Payroll Process

People's Work Creates Several Obligations

The manufacturing chapter introduced employees' work as part of production. The design-services chapter introduced staff time supporting customers. Payroll now asks how the company supports employee earnings, records the cost, and settles the obligations that follow.

Consider an hourly production employee over a pay period. Follow the approved hours into earnings, employee payment, and the settlement of payroll liabilities. Payroll serves the wider workforce, so keep each investigation's employee and period in view.

The ordinary path begins with expected work and attendance evidence. It then moves into approved hours, a payroll calculation, employee payment, and later remittances. Each stage supplies a different part of the explanation.

Establish the Work Expected and Recorded

A shift defines an expected work pattern. Assignments and rosters place employees into planned workdays. Those records establish what was scheduled, not what was actually worked.

Raw clock punches provide evidence of attendance. An arrival or departure event is useful support, but raw punches are not the approved payroll-hours source in this dataset. Approved daily time records supply the regular and overtime hours used for hourly payroll.

Supervisors provide the approval support. Absence and overtime records can add context when expected and recorded hours differ. An attendance exception identifies an issue for review without establishing misconduct or an automatic payroll hold.

For the first reading, keep three questions separate: what work was expected, what evidence was recorded, and what hours were approved? Payroll needs the approved result, while an investigation may return to the underlying evidence.

Turn Approved Hours into Earnings

Payroll uses approved time to support hourly earnings for the pay period. Regular and overtime hours contribute to the employee's gross pay according to the model's earnings calculations.

A payroll register records the employee's payroll result, with detail lines for earnings, deductions, and employer amounts. It is the main payroll accounting event rather than another attendance record.

Gross pay is the employee's earnings before deductions. Employee deductions reduce the amount paid to the employee and create amounts owed elsewhere. Net pay is the amount owed to the employee after those deductions. Employer costs, such as employer payroll burden, add company cost and related obligations without becoming employee net pay. Manufacturing capitalization follows the recognition rules below.

The distinction explains why one payroll result can create several liabilities. Employee payment addresses net pay, while taxes, withholding, and other deductions have their own settlement responsibilities.

Record the Payroll, Then Settle It

Approved attendance supports payroll without creating an independent posting. PayrollSummary recognizes wages and employer costs from the register facts, with credits to payroll liabilities. Nonmanufacturing amounts are period expense. Qualifying manufacturing labor and related burden debit Manufacturing Cost Clearing (1090) directly. Manufacturing payroll in months with no capitalizable direct labor debits Manufacturing Variance (5080).

Treasury later pays employee net pay. The payroll-payment event reduces accrued payroll and cash. It answers whether the employee obligation was settled, with its own payment date.

Treasury also remits payroll-related liabilities to agencies and benefit providers. These remittances reduce the relevant withholding, tax, and deduction liabilities and cash. Their timing can differ from the employee payment.

This gives the controller two settlement questions: were employees paid, and which other payroll liabilities remain outstanding? Answering the first does not answer the second. The same pay period can have settled employee net pay and open remittance balances at a reporting date.

Follow the Payroll Responsibilities

How does attendance support become payroll, and who settles the resulting obligations? Follow Employees and Supervisors into Payroll, then inspect Treasury's two settlement branches.

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Model scope: One payroll period with employee-level net-pay payments and separate period-level remittance obligations.

Text description and database evidence

1. The payroll period triggers attendance capture and approval of daily time; exception records are evidence for investigation.
2. Payroll accounting calculates and approves a register from supported time and compensation inputs.
3. A parallel split creates two required settlement streams: employee net pay and payroll liability remittance.
4. The join defines eventual completion of both streams, not same-day payment. Either obligation can remain open at a reporting cutoff.

Evidence tables: TimeClockPunch, TimeClockEntry, OvertimeApproval, AttendanceException, PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine, PayrollPayment, PayrollLiabilityRemittance, GLEntry.

Confirm keys and accounting sources in the Schema Reference and Posting Reference.

An attendance flag does not prove an automatic payroll block. The parallel join is a chosen end-state scope, not a reporting prerequisite. Independent time-to-register-to-ledger review is a proposed teaching control.

Editable visual model in Draw.io XML; this is not executable BPMN XML. Notation and model library.

The model separates employee payment from liability remittance. Its parallel settlement branches describe the need to complete both kinds of obligation without requiring both to occur on the same day.

