Creating a pay template for Xero

Updated 26 September 2024 05:16

This article is designed for: User Type: Admins Access: Web Browser

We will be running through a basic pay template with a single daily pay rate, no overtime or allowances using Xero Payroll integration from the RosterElf web app.

This is relevant for companies that do not pay their staff according to a complex award structure and are not required or, due to trading hours, will never pay overtime and allowances.

Prerequisites

Before creating a Pay Template, you must ensure that you have correctly set up Xero.

Connect Xero and RosterElf

1. Click Settings and select Payroll.

Payroll Settings.png

2. Once there, you will receive a pop-up asking you to connect to Xero.

Payroll Settings Xero Connect.png

3. If you do not receive this popup, you may need to select Payroll Format: API Integration to Xero Payroll, then click the Plus (+) beside Payroll Entity.

Payroll Settings Xero Payroll Entity.png

4. After clicking Connect, Xero will ask you to log in and give RosterElf access to your Xero Organisation. In this example, our organisation is RosterElf Beta Pty Ltd. Select yours from the drop-down and then select Allow Access from the bottom.

Once you have clicked allow access, you will be sent back to the Payroll Settings tab, and you are ready to create your first Pay Template.

Create a Pay Template

1. If you are not on the Payroll Settings screen, click Settings, then select Payroll.

Payroll Settings.png

2. Click the Plus (+) beside Pay Templates.

Payroll Settings Pay Template.png

Now you will see a Pay Template with some pre-configured rules.

3. First, you must set a name for your Pay Template.

Pay Template Name Kitchenhaand.png

4. In this example, we are creating a basic template, so I'm going to remove the Early Morning and Late Night Rates by hovering my mouse over the rule and clicking the red X on each of these.

Pay Template Rule Delete.png

5. Now, we can configure the other rules. Pay Templates need to cover every hour of the Monday-Sunday week, so here is the setup that we want to replicate:

1. Pay Template Rule Name: This is for use only within the Pay template and RosterElf. You will only see this if you are viewing rates. It does not apply to Xero.

2. Xero Pay Item: This dropdown list contains every active Pay Item from Xero* as we created in the Prerequisites. Select the relevant Pay item for the rule you are creating.

* If your items are not shown here, try logging out and back in.

3. Budgeting Rate: The budgeting rate is the rate RosterElf will use for budgeting. This rate is manually set and does not affect Xero but should be set to reflect Xero if you wish to use the budgeting features.

4. Active on days: These are the days that the rule is active. You can click as many or as few as you want, depending on the complexity of your template. As you can see, Mon to Sun are self-explanatory; Hol is for Public Holidays.

5. Relevant Hours: Relevant hours can be changed either by Slider or by entering the From and To times.

My example rules are:

Monday to Friday / Ordinary Hours All Day: $21.72: