The next three chapters discuss the Employee Master File. This file contains all information about any given employee. Each employee must have a record in this file. However, it is not necessary to complete every field.
In this chapter, you will learn:
• About the Employee Master Record
• How to Import Employees from common file types
• How to set up an employee for Direct Deposit
• How to Add, View, Change and Print employee information
• About multi-state employees
• How to retrieve employee records
• How to enter 1099 recipients
• How to print employee lists
• How to change the FICA, Medicare, FUTA and SUTA accrual status
• How to record W-5 information for Advance EIC
• How to remove an employee's payroll data
• How to print New Hire reports
• How to Protect Social Security Numbers
Retrieving employee records
Employees can be retrieved three ways: by the Employee Key, a unique number that was assigned by the software when the employee was created, by the Pay ID, a unique number from 1 to 32,000 that you assigned to the employee, and by Last name.
Whenever CCIS Payroll needs an employee, you see this window.
1. To retrieve one employee by Last name select, Last Name. Start typing the name. CCIS Payroll shows you the employee who most closely matches the name you type. You can also select the down arrow to the right of the entry box and scroll or type the name of a particular employee. Choose the employee name to select a particular employee. Press Tab then choose OK.
2. To retrieve all employees in Last Name order: select Last Name and select Retrieve all employees
3. To retrieve an employee by Pay ID: Select Pay ID. Start typing the Pay ID. CCIS Payroll shows you the employee who most closely matches what you type or scroll down the list of names in the dropdown list until you find the employee.
4. To retrieve all employees in the Pay ID order select Pay ID, the Retrieve all employees.
5. To retrieve one employee by Key select Key and enter the employee key.
6. To retrieve all employees in Key order select Key then Retrieve all employees.
How to import employees
CCIS Payroll can import data from other software programs to save you the trouble of keying it all in.
The data that you can import includes employee identification information and certain YTD values including wages, withholdings, and deductions. You can import as much or as little data as you wish.
The most common types of files are supported:
• Comma-delimited (.CSV) files
• Tab-delimited (.TXT) files
• Fixed record length flat files
When you choose to import your employee data, the imported data completely replaces any data that exists in CCIS Payroll for that Client.
Your payroll or other software must be able to produce files in one of these formats. Sometimes you may have an intermediate step. For example, to import from QuickBooks, you first must export from QuickBooks to an Excel spreadsheet.
Here is the information you need to know before beginning an import.
For tab-delimited or comma-delimited files:
• The name and location of the file,
• The total number of fields in the each record,
• The number of each time field.
For example, your file might have a total of 40 fields. The Pay ID might be #5. The First Name field might be #32; The Social Security Number might be #33, and so on.
For fixed-length files:
• The name and location of the file,
• The length of each record,
• The beginning and end of each time field.
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For example, your file might be 356 characters (=bytes) long. The Pay ID might start at byte 20, and end at byte 24. The Regular time field might begin at 93 and end at 105, the Social Security Number might run from 64 to 72, and so on.
1. If you haven’t already done so, create a Client to hold the imported employees.
2. Next, make that Client into the current Client.
3. Choose the Employees link.
4. Select File | Import. CCIS Payroll warns you if there are employees in the Client.
5. The Import Employee Information window displays. This window has all the information needed for a successful import.
6. Start by entering the location of the file. You can also press Choose file to search for the file.
7. Next enter the number of Fields in the file, or the length of one record.
8. Select the radio-button that properly describes your import file.
9. Enter the number of the field in the Field Position column for every field you want to import. For fixed-length files, enter the start and end position.
10. Now check the box called Default Values for All Employees. Every employee will be given these values by default so change them if necessary. Obviously these won’t fit all your employees but they can always be changed after the import.
11. Choose Save Spec to save this layout for the future.
12. Select Begin Import to bring the employees over.
13. Lastly, check your imported data using the Register reports.
How to print or view employee listings
There are five reports and listings available from the Employee File Maintenance screen. They are:
• Full Record - includes the entire contents of an employee's file.
• One Line - includes the Key, Pay ID, Name, Social Security Number, and Pay Rate in a single-line format.
• Roster - includes all of the One Line, plus full mailing address, Telephone, Date Hired, Pay method, and Frequency.
• Tip Reporting - produces a substitute IRS Form 4070.
• New Hire - prints the New Hire Report.
Of these reports, the Full Record, and the One line, can also be viewed on screen.
All reports can be customized to include only employees of a given Type, and Status. Each can also be sorted three ways, by Last name, Pay ID, or in Key order (not sorted).
To print or view a report:
1. Select the Employees link.
2. To view a report, choose View from the menu.
3. To print a report, choose File | Print from the menu or select on the Print button.
4. The window shown below opens.
5. Choose the Report Type, Employee Status, Employee Type, and Sort Order from their respective areas.
6. Select the Print Report button.
7. Select the Stop button when you’re done.
Protecting Social Security Numbers
CCIS Payroll has the ability to hide part or all of an employee’s Social Security Number from check stubs, input sheets and other reports where the full SSN is not required.
SSN’s can be printed in three different formats:
• Totally hidden ***-**-****
• Partially hidden – last 4 are revealed ***-**-1234
• Open 123-45-6789
CCIS Payroll defaults to ***-**-****
You specify the format to use in the Check Properties for a Client. To get there:
1. Choose the Calculations link.
2. Select File | Properties.
3. Choose Edit.
4. Make a selection from the highlighted area and press F10 to save.