TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE

PAYROLL PROCESS

D E C E M B E R 1999

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TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE PAYROLL PROCESS NOVEMBER 1999

Troubleshooting Errors in the Payroll Process

 1996 by PeopleSoft, Inc.

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NOVEMBER 1999 TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE PAYROLL PROCESS

Table of Contents
............................................................................................................................................................1

Troubleshooting Errors in the Payroll Process.............................................................................1

.....................................................................................................................................................2
...........................................................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents...............................................................................................................................3
Introduction........................................................................................................................................4
SQR Audit Programs for Payroll.......................................................................................................5
PAY034: Database Audit Prior to Paysheet...............................................................................5
PAY035: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Calcpay...................................................................5
PAY036: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Confirm..................................................................6
Common Errors..................................................................................................................................7
PAY_LINE_STATUS Values....................................................................................................8
Common Errors: Error 20..................................................................................................................9
Causes.........................................................................................................................................9
Locate and Resolve Problem.....................................................................................................11
Points to Remember..................................................................................................................13
Common Errors: Error 64................................................................................................................14
Causes.......................................................................................................................................14
Locate the Problem...................................................................................................................15
Resolve Problem.......................................................................................................................15
Common Errors: INSERT_BALANCE ..........................................................................................17
Causes.......................................................................................................................................17
Locate the Problem...................................................................................................................17
Resolve the Problem.................................................................................................................18
Common Errors: Out of Sequence Errors........................................................................................19
Cause.........................................................................................................................................19
Understanding the Error Message.............................................................................................19
Locate the Problem...................................................................................................................19
Resolve the Problem.................................................................................................................21
Workaround for Priority Situations .................................................................................................22
Unconfirm Process - Addressing Last-Minute Changes..................................................................23
Summary..........................................................................................................................................23

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TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE PAYROLL PROCESS NOVEMBER 1999

Introduction
This paper covers four errors that are commonly encountered in the Payroll process, including the
causes of each error and suggestions for resolving them. The Payroll process consists of three
main processes, as shown below:

This paper will discuss the following errors, many of which occur in the first two steps of the
payroll process. They all prevent the confirm process from completing successfully:

• Payroll Error 20: All Checks Not Calculated

• Payroll Error 64: Prior Run Not Confirmed
• INSERT_BALANCE Error
• Out of Sequence Error

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SQR Audit Programs for Payroll

We recommend, as a GSC Best Practice, running three SQR audit programs for Payroll at specific
points throughout the Payroll process. A GSC Best Practice is a process or method that will help
you solve your problems and/or work with the PeopleSoft Global Support Center as effectively as
possible. Running the SQR Audit programs is considered a GSC Best Practice because it will help
you prevent problems and will help your payroll processing run smoothly.

To prevent errors in the Paysheet Creation, Pay Calculation and Pay Confirmation processes, we
suggest you incorporate the SQR audit programs below into your payroll job stream. These SQR
programs are delivered in the product, and will identify errors you will encounter in the payroll
process. You can review examples of the SQR audit programs in the PeopleSoft Payroll Reports
PeopleBook.

This paper will address the following three SQR Audit programs for Payroll:

• PAY034: Database Audit Prior to Paysheet

• PAY035: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Calcpay
• PAY036: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Confirm

PAY034: Database Audit Prior to Paysheet

PAY034.SQR (also called "Presheet") audits the database and identifies both high-level and
employee-level errors. The SQR is 35 pages, so you can imagine the edits it performs. We
recommend that you run this SQR before Paysheet Creation so you identify problems at the
beginning of the payroll process. This SQR can also be run anytime during the Pay Calculation
process.

This SQR looks at the deduction table, paygroup, earnings codes, holiday schedule, benefit
program, personal data, job, tax data, etc. It also checks employee records, as well as setup tables.
So the first time you run it, you may get a lot of errors. Go ahead and take the time to clean them
up! Also, be aware that this SQR looks at the entire database, including demo data. You should
either delete that data or become familiar with the errors it returns so that you can ignore those
lines on the report each time you run it.

