BrightPay: importing Maliru's file
Set BrightPay up once, then import each run's payments, additions and deductions from one CSV.
Maliru's BrightPay file is BrightPay's own single CSV of payments, additions and deductions: one row per employee, matched on their works number.
Not yet proven against a live BrightPay account. Maliru builds it from BrightPay's published template. Import the sample first and check the totals.
In BrightPay, once
- Give each employee a Works number, and use the same one as their payroll ID in Maliru.
- Under Payroll › Import › CSV Import Preferences, set How many records per CSV row to 10. The mixed import halves it, which allows five of each kind (hourly payments, daily payments, additions, deductions) per person.
- Tick Replace Existing Payslip Items, so a period imported again replaces its lines rather than adding to them.
In Maliru, once
- Under Pay › Payroll provider, choose BrightPay (UK). See setting up your payroll provider.
- Set each employee's payroll ID to their BrightPay works number.
- Map each kind of pay to the description BrightPay should print for it, such as Basic hours, Overtime 1.5 or Unpaid leave. Salary needs none: a period payment keeps BrightPay's own.
What each line becomes
| Maliru | BrightPay |
|---|---|
| Hours (plain time, overtime per rate, premiums, holiday pay) | an hourly payment: rate per hour, description, normal hours |
| Days (day rate, company sick pay) | a daily payment: rate per day, description, normal days |
| Salary | a period payment |
| Bonus, allowance, piece work, a correction that pays more | an addition, taxed |
| Unpaid absence, a correction that takes money back | a deduction taken before tax, NI and pension |
| Company deduction | a deduction taken after tax |
| Reimbursement | an addition, not taxed (taxed if its treatment is taxable) |
| Absence days | not in the file: record them in BrightPay |
If hours × rate would not come to exactly the amount paid, Maliru works the rate back from the amount, to four places. If that still misses, the line comes in as an addition, and the export says its hours were not sent. The money is always exact.
A person with more than five of one kind is refused, naming them. Lines with the same description, rate and treatment combine into one, so map kinds that share a rate to one description, or switch to the generic CSV for that run.
A negative company deduction or reimbursement can't go in the file: the export refuses it, and says to enter it in BrightPay by hand.
After your first real import, check the salary: BrightPay should pay Maliru's period payment in place of the salary on the employee, not beside it.
Each payday
- In Maliru, close the run, press Export for payroll, and download.
- In BrightPay, choose Payroll › Import › Import Mix of Payments, Additions and Deductions from CSV File. Choose the file and Continue.
- Match Header Row, check every column is mapped, and Import. Tick Remember Column Selections the first time.
- Compare BrightPay's totals with Maliru's control totals. Unpaid absence and corrections that take money back come in as deductions before tax, so gross before deductions reads higher in BrightPay by those amounts.
Contractors are not in the file. If the import fails, press Import didn't work? beside the download.