Wagemaster Quick Start
Step 1: Install Wagemaster Payroll Program
Congratulations! As you are reading this message, it means you have successfully completed Step 1 by installing the Wagemaster payroll program.
It is important that you also run through this process for all users that are required to access and use Wagemaster. We would generally recommend that Wagemaster is installed on each computer and the backup is made to File Manager at all times.
Step 2: Create A Company File
The installation program will have installed a Wagemaster payroll icon on the desktop and a menu option in the Programs section of the Start menu. Start Wagemaster payroll by clicking on the icon and the program will open to display the work area. You now need to create a company file to hold all the data about the company and its employees. Creating a company file is the equivalent of opening a new document in a word processor so that you can start a new letter.
From the File menu, select the New Company option to start the New Company Wizard which will guide you through the process of creating a company file. You must enter the:
- Business identification details.
- Define a pay period.
- You may also enter other business contact information if desired.
Please ensure that you do not enter spaces in the ABN field. It is also important that you set your correct country and financial year information in the wizard and input the number of active employees as 5 for integration purposes to setup all employee files. You will have access to up to 35 employees. Although the information that you must enter is minimal, the Wizard may take up to ten minutes if you choose to download award, base pay rate, and other setup data from participating employer associations.
Nevertheless, downloading the data may save considerable time in later setting up activities. We recommend skipping the award step and upload award pdls from our Help Centre later.
The Wizard will automatically print a registration form on completion of the creation process. This form must be mailed to the Customer Support team so that you can be issued with a licence number.
The licensing system requires that you register the company within 60 days, or further access will be denied. Therefore you do not have to wait for the licence number before proceeding with setting up.
Step 3: Setup Department Records
If you are planning to use the Wagemaster Payroll General Ledger System to export payroll data to a company accounting system, you are advised to consider your accounting requirements before setting up departments and employee numbering systems. You may find, for example, that you wish to pad employee numbers, which can be easily done by using the employee number mask so that they are of a fixed length, and that department for accounting purposes must be the same for payroll purposes.
Before you create employee records, you must setup some central records that are used by all employees, such as departmental structure, superannuation funds, banks, awards, allowances and so on. Then when you create the employee records, you can quickly select the relevant option(s) from those defined. These central records are all managed in the Setup menu area.
If you wish to analyse your payroll by department, you must setup the company's department structure in Wagemaster payroll. Departments and sub-departments are displayed in an easy to follow tree format, via the Departments option of the setup menu. If you do not wish to analyse the payroll by department, just setup one department to which all employees can be nominated - use the business name or area of work for example.
Step 4: Setup Superannuation Fund Records
Most businesses are obliged to contribute superannuation on behalf of employees, and some employees may also make voluntary payments. You must create a record for each super fund to which you will send contributions so that Wagemaster payroll can group the contributions and make the required reports. Superfund records are added via the Superannuation option of the Setup menu.
Step 5: Setup Union Records
Some businesses offer a service to collect union fees from employees' pays and pass them onto the union. You must create a record for each union for which you will collect the fees so that Wagemaster payroll can group them and make the required reports. Union records are added via the Union option of the Setup menu.
Step 6: Setup Bank Records
If you are planning to make any payroll payments by EFT, you will need to setup the details of each bank via the Banks option of the Setup menu. Wagemaster payroll can then use that information to group payment data and create the correctly formatted payment reports or files.
Please note that you usually only need one bank record for each bank name, regardless of the number of different branches of the bank that employees use. We can also setup non-EFT banks in this area as are applicable to areas outside Australia.
Step 7: Setup Award Records
The award files in Wagemaster payroll contain the factors used to calculate the payments and leave accrual for employees. These factors may come from any source including industrial awards, Enterprise bargains or individual contracts. The award and base pay rate records work together to determine the dollar payment rate for all work payments. When you were setting up the company in step 2, you may have downloaded some awards, base pay rate, allowance and tax records in the New Company Wizard, from an association.
You can upload award pdls from our Help Centre if you chose to skip that step. The wizard may have also installed other sample records in these areas. If you use any of these records, it is your responsibility to check that they are correct for your purposes.
Wagemaster does not warrant that this data is correct, nor will it be held liable for any losses resulting from the use of this data. You may edit existing award files or create your own if the existing award files do not cover your employees. The award files are managed via the Awards option of the Setup menu. The award files must be created before setting up the employee files.
Step 8: Setup Base Pay Rate Records
The base pay rate records hold the basic rate per hour for various categories and grades of work. For example, Chef Grade 1: $15.95. These are used by the award interpreter in calculating the pays, using the rules set in the award files. In this example, if Chef Grade 1 were linked to a casual award that paid them an additional 25% on top, it would appear as $19.94 per hour on the payslip.
