Payroll runs, approval and lock
Run payroll per Entity and pay period straight from the attendance record, with joiners, leavers and mid-month revisions worked out. Approvers review it on one screen, salaries can be held and released, and a paid payroll is locked and reopened only with a reason.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- Payroll takes a week because loss of pay, overtime and new joiners are copied by hand from the attendance sheet.
- The director approves payroll from a spreadsheet emailed at midnight, with no record of what was approved.
- A salary is held for missing documents and then forgotten, or paid twice when it is released.
- Someone changes last month's attendance after salaries were paid, and the figures no longer match the bank.
How it works
- Type the period's Monthly Inputs, such as an incentive or a one-time deduction.
- Create a Payroll Run for the Entity and the Pay Period and press Calculate. Each employee with a salary gets a payslip: paid days, loss of pay, overtime, inputs, loans, arrears, statutory deductions and income tax.
- Check the run and hold any salary that should not be paid yet, with a reason.
- Press Send for Approval. Each approver opens a review screen from the approvals inbox. They press Approve, Send Back with a note, or Hold on one payslip.
- Once approved, make the bank file and bank letter, send the payslips and press Mark Paid. The pay period and its attendance are locked.
- If something must be corrected, a payroll officer presses Reopen and writes the reason. The audit trail keeps it.
Everything it does
Pay periods
- Payroll Cycle per Entity: Calendar month, or Cut-off day (1 to 28; 25 to start with, for 26th to 25th)
- A new cycle from a later date makes a transition period; pay periods are made ahead by themselves
- One Day's Pay Is: calendar days of the period (the default), 30 days, or working days
What the calculation takes in
- Paid days and loss of pay from the daily attendance record; without attendance, Loss of Pay Days typed in or imported
- Paid overtime at the overtime rule's rate, shift allowances and part-time hours
- Monthly inputs, approved leave encashment, loan instalments, asset and ID card recoveries, approved expense claims
- Joining, leaving or a salary change mid-period: each salary is paid for its own days
- PF, ESIC, professional tax, LWF and income tax of the month
Arrears
- A revision dated in a period already approved or paid is paid in the next payslip, component by component
- Arrears look back up to 12 months; PF and ESIC are worked out again, professional tax and LWF are not
- A joining entered late: the missed months are paid as arrears from their own attendance
Approval and review
- Run statuses: Draft, Computed, With the Approvers, Approved, Paid, Cancelled
- No steps to start with: payroll presses Approve; add steps with named approvers or everyone with an HR role
- The review screen shows the totals, the salaries on hold and every payslip with its lines
- Approvers need no payroll rights, and see confidential salaries only with that role
- Send Back needs a note; while with the approvers the run cannot be recalculated
- Approving posts the salary entry to the Entity's accounts, if a payroll journal is set
Salary on hold and release
- Hold a payslip on the run, on the payslip or from the review screen, with a reason and an internal note
- Reasons that come ready: Absconding, Documents pending, Disciplinary, Notice period, Bank details wrong, Other
- Hold the Salary Until Further Notice on the employee holds every new payslip
- A held salary is calculated, approved and accounted, but not paid; the list shows Held Since and Days Held
- Release request: Why, and Pay With a release payment (own bank file and letter) or the next payroll
- Nobody approves the release of their own salary
Lock, reopen and audit
- Mark Paid locks the pay period and its attendance
- Reopen: only a paid run, only by that Entity's payroll, with a reason
- Audit Trail: approved, paid and locked, reopened, file exported, payslips sent, with user and reason
Confidential salaries and the dashboard
- Confidential Salary on an employee: their pay is seen only with the Confidential Salaries role; run totals still include it
- Payroll dashboard: net pay, runs to approve, salaries on hold, net pay by month and department
Entities outside India
- Payroll Rules: Pay preparation; a new Entity whose country is not India starts with it
- Earnings and your own deductions only, with a workbook for the local payroll provider; no tax of any country
Who uses it
Payroll OfficerTypes inputs, calculates the run, holds salaries, sends for approval, marks paid and reopens with a reason.
Payroll ManagerSets the payroll cycle, approval steps and hold settings; decides salary releases when no steps are set.
Approver (HR head, finance, director)Reviews the payroll on one screen and approves, sends back or holds a salary, without payroll rights.
