"Did You Know?" Series, Episode 3: Payroll Module

Ever wish you can capture all the weird rules of how to pay an employee without constantly checking governmental regulations, union regulations and company policies? How do you know when an employee needs to be compensated for overtime or not (and without counting on your fingers)? How do you capture additional allowances such as vehicle or travel? Spira's ORP™ Payroll feature will take care of applying all of the applicable rules, resulting in employees getting paid accurately and on time.

Who would use it?

Any company that processes payroll manually will benefit from the time savings offered by Spira's ORP™ Payroll feature. Payroll rules can be complex, and oftentimes, it leaves the payroll specialist strapped for time trying to reconcile and allocate hours based on various circumstances (i.e., shift hours, union rules, etc.). The volume of excel calculations and the process of referencing various policies of compensation becomes quite onerous. With Spira Payroll, all of the complex rules are taken and configured into the system—resulting in the ability for a payroll specialist to process time tickets with a click of a button.

How is it typically used?

Employee hours are captured on time tickets in Spira, along with applicable per diem, subsistence, truck time, etc. The time ticket is then reviewed, approved and posted. During the company's payroll processing cycle, the payroll specialist would run the Spira payroll process. With a click of a button, the payroll rules are applied to all posted Spira time tickets. An export file is generated in minutes to be imported into the downstream payroll or accounting system for further processing.

How does it empower the user to make educated decisions?

By removing the manual process of payroll hour allocation, this shifts the time to focusing on the quality of the inputted data, providing time to analyze and make corrections proactively as opposed to reactively to ensure that employees are getting paid accurately and on-time. With timecard reports, employees are able to review their time and understand what is contributing to their compensation. And from an overall job or project management standpoint, companies can accurately report on project cost to make data driven decisions as needed and understand project profitability.

what are some of the limitations?

Payroll rules are complex and require in-depth analysis of multiple use cases and scenarios. The rules are configured into the Spira Payroll feature based on the defined business requirements of the company and can vary from one organization to another. Also, Spira is not a payroll system, meaning, payroll checks are not generated from Spira. The Spira Payroll feature takes care of the heavy lifting of calculating payroll and then generates an export that can be imported into the payroll system for processing.