You may edit existing base pay rate records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The base pay rate records are managed via the Base Pay Rates option of the Setup menu. The base pay rate records must be created before setting up the employee files.
Step 9: Setup Tax Records
The central tax records hold the factors required to calculate PAYG Withholding Tax, Medicare, and Tax Rebates. Suitable tax scales and rebates must be nominated for each employee and these are applied automatically when the payslips are produced.
The software is installed with the current tax tables. You may edit existing tax tables and rebate records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The tax rebate records and tax tables are managed via the Tax option of the Setup menu. The tax records must be created before setting up the employee file, although tax rebate records may be setup later if required.
Please note that tax table factors are set to apply on a weekly basis while tax rebates are set to apply on an annual basis, and Wagemaster payroll will automatically pro-rata these over the applicable pay period.
Step 10: Setup Allowance Records
The central allowance records hold information regarding additions to the pay such as travel allowance and deductions from the pay such as staff club fees. These can be applied automatically to selected employees, every time their payslip is produced.
You may edit existing allowance records or create your own if the existing records do not cover your employees. The allowance records are managed via the Allowances option of the Setup menu. It is best to create the allowance records before setting up the employee files, although it is easy to create allowances later if required.
Step 11: Create Employee Records
Now that you have the central records setup for the company, adding employees is a breeze. Employee files are created by the New Employee Wizard, which is an option on the Employee menu. The Wizard allows you to supply the key identifying information and link the employee to the common records created in the previous steps. The employee files also hold all the specific employee information including personal and work information, accrued pay information and leave records.
On finishing the Wizard, the employee record will be created and is then accessible via the Edit Employee option of the Employee menu. The record will hold the minimum information that is technically required to produce a payslip. However, some employees may require additional employee tax information including Medicare factors and tax rebates, additional superannuation contributions, selection of allowances, nomination for a union, and additional pay destinations, before producing their payslip.
Step 12: Nominate Public Holidays
Before you produce the first payslips, it is recommended that you setup the public holiday records. These are created via the Public Holiday option from the Setup menu, and allow you to preset all the public holidays for the year (and further if required). Public holidays may be fixed to a specific work location, as defined in the Locations option of the HR menu. Having this setup allows Wagemaster payroll to automatically implement the public holiday requirements of the awards when producing the payslips.
Step 13: Load Accrued Leave Values
In most situations where you are setting up Wagemaster payroll for an existing organisation, some employees will already have accrued entitlements to leave which need to be transferred to the new system. If you are setting up to commence operation of Wagemaster payroll at any time other than the start of the financial year, you may also wish to enter the year to date gross pay, tax amounts, and so on for all employees. Contact Customer Support for the customised instructions.
Step 14: Produce The Payroll
Congratulations! Your system is now ready to produce the payroll.
Typically, the payroll process starts with setting the pay period ending (PPE) date, then opening the timesheet for the first employee. The start time and finish time are entered for each block of work. If different from the predefined settings, the department and base pay rate can be changed. The payslip is then calculated according to the timesheet and the award file before the program moves to the adjustment area. Please refer to the Timesheet Quick Reference chart below and Process Pay section on our Help Centre. 
If required, payments for leave and changes to the calculations based on the default employee settings can be made in the adjustment area, prior to previewing and saving the payslip. When all the required payslips have been saved for the pay period, it is time to print the payslips and make the payments. Using electronic funds transfer, payments can also be made automatically. Once management and payroll reports (such as superannuation and tax) are prepared and distributed, and the company file is backed up, the payroll production process is complete.
Step 15: Beyond The First Payroll
Having produced the first payslips, you may like to explore some of the other exciting features in Wagemaster payroll. The other topics in the Help Centre linked here provide some general explanatory information that is worth looking through. You may also like to explore the basic HR management information areas and the advanced HR tools available in Wagemaster payroll. Be sure to read the topics on the report viewer and query viewer so that you can get the best from Wagemaster payroll's reporting tools.
Please note that the examples used in the help system are fictitious and are not derived from or for any known person or business. The program can be uninstalled at any time using the Windows uninstall system, available via the Start button, Settings option, Control Panel item. Please note that this will remove all the program files, but will not remove any company data file(s), although these may be deleted independently if required.
Please then follow this article: Link A Wagemaster File To An Agrimaster File
Please Note
The information provided above is intended as a quick start guide only. For more comprehensive information on these areas, please go through the steps linked here or refer to the help articles available from here.
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