Create a period, collect its configured inputs, calculate, and review the saved result. Calculation, review, and downloading files are separate steps; none submits or pays payroll.
Prerequisites
- Access to the correct payroll account.
- Permission for the offered action. Payroll operators can start guarded calculations; some dashboard period-management actions still require account-administrator access.
- A usable validated Canvas configuration and ready provider connections for the selected account.
- A date range within the maximum shown by the date picker.
Create a payroll period
- Open Pay periods.
- Select Create period.
- Choose the start and end dates in the account's displayed timezone.
- Wait for PayCanvas to open the run and start its configured source workflow.
- Open Collect sources to monitor provider and report requirements.
Creating a period does not calculate payroll. In an API-first workspace, connected source collection starts after the run opens. Other configured profiles may wait for a required recovery or historical report.
Calculate the run
- Confirm that source readiness is complete.
- Review the date range, settings version, source freshness, and any displayed blockers.
- Select Calculate.
- Confirm the calculation prompt.
- Leave the workspace open or return later; the server worker persists job progress.
The calculation pins the source snapshot and validated Canvas settings shown in the preview. Replaying a saved resolution uses those same inputs without downloading provider data again. Collecting new provider data is a separate action, not an automatic consequence of reviewing a result.
Review the result
- Open Review payroll and compare automatic earnings, resolutions, adjustments, and final totals.
- Select an employee to inspect contributing line items and source evidence.
- Review Tip Pools and Photo Pools, when configured, for allocated and unassigned amounts.
- Open Resolve issues for every underlying question that could affect pay.
- Use Audit to trace an employee and operating day to rules, decisions, and retained references.
- Open Payroll result only after the displayed checks are understood.
Understand the status
| Calculation status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Hard Blocked | PayCanvas cannot produce a trustworthy result. Follow the named missing-input, access, or integrity blocker before trying again. |
| Complete — Needs Review | Safe amounts were calculated, but pay-affecting questions remain. Known affected money is held; an unknown amount is not treated as zero. |
| Complete | Calculation and balancing checks passed with no open pay-affecting questions. This is not approval or payment. |
You may also see provisional or final for calculation finality. Job progress such as collecting or calculating, and period lifecycle such as archived, describe different things. An archived period can still contain a result needing review. An internal historical comparison is not a prerequisite for a usable calculation when the validated Canvas and required inputs are ready.
Expected result
The run keeps a saved calculation result with references to the source data, settings, employee mappings, calculation version, and balancing checks that produced it. A result may be provisional or final.
Current boundary: Payroll result is a review-and-download surface. Checking Totals and files reviewed does not approve or lock the run. Official payroll approval, provider submission, worksheet email delivery, and payment are not enabled there.
Troubleshooting
- Create period is disabled: review the displayed policy, connection, date-range, or authorization blocker.
- Source collection failed: open Collect sources and use the offered retry or recovery action; do not create duplicate periods without checking the existing run.
- Calculate is disabled: the source assembly is not ready, the period is outside its valid lifecycle, or calculation is not enabled for the deployment.
- The result is provisional: review the listed pay-affecting items. Unaffected pay remains visible; known affected money stays held, and unpriced questions remain explicitly unresolved.
- The period is archived: inspect its retained result. Use only an offered, authorized reopen or recovery action if correction is needed; do not assume archiving approved the payroll.