Employees are part of the company participant. Agencies and benefit providers are external recipients. The lane arrangement helps you follow responsibility, while actual approval and payment records establish the evidence for a selected period.

Connect Time, Payroll, and Settlement

This map answers which records support approved work and which establish the accounting and settlement events.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

Solid labeled arrows identify stored keys and explicit ledger sources. Dashed arrows show punch support or summary aggregation. Register recognition, employee payment, and remittance each reach the ledger separately.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 EmployeeShiftRoster to TimeClockEntry: approved hours	Stored FK path	EmployeeShiftRosterID TimeClockEntry.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r2 TimeClockPunch: raw evidence to TimeClockEntry: approved hours	Stored FK path	TimeClockEntryID; raw punches support review of approved time TimeClockPunch.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r3 TimeClockEntry: approved hours to LaborTimeEntry: support and allocation	Stored FK path	TimeClockEntryID LaborTimeEntry.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r4 LaborTimeEntry: support and allocation to PayrollRegisterLine	Stored FK path	LaborTimeEntryID PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID → LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
r5 PayrollRegisterLine to PayrollRegister	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterID PayrollRegisterLine.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID
r6 PayrollRegister to PayrollPayment: net pay	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterID PayrollPayment.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID
r7 PayrollPeriod to PayrollRegister	Stored FK path	PayrollPeriodID PayrollRegister.PayrollPeriodID → PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID
r8 PayrollPeriod to PayrollLiabilityRemittance	Stored FK path	PayrollPeriodID PayrollLiabilityRemittance.PayrollPeriodID → PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID
r9 PayrollRegister to PayrollSummary source label	Analytical match or aggregation	Aggregate period cost center and account
r10 PayrollSummary source label to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollSummary and source ID
r11 PayrollPayment: net pay to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollPayment and source ID
r12 PayrollLiabilityRemittance to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollLiabilityRemittance and source ID

Read each numbered connector with its evidence explanation. Reference paths are not a time sequence; analytical support and account effects do not create additional stored keys.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. PayrollSummary is a constructed posting identifier rather than a physical table. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Follow approved hourly support into earnings detail. Then distinguish employee-level payroll from period-level liability remittances. Repeating a period-level remittance beside every employee would multiply the same amount.

Stage	Accounting meaning
Approved daily time	Supports hourly payroll; no direct posting by itself
Payroll register	Supports summarized recognition of expense or manufacturing cost and the related payroll liabilities
Employee payment	Reduces accrued payroll and cash
Liability remittance	Reduces the relevant payroll liabilities and cash

The dataset's ledger source label for register postings is PayrollSummary. The Posting Reference explains the mapping between source labels and their underlying records.

Connect Payroll Back to Production and Design

For manufacturing, labor allocations can connect approved work to a work-order operation. PayrollSummary posts capitalizable manufacturing labor and related burden directly to 1090. Separate factory-overhead and depreciation journals supply other manufacturing cost support. These sources preserve the standard-cost completion model without a later payroll-to-manufacturing reclassification journal.

Design-service employees also move through payroll, but engagement analysis uses service-time cost snapshots. Their labor remains payroll period expense. A customer billing rate, a service-time cost rate, and a payroll amount answer different questions.

These links let you explain how employee costs relate to the work already encountered in the story. They do not justify attaching the company's entire payroll to one order, work order, or engagement.

Explain Liabilities After Employees Are Paid

Suppose the controller sees employee payments but a payroll liability remains at period end. Begin with the liability category and the reporting date. Inspect the register support and the corresponding remittance evidence.

A later remittance may explain subsequent clearance. It does not erase the earlier outstanding obligation. Equally, an attendance exception calls for review of its support and status before drawing conclusions about earnings or employee conduct.

Preserving the grain of each record helps keep these explanations reliable: daily attendance, employee payroll, and period-level remittances are related evidence at different levels.

Bridge an Event to an Entry

Reuse Lesson 10’s employee 109, period 1. Keep the selected employee result separate from period-wide remittances and period/cost-center ledger summaries.

