	Yes, you can use consolidation groups in conjunction with the connected flow feature. However, when defining flow pattern connector rules, use the same consolidation group for all calculations within the payroll cycle, such as all regular and on-cycle flows.
What's the difference between using flow pattern connectors and consolidation groups for flow combination requirements?	Flow pattern connectors provide the flexibility to combine and segregate payroll results for downstream processes and reports. For example, flow connectors enable you to segregate payroll results for reporting purposes but combine the results for payroll costing purposes. Consolidation groups support more basic requirements such as the combination of payroll results for reporting and payroll costing purposes. If you choose to define flow connector rules, use the same consolidation group for all calculations within the payroll cycle.
What happens if I enter a consolidation group parameter, does it override my flow pattern connector rules?	When you define flow pattern connector rules, use the same consolidation group for all calculations within the payroll cycle. For example, use the same consolidation group parameter for Calculate Payroll and Make EFT Payments tasks,within the payroll cycle, so that the process executes the flow connector rules. If you enter a consolidation group parameter to limit the results included in a process and you have also defined flow connector rules, the flow connector rules take precedence and the consolidation group parameter may not be applied.
What type of payroll results are supported by the flow pattern connector feature ?	The results of all payroll calculations and QuickPays (including payroll costing), and optionally balance adjustments are supported. Use connected flow rules to segregate or combine these results in downstream payroll tasks such as reconciliation reports, payment tasks, and transfer to subledger accounting.
Can I use the link flow feature if I have defined connected flow rules on the flow pattern?	No, if you have defined connected flow rules for a flow pattern, the link flow feature is disabled for use on the Submit a Flow page.