Premier HR and Payroll integration

Integrating Premier

HR and Payroll

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Mogbojuri Babatunde Sage VIP Premier Payroll provides a sophisticated yet uncomplicated solution for medium to enterprise businesses, offering advanced functionality of payroll and HR applications. Sage VIP Premier provides an integrated total solution offering for payroll and human resource management which is in line with legislative guidelines. The flexibility provided by the system make it extremely popular with users.

MCP, MCTS, MIEEE, MNIM, ECPC

Integrating Premier HR and Payroll

www.babatunde.org.ng | [email protected]

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Ensure that the software was installed as instructed in Premier HR Server Install and Workstation

Install notes. The integrator setup will happen in the following order:

1. License Premier Payroll for Integration and do setup

2. Setup Premier HR for Integration notification

3. Set up the Integrator Services

4. Set up the Scheduler Configuration

5. Set up the Integration Templates and Schedules

1. Licence Premier Payroll for Integration and do setup

Open up Premier Payroll, do not log into a specific company.

Select Options Licensed Modules

Under Personnel Management, select Premier HR Integration, a screen will open up with the

VIPSD code.

Send the VIPSD code to [email protected] with the client details and what the code is for in

order for support to generate a code. Do not close the screen as the code will change everytime.

mailto:[email protected]



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2. Setup integration directions on Payroll

The operators on Premier HR and Premier Payroll will be assigned specific roles for adding,

modifying, transferring or terminating employees. A control screen is defined to ensure that no

conflict exists between these events in the two systems.

With this control the consultant can disable the Employee menu options for Add Employee, Terminate

Employee, Modify Employee or Transfer Employee on Premier Payroll. This will ensure that no

conflict/duplicate of data entry on the two systems can occur. These settings will be applied to the

entire Premier Payroll directory. To set up the control screen:

Open up Premier Payroll, do not log into a specific company.

Select Options Flow of info: Premier HR

Send the VIPSD code to [email protected] with the client details and what the code is for

in order for support to generate a code. Do not close the screen as the code will change everytime

Select which system will be the main system of input for the following:

This will apply to ALL companies and cannot be setup per company.

mailto:[email protected]



3

Setup user Access Control

Advanced Access control needs to be set up for Premier Payroll users who will be activating the

integrated New Employees, Terminations, Transfers and Employee Modifications on Premier Payroll.

“Full” or “No” access can be given to users on this screen. This needs to be setup per company.

Log into a company

Go to Company Access Control Advance Access Control

Select the user you want to change

Go to Advanced Page 2

Both the Premier HR access for adding, terminating, transferring and modifying employee records as

well as these options for Premier Payroll under the Employee Access will need to be set to “Full”

access to enable the user to initiate these actions on the system. If “Full” access is given, the user will

be able to access the Premier HR menu options for added, terminated, transferred and modified

employees once the integration has taken place.



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Important Note:

It is strongly advised that modifications, terminations and transfers are driven from Payroll to

Premier HR as it has financial implications. When the action is driven from the Payroll system the

change is immediately. When the action is driven in the Premier HR system, the change will only take

place on the date specified and not before that which can cause a delay in Payroll processing.

Generate HR Identifiers

A unique identifier is needed to track employees across companies in Premier Payroll and Premier

HR. Adding new employees; modification of employee codes and transfer employees cannot take

place without this identifier. This needs to be setup per company.

Select Interfaces Premier HR Employee HR Identifier

Select the Generate HRID button to generate individual HRIDs per employee.

A global activation function is available to generate the unique identifier for all employees.

Select Interfaces Premier HR Global Activation (HR identifier)



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The HR Identifiers will be generated for active employees only.

3. Set up the Integrator Services

The Premier HR Integrator application controls the integration between Premier HR and Premier

Payroll. Before setting up the required parameters, please make sure that the Premier HR Integrator

Comms Service has been installed and is running, and there are Premier HR DATABASES to

connect to. Follow the Locate Databases on Premier HR and Premier Integrator notes. (Do this

setup on the server) The Premier HR Integrator setup will include:

The set-up of the Connection Settings

The Service Host as well as the Integrator DATABASE and Premier HR DATABASE connections will

need to be set up here in order for the Integrator application to access it.



