ANTE User Manual

Payroll Center

The Payroll Center is where you move each payroll cutoff period through its approval workflow — from reviewing the computed salaries, to submitting for approval, approving, and finally publishing (posting) the payroll. Salaries are computed from approved timekeeping; the Payroll Center is where you review those results and advance the cutoff stage by stage.

You use it after attendance is submitted from Payroll Time Keeping, once per cutoff. For a guided walkthrough, see Process Your First Payroll.

Overview

The Payroll Center page shows all payroll cutoff periods grouped by their current workflow stage. From here you can:

  • See how many cutoffs are waiting at each stage (badge counts)
  • Open a cutoff to review per-employee salary computations
  • Re-compute, submit for approval, approve, and publish a cutoff
  • Return a cutoff to an earlier stage when something needs fixing
  • Import already-posted payroll figures from a spreadsheet
  • Export the payroll summary and generate bank files
Payroll Center — every cutoff sorted by the workflow stage it is waiting at

Accessing Payroll Center

  1. Click HR in the sidebar
  2. Open Payroll
  3. Select Payroll Center

The Workflow Stages

The left side of the Payroll Center is a stepper showing the workflow stages. Click a stage to see the cutoff periods currently sitting at that stage. Each stage (except Posted) shows a badge with the number of cutoffs waiting there.

StageWhat it means
For ReviewSalaries are computed and waiting to be reviewed. This is the default stage shown when you open the page.
RejectedA cutoff that was returned and needs attention. This stage only appears when at least one cutoff is in it.
For ApprovalReviewed payroll submitted and waiting for approval.
ApprovedApproved payroll, ready to be published.
PostedPublished (finalized) payroll.

Working With Cutoff Cards

The right side lists the cutoff periods for the selected stage as cards. Each card shows:

  • Label — the cutoff period name and its date range
  • Cutoff code — the payroll group / cutoff code
  • Period type — e.g. monthly or semi-monthly
  • Date range — the cutoff start and end dates
  • Pay Date — the processing date for payment
  • Gross — total gross pay for the cutoff
  • Net — total net pay for the cutoff

If the cutoff's figures were brought in through Import Payroll rather than computed normally, the card also shows a blue Imported Payroll badge next to the cutoff code.

Click a card to open the Payroll Summary for that cutoff, where you review employees and take action.

Reviewing a Cutoff (Payroll Summary)

Clicking a cutoff card opens the Payroll Summary page for that period.

The summary shows a header with the cutoff details and a table of every employee in the cutoff. Each row shows the employee's computed figures:

  • Employee Name, Employee Code, Branch, Payroll Group, Department
  • Basic Salary, Late, Undertime, Absent, Basic Pay
  • Allowance Pay, Holiday Pay, Overtime Pay, Night Diff Pay, Rest Day Pay, Manual Earnings
  • SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, Tax, Loans, Manual Deductions
  • Net Pay

Manual Earnings also includes any Carry-over pay — from a filing approved after an earlier cutoff was already locked for payroll processing.

Click any employee row to open that employee's Salary Detail.

You can filter the table by Branch, Contract Type, and Department, and search within it.

Separated Employees (On Hold)

If any employees were separated during the cutoff, a separate Separated Employees (On Hold) section appears below the main table. Their salaries are computed but their release is held.

Exporting

Use the Export button on the summary table to download the payroll summary. The button needs the Export permission for Payroll Center and is hidden without it. You can choose:

  • CSV (comma-separated values)
  • Excel
  • Excel (Detailed)

Processing the Payroll Workflow

The buttons available on the Payroll Summary page depend on the cutoff's current stage. The workflow moves a cutoff forward (toward Posted) or back to an earlier stage.

Every button below needs the Submit for Approval permission for Payroll Center — a role with only view access to Payroll Center (for example the seeded HR Viewer) can open a cutoff and read the figures, but none of these actions appear. See Payroll Summary for the one exception, Approve, which depends on who is assigned to approve the cutoff rather than on a permission.

