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The Sigma Payroll forms part of the HR System

Sigma Pay is a powerful and flexible payroll system for use on single-user and multi-user microcomputers. It provides an integrated set of facilities for calculating pay, making statutory deductions, printing cheques or and payslips, linking to Bacs and keeping employee records. Sigma Pay can be used for virtually any type of remuneration, in any type of organisation.

However, you should note that Sigma Pay cannot be used to pay sub-contractors working for your organisation.

The system is designed to be easy to install and use, and yet to cater for many different payroll procedures. You choose the way pay is built up from regular or variable payments and deductions, and you define the payroll processing rules, by giving the system a number of different parameters. This means that you can incorporate individual requirements into the system (and change them if you need to) without expensive programming effort.

The Payroll History keeps each week or months Pay for as long as you require, allowing enquiries on previous periods for individual or all Employees. All history enquiries can also be printed.

The Payroll Parameters

At the root of Sigma Pay's flexibility are the payroll’s parameters, which allow you to define exactly how you want the system to work. The parameters you enter determine how the processing is carried out. The major areas in which you can control the operation of the system are:

• Payroll frequency.
• The elements involved in the pay calculation.
• Payment methods.
• Payroll cost analysis criteria.
• Report sequences and content.

Once you have configured the payroll’s parameters, they control the running of the system. If your requirements change you can amend the parameters, thus changing the operation of the payroll.

Payroll Frequency

You can select the cycle of pay processing you wish to use for each payroll, running the payroll every week, every two weeks, every four weeks or every calendar month. All pay calculations within the payroll must be based on the same tax period in the same tax tables (weekly or monthly).

You may perform intermediate payment processing runs to pay employees in certain circumstances: when employees leave before the normal pay-day (in all types of payroll) and to pay employees on a different day from the majority of employees if you are running a weekly, two-weekly or four-weekly payroll.

It is possible to perform pay processing for a number of weeks in advance to allow for advance payment of pay, for example during holiday periods.

Pay Definitions

The payments, deductions and charges on which payroll calculations are based are known collectively as pay definitions. You define which pay definitions are to be available in each payroll, and which of these apply to each employee. Pay elements can include:

• Regular payments, deductions or charges, such as salaries, union subscriptions, luncheon vouchers. The actual value of these pay definitions is recorded individually for each employee to whom they apply.
• Irregular or variable cash payments or deductions, such as a Christmas bonus or staff purchases.
• Payment for hours worked at various rates and premiums, calculated each pay period from clock card details, such as wages for hourly-paid staff, or overtime. You can choose whether to base the payment on a general rate, an individual employee rate, or a rate entered with the number of hours.
• Piecework payments, calculated each pay period from details of the employee's production record. Again, the rates and premiums can be held within the payroll, or you can elect to enter them with the details of units produced.

You may define up to 99 elements for each payroll, and you may enter up to 28 pay definitions for each employee in each period. There is no restriction on how these totals are subdivided into the various types of payments, deductions and charges.

In addition to the pay definitions that you define, Sigma Pay allows for:

• Court order deductions, subject to protected earnings provisions. Up to 15 court orders may be specified for each employee.
• Council tax court order deductions. Up to 10 council tax court orders may be specified for each employee.
• Pension scheme deductions and charges. You can maintain up to a total of 90 schemes (company and non-company), each giving details of the pension company, and employee and employer contributions.
• SSP entitlement, including allowance for any payments to be offset against SSP. Such an allowance might be payment under your own sick pay scheme.
• SMP entitlement.
• SAP entitlement.
• SPP entitlement.

PAYE and National Insurance

You record the tax code for each employee in the payroll. You also define whether each of the payments and charges in the payroll is to be taxable, non-taxable, or partially taxable, and whether each deduction is to be taken before or after tax. From this information, Sigma Pay is able to calculate the taxable pay to date and the PAYE due in the pay period.

Similarly, you record the employee's National Insurance number and table letter code. You also specify the employee's National Insurance type which determines whether standard or directors' National Insurance regulations are followed in the calculation of contributions. Finally, you define whether each of the payments and charges in the payroll is to be apportioned over any holiday weeks, which will affect the employee's National Insurance liability. From this information, Sigma Pay calculates the National Insurance contributions due.

When you are notified of general tax code changes, you can apply them automatically using Sigma Pay's bulk updating facilities.

Payments to Employees

You enter details for employees who are to be paid on each run, or during each period, either directly or from a batch file prepared outside the system.

Sigma Pay performs all the necessary gross to net pay calculations.. You can define a minimum net pay amount, and can also specify rounding if, for instance, you want to avoid payments containing small denomination coins.

Sigma Pay allows payment by cash, cheque or bank giro. You can use a mixture of methods in one payroll if you wish. Sigma Pay prints a payslip, pay packet or envelope for each employee, showing details of pay and deductions. In addition, Sigma Pay can provide:

• A note and coin analysis for cash payments.
• Printed cheques for cheque payments.
• You can use the Sigma BACS system to produce a bank giro file on disc or for on-line transmission, for payment via BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing Services).

Sigma Pay also prints checklists of cheques and bacs payments produced, and a summary of notes and coins required for cash payments. You can define the order in which the pay documents are printed through the payroll’s parameters.

Standard Reports

As well as the reports that are produced automatically as part of the regular pay calculation, file updating and period-end processing, and the payment advices and forms, Sigma Pay can produce a wide range of management reports for use as listings, summaries and analyses. The standard sequence for most reports is employee reference number, but you can change this sequence for some reports by changing the payroll’s parameters. The standard reports include the following:

• Payroll summary.
• Coinage analysis (detailing the quantity of each denomination note and coin needed for cash payments in the run).
• P11 Tax, P11 NIC and NIC cumulative details (equivalent to the deduction card that would be maintained in a manual system).
• Pay and deduction lists (giving details of the values and balances of each employee's pay elements).
• Cost analysis.
• Pension contribution list.
• Holiday accrual list.
• SSP report.
• SMP report.
• SAP report.
• SPP report.
• Tax credit report.
• Tax credit forecast report.
• Contracted-out rebate report.
• Payroll’s parameters listing.
• Listing of employee reference number usage.

At year-end, Sigma Pay prints the statutory P14/P60 and P35 supporting documents in an approved format. And produces the appropriate information for on line filing.

Sigma Payroll Interfaces with the Sigma Nominal Ledger.