PAY035: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Calcpay

PAY035 (also called "Precalc") looks for orphaned records and marks the PS_PAY
EARNINGS record not OK to Pay. Run this SQR audit program after Paysheet Creation and
before Paysheet Calculation. You can also run it anytime during Paysheet Calculation.

The two most common causes of orphaned records are the accidental deletion of parent records via
SQL, or the accidental insertion of child records by an interface program such as a Time and
Attendance interface module. Orphaned records can cause “Out of Sequence” errors during the
Pay Calculation process. Though these errors appear during Pay Calculation, they don’t prevent
the process from completing. But they will prevent Pay Confirmation from completing

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successfully. It is important to address those orphaned records early in the process so they don't
cause a delay during Pay Confirmation.

PAY036: Paysheet Records Audit Prior to Confirm

PAY036 (also called "Preconfirm") checks for duplicate key errors, which are the 0805, unique
constraint, types of errors. It specifically looks for balance records that exist that have a date
greater than the date being processed. It also validates the Run ID, and looks for conditions that
cause errors 64, 66, and 86. Run this SQR audit program after final Pay Calculation but before
Pay Confirmation.

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Common Errors
This paper discusses four specific Payroll errors. In many cases, we provide different options for
finding and/or fixing the errors. We provide an SQR Audit program and one or more queries for
most errors.

Many of these errors appear during the Pay Confirmation process, but actually occur earlier in the
cycle—during Pay Calculation, for example. The system notifies you about some of these errors
by providing a DOS box that reports an error. The DOS box displays the following text: "CHECK
MESSAGES!!". But it doesn’t give any information about the error and it doesn't force you to fix
it immediately. The error details can be viewed on the Payroll Error Messages panel.

Note: If you are running this process on the server, you will not see the CHECK
MESSAGES!! DOS box. You will have to view the Payroll Error Messages panel
directly to view the errors.

We recommend that you prevent errors whenever possible by running SQR audit programs to
identify problems before they occur.

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PAY_LINE_STATUS Values
PAY_LINE_STATUS tracks the status of an employee record throughout the Payroll process.
Any record marked "OK to Pay" will have its Status value changed to either "C" (successful
calculation) or "E" (errors found during calculation) when the pay calculation process is run.
After Pay Confirmation completes successfully, it will be set to F. Employee records that have
not been calculated successfully will have a status of I, P, U, or E. See Table 1 for a description
of each value.

Table 1
Stat Meaning Description
us
Valu
e
I Initial load The pay earnings have been entered but not calculated.
A record marked “Not OK to Pay" will remain with an 'I'
status until it is eventually deleted during the Pay
Confirmation process. To address employee records
with an "I" status, recalculate the pay run, then move
on to Pay Confirmation
P Pay The Pay Calculation process sets the status to 'P' when
Calculation the record is selected for the calculation processing.
in Progress When processing for this record is completed normally
(either successfully calculated or errors identified and
reported), then the Status after Pay Calculation ends will
always be either "C" or "E." However, if something
happens during Pay Calculation that prevents the
program from completing normally (i.e., something went
significantly wrong that normal error routines couldn't
handle), then occasionally some rows may remain in "P"
status until they are recalculated. To address employee
records with a "P" status, recalculate the pay run, then
move on to Pay Confirmation
U Updated by The record has been updated online by a user since it
operator was originally entered, or since it was calculated during
a previous Pay Calculation run. This status is set by
PeopleCode in the online panels. It may also be set by
an interface that loads data from a time and attendance
into the Payroll tables. To address employee records
with a "U" status, recalculate the pay run, then move on
to Pay Confirmation
E Error An error occurred during processing for these Earnings.
If pay calculation identified a problem in the data for
which there is a defined standard payroll error message,
then the error message will appear on the Payroll Error
Messages panel. Otherwise, the error will be displayed
on the screen where the process was executed, or in the
Log file created during this Pay calculation run. All
PAY_EARNINGS records for this pay run that have a

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status of "E" must either be corrected or else marked

