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1. This segment from our 155 page Basic Payroll manual is being made available
as a sample of our training manuals. Please contact
David.Haynes@ERPtips.com if you have any SAP training needs, or visit
www.ERPtips.com for more information.
Written by Christian Davidson
Published by Klee Associates, Inc.
Copyright Klee Associates, Inc., 2009
Unit 3: Payroll Process in SAP
In this unit we will cover the following:
 Payroll Process Overview
 Start Payroll: Running Payroll with the Payroll Driver
 Check Results
 Release for Corrections
 Exit Payroll
 Subsequent Activities
Payroll Process Overview
The Payroll Process in SAP begins with the entry and maintenance of data and
ends with the “Subsequent Activities” performed after each payroll is completed
to satisfaction.
Steps of the Payroll Process in SAP
 Data Entry – Data for a given pay period can be entered in the system any
time before the pay period is run. If using an interface for time data, the
interface is generally run just prior to the payroll run, along with Time
Evaluation, if appropriate.
 Release for Payroll – Once data has been entered in the system for a given
pay period, the Control Record is set to Released for Payroll. As discussed
in the previous unit, this locks all employees in the Payroll Area, preventing
any past or present data maintenance.
If any employees are already being processed at the time the Control Record
is set to Released for Payroll, a message will be issued indicating that not all
employees could be locked. This is because an employee can only be
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locked by one function at a time. If a user is maintaining data for a given
employee, the control record cannot lock that record. The same holds true if
another program has the employee record locked.
 Start Payroll – The step where payroll calculations are performed.
 Check Results – This step allows you to check the payroll results calculated
for your employees prior to finalizing the payroll.
 Release for Corrections – Allows master data changes to be made.
 Exit Payroll – Finalizes the payroll period.
Payroll Process Diagram
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Start Payroll
The Start Payroll transaction is the step where payroll calculations are
performed; where payroll is "run." Payroll is processed using the Payroll Driver
(payroll program), a screen where pertinent information is entered in order to run
payroll for the appropriate group of employees, for the appropriate pay period,
and using the proper payroll rules and calculations.
The Payroll Driver screen has several important fields that must be filled in prior
to execution:
 Payroll area – choose the appropriate payroll area that you want to process.
 Current period – when running live payroll (as opposed to simulations), you
should always be running the current payroll period according to the control
record.
 Other period – can be used when running simulations, which do not store
payroll results to the database.
 Personnel no. – used to select only specific personnel numbers, or a range
of personnel numbers, when running simulations or re-processing employees
that have had errors or changes during the payroll process.
 Search Helps – useful when re-processing employees that have had errors
or changes during the payroll process. Use Search Help W to select such
employees.
 Schema – configured set of rules and operations used to calculate payroll. It
is critical that you select the schema configured for your company in order to
properly calculate payroll.
 Forced retro. Accounting as of – allows you to force the system to
retroactively process payroll back to specified date. Used primarily for
testing purposes.
 Display Log – When checked, a list of steps of the payroll calculation will be
shown so you may view the inputs, calculations, and outputs of each step of
the payroll calculation. Use only when processing a small number of
employees, as this can extend processing time greatly.
 Test-Run – Select this to run a simulated payroll.
 Remuneration Statement variant – allows you to select a variant of the
Remuneration Statement (check stub) program so that you can generate a
remuneration statement based on the results of your pay run. Use only when
processing small number of employees, as this can extend processing time
greatly.
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Sample Payroll Driver screen:
Payroll Display Log
 The display log is built into the output screen when running payroll. This can
be a very useful tool to validate payroll results, and research errors or
incorrect calculations from the payroll run.
 Even when the log is switched off (for larger runs), errors will still be
displayed so you can see what employees did not process successfully
through payroll and the reason they were unsuccessful. You will not,
however, be able to drill into the details leading up to the error.
 When the log is switched on, you can drill into the steps of the payroll run to
determine what caused errors or incorrect results.
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 There is a key difference between an “error” and “incorrect result.”
 Errors in payroll occur when there is insufficient or inappropriate data for
the system to process entirely for a particular employee. This means no
payroll result will be stored for the employee. For example, if an
employee does not have an infotype 0008 stored for the pay period,
payroll cannot process.
 An incorrect result implies that the employee did process through payroll
without any errors, but some elements of their pay may be incorrect. For
example, the employee may have an Infotype 0008 (Basic pay), but the
salary entered may be incorrect for that employee.
Sample view of the Display Log
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Check Results
The Check Results transaction allows you to check errors as well as run reports
to check the accuracy of your payroll results. Both are important. Payroll cannot
be exited until all errors are resolved so that all employees in the payroll area can
be successfully processed with results stored. The same is not true for incorrect
results. If an employee’s pay is incorrect, you can still exit payroll and move on
when time constraints require. However, if you want to check for accuracy, you
can use payroll reporting tools to do so while in the Check Result status.
Another valuable activity while in the Check Results status is running simulations
for subsequent activities, such as Posting to Accounting and Third Party
Remittance. Simulating such programs in advance is recommended in order to
identify any issues that may cause errors in those programs, before it is too late
to change master data and re-run payroll.
Check Results menu path.
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Release for Corrections
Once you have determined the cause of payroll errors or incorrect results, you
can un-lock your employees for master data maintenance using the Release for
Corrections status. This is necessary in order to make changes to employee
data, since it was locked during the Release for Payroll step.
***It should be noted that this un-locks ALL employees in the payroll area,
not only those with errors.***
As you make changes, Infotype 0003 is updated to flag those employees for re-
processing. Match-Code W (also called Search Help W) can then be used to re-
process payroll for only those employees who had errors and those that have
had changes made while in Release for Corrections.
