This article provides a step-by-step basic guide to getting started with WageEasy Payroll. It outlines the recommended setup process and provides you with sufficient information and references to get your company payroll established. Please also be sure to read and understand the Licensing and Warranty found in Help within the program before proceeding with installation.
Step 1. Install the WageEasy Payroll Program
Congratulations! As you are reading this message, it means you have successfully completed Step 1 by installing the WageEasy Payroll program. This may have been via a link we provided to you or on a DVD that was sent out to you.
It is important that you also run through this process for all users who are required to access and use WageEasy. We would generally recommend that WageEasy be installed on each computer, and the database can be placed on a common or network location for access by multiple users. The location must have Read/Write access for all users that will be working within WageEasy.
If you are running on Windows 10 or later version, please install as the administrator, and the first time you open WageEasy, please right click and Run as Administrator. Each operating system has slightly different requirements.
A sample company file has also been installed with the program, and you may wish to examine this prior to or during the setup process. The file is called Sample Company.wed and can usually be found in the WageEasy Payroll subfolder in C:/Documents & Settings/All Users/Shared Documents/Australia. It can be started via the Open command of the File menu once you have started WageEasy Payroll.
Step 2. Create a Company File
The installation program will have installed a WageEasy Payroll icon on the desktop and a menu option in the Programs section of the Start menu. Start WageEasy Payroll by clicking on the icon, and the program will open to display the work area. You now need to create a company file to hold all the data about the company and its employees. Creating a company file is the equivalent of opening a new document in a word processor so that you can start a new letter.
From the File menu, select the New Company option to start the New Company Wizard, which will guide you through the process of creating a company file. You must enter the business identification details and define a pay period, and you may also enter other business contact information if desired. Please ensure that you do not enter spaces in the ABN field. It is also important that you set your correct country and financial year information in the wizard and input the number of active employees that you require to set up all employee files. Although the information that you must enter is minimal, the Wizard may take up to ten minutes if you choose to download the award, base pay rate, and other setup data from participating employer associations. Nevertheless, downloading the data may save considerable time in later setup activities.
The Wizard will automatically print a registration form on completion of the creation process. This form must be mailed or faxed to the WageEasy team so that you can be issued a licence number.
The licensing system requires that you register the company within 60 days, or further access will be denied. Therefore, you do not have to wait for the licence number before proceeding with setting up.
Step 3. Set Up Department Records
If you are planning to use the WageEasy Payroll General Ledger system to export payroll data to a company accounting system, you are advised to consider your accounting requirements before setting up departments and employee numbering systems. You may find, for example, that you wish to pad employee numbers, which can be easily done by using the employee number mask, so that they are of a fixed length, and that departments for accounting purposes must be the same for payroll purposes.
Before you create employee records, you must set up some central records that are used by all employees, such as departmental structure, superannuation funds, banks, awards, allowances, and so on. Then, when you create the employee records, you can quickly select the relevant option(s) from those defined. These central records are all managed in the Setup menu area.
If you wish to analyse your payroll by departments, you must set up the company's department structure in WageEasy Payroll. Departments and sub-departments are displayed in an easy-to-follow tree format via the Departments option of the Setup menu. If you do not wish to analyse the payroll by departments, just set up one department to which all employees can be nominated - use the business name or area of work, for example.
Step 4. Set Up Superannuation Fund Records
Most businesses are obliged to contribute superannuation on behalf of employees, and some employees may also make voluntary payments. You must create a record for each super fund to which you will send contributions, so that WageEasy Payroll can group the contributions and make the required reports. Super fund records are added via the Superannuation option of the Setup menu.
Step 5. Set Up Union Records
Some businesses offer a service to collect union fees from employees' pay and pass them to the union. You must create a record for each union for which you will collect the fees, so that WageEasy Payroll can group them and make the required reports. Union records are added via the Union option of the Setup menu.
Step 6. Set Up Bank Records
If you are planning to make any payroll payments by EFT, you will need to set up the details of each bank via the Banks option of the Setup menu. WageEasy Payroll can then use that information to group payment data and create the correctly formatted payment reports or files. Please note that you usually only need one bank record for each bank name, regardless of the number of different branches of the bank that employees use. We can also set up non-eft banks in this area as are applicable to areas outside Australia.
Step 7. Set Up Award Records
The award files in WageEasy Payroll contain the factors used to calculate the payments and leave accrual for employees. These factors may come from any source, including industrial awards, enterprise bargains, or individual contracts. The award and base pay rate records work together to determine the dollar payment rate for all work payments. When you were setting up the company in step 2, the New Company Wizard may have downloaded some award, base pay rate, allowance, and tax records from an association. The Wizard may have also installed other sample records in these areas. If you use any of these records, it is your responsibility to check that they are correct for your purposes.
WageEasy does not warrant that this data is correct, nor will it be held liable for any losses resulting from the use of this data. You may edit existing award files or create your own if the existing award files do not cover your employees. The award files are managed via the Awards option of the Setup menu. The award files must be created before setting up the employee files.