"Not OK To Pay" before the calculation process will
complete successfully. Recalculate until all the
employees with "E" status turn to “C” status, then
move on to Pay Confirmation.
V Reversed This status tells the system not to recalculate the
check adjustment check. This prevents different deductions
from being taken in the Pay Calculation process.
C Calculated Pay Calculation processing for this record was completed
successfully normally and no errors were found.
F Confirmed Set by the Confirmation process to indicate successful
completion of Pay Confirmation processing

Common Errors: Error 20

Causes
The Pay Calculation process will set the PAY_LINE_STATUS to “C” on the
PS_PAY_EARNINGS table after the paysheet has been calculated successfully. When error 20
occurs, it means that something went wrong in the Pay Calculation process and prevented some
records from being set to the correct PAY_LINE_STATUS. This error could be caused by high-
level or employee-level errors, timing issues, or duplicate Run IDs. You can prevent this error by
running the PAY034 SQR audit program prior to the final Pay Calculation.

High-level errors affect an entire paygroup, and are caused by errors in the setup for that
paygroup. For example, this error will occur if an earnings program for the paygroup has not been
defined. The first employee in the paygroup with the high-level error will be reflected in the
Inquire Payroll Error Messages panel, but all employees with the problem will have a
PAY_LINE_STATUS of “E” on PS_PAY_EARNINGS. So it may appear as though the problem
affects only one employee, but it actually affects the entire paygroup. When you receive error 20,
always check to see if it includes a high-level error. Also, if an employee receives a high level
error and you choose not fix it before running the next Pay Calculation for this cycle, the high-
level error may not be reflected in the Inquire Payroll Error Messages panel again.

Employee-level errors are specific to one employee, not an entire paygroup. For instance, you
would receive this error if the federal tax withholding was not defined for an employee. All
employees affected by employee-level errors will be included on the Inquire Payroll Error
Messages panel.

Timing issues may also cause error 20 to occur. You may receive an error 20 if manual checks
have the OK_TO_PAY flag turned on but have not been calculated, or a job record was updated
after Pay Confirmation began. The error may also occur if Paysheets have been updated by
another interface after the final Pay Calculation has been run.

Payrolls are processed according to a unique Run ID. You will receive error 20 if another Pay
Calendar has the same Run ID as the Pay Calendar of the current run, and these paygroups are
scheduled to be confirmed

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The system will allow you to begin the Pay Confirmation process even if you have outstanding
errors from Pay Calculation. However, the system will not allow Pay Confirmation to complete
successfully until you resolve the problems revealed in Pay Calculation. You can prevent this error
by running PAY034 before Pay Calculation.

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Locate and Resolve Problem

We provide three options to locate and resolve the error. These are not sequential steps; they are
separate ways to find and solve the problem. For further detail about resolving this error, refer to
resolutions 19059 and 36380 on Customer Connection (www4.peoplesoft.com).

Locate and Resolve Problem: Option 1—Proactive

We recommend running PAY034 before creating the paysheets to resolve high-level and
employee-level errors. If you don't run it before creating the paysheets, run it prior to Pay
Calculation

The PAY034 SQR audit program will list exactly what is wrong with each problem row. Fix the
data as directed in the report, then run Pay Calculation again to calculate the rows that were in
error. Choose "Calculate Where Needed" if you encounter employee-level errors. If you
encounter high-level errors, choose "Recalculate All." Pay Confirmation should run successfully
once the problems described in PAY034 are fixed.

If you run PAY034 and fix the errors before the Pay Calculation process, you will prevent having
employees with a PAY_LINE_STATUS of “E” and you won’t see CHECK MESSAGES!! DOS
boxes. If you choose note to run PAY034, you may or may not see CHECK MESSAGES!! error
prompts. However, the problem rows on PAY_LINE_STATUS will still be set to “E.”.