Menu path for the Release for Corrections transaction.
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Exit Payroll
Once all payroll errors have been resolved, all employees have been
successfully re-run through payroll, and all payroll results are satisfactory, payroll
can be finalized or closed by changing the control record to Exit Payroll status.
***It is highly advisable to first run subsequent activities in simulation mode
prior to exiting payroll to ensure that your data not only passes correctly
through payroll processing, but also through the subsequent steps necessary
to complete your payroll (Pre-Program DME, Print Checks, Create DME
(direct deposit), Posting to Accounting, and Third-Party Remittance).***
Once payroll has been exited, payroll results for that period cannot be changed in
any way.
Menu path for the Exit Payroll transaction:
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Subsequent Activities
Once payroll has been exited, Subsequent Activities that rely on payroll results
can be performed. Such activities may include:
 Pre-Program DME – prepares data for payment
 Print Checks
 Create DME (Direct Deposits)
 Posting to Accounting (General Ledger)
 Third-Party Remittance (posting to Accounts Payable)
Exercises: Running Payroll
1. Simulate payroll for the employee you hired in the previous unit.
a. Access the Payroll Driver in simulation mode via transaction
code PC00_M10_CALC_SIM or the menu path shown in the
screen shot below:
b. Enter appropriate information for your employee for the following
fields:
Payroll Area
Payroll Period – if the current period does not cover the
employee's hire date, click on the Other Period radio button
and enter a pay period that includes the hire date.
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Personnel Number – enter Personnel Number for your
employee
Payroll Area – should match payroll area entered in the
Payroll Period selection section
Schema – accept default of ZUSP
Test Run – note that in Simulation mode, this is checked-on
and cannot be removed
Display Log – Check on.
Display variant Rem. Stateme – SAP_US2
c. Click Execute
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d. Click the Form button to display the Remuneration Statement.
Sample snapshot of remuneration statement:
Click the Back button to return to the Display Log Tree screen.
e. Expand the log tree to display the Final Results Table by
opening each folder as shown in the below screen shot:
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f. Double click on the RT line to display the Final Results Table.
The Results Table is where the result of the payroll calculations
are stored. The RT as it is often called, is the table from which
payroll data for most reporting and subsequent activities are
drawn. In some cases where payroll results for multiple pay
periods are required (e.g., year-to-date or month-to-date), the
Cumulative Results Table (CRT) or Tax Cumulative Results
Table (TCRT) are used in place of the Results Table.
g. The Results Table shows each wage type line by line in
sequence, including several pieces of valuable information
including the calculated Rate, Number, and Amount.
Another key field is the Employee Subgroup Grouping field, the
first field on the left in the table. Employee Subgroup Groupings
are set in configuration to determine how each wage type is
processed, so the same wage type may be treated differently for
different types of employees. An asterisk in this field means the
wage type was summarized in the Results Table for all
Employee Subgroup Groupings, which could also indicate that
the wage type was calculated the same way for all employees.
There can be multiple occurrences of a given wage type in the
Results Table. This will happen when there are differences in
key fields such as Rate, Number, and Employee Subgroup
Grouping.
Sample Results Table snapshot.
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h. Return to the SAP Easy Access screen by clicking the yellow
and white Exit button several times.
i. From the SAP Easy Access screen, access the SAP US Payroll
menu by entering transaction code PC10 in the Command Field
as shown below. Press Enter.
j. Navigate to the Release Payroll step as shown in the screen
shot below and release payroll for your assigned payroll area.
k. Enter payroll area and press Enter.
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l. Verify that the correct pay period will be released (pay period
covering the start date for your employee) and click Yes. If the
pay period is not correct, consult the course instructor.
m. Access the Payroll Driver to run a "Live" payroll by clicking the
Start Payroll button or entering transaction code
PC00_M10_CALC in the Command Field.
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n. Enter appropriate information in the Payroll Driver as in the
Simulation step, but un-check the Simulation check-box. Note
that this can be un-checked when accessing the Payroll Driver
through the Start Payroll transaction, giving you the option of
running simulated payrolls, or "live" payrolls, which store the
results on the database.
***Be sure that the Current Pay Period defaults to the correct
pay period for your employee. ***
Click Execute.
Sample snapshot of the Payroll Driver for the Start Payroll step.
o. Review the Remuneration Statement and Final Results Table as
in the Simulation step. These results will be used later in the
course for subsequent activities and reporting.
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p. Once you have reviewed payroll results, change control record
status to Released for Corrections to add a Cost Center.
q. Access the Maintain Master Data screen.
r. Enter Infotype 0027 – Cost Distribution in the Infotype field and
click Create.
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s. Enter information as follows:
Start Date: Enter the date the employee was hired.
Distrib: 01
Company Code: 3000
Cost Center: 1000
Pct.: 100.00
Click Save.
Click Exit to return to the SAP Easy Access screen.
Sample IT 0027:
t. Repeat steps j. through o. to release and re-run payroll.
u. Verify that your cost center was evaluated in payroll by viewing
the C0 table (double click on "C0") in the display log as shown in
the screen shot below:
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Sample C0 table showing Cost Distribution:
v. Once satisfied with results, use the Exit button to return to the
SAP Easy Access screen.
w. Exit Payroll from the SAP Easy Access screen.
Click Yes when prompted
x. Access transaction code PA03 to verify Payroll has exited.
Enter your assigned payroll area and click Display.
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Note the green check-mark next to the Exit Payroll step.
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Inclusion of the concepts in this book in any internal client training material is
allowed if the source of the concepts is acknowledged as follows:
Copyright 2010
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.
Klee Associates, Inc.
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