Pay Group Setup Guide

Pay Groups within Avanti are used to process payroll for batches of employees who are paid according to the same payroll calendar. Pay Groups are where EI and CPP groups can be assigned, and statement forms selected for use when printing statements or cheques for employees within that Pay Group.

Table of Contents

Pay Group Setup
Create Payroll Calendar
- Insert Payroll Calendar

Pay Group Setup

Pay Groups can be added, modified, and deleted from the Pay Groups program in Canadian Payroll. A Pay Group ID and a description of the Pay Group are the first items to enter when setting up a new Pay Group.

Open Canadian Payroll > Employer Payroll Tables > Pay Groups.
Add a new Pay Group by pressing Insert to open the Pay Group settings.
Enter the Pay Group ID.
Enter a short Description of the Pay Group.
Figure 1. Example Pay Group ID and Description.
Note
The Pay Group ID must be a 3 digits long.
Tip:
It is common to include the pay-period, employment status, or union number in the Pay Group Description.

Enter Payroll Calendar Rates

Calendar rates are required to convert between different earning amounts entered in Avanti for this Pay Group.

For example, A salaried employee is paid $104,000 per year but must be paid according to a bi-weekly payroll schedule. The calendar rate of Pay Period/Yr. would be used to convert the per-year earning rate into a per-period rate during payroll processing and the employee would be paid $4,000 each period.

Open the Basic Setup tab in the Pay Group settings.
Enter the Hours Per Day, Days Per Week, Weeks/Yr, Months/Yr, and the Pay Periods/Yr.
Figure 2. Example of a 10 hour per day, 4 day per week schedule.
Tip:
Default values for Weeks/Yr and Months/Yr are filled in when creating a new Pay Group.

Setup EI & CPP Defaults

Max. EI Hours are applied per pay period to any employee which is not paid using an hourly rate but must still earn insurable hours for EI (salaried or commission-based employees for example).

Enter the Max. EI Hours for the Pay Group.
Note:
The Max. EI Hours is the amount of EI Hours earned per period non-hourly employees. (Max. EI Hours will default to the current federal maximum.)
Enter the Max. Payment amount for the Pay Group.
Tip:
Avanti will display a warning during pay run processing if any payment is greater than the Max. Payment.
Select the EI Group, this will apply an EI rate to all employees in the Pay Group.
Select the CPP/QPP Group.
Figure 3. Example EI/CPP setup

Setup Banking Values

To setup the Pay Group you will need to enter a Bank to use for payments to the Pay Group, as well as select forms to use when printing Cheques or Statements.

Select the Bank to use for payments.
Note:
Employer Banks are maintained in Cheque Reconciliation > Install Bank Information.
Select the Cheque Form to be used when issuing a cheque to employees in the Pay Group.
Select the Statement Form use for the Payroll Statement of employees in the Pay Group.
Figure 4. Example banking setup

Business Number

Enter the Business Number
Figure 5. Example Business Number setup
Note:
Business Numbers are maintained in Canadian Payroll > Installation & Maintenance > Maintain Business Numbers

Save Pay Group

Save the new Pay Group by pressing OK at the bottom.

Create Payroll Calendar

Open Canadian Payroll > Employer Payroll Tables > Payroll Calendar
Select from the Calendar list the year to create a Payroll Calendar for. (This will default to the current year).
Setup a new Payroll Calendar by pressing Insert at the bottom.
Figure 6. Insert will create a calendar for the selected Calendar year.

Insert Payroll Calendar

The Payroll Calendar setup requires a Pay Group to link with the Payroll Calendar, the first pay period ending date for the new calendar, and the number of days between the pay-period ending date and the payment date.

Note:

A Pay Group can be linked to only one Payroll Calendar.

Select the Pay Group created previously. (The Number of Periods field will populate with the value from the selected Pay Group.)
Choose the Pay Period 01 Ending Date.
Enter the Payment Date delay amount (Payment Date # Days After PP Ending Date).
Figure 7. Example of a Payroll Calendar setup with a 5 day delay between the pay period ending date and the payment date.
Preview the Payroll Calendar by pressing OK at the bottom of the window.
Save the Payroll Calendar by pressing OK again.
Figure 8. The Payroll Calendar can be previewed before being created.