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Locate and Resolve Problem: Option 2—Reactive

If you choose not to run PAY 034, you can run the query below to query PS_PAY_EARNINGS
directly to look for errors. It returns all employees with a PAY_LINE_STATUS of “I, U, P, or
E.":

SELECT * FROM PS_PAY_EARNINGS

WHERE COMPANY = (company)
AND PAYGROUP = (paygroup)
AND PAY_END_DT = (pay end date)
AND OK_TO_PAY = ‘Y’
AND PAY_LINE_STATUS IN (I, U, P, E)

The query above locates employee-level errors. It doesn’t spell out exactly why the employees
have a problem or how to fix the problems, as PAY034 does. You must figure out how to fix each
problem on your own. Once the problems are fixed, continue by the running Pay Calculation and
Confirmation processes again.

Locate and Resolve Problem: Option 3 -Reactive

Use this option to reveal errors that were generated during Pay Calculation but were not taken care
of. You should always check the Inquire Payroll Error Messages panel after Pay Calculation. If
you do so, and fix the problems revealed by the error right away, you won’t have to force the
error.

If you have employees with a PAY_LINE_STATUS of "E," and don’t find an error in the Inquire
Payroll Error Messages panel, you can force an error by using SQL to change the
PAY_LINE_STATUS from “E” to “U," then running the Pay Calculation process again with the
"Where Needed" option selected. A "U" value in PAY_LINE_STATUS tells Pay Calculation that
this PAY_EARNINGS record has been manually updated so it should be selected for
(re)calculation when Pay Calculation is run next. Because the problem causing the error has not
been fixed, the problem employees will produce a "CHECK MESSAGES!!" DOS box along with
messages in the Error Messages panel.

Once the problem employees have been revealed by forcing the error, you'll need to do some
research to figure out why those employees are in "E" status. You can do this in three ways:

1. Review the Inquire Payroll Error Messages panel

2. Run PAY011 to show errors that normally appear on the Inquire Payroll Messages panel
3. Query the PAY_MESSAGES table directly
After you fix the problem data, recalculate where needed, check again for error messages, then run
Pay Confirmation once more.

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Points to Remember
When this error occurs, it means that something went wrong in the Calculate Pay process that
prevented the records from being set to the correct PAY_LINE status. The system will allow you
to begin the Pay Confirmation process even if you have outstanding errors from Pay Calculation.
However, the system will not allow Pay Confirmation to complete successfully until you resolve
the problems revealed in Pay Calculation. Remember, if an employee received a high level error
and you choose not fix it before running the next Pay Calculation for this cycle, the high level
error may not be reflected in the Inquire Payroll Error Messages panel.

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Common Errors: Error 64

Causes
When this error occurs, it means that the system is trying to confirm a payroll but it can’t because
either one or more checks were not confirmed from the previous pay run, or because the
confirmation flags on an on-cycle adjustment calendar have not been checked.

On-cycle Adjustment Calendars

If an on-cycle calendar has been set up to process adjustments, you will receive an error 64 when
you run Pay Confirmation for the following payroll. This is because when off-cycle adjustments
are processed, the on-cycle confirm flags (Confirmation Start and Confirmation Run) will not be
checked on the calendar. They will never be checked because you are not running an on-cycle
payroll against this calendar. For example, let's say that an on-cycle adjustment calendar has been
set up to process adjustments to the December payroll. Then you run an adjustment against the
December on-cycle calendar to correct employee balances. When trying to confirm the January
payroll, you'll receive error 64 because the adjustments from December were not flagged as
“confirmed” on the pay calendar.

Off-cycle and Online Checks

Timing is critical when processing off-cycle and online checks. If an Off-cycle payroll has not
been completed before processing the on-cycle payroll for that pay period, you will receive an
error 64. For example, suppose the November on-cycle payroll has been calculated and
confirmed. Then you add an off-cycle paysheet, which has been calculated but not confirmed, on
the November calendar. When running the December on-cycle payroll, you will receive error 64
because the November off-cycle run has not completed.

If you fully complete each Off-cycle payroll (including calculation and confirmation) in a
timely manner, you can prevent error 64. As a rule of thumb, don't allow any further Off-
cycle paysheets to be started until the on-cycle payroll run has fully completed. When the Pay
Period on-cycle payroll run is ready to complete processing, run a FINAL "Re-Calculate All"
and then run Pay Confirmation. You cannot start any other pay run processing until this on-
cycle payroll run has completely finished. Following these guidelines for processing off-
cycle payroll runs will prevent virtually all of the Pay Confirmation errors, such as error 64.

