Payroll · Daily operations · 10 min read

Payment instructions, bank files and WPS

Raise payment instructions, prepare a bank file or a UAE WPS SIF file, release it, record the bank's answer and repair rejections.

Before you begin

• The run is Posted, and the Payment instructions and bank files feature is on.
• Employees have a bank account with a valid IBAN.
• For WPS: payments are in AED, each employee has a MOHRE person reference or labour card number in HR, and you know the MOHRE establishment number (13 digits), the paying agent's routing code (9 digits) and each bank's 9-digit routing code.
• The person who prepares a file cannot release it.

Steps

Raise instructions

1. Open the posted run and click Raise payment instructions.
2. The system creates one instruction per payslip with net above zero, with the pay date as value date. Someone with no bank account is skipped and an exception is raised: 'No instruction for ...: no bank account on file.' Raising again creates no duplicates.

Prepare a generic bank file

1. Click Prepare payment file.
2. The file PF-<run>-01 is built in format GENERIC-CSV-1: a header with count and total, one row per instruction (IBAN and amount to 2 decimals), and a trailer.

Prepare a WPS file

1. Click Prepare WPS file (SIF).
2. Enter the MOHRE establishment number (13 digits).
3. Enter the Paying agent routing code (9 digits).
4. In Each bank's routing code, enter one bank=code line per bank, for example 033=803320101. The bank code is characters 5 to 7 of the IBAN.
5. Confirm. The file is named <MOHRE><yyMMddHHmmss>.SIF, with one employee record per person and a control record with the count and total in AED.

Release and record the answer

1. Open Payroll > Payment files and the file. Download it to check; its SHA-256 matches the stored one.
2. A different user with payroll.pay_release clicks Release to bank.
3. When the bank answers, click Bank accepted all or Bank rejected all.

Repair a rejection

1. Correct the employee's bank details through the normal bank-change process.
2. Open the rejected instruction and click Repair. A new instruction PI-...-2 is raised. Payroll is not rerun; the payslip and journal stay as they were.
3. Prepare a new file for it and release it.

What happens next

• Instructions are Pending, then In file, Accepted, Rejected, Unknown or Invalidated. The file moves Prepared, Released, Accepted.
• Cancel file (before release) returns the instructions to Pending.
• If an employee's bank details change after the instruction was raised, it becomes Invalidated and leaves the file. If they change before release, the file is withdrawn: 'The file was withdrawn: bank details changed before release.'
• Tracking is under Payroll > Reporting > Payment status.

Good to know

• 'A payment file is released by somebody other than whoever prepared it.'
• 'The stored file no longer matches its hash. It will not be released.'
• An accepted instruction cannot be reversed: 'An accepted instruction cannot be reversed here.'
• WPS errors list the cause: 'The SIF cannot be written: PI-...: no 9-digit routing code for bank 033', or '...: no MOHRE person reference or labour card number on the employee', or 'WPS pays in dirhams; an instruction is in another currency.'
• Give the establishment number and routing codes exactly: 'Give the MOHRE establishment number (13 digits) and the paying agent's routing code (9).'
• The SIF is simplified. Days are the calendar days of the period for everyone, all pay is shown as fixed, variable pay is 0.00 and leave days are 0. Bank-specific SIF variants are not available. Have your bank or a specialist confirm the file before live use.
• The generic file's on-screen disclaimer still says it is not the WPS format. That is correct for the generic file.
• The Repair button appears only for rejected instructions.