Sage 50 Payroll: importing Maliru's files

Maliru gives Sage 50 Payroll its timesheet payments file, and a timesheet deductions file when the run has anything to deduct, both in Sage's own Hours and Rates layout. Each row is an employee reference, an element reference, hours and a rate, so Sage works out hours × rate and the amount comes out exactly as Maliru paid it.

Not yet proven against a live Sage 50 Payroll account. Import the sample first and check the totals.

A Sage import cannot be undone. Take a backup before every import, as the wizard offers.

In Sage, once

1. Under Company › Pay Elements, for each payment and deduction Maliru will send:
   • make it Variable. Global and Fixed elements don't import, and that includes salary: use a variable payment for Maliru's salary line;
   • tick Include in Timesheet Entry;
   • use letters and numbers only in its name. Anything else makes the import fail.
2. Set up:
   • a deduction before tax and NI for unpaid absence;
   • a deduction before tax and NI for corrections that take money back;
   • a deduction after tax for company deductions;
   • a payment with no tax or NI for reimbursements.
3. Assign each element to each employee who uses it.

In Maliru, once

1. Under Pay › Payroll provider, choose Sage 50 Payroll (UK). See setting up your payroll provider.
2. Set each employee's payroll ID to their Sage employee reference, a whole number above zero.
3. Map each kind of pay to its element's reference from Company › Pay Elements:
   • hours, days, salary, bonuses, allowances, piece work and reimbursements to payment references;
   • Unpaid absence to its deduction reference;
   • Correction kinds to their payment reference and, beside it, the deduction reference for money taken back;
   • Deduction kinds to deduction references.

An element reference with anything but letters and numbers is refused, and so is an employee reference that isn't a whole number; the export names each one.

What each file holds

• Payments: Employee Reference, Payment Reference, Hours, Rate. Hours go to two places. A line with hours sends its hours and rate; a line paid by the day sends its days in the hours column, at the day rate; a line with neither, such as a bonus, a salary or piece work, sends 1 × the amount.
• Deductions: Employee Reference, Deduction Reference, Hours, Rate, the same way: unpaid absence, corrections that take money back, and company deductions.

Each element appears once per person: two lines under the same reference add up into one row, because a second row would replace the first. If hours × rate would not come to exactly the amount, the rate is worked back from the amount; if that still misses, it goes in as 1 × the amount, and the export says so.

Not in the files: absence days (record them in Sage's absence diary, which works out statutory pay), and contractors. A negative company deduction or reimbursement is refused too: enter it in Sage by hand.

Each payday

1. In Maliru, close the run, press Export for payroll, and download the files.
2. In Sage, choose File › Data Import › Import Sage Payroll Data. Take the backup.
3. Choose Timesheet Payments, browse to the payments file, and finish. Print the import results.
4. If there is a deductions file, do the same with Timesheet Deductions.
5. Tasks › Recalculate, then compare Sage's totals with Maliru's control totals.

If the import fails, press Import didn't work? beside the download and paste the import results.