Preview the payroll

A preview is a simulated payroll run that shows you what your payroll would look like if you submitted it with the data you have entered. It also includes a preview of any requested Records of Employment (ROE). It is not a real payroll and does not produce payments (deposits or cheques) or reports.

Previewing the payroll is the final step in the process of verifying that your payroll and any requested ROEs have no errors before submitting them to Ceridian. If you find errors on the preview, you still have time to correct them. You can run as many previews as required before you submit your payroll for processing.

Specifically, the preview can help you:

• See the effect of changes to statutory deductions on an employee's pay
• Verify that there are no errors in a payroll prior to submitting it.

The Preview also allows you to review the company totals for the current payroll. It is a complete preview of your entire payroll including Net Pay for all paid employees.

The analysis of your payroll may take several minutes. After requesting the preview you can log off from Powerpay and return to it later if you do not want to wait; or you can minimize your browser window and work on something else while your preview runs.

The Preview includes the following:

• Employee net pay
• Summary of payroll calculations
• Detailed breakdown of hours, earnings, deductions, contributions, taxes
• Year-to-date totals
• Deposit information
• Warnings messages

Next Steps

After the preview is run, check your totals for both your company and your employees as well as any Records of Employment requested.

You can also view details for each employee on the Employee Details page. From the Process menu, select Preview > Employee Totals. Click the employee name link.

The values displayed on the Preview pages remain until you request another preview of your payroll.

If all values are correct, process your payroll. Otherwise, make note of the errors and correct them before requesting a new preview.

Tip: Use the browser's capabilities to print the contents of the frame to have a paper record of the results of your payroll preview.

Tip: To quickly verify employee pay details and eliminate the need to click on individual employee names to open and view the current pay and year to date details, you can have a Payroll preview in PDF report added to your payroll. To add this service, contact your Service Delivery Team. Service fees apply.

Tasks

Preview a payroll

1. Navigate to the Payroll Preview page. From the Process menu, select Payroll Preview.

   Powerpay displays a message that explains how your payroll preview request is handled.

2. Click the Request button.

   If you do not want to wait for your request to be completed, you can log off from Powerpay and return to the Preview page later.

   When the request process is complete, the Company Totals, Employee Totals and ROE Forms buttons appear. Powerpay also displays a message that indicates that the request process is complete.

3. Click any of the following buttons to see payroll information.

   • Company Totals - Displays amounts that apply to the entire payroll such as the total hours and earnings, total employee deductions, total employer contributions, and overall totals.

   • Employee Totals - Displays the total gross pay, deductions, and net pay for each employee. It also lists various payroll warnings such as large payments and employees without any pay. To see details about an employee’s pay, click an employee name.

   • ROE Forms - Displays a complete preview of all ROEs for your payroll. Use the preview for validation and review purposes only, as this preview is not a final ROE. The ROE is not final until a serial number is attached during processing. All ROEs display the word DRAFT in place of the serial number and a Draft watermark in the background.

     (This button only displays when ROE forms and/or ROE messages are produced).

4. If you find errors in your payroll preview, review the message provided by Powerpay then from the Payroll menu, open the relevant pages and make corrections.

   Error code 201, 211 or pay period number error ?

   • Error code 211 is a payment date issue.

     Review the payment date entered on the Edit Pay Period page and amend it.

   • Error code 201 may be a payment date issue.

     Review the payment date entered on the Edit Pay Period page. If the date entered:

     • is a holiday or weekend, amend it.

     • is not a holiday or weekend, contact your Service Delivery Team for assistance.

   • For an invalid pay period number error, contact your Service Delivery Team for assistance.

5. If required, run the preview again to verify that your payroll is correct. Run as many previews as necessary until you are satisfied that your payroll is free of errors.

   Note: The Preview page does not provide a statement of the final payment owing to Ceridian.