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Locate the Problem

To identify the calendars that have any outstanding off-cycle checks, query
PS_PAY_CALENDAR:

SELECT * FROM PS_PAY_CALENDAR

WHERE COMPANY = (company being confirmed)
AND PAYGROUP = (paygroup being confirmed)
AND PAY_END_DT < = (pay date being confirmed)
AND RUN_ID <> (Run ID being confirmed)
AND PAY_CONFIRM_RUN = ‘N’
OR PAY_OFF_CYCLE = ‘Y’

Rows where the field Pay_Confirm_Run = "N" (No) indicate an on-cycle run that must be
confirmed before proceeding. Rows where the field Pay_Off_Cycle = "Y" (Yes) indicate an off-
cycle run that must be Confirmed before proceeding. You can also remove other criteria, such as
paygroup, pay end date, and Run ID, to do a more global search for the calendar with the criteria.

Resolve Problem
We recommend several options to resolve error 64, depending on whether or not your Payroll
system is in production. For further detail about resolving this error, refer to resolution 11652 on
Customer Connection (www4.peoplesoft.com).

Resolve Problem in Production

On-cycle Adjustment Calendar Not Confirmed

If you are receiving error 64 because an on-cycle adjustment calendar has not been confirmed,
delete the Run ID from the adjustment calendar. This will remove the link between the on-cycle
pay calendar and the adjustment paysheet. The system will ignore the empty “Confirmation Start”
and “Confirmation Run” flags on the calendar and will allow the payroll to continue processing.
The fields are not updated for adjustments, so the system would never recognize the adjustment as
being confirmed without removing the Run ID.

Outstanding Off-cycle and Online Checks

If outstanding off-cycle or online checks are causing the error, choose the appropriate option
below to resolve the problem.

Option 1
Calculate and Confirm outstanding paysheets. Finish processing the off-cycle payroll by running
a FINAL "Re-Calculate All" and then run Pay Confirmation before continuing with the on-cycle
run. Remember, other on-cycle pay run processing can only start after an earlier off-cycle run has
completely finished.

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Option 2
Remove off-cycle outstanding flag if paysheet no longer exists. If you have unsheeted or deleted a
paysheet, the flag is not removed on the calendar, so the system still thinks there are outstanding
off-cycle checks.

Resolve the Problem Outside of Production

If you are not in a Production environment (you may be testing before implementation, for
example), you may choose one of the options below. These options may have drastic effects on
data, so we don’t recommend that you do these in a Production environment.

If an on-cycle adjustment calendar has not been confirmed, we suggest using SQL to turn on the
confirm flags. You should do this outside of production because it’s risky to update flags via
SQL.

If outstanding off-cycle and online checks are causing the error, we recommend that you unsheet
the paysheets. This will delete all of the information on the paysheet, including any data brought
over from an interface.

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Common Errors: INSERT_BALANCE

Causes
INSERT_BALANCE errors can be issued from virtually any step in the Payroll process. You
may receive this error during Paysheet Creation or Pay Calculation if the programs find bad
employee location codes. Or it could occur during Pay Calculation if you have orphaned records.
We are addressing this error in the Pay Confirmation process because that is where it occurs most
frequently.

The actual name and text of this error varies by platform. For example, it may be called "SQL
Error 0805," Unique Constraint or Non-unique data." But it will always contain the text
"INSERT_BALANCE."

When this error occurs, it means that the Pay Confirmation process is attempting to insert a check
balance record that already exists in that month. Balance records are stored by year, quarter and
month. Typically, this error occurs if you try to post to a previous month once you have posted to
the current month. Once you have posted to a month, you cannot post to a previous month. For
example, suppose that in September, before the September payroll is processed, managers allocate
quarterly bonuses to be paid in October. The October bonus checks are fully processed and
distributed to employees. When it comes time to process the September payroll, the you'll receive
an INSERT_BALANCE error because the system notices that an October balance already exists
for some employees.

