This training covers Timesheet management and exporting within Deputy. We'll explore topics like creating unscheduled timesheets, editing timesheets, approving time records and exporting them from Deputy to your payroll system. This training session is best suited for managers new to Deputy and/or experienced users looking to optimise their timesheets practise in Deputy.
Due to the number of questions and demand, we created this Help guide containing the training recording and the live questions and answers.
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Q & A Topics
Location Settings
If a casual employee turns 18 years old, Will Deputy update the hourly rates automatically or does this have to be manually updated? Also with award interpretation, will exporting this to Xero, automatically update the pay category?
We have a notification in the location settings where you can auto-update their rates on their birthday. You can find this under “Notifications & Integrations” in the location settings.
Where is area export code?
You can find this in the Location tab > Areas > Edit Areas or on your schedule tab next to edit areas.
Can you have different settings within one location - for example I would like to have salaried employees to be clocked out at the scheduled time but hourly paid employees should be the actual time?
You cannot have multiple settings for a location. Timesheet settings impact a location. Therefore if you require different settings for your employees you will need to split your locations and apply different settings.
Does a week always have to start from Monday for the “within applicable range” setting?
You can change your week's start date in the schedule setting of your location.
How can we efficiently track timesheets where a worker is supposed to work in one area for the whole day but ends up working across many areas? Let's say initially rostered for a full shift in one area, but was later required to work in a different area for part of their shift.
You need to schedule your employees to work in two different areas and in the Location settings, there is a notification called "Split Timesheets > Scheduled Shifts" - once you authorise this function the system will automatically split your employees timesheets to show they worked in two different areas.
What if the staff takes less than a 30 min break? Can I round it to 30 min, as they know it’s a non-paid break?
What if the staff takes less than a 30 min break? Can I round it to 30 min, as they know it’s a non-paid break?
Awards and Pay Rates
Are you able to change between Deputy calculating OT on a weekly and daily basis, and does it take into account specific rules within awards relating to OT?
It depends on the award type but by default Deputy calculates overtime on only daily and weekly basis and not fortnightly or monthly etc.
I have an issue where Deputy is automatically adding time to shifts that are less than 3 hrs for my high school students, legally I can give them 90min sheets as per the award. How can I have this auto short shift extension that deputy does turned off for those that are eligible to work shorter shifts?
This is most likely the “Minimum Shift Engagement” that is triggered in this case. We built our award library with assistance from FairWork Australia and if this is something that is clearly stated in the award you can reach out to our 24/7 support team and they can assist with that in your account.
When employees enter their hours, how can Deputy break this up by ordinary hours and overtime penalty rates?
You will need to set up pay rates for your employees in Deputy in order to have the break down of penalty and overtime rates. Here is an article for your reference.
Can you also show how Pay By Area works in conjunction with the approval of timesheets?
“Pay by Area” is still in BETA mode and not all customers have this in their account at this stage. Therefore we will not be covering this today.
When entering a manual award from MYOB - is this the same as 'Base Salary' Or is it a set amount that needs to be created per employee (as each employee could have a different pay rate)?
Awards and base hourly rates are not the same, the award is about the multipliers that apply to the base hourly if your employee works overtime or on public holidays etc. The base hourly rate is for you to set within the laws that applies to your sector.
Will Deputy do an auto upload for the upcoming award increases?
We will update the award version but you need to update your employees base rate once the newest version of the award has been released. We also send out an email to all our customers that use a certain award to inform you about the updates.
Is it possible to setup custom awards? I work at a university that has it’s own system that isn’t already on Deputy.
Yes, this would be possible through paid custom work. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Where do you set up the pay rates and salary settings?
In the employee profiles within the People tab, select your employee and click “Edit Profile”. You can set or update pay rates under “Employment details”.
We are a 7 day private GP practice, so are we considered Private Medical or Other when integrating with Xero for Awards purposes?
We unfortunately can't give any advice on which version of the award your business is on as this would be legally problematic for us to do so. Please reach out to FairWork Australia or your employment lawyer for assistance in this matter.
Integrations
Can Deputy easily integrate with ELMO HR?
Please refer to this link for all our integrations https://www.deputy.com/au/integrations
When we export timesheets to Xero the job number isn’t carrying over to Xero correctly. It changes the job name in Xero to the first tracking name in Xero. The timesheets are perfect in Deputy though. It does this for all my employees. This feature used to work but now I need to change it all manually. Can this be reversed?