Event and date basis	Supporting evidence	Why the accounts change	Cutoff question
January 1–14 approved attendance	TimeClockEntry; PayrollPeriod 1	No posting: approved time supports hourly payroll rather than independently recording wages	Are hours approved and in the selected period?
January 19 register approval/posting	PayrollRegister 96; period/cost-center PayrollSummary voucher	Debit wage and employer-cost expense; credit accrued net pay and other payroll liabilities	What register population is summarized in the complete voucher?
Employee payment, January 19	PayrollPayment 96	Debit accrued payroll / credit cash, 1,578.34 each	Is employee net pay settled by the cutoff, and has bank clearance occurred?
Period-wide remittances, January 26, 29, and 31	PayrollLiabilityRemittance for period 1	Debit the respective withholding, tax, or deduction liability / credit cash	Which liability categories remain at the chosen cutoff?

The selected employee’s gross-to-net check is 1,902.64 − 324.30 = 1,578.34. Payment 96 is a complete two-row balanced voucher. Register 96 is not a complete PayrollSummary voucher: that ledger source groups register facts by period and cost center. Follow the source mapping before comparing independently aggregated payroll and ledger amounts.

Predict before revealing: On January 20, does the recorded employee payment establish that period 1’s tax and benefit obligations have also been settled?

Reveal the settlement boundary

No. Employee payment is recorded January 19 and clears the bank January 22. None of the three period-wide remittances is recorded by January 20. Do not allocate those whole-period amounts to this employee merely because the records share a period key.

Check Your Understanding

Which record supplies the approved hours for hourly payroll?

The approved daily attendance record, TimeClockEntry. Raw punches support the review of approved hours without replacing the approved-hours result.

Employees have received net pay. Have all payroll liabilities cleared?

Not necessarily. Employee payment clears net pay, while withholding, tax, and deduction liabilities require their own remittance evidence as of the reporting date.

Next Steps

Continue the company story. The controller brings customer, supplier, production, and workforce activity together. Continue to Manual Journals and Close to see finance record estimates and reporting adjustments.

Investigate this process. Finish Lesson 1, Lesson 2, and Lesson 3, plus Excel setup or SQL setup. Then follow Lesson 10: Follow Hours into Payroll. Check the selected lesson’s further prerequisites before beginning.

Find analytical evidence. Browse People and Payroll queries and related reports. Use the Schema Reference for join keys and the Posting Reference for accounting effects.

Optional Reference

Return to these sections when you have a specific question or an assignment that uses the data. The chapter above can be read without opening a file.

Look up documents, accounting entries, and traceability fields

Core Tables and What They Represent

Process stage	Main tables	Grain or event represented	Why students use them
Shift and attendance setup	ShiftDefinition, EmployeeShiftAssignment, EmployeeShiftRoster, EmployeeAbsence, OvertimeApproval	Expected shift pattern, planned workday, absence support, and approved overtime support	Review workforce expectations before payroll is calculated
Raw attendance evidence	TimeClockPunch	Individual punch events under the approved daily summary	Compare raw attendance evidence to approved time and exception review
Approved daily attendance	TimeClockEntry	One approved worked-day row for hourly payroll support	Measure authoritative regular and overtime hours for hourly employees
Labor traceability	LaborTimeEntry, WorkOrderOperation	Labor allocation row tied to costing and sometimes to a routing operation	Trace approved time into payroll support and manufacturing labor
Gross-to-net payroll	PayrollPeriod, PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine	One employee payroll header with earnings, deductions, and employer burden detail	Analyze payroll posting, gross-to-net logic, and liability creation
Employee settlement	PayrollPayment	Net-pay settlement event	Review when accrued payroll clears in cash
Liability remittance	PayrollLiabilityRemittance	Payment of payroll withholding, tax, and deduction liabilities	Separate employee payment from agency and vendor settlement
Control review	AttendanceException, GLEntry, JournalEntry	Exception log, summarized payroll postings, and separate manufacturing journals	Support audit, payroll control, and manufacturing cost analysis

When Accounting Happens

Event	Business meaning	Accounting effect
Approved time entry	Daily attendance is approved for payroll and labor support	No direct posting by itself
Payroll register	Payroll calculates gross pay, employee deductions, and employer burden	PayrollSummary debits nonmanufacturing expense, capitalizable manufacturing cost in 1090, or noncapitalizable manufacturing payroll in 5080, and credits payroll liabilities
Payroll payment	Treasury clears employee net pay	Debit 2030 Accrued Payroll and credit cash
Payroll liability remittance	Treasury clears withholding, employer-tax, and deduction liabilities	Debit 2031, 2032, or 2033 and credit cash
Other manufacturing cost support	Finance records factory overhead and manufacturing-equipment depreciation separately from payroll	Separate JournalEntry sources debit 1090, or 5080 for factory overhead in months with no capitalizable direct labor. Credits are cash for overhead and accumulated depreciation for depreciation