Step 1: Review and Re-Compute (For Review)

When a cutoff is in For Review, the available actions are:

  • Re-Compute — recomputes salaries for every employee in the cutoff. A confirmation appears first; computation runs in the background and may take a while.
  • Return to Timekeeping — sends the cutoff back to timekeeping so employees can edit their time records. A confirmation is required. This also cancels any carry-over pay this cutoff had produced on a later cutoff (see Returning a cutoff) — blocked if a carry-over from it was already paid on a posted cutoff.
  • Submit for Approval — moves the cutoff to the For Approval stage.

When you submit for approval, the system checks for unapproved filings (OT, COA, OB, Leave, SA) in the cutoff. If any exist, a warning shows how many employees and filings are affected; you must acknowledge that those filings won't be included before proceeding.

Attendance can no longer change once payroll processing starts (see Timekeeping Freeze), so this only applies to older cut-offs computed before the freeze. On those, if an employee's attendance was edited after their salary was already computed, the Payroll Summary flags them with a warning icon and shows a summary line above the table (with a Show only affected filter) — see Stale Salary Indicator. Advancing the cutoff (Submit for Approval, Approve, Publish) with employees still uncomputed or stale no longer fails outright — a confirmation dialog lets you recompute first or acknowledge and proceed anyway — see Payroll Summary.

Step 2: Approve (For Approval)

When a cutoff is in For Approval, the available actions are:

  • Return to Review — sends the cutoff back to the For Review stage. A confirmation is required.
  • Approve — approves the cutoff and moves it to the Approved stage.

Step 3: Publish (Approved)

When a cutoff is in Approved, the available actions are:

  • Return to Review — sends the cutoff back to the For Review stage.
  • Publish — publishes (posts) the payroll. A confirmation warns that once published it cannot be modified.

Handling a Rejected Cutoff

When a cutoff is in Rejected, the available actions are:

  • Return — returns the cutoff to timekeeping.
  • Resubmit — resubmits the cutoff for approval.

Posted Cutoffs

When a cutoff is Posted, the summary shows a Posted status indicator, plus:

  • Bank File Writers — generate bank files for the cutoff (also available on earlier stages).
  • Cancel Posted — reverses the posting. This requires an OTP (one-time passcode) confirmation.

A posted cutoff's employee list, on-hold section, all salary figures, exports, and bank files are frozen at the moment of posting. Separations, deactivations, or rehires processed after posting do not change anything in a posted payroll. To make corrections, use Cancel Posted to return the cutoff to For Review — this unfreezes the roster. Re-posting then re-freezes it at the new moment of posting.

Cancel Posted is refused, naming the employees, while a released final pay has already paid a separated employee's held salary for this cutoff — void that final pay on Separation Pay first.

Bank File Writers

On the Payroll Summary page, click Bank File Writers to generate bank files for the cutoff. The dialog uses the same Branch / Department / employment-status / search filters that are active on the summary table, so the file scope matches what you are viewing. Like Export above, this button needs the Export permission for Payroll Center and is hidden without it.

If any employee's attendance changed after their salary was computed, the dialog shows a warning banner but still lets the export proceed using the computed amounts — see Bank File Writers for details.

Importing Posted Payroll

You can import already-finalized payroll figures from a spreadsheet instead of computing them in the system. The Import Payroll button appears in the page header only when the Posted stage is selected — and only for a role that holds the Submit for Approval permission for Payroll Center, the same permission that gates every processing action on the Payroll Summary page. Opening Payroll Center only takes view access, so a read-only role (for example the seeded HR Viewer) can browse the Posted stage without ever seeing this button.

Step 1: Open the importer

  1. Select the Posted stage
  2. Click Import Payroll

Step 2: Choose the cutoff

  1. Select a Cutoff Code
  2. Select a Cutoff Period (only periods in TIMEKEEPING status are available)

Step 3: Download the template (optional)

Click Download Template to get the import spreadsheet. The template has 21 required columns:

  • Employee Code, Employee Name, Branch, Payroll Group
  • Basic Salary, Late, Undertime, Absent, Basic Pay
  • Allowances, Holiday Pay, Overtime Pay, Night Diff, Rest Day Pay
  • Gross Pay, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, Tax, Other Deductions, Net Pay

Use Configure Template Columns to add manual adjustment columns (salary increase/deduction, allowance, deduction) before downloading. Regular allowance and deduction columns are included automatically based on each employee's active plans.