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4. Setup Scheduler configuration settings

Go to Start All Programs Softline VIP Premier HR Scheduler Configuration



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Locate the Integrator Database

Setup Service configuration settings

Go to Start All Programs Softline VIP Premier HR Service Configuration

Complete the Mail Server settings

Locate the Databases on the second tab



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Setup the flow of Integrations

Control the flow of new, terminated, transfers and employee code modifications. This must

correspond to what you have setup on Premier Payroll.

** Take on setup

If the client already have Premier Payroll implemented, you need to do a take on of the existing

employees to HR, select the direction for New Employees from VIP to HR. Once the take on has

been completed. The direction will be changed back to match that of the setup on Payroll.

To change the direction back, go to Tools Options Advance Options and select ‘Change’

Providing of Mail Settings:

The settings for the email of reports for integrations which have taken place will need to be set up

here.

Access the Integrator

Go to Tools Options Mail Settings



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5. Set up the Integration Templates and Schedules

The following Menu options appear on the top menu bar:

View: The menu option will take you to the various tabs on the integrator settings screen:

Integrations: Allows you to view the integrations set up for the various companies within your

database.

Employee Data Templates: The employee data templates set up for this database can be

viewed here



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Schedules: The schedules defined for the various integrations can be viewed here

Log: This indicates the various integrations that have taken place in a grid format.

Adding new integrations

Please do not use any spaces or special characters when setting up the integrations

Select Add from the Integrations Tab

Select the Type of Integration from the drop down menu, the following options will display on the

screen:

o New Employees,

o Employee Data,

o Terminations,

o Transfers and Modifications,

o Remuneration



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The integration type will determine the options available on the rest of the screen.

The following screen will display for New Employee integration:

Integration Name: This is a free format entry field. It is suggested that you select your type of

integration as well as the company number to identify the integration template for further reference

System from and to: The direction for new, terminations, transfers and movements will default to

your pre-defined settings for these integrations. The direction for Data integrations will be determined

by your data template set up on Employee Data Template

Company: Select the company you want to integrate from the drop down list. Only the companies

within the Premier Payroll directory specified and companies which have been flagged to integrate

with Premier on Premier HR will display on this list.

The comments block: This allows for any free format comments to be entered should further detail

be required to describe this type of integration.



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The following options will display on the screen for Employee Data integrations:

Data Template: Select the template to be used for the data integration. The template contains all the

data fields selected for this integration. The data template is setup under the Employee Data

Templates tab and may be used for any company.

Include ‘New Employee’ Integration: When you select to integrate transfers and modifications,

terminations, or data integrations the system will enable you to tick this option. This option will run

new employee integration for the same company automatically. This means that a new employee

integration will not need to be set up separately.

Adding employee data templates

Go to the Employee Data Templates tab

Select Add

You will be prompted to type in a name for your data integration



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The employee data template will display

From and to: The direction for Data integrations can be set here. Once you have selected the

direction for the data integration, the system will allow you to add data fields for the integration

Select Add Field

Select a the field you want to integrate from the drop down list

Most fields can be selected to update any other field on the other ‘to’ system. Some fields, such as

the employee ID number however may only update to the same field on the ‘to’ system. When such a

field is selected, the integrated field in the ‘to’ system list will default.

Fields which ‘go together’ will default if one of the fields is selected. Employee payment details are an

example of this. If any of the bank detail fields are selected, the other fields for bank details will

default.



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Once you have completed the setup, select Save

This saves the template for this data integration. The integration itself still needs to be set up as

illustrated above under setup Integrations.

** When setting up employee data templates, and you setup one template to integrate fields

from VIP to HR and another template HR to VIP. Do not add the same field to both templates. If

you select for banking details to integrate from VIP to HR. Only add it to that specific template,

do not add it on the template HR to VIP also.

Adding integrator schedules

It is advisable to schedule the running of integrations.

Select the Schedules Tab to add a new schedule

The new schedule screen will display with the list of integrations you have set up

Click on Next



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The system will prompt you to enter a Task Name. Ensure that the Task Name is descriptive.

Integration can be scheduled to run automatically at a specific time, which means Daily, monthly,

weekly and repeated schedules can be set up:

A DAILY SCHEDULE can be set up to run at a specific time each day.

A data integration is an example of an integration which may be scheduled to run daily

It is advisable to set a daily schedule to run in the evening for it not to impact on

your normal daily activities.

A MONTHLY SCHEDULE can be set up to run on a specific day of the month at a specific time each day.

A new employee, transfer or termination is typical examples of monthly integrations

It is advisable to set the schedule to run in the evening for it not to impact on your

normal daily activities.



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Click on Finish

A WEEKLY SCHEDULE can be set up to run on a specific day of the week at a specific time each day.

It is advisable to set the schedule to run in the evening for it not to impact on your

normal daily activities.

A REPEATED SCHEDULE can be set up to run at specific intervals during the day.

It is advisable NOT to set up integrations to run repeatedly



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6. Troubleshooting

Cannot connect to local host

1. Stop and start the Premier HR services under services.msc, ensure the comms service is started 2. Check the destination of the Payroll directory: Go to

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\IntegratorVIPCommsServer\cvm, open the CBLCONFI with notepad, check if the last line is the correct payroll directory. FILE_PREFIX "C:\SoftlineVIP\Payroll\"

3. Read the latest log files

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\IntegratorScheduler\Logs

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\Logs

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\PremierHR\Integrator_Data 4. Ensure the HR and Integrator databases are still located correctly

Integrations are not running

1. Stop and start the Premier HR Services under services.msc 2. Check the scheduler configuration settings: Go to Start All Programs Softline VIP Premier

HR Scheduler Configuration 3. Read the latest log files

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\IntegratorScheduler\Logs

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\Logs

C:\SoftlineVIP\HR\PremierHR\Integrator_Data

4. Ensure the HR and Integrator databases are still located correctly

Did you know?

The Premier Integrator Comms server acts as a communication medium between the Integrator and

Premier Payroll. It provides The Integrator with a fast, reliable and secure way to communicate with

Premier Payroll over a Network. The installation will ensure that the service is automatically started

once the installation is complete. To check whether the service has started:

Go to Start from your desktop

Select Run

Type ‘services.msc’

The Services Screen will display:



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Check that the service status is set to ‘Started’. Right click to view the properties and start the service

manually should it not have started automatically.

Integrator Comms Service Log Files

The effective working of the Integrator Comms Service is essential for the working of the integrator

and communication between Payroll and HR. The integrator comms service keeps a log file of events

performed by service as well as the status of the service. The Integrator Comms Service log file may

be checked in the event where the integrator does not function properly. The log file may provide

some information with regards to the reasons for the integrator not functioning. This log file can be

opened and viewed for information should you wish to check what events have taken place. The log

file can be found in your directory where the integrator was installed.

Example: C:\SoftlineVIP\Logs

Select Logs

Select the log report you want to view



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Scheduler Service

The Scheduler service checks the Integrator database every minute for integrations to be run. When it

finds one, it starts up the Integrator application to handle the running thereof. The installation will

ensure that the service is automatically started once the installation is complete. To check whether

the service has started:

Go to Start from your desktop

Select Run

Type ‘services.msc’

Check that the service status is set to ‘Started’. Right click to view the properties and start the service

manually should it not have started automatically.

The scheduler keeps a log file of events performed by the Scheduler service as well as the status of

the scheduler. This log file can be opened and viewed for information should you wish to check what

events have taken place. The log file can be found in your directory where the integrator was

installed.



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Example: C:\SoftlineVIP\IntegratorScheduler\Logs

Select Integrator Scheduler

Select Logs

Select the log report you want to view

The information provided in the log files may provide valuable information with regards to the

workings of the services.

Business

Premier HR and Payroll integration