Key Traceability and Data Notes

• TimeClockEntry is the approved daily attendance source for hourly payroll. It is the main worked-hours record for payroll support.
• TimeClockPunch is raw support beneath that approved layer and should be treated as evidence, not as the authoritative payroll-hours source.
• LaborTimeEntry is the bridge from approved time into costing and payroll traceability, especially when direct manufacturing labor is tied to WorkOrderOperationID.
• PayrollRegister supplies employee-level recognition facts. PayrollSummary groups them by period, cost center, and account for the ledger.
• PayrollPayment and PayrollLiabilityRemittance are separate settlement paths. One clears employee net pay, and the other clears withholding and deduction liabilities later.
• AttendanceException sits beside the normal flow as a control-review table rather than as a posting event.
• Design-service labor stays in payroll expense under the Design Services cost center. Customer-engagement margin is analyzed through ServiceTimeEntry, not capitalized into inventory or manufacturing clearing.

Explore detailed process and analysis paths

Analytical Subsections

Time, Attendance, and Approved Hours

Which hours were expected, recorded, and approved? Follow shifts and rosters into punch evidence and the approved TimeClockEntry. The approved daily result supplies payroll hours, while the underlying records support its review.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

Shift definitions and assignments lead to roster evidence. Roster links to absence, overtime approval, and raw punches; approval and punches support daily time.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 Shift Definition to Employee Shift Assignment	Stored FK path	EmployeeShiftAssignment.ShiftDefinitionID → ShiftDefinition.ShiftDefinitionID
r2 Employee Shift Assignment to Employee Shift Roster	Analytical match or aggregation	Match employee and shift over assignment effective dates; no stored assignment ID on roster
r3 Employee Shift Roster to Employee Absence	Stored FK path	EmployeeAbsence.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r4 Employee Shift Roster to Overtime Approval	Stored FK path	OvertimeApproval.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r5 Overtime Approval to Time Clock Entry	Stored FK path	TimeClockEntry.OvertimeApprovalID → OvertimeApproval.OvertimeApprovalID
r6 Employee Shift Roster to Time Clock Punch	Stored FK path	TimeClockPunch.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r7 Time Clock Punch to Time Clock Entry	Stored FK path	TimeClockPunch.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID

Read each numbered connector with its evidence explanation. Reference paths are not a time sequence; analytical support and account effects do not create additional stored keys.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Tables involved

Table	Role in the flow
ShiftDefinition, EmployeeShiftAssignment	Define the expected shift pattern for hourly workers
EmployeeShiftRoster	Shows who was scheduled to work, where, and for how many hours
EmployeeAbsence, OvertimeApproval	Capture planned absences and approved extra hours
TimeClockPunch	Stores raw punch evidence beneath the approved summary
TimeClockEntry	Stores the approved worked day that payroll uses

warning

TimeClockPunch is raw evidence, not the authoritative payroll-hours source. Use TimeClockEntry when the question is about approved hours, regular pay, overtime pay, or payroll support.

Starter analytical question: Which work centers show the biggest gap between rostered hours, approved hours, and approved overtime?

Analytical plan

• Objective: Compare expected hours, raw attendance evidence, and approved daily time.
• Evidence path: EmployeeShiftRoster -> TimeClockPunch -> TimeClockEntry, plus EmployeeAbsence and OvertimeApproval.
• Comparison: Group by work center, shift, or payroll period.