Step 4: Upload and validate

  1. Drag & drop the file or click to select it
  2. Click Upload File
  3. The system validates the rows and shows Validation Results: Valid Records, Records with Warnings, and Records with Errors
  • Rows with errors cannot be imported. Use View Errors to see details.
  • Rows with warnings require approval before they can be imported. Use Review Warnings.

Step 5: Review warnings and process

  1. In the warnings review, select the rows to approve (or Select All)
  2. Optionally tick Notify employees via email and in-app notification
  3. Click Approve Selected & Process (or Process Import)
  4. When finished, the Import Completed screen shows how many records were Successfully Imported and how many Failed

You can Cancel Import at any point before processing.

Once an import finishes, its cutoff card shows the Imported Payroll badge (see Working With Cutoff Cards) so you can tell at a glance that its figures came from the importer rather than the normal computation flow.

Importing One-Off Salary Adjustments

When many employees get a one-off bonus, allowance, deduction or salary change in the same cutoff, import them from one Excel sheet instead of adding each by hand. The Import adjustments button appears in the page header on the For Review tab (cutoffs that are still open) and requires the same import permission as the posted-payroll importer.

  1. Click Import adjustments and, if you need the layout, click Download template. The sheet has the columns Employee Code, Cutoff Start Date, Type, Allowance / Deduction Name, Title, Amount, Tax Treatment, 13th Month Basis, Reason Code and Reason, with drop-downs for the fixed choices and an instructions sheet and a reference sheet listing the valid reason codes, allowance and deduction names, and open cutoffs.
  2. Fill in one row per adjustment. Every row needs a Reason Code and a Reason — they are recorded with the adjustment and shown in the audit log.
  3. Drop the file in (or click to choose it) and click Upload and validate. Every row is checked first and nothing is created yet. The result shows Valid, Warnings and Errors counts.
  4. Rows with errors block the import — click Download error report, fix the sheet, and upload it again. Rows with warnings are not selected by default and are skipped unless you tick them to approve them.
  5. Click Process. The adjustments are created straight away, and payroll for the affected employees is recomputed in the background — you can close the window while it shows Recomputed N of M employees.

The created adjustments appear on each employee's Salary Detail like any manually added one, with the reason you supplied.

Common Tasks

Process a payroll cutoff end to end

  1. Open Payroll Center and stay on the For Review stage
  2. Click the cutoff card to open its summary
  3. Review the employee figures; click Re-Compute if anything changed in timekeeping, or if the "N employee(s) changed since their salary was computed" summary is showing
  4. Click Submit for Approval, acknowledging any unapproved-filing warning
  5. On the For Approval stage, open the cutoff and click Approve
  6. On the Approved stage, open the cutoff and click Publish

Send a cutoff back for corrections

  • From For Review: click Return to Timekeeping to let employees edit time records.
  • From For Approval or Approved: click Return to Review to move it back to the review stage.

Reverse a published payroll

  1. Select the Posted stage and open the cutoff
  2. Click Cancel Posted
  3. Enter the OTP to confirm

⚠️ Note: Once a cutoff is Published (Posted), it cannot be modified and its employee roster, on-hold list, totals, exports, and bank files are frozen. Reversing it requires the Cancel Posted action with an OTP confirmation, after which the roster becomes editable again and re-posting re-freezes it.

How It Connects

Set up first

  • Payroll Group — sets the pay frequency, so each payroll group gets its own set of cutoff cards.
  • Cut-Off Management — creates the pay periods that appear as cutoff cards here.
  • Payroll Approvers — decides who can approve a cutoff when it is submitted.
  • Statutory Tables — provides the government rates applied when salaries are computed.

Gets its data from

  • Payroll Time Keeping — the attendance you submit there is what salaries are computed from.
  • Employee Records — salary rate, contract, payroll group and bank details of each employee.
  • Allowance — allowance plans that add to each employee's pay.
  • Deduction — deduction plans that are taken out of each payslip.

Feeds into

  • Payroll Summary — the per-cutoff review screen where you recompute, submit, approve and publish.
  • Payslip Center — publishes each employee's payslip once the cutoff is posted.
  • Payroll Register — totals the posted payroll per employee for review and Excel export.
  • Payroll Journal — posts the published payroll to the general ledger in Accounting.
  • 13th Month Pay — accrues 13th month pay from posted cutoffs.
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