The system does make an exception for end-of-year processing. It allows you to confirm balances
in January, then go back to confirm checks in December.

Locate the Problem

We suggest two choices for locating the problem paysheets:

• Run SQR audit PAY036 (recommended)

• Query PS_CHECK_YTD table

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Option 1 - Proactive (Recommended)

We recommend that you run the PAY036 audit SQR before running the Pay Confirmation process
to locate the future-dated balances (duplicate keys). PAY036 provides the information needed to
fix the problem paysheets.

Option 2 - Reactive (PeopleSoft 7.5)

If you choose not to run the recommended SQR audit program, you can query PS_CHECK_YTD
to determine if future-dated balance records exist. First, review the pay calendar you are trying to
confirm and note the BALANCE_RECORD. Then run this query:

SELECT * FROM PS_CHECK_YTD

WHERE EMPLID = '(employee's ID)'
AND COMPANY = ‘(employee’s company)’
ORDER BY BALANCE_YEAR, BALANCE_QTR, BALANCE_PERIOD

Review output from the above SQL query, and determine if there is a balance record for a
BALANCE_PERIOD greater than the BALANCE_PERIOD in the pay calendar you are
processing. If so, you are trying to post to a previous month. The query varies slightly, depending
on which version of PeopleSoft the you are using. The example above is for PeopleSoft 7.5x.

Resolve the Problem

Remove the OK to Pay flags on the affected paysheets that you located by running the SQR audit
program or the query above. You may not be able to access the paysheets online. During the Pay
Confirmation process, the system changes two statuses to “F”: PAY_LINE_STATUS and
PAYCHECK_STATUS. If the Pay Confirmation process bombs before both of these statuses
have been changed, you may end up with some paysheets that have a PAY_LINE_STATUS of
“F” and a PAYCHECK_STATUS of “C.” If either of these fields is marked “F,” the
corresponding paysheet will not display online. So you will not be able to view the paysheets for
employees with future-dated balance records online. We recommend that you use SQL to remove
the "OK to Pay" flags on the current paysheets (September in the bonus scenario above) for
employees with future-dated balance records. Process these as off-cycle, online, or manual checks
with a check date equal to the future dated balance (October in the bonus scenario above).

Once the affected paysheets have been marked "Not OK to Pay," continue processing the rest of
the employees. Run the following query to modify the pay calendar so that Pay Confirmation can
be run again (ignoring the paysheets marked “Not OK to Pay”):

UPDATE PS_PAY_CALENDAR
SET PAY_CONFIRM_START = ‘N’
WHERE COMPANY = (company)
AND PAYGROUP = (paygroup)
AND PAY_END_DT = (pay period end date)

Recalculate where needed, then run Pay Confirmation again.

For further detail about resolving this error, refer to resolution 5110 on Customer Connection
(www4.peoplesoft.com).

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Common Errors: Out of Sequence Errors

Cause
An out of sequence error is often the result of missing a parent record for an employee, typically
PS_PAY_EARNINGS. This results in orphaned records. The two most common causes of
orphaned records are the accidental deletion of parent records via SQL and the accidental
insertion of child records by an interface program such as a Time and Attendance interface
module.

Understanding the Error Message

The error lists the page number, line number, and separate check flag for the problem paysheet.
For example:

Check = 0019 02 0
S-chk = 0019 01 0

Interpretation:

Check = page#0019, line#02, separate check#0

S-chk = page#0019, line#01, separate check#0

Be sure to note these numbers whenever you receive this error so you can use them to locate the
problem paysheet with the upcoming query.

The employee causing the problem is often not the actual employee printed on error messages.
Check the paysheet listed in the error message. Also check the paysheet that came before the one
listed in the error.

Locate the Problem

We suggest two options for locating the problem paysheets:

• Run SQR audit program PAY035 (recommended)

• Query PS_PAY_EARNINGS, PS_PAY_LINE and PS_PAY_OTH_EARNS tables.

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Option 1 - Proactive
Run PAY035 prior to the Pay Calculation process to identify orphaned records and mark them
“Not OK to Pay."

