Reopening Pay Runs

Overview

In some scenarios it may be required for you to reopen a pay run once it has been finalised. While this should only need to happen very rarely, when it does happen you’re likely to be short of time.

The below article outlines the scenarios where you either can or cannot reopen a pay run, and the process for doing so depending on which banking method your company uses.

Reference Information

Direct Banking

Direct Credit Date of Today

When using Direct Banking, the bank file is sent to the bank for processing immediately upon finalisation if the Direct Credit date of the pay run is today.

In normal circumstances there is no possibility of stopping this process once it has started, and the pay run cannot and should not be reopened. If an employee was paid incorrectly their pay will need to be adjusted via a Manual pay run or the next Main pay run.

In the situation where the entire bank file failed at the bank, it may be necessary to reopen the pay run to correct the error before resending it. This is not something clients have access to do, and needs to be done by a member of the Support Team

However, if the error which caused the bank file to fail was not related to employee data (e.g. wrong bank file type selected, insufficient funds) then the pay run does not need to be reopened. In this scenario the bank file can be resent to the bank via a One-Off Distribution. This is something you as a client can do.

Direct Credit Date in the Future

If a pay run is finalised with a DC date in the future, Datacom holds on to that bank file until the DC date before sending it first thing that morning.

In this scenario you can request the Support Team locate and delete that bank file, after which they can reopen the finalised pay run.

There is a $50 charge for Datacom to reopen a pay run.

Manual Banking

For a company that uses Manual Banking, upon finalisation your pay run will shift from “In Progress” to “Finalised” status.

While the pay run is still in “Finalised” status you as a client can reopen the pay run for any reason.

At midnight of the DC date your pay run will change from “Finalised” to “Closed” at which point you will no longer be able to reopen your pay run.

If there is a valid reason for doing so a member of the Support Team can reopen the pay run for you, as long as there has not been a subsequent pay run that has been finalised.

There is a $50 charge for Datacom to reopen a pay run.

AMSL Banking (Datacom Banking)

For companies that use AMSL banking (sometimes referred to as Datacom Banking), these bank files are sent to ASB every 30 minutes throughout the day. These files are then held by ASB and processed in bulk at 6pm.

These pay runs cannot be opened by you as a client, however the Support Team can reopen these on your behalf. This process may take some time, as we need to contact ASB and have them confirm the bank file has been deleted on their end before we can reopen the pay run within Datapay.

If the DC date has passed we cannot reopen the pay run.

Payroll Administrator - NZ