Table of Contents

Set up SwissSalary for payroll processing

Before you settle salaries for employees, set up the common payroll foundations for social insurance, allocation groups, posting, calendars, bank, working time, and payment in SwissSalary and Business Central. A coordinated setup prevents errors from surfacing only during the payroll run or posting. Payroll administration does this together with finance and HR specialists — during initial setup and before the first productive payroll run, and again when the foundations change structurally.

Prerequisites

You need:

  • the OASI, UI, family allowance fund (FAK), occupational pension (BVG), and insurance information that applies to your company,
  • the chart of accounts and cost center plan in Business Central,
  • the required allocation groups and working groups,
  • working time and public holiday rules,
  • the bank account you use to pay salaries,
  • the permission to change the SwissSalary setup.
Wichtig

Reconcile contribution rates, thresholds, salary types, and posting accounts with the responsible payroll and finance specialists. Changes to foundations that are already used in production can affect subsequent payroll runs.

1. Set up payroll accounting

  1. Open the Payroll Setup page.
  2. Check the OASI, UI, Family Allowances, AIA, BVG, and Withholding Tax sections.
  3. Enter the contribution rates, thresholds, and salary types that are used for calculation.
  4. Define the rounding rules and the calculation of the payment date.
  5. Decide whether the approval process is used.
  6. Check the settings for the transfer to financial and cost accounting.

In the AIA section, the link opens the Benefit Setup page. SwissSalary manages accident, daily sickness benefits, and other insurance coverage in the current benefit structure. Don't use removed legacy fields as the basis for a new setup.

Hinweis

The System Initialization report is marked as deprecated and is to be replaced by configuration packages in the future. When setting up a new environment, clarify which initialization path applies to your installed version.

2. Set up allocation groups

On the Allocation Group page, set up the groups that you settle together. The payroll run requires an allocation group and processes the employees within that scope.

Plan allocation groups so that employees with the same settlement rhythm and the same organizational responsibilities are grouped together. Check in particular:

  • the settlement scope,
  • the assignment of employees,
  • the insurance and posting foundations used for the group,
  • responsibilities for checking and approval.

Then use User Setup SwissSalary to control which users see which allocation groups. For more information, see Set up SwissSalary users and allocation group filters.

3. Prepare posting

  1. On the Posting Groups page, set up the required posting groups.
  2. Complete the Posting Matrix so that salary types and organizational assignments are posted to the intended accounts.
  3. In Payroll Setup, decide whether the transfer to financial and cost accounting happens automatically or manually.
  4. Check the posting matrix with a test case before you post the first productive payroll run.

The Employee Card contains a Posting Group. If this assignment or a required account in the posting matrix is missing, posting can't be processed as planned.

4. Set up working groups and calendars

  1. Create the required Working Groups.
  2. Open Working Calendar and maintain the working days, scheduled times, public holidays, and compensation days for each working group.
  3. Assign the correct Working Group to each employee who is settled.
  4. Check calendar changes before you take over times and absences.

The working calendar is used, among other things, for time calculations and — if selected in the payroll run — for the calculation of family allowances, working calendar data, and fictitious occupational pension values.

5. Set up the bank account

  1. Open Bank Account Setup.
  2. Enter the bank account that is debited by the payment order.
  3. Check the information required for the ISO 20022 export.
  4. Then enter the individual bank details and the matching Bank Code for each employee.

Payment is a separate step after settlement. Setting up the bank alone doesn't generate a payment.

Check readiness for the first payroll run

Before the first productive run, perform this check:

  • Payroll Setup contains the valid social insurance and calculation foundations.
  • Each allocation group has a clear settlement scope.
  • Absence claims are created and assigned to the employees.
  • Posting groups and the posting matrix cover the salary types in use.
  • Working groups and working calendars are up to date.
  • The company bank and employees' bank details are complete.
  • Insurance contracts, benefits, and coverage are set up.
  • At least one fully set up employee can be checked with Test Process Payroll.
Tipp

For the setup check, use a representative employee who has the salary, insurance, and tax characteristics most common in your business. Then check the payslip and the Difference List.

Good to know

  • If you change contribution rates, thresholds, or accounts without coordinating with payroll and finance, payroll runs and financial accounting postings diverge.
  • If you build accident and daily allowance coverage through legacy AIA fields instead of Benefit Setup, premiums and benefits are missing from the run.
  • If you start System Initialization without thought, you risk incomplete master data — later runs and reports fail.
  • If the Posting Group or accounts in the Posting Matrix are missing, posting fails or payroll costs are booked to the wrong accounts.
  • If you set up bank and ISO 20022 only halfway, no payment is created — employees wait for their salary.

See also