Step 8. Set Up Base Pay Rate Records
The base pay rate records hold the basic rate per hour for various categories and grades of work, for example, Chef Grade 1: $15.95. These are used by the award interpreter in calculating the pay, using the rules set in the award files. In this example, if the Chef Grade 1 were linked to a casual award which paid them an additional 25% on top, it would appear as $19.94 per hour on the pay slip.
You may edit existing base pay rate records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The base pay rate records are managed via the Base Pay Rates option of the Setup menu. The base pay rate records must be created before setting up the employee files.
Step 9. Set Up Tax Records
The central tax records hold the factors required to calculate PAYG Withholding tax, Medicare, and tax rebates. Suitable tax scales and rebates must be nominated for each employee, and these are applied automatically when the pay slips are produced.
You may edit existing tax tables and rebate records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The tax rebate records and tax tables are managed via the Tax option of the Setup menu. The tax records must be created before setting up the employee file, although tax rebate records may be set up later if required. Please note that tax table factors are set to apply on a weekly basis while tax rebates are set to apply on an annual basis, and WageEasy Payroll will automatically pro-rata these over the applicable pay period.
Step 10. Set Up Allowance Records
The central allowance records hold information regarding additions to the pay, such as travel allowance, and deductions from the pay, such as staff club fees. These can be applied automatically to selected employees every time their pay slip is produced.
You may edit existing allowance records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The allowance records are managed via the Allowances option of the Setup menu. It is best to create the allowance records before setting up the employee files, although it is easy to create allowances later if required.
Step 11. Create Employee Records
Now that you have the central records set up for the company, adding employees is a breeze. Employee files are created by the New Employee Wizard, which is an option on the Employee menu. The Wizard allows you to supply the key identifying information and link the employee to the common records created in the previous steps. The employee files also hold all the specific employee information, including personal and work information, accrued pay information, and leave records.
On finishing the Wizard, the employee record will be created, and is then accessible via the Edit Employee option of the Employee menu. The record will hold the minimum information that is technically required to produce a pay slip. However, some employees may require additional employee tax information, including Medicare factors and tax rebates, additional superannuation contributions, selection of allowances, nomination for a union, and additional pay destinations, before producing their pay slip.
Step 12. Nominate Public Holidays
Before you produce the first pay slips, it is recommended that you set up the public holiday records. These are created via the Public Holiday option from the Setup menu, and allow you to preset all the public holidays for the year (and further if required). Public Holidays may to fixed to a specific work location, as defined in the Locations option of the HR menu. Having these set up allows WageEasy Payroll to automatically implement the public holiday requirements of the awards when producing the pay slips.
Step 13. Load Accrued Leave Values
In most situations where you are setting up WageEasy Payroll for an existing organisation, some employees will already have accrued entitlements to leave which need to be transferred to the new system. If you are setting up to commence operation of WageEasy Payroll at any time other than the start of the financial year, you may also wish to enter the year to date gross pay, tax amounts, and so on for all employees. Information on these tasks is provided in a topic on setting up for existing employees.
Step 14. Produce the Payroll
Congratulations!! Your system is now ready to produce the payroll.
Typically, the payroll process starts with setting the pay period ending (PPE) date, then opening the time sheet for the first employee. The start time and finish time are entered for each block of work. If different from the predefined settings, the department and base pay rate can be changed. The pay slip is then calculated according to the time sheet and the award file, before the program moves to the adjustment area. Please refer to the Quick Start topic in the User Manual for a Time Sheet Quick Reference chart.
If required, payments for leave and changes to the calculations based on the default employee settings can be made in the adjustment area, prior to previewing and saving the pay slip. When all the required pay slips have been saved for the pay period, it is time to print the pay slips and make the payments. Using electronic funds transfer, payments can also be made automatically. Once management and payroll reports (such as superannuation and tax) are prepared and distributed, and the company file is backed up, the payroll production process is complete.
Step 15. Beyond The First Payroll
Having produced the first pay slips, you may like to explore some of the other exciting features in WageEasy Payroll. The other topics in the introductory chapter provide some general explanatory information that is worth looking through. In particular, the topic of getting help explains the sources of help, and the tips topic introduces some of the less obvious features of the program. You may also like to explore the basic hr management information areas and the advanced HR tools available in WageEasy Payroll. Be sure to read the topics on the report viewer and query viewer so that you can get the best from WageEasy Payroll's reporting tools.
Please note that the examples used in the help system are fictitious and are not derived from or for any known person or business. The program can be uninstalled at any time using the Windows uninstall system, available via the Start button, Settings option, Control Panel item. Please note that this will remove all the program files but will not remove any company data file(s), although these may be deleted independently if required.
Note: The information provided above is intended as a quick start guide only. For more comprehensive information on these areas, please refer to the fact sheets available from the WageEasy support team.