Approved Hours to Gross Pay

Once daily time is approved, payroll turns that support into gross pay. Hourly earnings use approved TimeClockEntry hours, while LaborTimeEntry adds the labor-traceability layer that helps students connect approved time to payroll lines and direct manufacturing support.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

Approved time matches payroll by employee and period; labor allocations link through PayrollRegisterLine. PayrollPeriod identifies the register population.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 TimeClockEntry to PayrollRegister	Analytical match or aggregation	EmployeeID and PayrollPeriodID; aggregate hours
r2 TimeClockEntry to LaborTimeEntry	Stored FK path	TimeClockEntryID LaborTimeEntry.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r3 LaborTimeEntry to PayrollRegisterLine	Stored FK path	LaborTimeEntryID PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID → LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
r4 PayrollRegisterLine to PayrollRegister	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterID PayrollRegisterLine.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID
r5 PayrollPeriod to PayrollRegister	Stored FK path	PayrollPeriodID PayrollRegister.PayrollPeriodID → PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID

Keep the record grains separate. Foreign-key paths, analytical matches, and business context answer different questions; read the numbered evidence table before joining.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Tables involved

Table	Role in the flow
TimeClockEntry	Supplies approved regular and overtime hours for hourly payroll
LaborTimeEntry	Carries the costing and payroll-support bridge at the labor-entry level
PayrollPeriod	Anchors the biweekly payroll calendar
PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine	Store gross-to-net payroll and the supporting detail lines

Key joins

• TimeClockEntry.PayrollPeriodID -> PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID
• LaborTimeEntry.TimeClockEntryID -> TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
• PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID -> LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
• PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID -> PayrollRegisterLine.PayrollRegisterID

Analytical plan

• Objective: Trace approved hourly support into earnings lines on the payroll register.
• Evidence path: TimeClockEntry -> LaborTimeEntry -> PayrollRegisterLine, plus PayrollRegister.
• Comparison: Compare regular and overtime hours to regular and overtime earnings by employee or period.

Gross-to-Net, Payment, and Remittance

Which payroll obligations were created and settled? Follow the register into employee net-pay payments and the separate period-level remittances. Compare their dates before explaining which liabilities remain.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

A register creates accrued net pay and other payroll liabilities. Employee payment and liability remittance settle separate branches; register and settlement records connect to the ledger.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 Payroll Register to Payroll Payment	Stored FK path	Employee-register payment PayrollPayment.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID
r2 Payroll Register to PayrollPeriod	Stored FK path	PayrollPeriodID PayrollRegister.PayrollPeriodID → PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID
r3 PayrollPeriod to Payroll Liability Remittance	Stored FK path	Period-level remittance PayrollLiabilityRemittance.PayrollPeriodID → PayrollPeriod.PayrollPeriodID
r4 Payroll Register to Calculated employee net pay	Business context or account effect	Register measure
r5 Payroll Register to Calculated tax and benefit obligations	Business context or account effect	Register measure
r6 Payroll Register to PayrollSummary source label	Analytical match or aggregation	Aggregate by period, cost center, and account
r7 PayrollSummary source label to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollSummary and source ID
r8 Payroll Payment to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollPayment and source ID
r9 Payroll Liability Remittance to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollLiabilityRemittance and source ID

Read each numbered connector with its evidence explanation. Reference paths are not a time sequence; analytical support and account effects do not create additional stored keys.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. PayrollSummary is a constructed posting identifier rather than a physical table. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Tables involved

Table	Role in the flow
PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine	Create the gross-to-net and liability detail for each employee
PayrollPayment	Clears employee net pay
PayrollLiabilityRemittance	Clears tax and deduction liabilities later
GLEntry	Shows the posted expense, liability, and cash effects

Starter analytical question: Which payroll liabilities remain open after employees are paid, and how long do those remittance balances stay outstanding?

Analytical plan

• Objective: Separate payroll posting from employee payment and later remittance.
• Evidence path: PayrollRegister -> PayrollPayment and PayrollLiabilityRemittance, with GLEntry for posted effect.
• Comparison: Compare approved payroll date, payment date, and remittance date by payroll period.

