Set up pay cycles
This article explains how to create pay cycles with schedule lines and set up pay groups to organize employees by payroll frequency.
Tip
If you generated setup data from the Contoso Coffee Payroll Demo Dataset (see Getting started), four pay cycles (Weekly, Biweekly, Semimonthly, Monthly) and three pay groups (All, Hourly, Salary) are already configured with schedule lines and journal batches. Review and customize these rather than creating them from scratch.
Prerequisites
Before setting up pay cycles, make sure you have:
- Pay units configured for the units of measurement you plan to use (for example, hourly, annual).
- A general journal template and batch ready for payroll posting.
Create a pay cycle
- Search for Pay Cycles and open the page.
- Enter a Code and Description for the pay cycle (for example,
BIWEEKLYand "Biweekly Pay Cycle"). - Set Periods per Year to the number of pay periods. Common values: 52 (weekly), 26 (biweekly), 24 (semi-monthly), 12 (monthly).
- Optionally, set the Pay Unit to associate a unit of measurement with this cycle.
Add schedule lines
After creating the pay cycle, add one or more schedule lines in the Schedule Lines part at the bottom of the page. Schedule lines use date formulas to define when periods start, end, and when payment occurs.
For each schedule line, fill in:
| Field | Value example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Period Start | -CW |
Date formula for the start of the pay period. -CW means "beginning of current week." |
| Period End | CW |
Date formula for the end of the pay period. CW means "end of current week." |
| Payment Date | CW |
Date formula for the payment date. If left blank, defaults to the Period End formula. |
Date formula examples
| Scenario | Period Start | Period End | Payment Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly (Mon-Sun, paid same week) | -CW |
CW |
CW |
| Monthly (1st-last, paid on last day) | -CM |
CM |
CM |
| Monthly (1st-last, paid 5 days later) | -CM |
CM |
CM+5D |
| Semi-monthly 1st half (1st-15th) | -CM |
-CM+14D |
-CM+14D |
| Semi-monthly 2nd half (16th-last) | -CM+15D |
CM |
CM |
Tip
For semi-monthly pay cycles, you typically create two schedule lines: one for the first half of the month and one for the second half. OnePayroll selects the appropriate schedule line based on the reference date.
Create a pay group
Pay groups link employees to a pay cycle and specify the GL posting configuration.
- Search for Pay Groups and open the page.
- Enter a Code and Description (for example,
BIWKand "Biweekly Employees"). - Set Pay Cycle to the pay cycle you created.
- Optionally, set Pay Group Owner to the employee responsible for this group.
- Set Gen. Journal Template and Gen. Journal Batch to the journal where payroll entries are posted.
Assign employees to pay groups
- Open the Employee Card for the employee.
- Set the Pay Group field to the appropriate pay group.
The pay group determines the employee's payroll frequency and which journal is used for posting.
View upcoming pay periods
The Pay Group Details FactBox on the pay group page shows the current period dates. You can also view upcoming pay periods by selecting the related action on the pay group page.
Best practices
- Create one pay cycle per frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly) and reuse it across multiple pay groups if needed.
- Always test schedule line date formulas by reviewing the calculated period dates before processing payroll.
- Configure the Gen. Journal Template and Gen. Journal Batch on each pay group to control where payroll entries are posted.
- Keep schedule lines simple. Most payroll frequencies need only one or two schedule lines.