We would suggest to check the “Area Export Codes” in the location settings as they have to match the job codes in Xero. Otherwise please reach out to our 24/7 support as this is an account specific question.
Can Deputy integrate with Crystal?
We don’t have a direct integration with Crystal but you can export timesheets to a download file that can be imported into Crystal Payroll.
How do you export timesheets from 2 locations to one Xero account?
You need to connect both of those location to the same Xero file in the location settings under “Payroll” and then you can just export to Xero.
If employees work in multiple venues - How do we maintain rosters for venue A and venue B, but export time sheets to the parent company/account in Xero that will be a single entity and export without validation exceptions to Xero?
This is an account specific question and it’s hard to answer this without looking into your account. Assuming that you have your venues set up as individual locations you just need to make sure that all these locations are connected to the same Xero file. For assistance in your specific account please reach out to our 24/7 support.
Does Deputy export to Quickbooks?
Yes, we can. Please have a look at this article in our help portal.
Where do I find this ‘export code’ in Xero?
It is referred to as a 'pay item' in Xero. Please refer to this article and importing to Xero.
Do we have same function for Netsuite - use Deputy rate to replace Netsuite rate?
We can currently only override rates in Xero or MYOB Account Right Live version.
Which details need to match in Deputy and Xero?
Your employee's first and last name should match the employee's legal name in Xero. The Timesheet Export Code in the employee profile must match what is set as Employee ID in Xero. For more information please refer to the article.
Does the job number in Deputy transfer to the MYOB as a job number?
Job Numbers in MYOB match with the “Area Export Codes” in Deputy.
We have an Issue with exporting time sheet to Xero. The superannuation is being calculated on total hours i.e. not separating overtime hours from ordinary hours.
This seems to be an issue in your Xero account if the superannuation is not calculated properly.
Note: Superannuation is processed through your payroll provider. Deputy does not set up pay items with super. This is all handled within Xero. Please reach out to Xero for further assistance
I used to use Invoxy for timesheets when I exported timesheets to XERO it created a PAY run for the period rather than timesheets that needed approval. Is it possible to export from Deputy the same way, ie bypass the timesheet approval process in Xero and create a pay run instead (based on what has been exported)?
Yes, when you export to Xero in the export timesheets window you can choose to export as "Timesheets" or as "Payroll". Just change this to payroll and the pay run is created.
Can we set up their Pay rates which is automatically download from Xero? And change in real time?
You can set up pay rates in Xero and bring this over to Deputy. In this case it means Xero will become your source of truth with regards to pay rates. If you update any pay rates in Xero this will need to be force synced over in the People tab to update the new rates.
We cannot export to Key Pay. What can we do?
For all Payroll software we do not export to, we recommend using the Custom Report Builder and contacting our live 24/7 support channel.
How do you export different time slots relating to different pay categories into Xero?
It's not entirely clear what you mean by time slots in this case and also how your employees pay rate set up is (Award rates in Deputy? etc.) Therefore please reach out to our 24/7 support to assist with this account specific question.
Timesheet Settings
Can you adjust the rounding of timesheets per person or is it a companywide setting for times?
This is a location setting so it can be adjusted per individual location.
We have a before 6am pay rate. When staff put in meal breaks AFTER 6am, it shares the break time so that half the break goes to the before 6am and half the break goes to after 6am. How can we change this?
If the break is not actually scheduled with a specific time Deputy puts the meal break in the middle of the shift. This can fall on exactly this time, say 5:45 - 6:15 am in which case the it’s correct. If this is not correct in your account please reach out to our 24/7 support for account specific support.
Where can I find the Custom Field options to add to timesheets?
To add custom fields to your timesheets, this will need to be done in the Business Settings > Timesheets > Shift Questions > New Custom Field
How do we turn off the time log for a lunch break?
Employees don’t have to clock in/out of their breaks. You can just take the actual break times out of the schedule.
Can we have the option to round timesheets and also have overtime calculated? For example, business setting is to round timesheets to 15min, if a team member's timesheet is from 10am to 6pm but finishes at 6.45pm, will it be rounded or OT will be calculated?
OT is calculated from the moment when the employee enters that time frame and will not be calculated if you round the timesheet so that the shift finishes before the beginning of OT.
