The Pay Period Ending Date

In ShopClock pay periods are defined by the ending date. All of the time card data which has not already been process up to and including the Pay Period Ending Date is processed as part of the current pay period. If your pay period is weekly, then do pay period processing once a week. If it's biweekly, then do it every other week and so on. You can select the Pay Period Ending date by editing any of it's three fields (month, day, and year), but it's easier to open the calendar by clicking on the drop down button and then clicking on the desired date. Processing does not have to be done on the same day that the pay period ends. It can be done then or any time after that date.

Pay Period Processing consists of at least three steps:

• Proofing the data to find and correct all of the errors
• Printing and/or exporting the data as needed
• Closing the pay period.

The Pay Period Report

The Pay Period Report is one of the two main ways to get time card data out of ShopClock (the other is to export the data). Prior to closing the pay period, the report can be printing or viewed if you click on the preview button) as many times as needed.

• Include Details (time card sessions)
  When this is checked the time card sessions are printed below each employee totals. The hours per session, per day, and per week are also printed These hours are always printed in decimal hours
• Start each employee on a new page
• Use Large Print
• Report totals in Hours && Minutes or Decimal Hours
  This selection also determines how time is exported. When reporting in hours and minutes the hours and minutes are separated by a colon : When reporting decimal hour the hours are separated by the fractional portion by a decimal point.

There two major factors which determine how overtime is calculated:

• The First Day of Your Work Week
• The rules used to do the calculations

You can choose not to calculate overtime, to use the Fair Labor Standards Act, or to use the California rules. In any case the exact rules ShopClock uses are shown below your choice. 

Exporting the Data

 

Special notes about exporting ShopClock data to QuickBooks

In QuickBooks data is defined by Payroll Items and you must have a payroll Item for each type of payroll data that is imported. You can add as many Payroll Items to QuickBooks as you want. Depending on how you use ShopClock and the state in which you are located, ShopClock can export up to 8 types of data. There must be a Payroll Item in QuickBooks for each data type that you want to import from ShopClock, and the names must match exactly. the items are:

• Regular Hours
• Overtime Hours
• Double Overtime Hours (used in California)
• Vacation Hours
• Sick Hours
• Holiday Hours
• Bereavement Hours
• Paid Time Off Hours
  

When ShopClock exports data it is always written out to a file which is saved some where on your computer. Your desktop is suggested because it makes easy to find the file. After the data has been exported it can be imported by your pay roll program or even email to the people doing your pay roll. The file is always a plain text file which means it could be opened with any text editor like notepad. The data in the export file can be separated by either a comma (in which case the file is referred to as a CSV file (Comma Separated Values) or by tabs in which case it is referred to as a TSV file (Tab separated values). Except in the case of the QuickBooks export file the separator choice is made when in the Export File Customization window.

The first option is where you tell ShopClock where to save the file and what to call it. Unless you change your mind you only need to do this once - ShopClock will remember where to put the file.

ShopClock can export 4 types of data file: QuickBooks, Pay Period Totals, Day by Day Totals, and Session by Session data. Except for QuickBooks (which has its own unique format) the files can be exported as either Comma Separated Values (.CSV files) or Tab Separated Values (.TSV files)

• QuickBooks
  If you choose this format, all the decisions have been made. The data will be exported as day by day totals in whatever format was chosen above (hours && minutes or decimal hours)
• Pay Period Totals
  This choice exports one line of data for each employee included in the report. the data can be whatever you choose and in whatever order you choose. See Export File Customization below.
• Day by Day Totals
  When this option is chosen ShopClock exports one line of data for each employee for each day the worked (or had managed hours) in the pay period. Again, what data and in what order is configured in the Export File Customization task.
• Session by Session Data
  This choice exports one line of data for each session for each employee. Its pretty close to raw data - no processing is done.

All of the above choices are remember, so you only have to make them once. When ready, just click on the Export Now button to export the data. The Customize Export File button is a short cut to the Export File Customization task which is list below.

Closing the Pay Period - The Final Task