Manufacturing Payroll and Cost Support

Approved time and labor allocations support the production explanation. PayrollSummary recognizes capitalizable manufacturing labor and related burden directly in Manufacturing Cost Clearing (1090). Manufacturing payroll in months with no capitalizable direct labor goes to Manufacturing Variance (5080). Nonmanufacturing wages and burden remain period expense. Factory overhead and depreciation have separate journal sources.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

Labeled solid arrows identify stored keys. Dashed arrows identify aggregation or analytical support. PayrollSummary posts directly to the ledger. Factory overhead and depreciation have separate journal routes.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 TimeClockEntry to LaborTimeEntry	Stored FK path	TimeClockEntryID LaborTimeEntry.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r2 LaborTimeEntry to WorkOrderOperation	Stored FK path	WorkOrderOperationID LaborTimeEntry.WorkOrderOperationID → WorkOrderOperation.WorkOrderOperationID
r3 LaborTimeEntry to PayrollRegisterLine	Stored FK path	LaborTimeEntryID PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID → LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
r4 PayrollRegisterLine to PayrollRegister	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterID PayrollRegisterLine.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID
r5 PayrollRegister to PayrollSummary source label	Analytical match or aggregation	Aggregate by period cost center and account
r6 PayrollSummary source label to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type PayrollSummary and source ID
r7 JournalEntry factory overhead and depreciation to GLEntry	Type-qualified ledger source	GLEntry source type JournalEntry and source ID

Read each numbered connector with its evidence explanation. Reference paths are not a time sequence; analytical support and account effects do not create additional stored keys.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. PayrollSummary is a constructed posting identifier rather than a physical table. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Tables involved

Table	Role in the flow
TimeClockEntry, LaborTimeEntry	Carry approved time and labor allocation into costing analysis
WorkOrderOperation	Shows which routing operation consumed the direct labor
PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine	Provide employee facts for period/cost-center payroll summaries
JournalEntry, GLEntry	Show direct PayrollSummary recognition and separate factory-overhead and depreciation journal postings

Key joins

• LaborTimeEntry.WorkOrderOperationID -> WorkOrderOperation.WorkOrderOperationID
• PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID -> LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
• GLEntry.SourceDocumentType plus SourceDocumentID for each actual posting source. PayrollSummary uses a constructed summary identifier, not PayrollRegisterID.

Analytical plan

• Trace manufacturing labor from approved time into operational support, then compare payroll facts with their summarized ledger recognition.
• Follow stored time and register-line keys. Aggregate employee facts independently before comparing period/cost-center totals with PayrollSummary.
• Keep work-order labor support separate from pooled clearing. Voucher PRS-0002-004, dated February 2, 2024, debits 1090 for 169,382.48. Its five ledger rows balance at that amount, with credits to four payroll liabilities. Its period 2, cost center 4, and constructed source ID 1002004 identify the summary, not an individual register. Use the summary mapping and reconciliation method.

Design-Service Labor Support

Not every labor-support question in the dataset ends in manufacturing. Design employees can support customer engagements directly. In that path, payroll still records the wages and liabilities in the normal way, but ServiceTimeEntry carries the approved billable and non-billable hours plus the labor-cost snapshot used for customer-engagement margin analysis.

Capitalizable manufacturing payroll is recognized directly in clearing. Design-service labor remains payroll period expense, while service-time records supply the cost snapshots for engagement analysis.

Attendance Exceptions and Control Review

Which attendance concerns need follow-up? Use AttendanceException to connect a logged issue with roster expectations, punch evidence, approved hours, and any downstream payroll support. Inspect its status and evidence before reaching a conclusion.

Record and accounting evidence map

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Read the connectors and evidence boundaries

Roster, raw punches, and approved time feed attendance-exception evidence. Approved time also connects to payroll; an exception link does not establish a payment block.

Line and path	Meaning	Evidence to check
r1 Employee Shift Roster to Time Clock Punch	Stored FK path	TimeClockPunch.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r2 Time Clock Punch to Time Clock Entry	Stored FK path	TimeClockPunch.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r3 Employee Shift Roster to Attendance Exception	Stored FK path	AttendanceException.EmployeeShiftRosterID → EmployeeShiftRoster.EmployeeShiftRosterID
r4 Time Clock Entry to Attendance Exception	Stored FK path	AttendanceException.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r5 Time Clock Entry to LaborTimeEntry	Stored FK path	LaborTimeEntry.TimeClockEntryID → TimeClockEntry.TimeClockEntryID
r6 LaborTimeEntry to PayrollRegisterLine	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterLine.LaborTimeEntryID → LaborTimeEntry.LaborTimeEntryID
r7 PayrollRegisterLine to Payroll Register	Stored FK path	PayrollRegisterLine.PayrollRegisterID → PayrollRegister.PayrollRegisterID

Read each numbered connector with its evidence explanation. Reference paths are not a time sequence; analytical support and account effects do not create additional stored keys.

