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Act 4: Payday — Financial Operations

18. Payroll Run

Story

Month-end arrives, and Sarah carefully begins the payroll process because even small mistakes could affect employee trust and financial accuracy.

The system now combines attendance, salary structures, overtime, deductions, taxes, loans, and contributions into finalized payouts for every employee.

Happy Path

Payroll is generated, reviewed, approved, and finalized successfully while all salary calculations and deductions are processed automatically.

  • Admin starts payroll for the selected month
  • System calculates salary, overtime, deductions, taxes, contributions, and loans automatically
  • Draft payroll is reviewed and adjustments are added if needed
  • Payroll is approved for payout processing
  • Employees are marked as paid and payslips become available

Failure Modes

FailureWhat the user seesWhat happens next
Payroll already exists for the selected periodDuplicate payroll run rejectedUse adjustment flow or wait for next payroll cycle
No employees have configured salary structures"Add salary structures first"Configure salary structures before rerunning payroll
Employees missing attendance records or bank detailsEmployees flagged with payroll warningsFix missing information or continue with review
Employee has unapproved overtime entriesOvertime excluded or payroll blocked based on policyApprove overtime before payroll processing
Salary structure effective date starts after payroll periodEmployee excluded from payroll generationCorrect effective dates in a future payroll cycle
Tax or contribution calculation fails for an employeeEmployee payroll record flagged for reviewResolve calculation issue while payroll continues for others
Employee joins or separates during the payroll monthPayroll calculated using prorated salary rulesReview prorated calculations before approval

Edge Cases

ScenarioBehaviorWhy
Payroll includes arrears, bonuses, or reimbursementsAdditional adjustments are included in employee net paySupports consolidated payroll payouts
Employee has active loan installmentsLoan deductions are automatically subtracted from payrollMaintains loan repayment consistency
Employee net pay becomes zero or negative after deductionsPayroll record is flagged for manual reviewPrevents risky or invalid salary payouts
Historical payroll correction is required after finalizationCorrection is handled through manual adjustment in a future payroll cyclePreserves payroll audit integrity

ZettaHRM

A modern HRM workspace for employee management, attendance tracking, leave approvals and structured day-to-day HR operations.

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