Time Transaction Import Format

The Import Time Transactions item in the Pay menu is used to import time transactions from non-MYOB software. Transactions can be imported from files in the DBF, CSV or TXT formats.

NOTE: The Import Time Transactions menu item must be enabled on the Special Options Setup window in the Payroll Setup.

The following is a file specification for a transaction file from which Exo Payroll can import data from non-MYOB sources into the Current Pay. This file can potentially hold wages, allowances, deductions and all manner of paid leave transactions, along with job costing information where applicable.

The import file should contain all wages and time based allowances for the employees for the whole current pay period. The files must be copied to the directory specified on the Import tab of the Special Options Setup window.

File Name Format

Import files must be named <company>_timetran_<id>.csv, <company>_timetran_<id>.dbf or <company>_timetran_<id>.txt, where:

<company> is the name of the directory that the company file is stored in. When selecting files to import, only files where <company> matches the current company will be available.
<id> is a unique ID number for the import file. This can be any number.

For example, mycompany_timetran_2.dbf or payrollco_timetran_15.csv.

After a file has been imported, it is renamed automatically to add "_IMPORTED" to the file name, e.g. mycompany_imported_ timetran_2.dbf.

Structure for DBF Import Files

Field	Field Name	Type	Width	Decimals	Example
1	STAFF_CODE	Numeric	6	0	9
2	TYPE	Character	1		A
3	UNITS	Numeric	8	2	40.00
4	WAGE_TYPE	Numeric	1	0	1
5	ALLOW_CODE	Numeric	3	0	3
6	COSTCENTRE	Numeric	12	0	12
7	UNITS2	Numeric	8	2	40.00
8	WAGECODE	Numeric	1	0	1
9	RATE	Numeric	8	4	12.9975
10	DESCRIPT	Character	60		Alternate description
11	DAYSTAKEN	Memo	n/a		01/05/2010 02/05/2010 03/05/2010

NOTE: Dates in the DAYSTAKEN field are delimited by a carriage return and line feed (CR/LF).

Structure for CSV Import Files

Field	Field Name	Type	Width	Decimals	Example
1	STAFF_CODE	Numeric	6	0	9
2	TYPE	Character	1		A
3	UNITS	Numeric	8	2	40.00
4	WAGE_TYPE	Numeric	1	0	1
5	ALLOW_CODE	Numeric	3	0	3
6	COSTCENTRE	Numeric	12	0	12
7	UNITS2	Numeric	8	2	40.00
8	WAGECODE	Numeric	1	0	1
9	DESCRIPT	Character	60		Alternate description
10	DAYSTAKEN	Character	n/a		01/05/2010\|02/05/2010\|03/05/2010
11	RATE	Numeric	8	4	12.9975

NOTE: Dates in the DAYSTAKEN field are delimited by the | (pipe) character.

Structure for TXT Import Files

Field	Field Name	Type	Width	Decimals	Example
1	STAFF_CODE	Numeric	6	0	9
2	TYPE	Character	1		A
3	UNITS	Numeric	8	2	40.00
4	WAGE_TYPE	Numeric	1	0	1
5	ALLOW_CODE	Numeric	3	0	3
6	COSTCENTRE	Numeric	12	0	12
7	RATE	Numeric	8	4	12.9975

Field Formats and Codes

Field	Possible Values	Description
STAFF_CODE	1 to 999999	Unique identifier for a specific employee. This must match the existing Code for the employee in Exo Payroll, as displayed on the Employee Maintenance screen.
TYPE	H	Wage Hours - If a value is specified in the RATE field, this will be used as the hourly rate; otherwise the employee's default is used. Wage hours can have blank Cost Centres. If the COSTCENTRE field is blank, the import routine will apply the employee’s default.
	A	Allowance - For Allowances already allocated an identifier. The identifier, which is the value in ALLOW_CODE, must already exist in Exo Payroll. Allowances require units, wage type, and optionally Cost Centres to be entered, and will ignore all subsequent fields except RATE. When importing Allowances, the wage type cannot be blank. If you are performing an import for Allowances, and are not requiring a wage type, set all values to “1”. Optionally, you can enter a wage rate. If you require this, the RATE field must be populated, but UNITS2 and WAGECODE must be blank.
	S	Sick Leave - This is the total hours or days paid to this employee in this import period.
	O	Holiday - This is the sum of all hours or days paid as standard holidays for one employee in this import.
	D	Days/Hours Paid - Only one type D transaction per employee is allowed.
	E	Deduction - This is for Deductions already allocated an identifier. The identifier, which is the value in ALLOW_CODE, must already exist in Exo Payroll.
	N	Long Service Leave
	B	Bereavement Leave
	P	Public Holiday Not Worked - This usually applies to employees who would normally have worked, had the day not been a public holiday
	F	Shift Leave
	T	Other Leave
	U	Unpaid Leave
	R	Relevant Days Paid - The number of days paid for the purposes of valuing a relevant daily rate
	V	Family Violence Leave
	Y	Alternate Leave Accrued - This usually applies to employees who have worked a public holiday
	Z	Alternate Leave Paid
UNITS	-9999.99 to 99999.99	The number of units for a transaction
WAGE_TYPE	1 to 9	The code number of the wage rate multiplier to use.
ALLOW_CODE	1 to 999	Unique identifier for an Allowance or Deduction. Must be left blank if the TYPE is not A or E. For these types, it must specify an existing code (cannot be used to create a new one).
COSTCENTRE		Unique identifier for the Cost Centre that the transaction is to be charged to. Only one Cost Centre can be assigned to a transaction; to apply multiple Cost Centres, use multiple transactions. If no Cost Centre is specified, the employee's default will be applied.
UNITS2	-9999.99 to 99999.99	The number of units to reduce this entitlement type by.
WAGECODE	1 to 9	Unique identifier of the Hourly Rate to use. If multiple Hourly Rates are not used, set this to 1.
RATE	-9999.99 to 99999.99	The allowance rate for type A transactions, the amount to override a wage line payment for type H (if multiple hours rates are turned off), or the number of days to reduce entitlement for types S,Z,B,P.
DESCRIPT	Text, up to 60 characters	A description for Allowances and wage lines.
DAYSTAKEN	Text, formatted dd/mm/yyyy	A list of dates that the employee accrued or extended leave on. In DBF files, dates are separated by a carriage return; in CSV files, dates are separated by the \| (pipe) character.

Other Considerations for Importing

Transaction units (excluding wages and allowances) must be summed where there is a common transaction type.
A discrepancy report is available showing any invalid transactions. This must be printed directly after the import.
In the CSV format there is a maximum of 25 dates of the format dd/mm/yyyy or 30 of the format dd/mm/yy per line. This is a limitation of the format itself. If more dates are required, the DBF format will need to be used.