Each box identifies a record, source label, or interpretive context. Check dates and grouping before comparing operational support with postings.

Focused ER maps and table grains · Posting sources and account effects

Tables involved

Table	Role in the flow
EmployeeShiftRoster	Defines the planned shift baseline
TimeClockPunch	Shows raw evidence when attendance is questioned
TimeClockEntry	Shows the approved time that payroll used
AttendanceException	Stores the logged control-review issue
PayrollRegister	Helps students see whether the exception still affected paid payroll

Starter analytical question: Which exception types are most common by work center, and how often do they still end up supporting paid hourly payroll?

Analytical plan

• Objective: Compare planned shifts, raw attendance evidence, approved time, and logged exceptions.
• Evidence path: AttendanceException -> EmployeeShiftRoster and TimeClockEntry, with TimeClockPunch for evidence.
• Comparison: Group by exception type, work center, supervisor, or payroll period.

Evaluate controls and try the optional AIS activity

Risks, Controls, and Evidence

Risk and control objective	Evidence available	Teaching boundary
Unsupported paid hours: relate approved hours to attendance evidence	EmployeeShiftRoster, TimeClockPunch, TimeClockEntry, OvertimeApproval, EmployeeAbsence	Raw punches are evidence, not the authoritative hours source; compare specific approval fields and dates
Unresolved attendance concern: identify follow-up before drawing a conclusion	AttendanceException status, reviewer, and review-date fields	A logged issue does not prove misconduct, an automatic pay hold, or completed review
Incomplete liability settlement: distinguish employee net pay from remittances	PayrollRegister, PayrollPayment, PayrollLiabilityRemittance, GLEntry	An independent liability roll-forward and approval review is a proposed teaching control; payment alone does not establish all obligations cleared

Optional AIS Activity: Evaluate Time and Settlement Evidence

Context and objective: a payroll review needs to distinguish supported hourly earnings, employee payment, and later liability remittance. Read the model's responsibilities and identify one control objective without treating every attendance exception as wrongdoing.

Prerequisites, tools, and sources: review gross-to-net payroll and the time-source distinctions on this page. Use a SQL tool with the published SQLite file, or Excel filters and lookups, plus a copy of the editable Draw.io model. Sources are Employee, PayrollPeriod, EmployeeShiftRoster, TimeClockPunch, TimeClockEntry, AttendanceException, PayrollRegister, PayrollRegisterLine, PayrollPayment, PayrollLiabilityRemittance, and GLEntry. Add absence, overtime, or labor records when relevant.

1. State the source file, employee, pay period, reporting date, and source keys. Annotate the approved-time, register, and settlement activities.
2. Compare selected hourly support with earnings, then inspect employee payment and period-level remittances separately. Do not duplicate a period-level remittance across employee register rows.
3. Propose one independent review and label it a proposed teaching control. State its risk, objective, owner, evidence, test, and unresolved follow-up in the workshop matrix.

Assessed deliverable: submit an annotated model, a reproducible evidence schedule that preserves each source's grain, and the risk/control row. Explain which liability or attendance issue warrants review as of the selected date and what cannot be concluded from the records. The sample does not establish all employee entitlements, successful bank execution, or control effectiveness. Continue through the existing attendance and workforce cases and payroll reports below.

Choose a further investigation

Questions for Further Investigation

• Which employees are hourly and expected to have approved time-clock support?

• How do approved regular and overtime hours turn into gross pay?

• Which liabilities remain open after payroll is posted?

• How do payroll payments differ from payroll liability remittances?

• Which work centers generate the most approved overtime?

• Which direct labor entries are tied to specific work-order operations?

• Which attendance exceptions still appear alongside approved or paid payroll activity?

• How does payroll support manufacturing labor analysis without changing the dataset to full actual-cost inventory?

• Read People and Payroll to connect people cost, approved time, payroll cash, liabilities, and control review in one report topic.

• Read Explain Staffing, Overtime, and Payroll Cost or Investigate Exceptions and Recommend Controls when you want a guided payroll or time-control investigation.

• Jump to Time, Attendance, and Approved Hours when you want the upstream support layer for hourly payroll.

• Read Manufacturing when you want the production side of direct labor and work-order traceability.

• Read GLEntry Posting Reference and Schema Reference when you need the detailed payroll posting or join logic.