In this session from Quest Experience Week, we heard a very in-depth presentation about how to configure payroll functions in JD Edwards from Llana McCowen, an HCM manager working for the District of Saanich, a municipality in British Columbia. McCowen delved into some intense details about these topics, so we’ll try to stick to more of an overview and let you watch her demo slides when you have time.

McCowen says that payroll, in general, takes place in five steps. Five “easy steps,” she says at the end with a chuckle. Although steps #2 and #3 are often switched, McCowen says that the steps to using JD Edwards Financials for Payroll run in this order:

• Pre-payroll
• Journal entries
• Payments
• Reports
• Final updates

Pre-payroll

“Pre-payroll HAS to be #1. It’s mandatory!” she states. This process is done one employee at a time. One of the most important but often overlooked steps is double-checking that your date range is inclusive of the timecard that you want to process.

Journals

Although many consider journal entries their third step, McCowen urges users to try this as a second step instead. Payroll vouchers and related journals are generated into work files during this stage and tested for validity. Why? Running these entries earlier almost guarantees error-free journals. Workers compensation is calculated at the journal stage.

Payroll Report Driver signals the end of this step. It is launched to pass data selection to any additional reports, which leads us to …

Payments

Here’s the part everyone associates with the payroll process — cutting checks or getting paid, depending on your perspective. Yes: now it’s time to print your payments for employees.

There are a few trickier items to remember with payments. If an employee wants to deposit into multiple accounts, you must modify your process, using a different table, about which McCowen elaborates in her presentation.

Interim payments, where an employee would receive a check outside of the normal pay cycle, can be processed as a separate payment or run along the normal payroll run for greater ease. Interims are merged into a payroll when the payment date of the interim is less than or equal to the payment date of the payroll.

Reports

To ensure accurate data, print out your information in report form and look it over again.

Final updates

The final update process moves the work file information into the history tables, processing one employee at a time.

Tips and tricks

Finally, McCowen offers her best tips and tricks for using JD Edwards payroll processes.

• Always check payroll messages after pre-payroll runs.
• Watch the number of times a single application is open, especially Pay Cycle Workbench.
• Reference My Oracle Support and JD Edwards Reference tables for additional info you may need to refresh your memory.
• Open discussion with other Quest members about how you’re using the system, along with additional tips you’ve learned along the way.

To hear more about the payroll process within JD Edwards, find more tips and tricks on McCowen’s comprehensive Quest Experience Week webinar! We look forward to sharing more JD Edwards upgrades and technologies with you at our Oracle COLLABORATE conference, COLLABORATE 18, April 22-26, 2018! Follow us on Twitter via the hashtag #C18LV for instant JD Edwards updates.