EmployeeSees the payslip once approved, and is told if the salary is held, released and paid.
Where you use it
- Web: Payroll > Runs (Payroll Runs, Monthly Inputs), Payroll > Hold and Release, Payroll > Payslips, and the approvals inbox
- The SmartMy HRMS app: payroll approval steps, salaries on hold and release requests (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not built: payroll with tax and social contributions for countries other than India, and direct transfer to banks
What you control
Settings
- Payroll Cycle: Calendar month, or Cut-off day (25 to start with)
- Payroll Approval Steps per Entity for runs and for releases: none to start with
- Tell the Employee When the Salary Is Held: on
- Show the Hold Reason to the Employee: off unless you tick it
- Salary During Notice: Paid every month as usual (the default), or Held until the full and final settlement
Approvals
- Payroll run: one chain per Entity. To start with, payroll approves in one click, with levels you add (HR head, finance, director). Each level is reviewed on its own
- Release of a held salary: one chain per Entity; the Payroll Manager when no levels are set; nobody releases their own salary
Notifications
- Payroll to Approve: to the approvers of the step, in the app and by email
- Payroll Sent Back: to whoever sent it, with the note, in the app and by email
- Salary Release to Approve and Salary Release Decided: to the release approvers, then payroll
- Salary on Hold, Held Salary Released, Held Salary Paid: to the employee, in the app and by email
- All go out at once; a person can switch off email, and in-app notices always arrive
Works with
SmartMy Feast, Hostel and POSCanteen, hostel and shop purchases charged to an employee come into the run as one payslip deduction (Scale).
SmartMy CampusGuest faculty are paid in the run for the lectures taken from the timetable.
Questions
Do we have to type loss of pay each month?
No. With attendance, the run reads paid days, loss of pay, overtime and shift days from each employee's daily record. Without the attendance feature you type or import Loss of Pay Days on the payslip.Can our director approve payroll without seeing the payroll menus?
Yes. Add the director as an approval step. They review the run from the approvals inbox with the totals and every payslip. They can approve, send back with a note or hold a salary.How do we pay a held salary later?
Ask for its release with the reason and choose to pay it with the next payroll or with a release payment. A release payment has its own bank file and bank letter, listing only the released salaries.What if we find a mistake after salaries are paid?
A payroll officer reopens the run with a reason. The period and its attendance open again and the payment entry is reversed. The audit trail keeps who did it, when and why.Can we run payroll for our office in Dubai?
Only as pay preparation. The run works out earnings, loans and your own deductions. Your local payroll provider gets a workbook and does the tax and filings.Is payroll in the Starter plan?
No. Payroll runs start in Growth. Starter covers records, attendance and leave.Related features
PAYROLLSalary components, structures and revisionsBuild every salary component on a form and group them into templates. Give each employee a salary by annual CTC or monthly gross with the breakup worked out, and keep every revision with its date.PAYROLLPayslips, bank files and accounting entriesOnce a payroll run is approved, each employee gets a password-protected PDF payslip by email. The bank gets a transfer file in its own format with a covering letter. The salary posts to each Entity's accounts.ATTENDANCEDaily attendance, regularisation and the registerEvery employee gets one attendance record a day with the status, paid days, loss of pay and late, early and overtime minutes. It says in plain words which rules gave the result. Employees correct missed punches by request, only authorised HR can change a day, and the monthly register exports to CSV.STATUTORY AND TAX, INDIAPF, ESI, professional tax, LWF and minimum wageEvery payslip works out PF with VPF, pension and EDLI, ESI, professional tax and the labour welfare fund from your Entity's settings. The ECR file, the ESIC sheet, the register of wages and the muster roll come out of the same payroll run.ACROSS SMARTMY HRMSApproval chains and one approvals inboxEvery HR request, from a day's leave to the full and final, goes through its approval chain and waits in one Approvals inbox. Levels, approvers, reminders, escalation and stand-ins are settings you control, per Entity and kind of request.EXITFull and final settlementOne settlement brings together what you owe the leaver and what they owe you. It covers held salary, leave encashment, notice pay or recovery, gratuity, loans, clearance dues and the final TDS. HR approves, then accounts, then payroll marks it paid.
See your own month run in it.
Tell us how many people you have, how you take attendance and how your salary is structured. We will show you SmartMy HRMS set up that way.