Timesheet Approval
What is the timeframe you need to approve timesheets before they resort back to the scheduled hours?
There is no timeframe in which you need to approve the timesheets by. This depends on quite a few things like are your employees actually submitting timesheets via clocking in/out or do you auto submit etc. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Laundry loading is something that has to be paid to all employees based on their status (eg FT, PT, casual). Why doesn’t deputy automatically add this to payslips by reading the number of shifts they’ve done? At the moment I have to manually add this every week in Xero. Is there a better way to do this in deputy?
Laundry allowance is a shift loading and it is not automated in the award as businesses vary. You will need to approve the submitted timesheet and then un-approve all timesheets (using bulk un-approve all button) and add the shift loading like Laundry Allowance from the drop down list. Once you have made the changes, you will then need to approve all timesheets using the (bulk approval all button). You can then set to export into Xero by editing the "export code" to match what you have set as pay items in Xero. Before doing this ensure you have the correct rates set within the employee profiles > in the employment details.
Can scheduled time sheets be approved by selecting the “Approve All” feature?
Yes, but they also have to be submitted. You can “Approve all” timesheets but only per employee individually.
How do you turn on auto approving of the timesheets?
In the Location tab under timesheet setting, there is a setting called “Enable auto rounding of real-time timesheets.
Can I approve a timesheet early? For example we process payroll Friday at 1pm but staff are still on shift to 6pm?
You will not be able to approve future timesheets if the shift is still going. However if your employee ends their shift early for a specific reason, you will then need to submit a manual timesheet to record the remaining time of the shift.
Other
Can annual leave accumulation be opened up to all users?
The accrual of leave should happen in your payroll software. Leave balances would be visible to all users by default but you can also disable this under “Leave” in the Business Settings.
How do you schedule a shift with annual leave?
You put the annual leave into an employee’s profile and then when you change the view in the schedule to a “by Employee” view instead of the “by Area” view, you’ll be able to see the leave in the schedule.
Instead of entering unavailability, can the staff enter their availability?
In Deputy your employees are available 24/7 unless they submit unavailability. Deputy works with Unavailabilities, NOT Availabilities.
Is it possible to sort staff (in timesheets) by their legal name and not their preferred name?
Sorting them by the legal name is not possible at this stage but you do see the legal name next to the preferred name. Feel free to send this to our product team as a feature request via the “Help” button at the top.
Will Deputy be able to add the hourly rate (paid/payable) to the timesheets we are watching now? Viewing the hourly rate on the fly would be useful to monitor awards.
Currently in Deputy you cannot approve a timesheet that is yet active meaning an ongoing shift, timesheets can only be approved once the shift has been completed.
Regarding schedule costing, I do not want our managers to see each other's pay or schedule costing, how can I prevent this?
This will depend on the access level you have given to your employees. If they both work in one location but need to see costing of their area, then it is worth dividing your areas as locations to give that flexibility and manage their own schedule costing. Here is an article for your reference.
How can I disable the export of salaried employees inside the timesheet file?
If you set up your employees in Deputy with a salary we will automatically disable them from the export.
How do you deal with delayed meal break rate if the employee doesn't get a break?
This is a difficult one to answer without looking into your account. Therefore please reach out to our 24/7 support. In general, delayed meal breaks will get attached to a shift that’s longer than 5 hrs without a break depending on the award.
Can you export by surname?
You can create your own custom payroll export if you are looking to export in a specific format.
We have set up using multiple locations for the shops we have, however would it be better to have all shops as one location called the shop business name and then the area of work as the shops locations? The reason I am asking is that the business uses the employees across all locations in the one week and I don't want to have to pay each employee a number of pays in the one week?
This question can't be answered without having more context about your business. For some of our customers this would be a good idea, for others it wouldn't. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for account specific assistance.
When public holidays are entered (ie employee would have worked 9-5pm but isn't working as a PH) - is it possible to have the setting that reminds the employee to clock in, turned off?
It is not possible to turn this setting off for only a single day. You would either have to turn it off manually and turn it back on after the public holiday. The other option would be to create a location and call it "Public Holiday not worked", then reach out to our support team to take the PH off in that location only and roster the employees there that don't work that day (and get paid the ordinary hours rate. You can also disable the notification that reminds them to clock in/out for that location individually.
Where can I find the recording of this session?
Yes, we will send this out in the coming days. You can also find all past webinars in our library