Option 2 - Reactive
For each paysheet noted in the error message, query the tables below using the values contained in
both “check” and “s-chk” notes. The error can return multiple lines for one employee. Make sure
to run the three queries below for each line.

• Query 1
SELECT * FROM PS_PAY_EARNINGS
WHERE PAGE # = ‘?’
AND LINE # = ‘?’

• Query 2
SELECT * FROM PS_PAY_LINE
WHERE PAGE # = ‘?'
AND LINE # = ‘?’

• Query 3
SELECT * FROM PS_PAY_OTH_EARNS
WHERE PAGE # = ‘?’
AND LINE # = ‘?’

The queries should produce 0 results. Note that PS_PAY_EARNINGS is a parent to both
PS_PAY_LINE and PS_PAY_OTH_EARNS. If only the PS_PAY_LINE or
PS_PAY_OTH_EARNS query returns rows, delete the rows (they are orphaned records). If
PS_PAY_EARNINGS returns data, then you are facing a different issue.

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Resolve the Problem

After you've identified the orphaned records using one of the methods described above, use SQL
to delete them from the following tables:

• PS_PAY_CHECK
• PS_PAY_DEDUCTION
• PS_PAY_GARNISH
• PS_PAY_SPCL_EARNS
• PS_PAY_DISTRIBUTN
• PS_PAY_TAX
Run PAY035 (PreCalc) again to make sure there aren’t any other problems. Then recalculate
where needed. Continue by removing the “Confirmation Start” flag from the pay calendar, and
running the Pay Confirmation process again. Remember to process off-cycle checks for
employees who were affected by the orphaned records. For further detail about this error, refer to
resolution 11020 on Customer Connection (www4.peoplesoft.com).

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TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE PAYROLL PROCESS NOVEMBER 1999

Workaround for Priority Situations

When a deadline is approaching and you’re in a pinch, follow the steps below to process your
payroll. This prevents the entire pay run from being held back while you fix employees in “E”
status. This is an acceptable work-around only if a small number of employees are affected. If a
significant number of employees are affected, you should resolve the problems at the source
instead of using this work-around.

1. Query PAY_LINE_STATUS to identify employees in "E" status

2. Mark the employees with “E” status “Not OK to PAY” so the rest of the payroll can be
processed
3. Recalculate where needed so the system registers the paysheets marked “Not OK to Pay”
4. Run Pay Confirmation again
5. Pay the “E” status employees off-cycle

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NOVEMBER 1999 TROUBLESHOOTING ERRORS IN THE PAYROLL PROCESS

Unconfirm Process - Addressing Last-Minute Changes

You have two choices for fixing problems or changes that arise after you run Pay Confirmation.
For example, you may want to run Unconfirm if the amount the company will match a 401K
contribution changes part way through the Pay roll process. Or you may Payroll is calculated and
confirmed early (long before checks need to be printed), and the company undergoes a major
organizational change before the checks are printed for that month. In situations like this, you can
either restore a backup of the database or run the Unconfirm process.

Restore Backup—Recommended
We recommend that you back up your database prior to running Pay Confirmation for each pay
cycle. That way, you can just restore it if you need to make major changes to the pay run.

Run Unconfirm
If you choose not to restore a backup copy of the database, you can run the Unconfirm process.
This process should only be run when you encounter a huge problem that affects the majority of a
pay group. Test the process in your DEMO environment first so you know how it behaves. For
more information on running the Unconfirm process, see resolution 23255 on Customer
Connection.

Completing the Process

After starting fresh with either a restored backup or running unconfirm, make necessary changes
to the data, review the check numbers on the PS_FORMS table, then run Pay Calculation in
"Calculate All' mode before running Pay Confirmation once more.

Summary
The main purpose of this paper is to help prevent errors during the Pay Confirmation process so
you can process your payrolls smoothly. We hope that the tips provided here will enable you to
understand what causes common payroll errors, and give you some techniques for resolving those
errors. If you do need to contact GSC, you will have a clear understanding of the problem to help
expedite the resolution.

PEOPLESOFT PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL 23