Payroll Hub

The Payroll Hub is payroll's single front door for a pay cycle. Approved timesheets collect into each cycle's pay run automatically; the Hub is where you see what is waiting, review and finalise runs, and record what was keyed into your payroll software.

This page is the reference: what everything on the screen is and who can use it. If you just want to get this week's pay out, follow Completing a Pay Run instead and come back here when you need the detail.

Who can use it — You need "view payroll hub" permission just to open the page. Reviewing, finalising, exporting, holding pay and Record as Processed need "manage pay runs". Two destructive overrides — Unfinalise Pay Run and Void an Export (and voiding a processing record) — need the separate, higher "override payroll" permission, so a payroll manager can run day-to-day work without holding the break-glass powers. Settings needs "update tenant settings". See Roles & Permissions.

Where to find it — Payroll & Billing → Payroll Hub in the sidebar.

Before you start — the Hub shows one pay cycle at a time (the date-range selector at the top; step back/forward with the arrows or pick a period from the dropdown). The counters, Pay Runs tab, Timesheets tab and Exceptions tab are scoped to that cycle unless you toggle Show all cycles. Ready to process is the exception: it lists draft runs in every cycle.

How work reaches a pay run

Nobody creates a pay run or attaches timesheets to one.

The first approved timesheet in a cycle opens Run #1 for that cycle. Every approval after it — worked days, leave days and work-order days — joins the same run automatically, usually within the hour. An hourly sweep picks up anything missed.
Salaried staff are paid for the period whether or not they file a timesheet, so the cycle gets a run for them too.
Once a run is finalised, anything approved later for the same cycle opens the next numbered run (Run #2, marked late work). Payroll managers get one notification when that happens. A later run only pays what earlier runs did not.
Future cycles are never opened early; their work waits until the cycle starts.

The overview

Under the cycle selector:

This cycle — the priced total, whether it is provisional or frozen, and a comparison with the last complete cycle. A late run still waiting in an earlier cycle does not stop that cycle being used for the comparison.
The focus panel and counters — one plain-English next step, plus Awaiting approval, Not in a pay run, Exceptions and Cycle coverage.
Where this cycle's pay is — five separate figures: In a draft run, Processed, Held, Amendments open and Not collected. A cycle is not complete just because Run #1 was processed. A line under the figures warns when approved work in another cycle has not reached a run.
Ready to process — every draft run with something in it, across all cycles, oldest first, and whether it needs review or is ready to finalise.

Below that sits a Pay Runs / Timesheets / Exceptions tab strip, plus Before automatic pay runs while there is older work to account for:

Pay Runs — the runs for the selected cycle (or all cycles), numbered within their cycle, with sub-tabs for Draft, Finalized, Awaiting Approval, Exported and All.
Timesheets — the cycle's timesheets (Ready for Processing / Not Approved / In a Pay Run / All). Row actions include Hold from pay and Release hold.
Exceptions — the full exceptions list for the cycle (see below).
Before automatic pay runs — approved work dated before your workspace started automatic pay runs. It is never paid automatically; mark each day as processed externally, confirmed unpaid or unresolved.

Reviewing a pay run

Opening a pay run (View) shows:

Pay Run summary — name, period, status, Total Hours, Employee Count, a Calculation chip (Up to date, Needs recalculation, or Snapshot locked once finalised), a Review chip, and what is Held from this cycle.
Timesheet Coverage, Cycle Coverage and the Pay Summary.
Reports — Validate Export Readiness, Reconciliation Summary, the Reconciliation Worksheet and Download Worksheet (CSV). Every worksheet row names its pay cycle, run number, earning period and the version of the run it came from.

While the run is a Draft you can Recalculate OT, adjust allowances on a timesheet, hold a day (Hold from pay in the Timesheets list below the summary), hold a person's period pay (Hold an Employee) and Release a Hold.

Mark Reviewed records that you checked the run as it stands. Collection keeps adding to a draft, so if anything is collected, held, released or edited afterwards, the Review chip reads Changed since review and Finalize Pay Run stays locked until you review again.

If any workers were on a living-away (LAFA) project this period, a Review LAFA travel action appears. Confirm whether they used their own vehicle (paid km) or car-pooled (travel time only) before finalising.

Finalising and processing

Finalize Pay Run freezes the run: it becomes read-only, its timesheets flip from Approved to Processed, and the figures are snapshotted so later edits to timesheets or rates never change them. Finalising is disabled while the run has nothing in it, its calculation is stale, or its latest version has not been reviewed.

Before the cycle has ended you can still finalise, but it is listed as a blocker you must acknowledge. Anything approved afterwards goes into a later run.
Timesheets still awaiting approval are counted in the confirmation; once approved they go into the next run for the cycle.
Held pay is never a blocker — it simply stays out.

If your workspace has dual control turned on (Settings → Export tab), finalising parks the run in Pending Export Approval. A different payroll manager opens the run and clicks Approve for Export.

Then key the run into your payroll software:

Download the Worksheet (CSV) from Reports, or click Export [Format] CSV for the payroll file. From a finalised run either download is recorded in the export history with a SHA-256 hash of the exact file.
Key it into your payroll software.
Click Record as Processed, enter when it was processed and the payroll software's pay run reference. The record points at the download it was keyed from and moves the run to Exported.

Finalising is not payment, and neither is recording processing: Subgrade records what was sent to payroll, not what reached a bank account.

Privileged, audited overrides exist for correcting a mistake (need "override payroll"):

Void an Export — marks an export ledger row as voided (never deleted) without touching the run's status.
Void Processing Record — marks a processing record voided when a run was recorded by mistake.
Unfinalise Pay Run — reverts the latest finalised run in its cycle to Draft: voids its exports and processing record, marks its snapshot superseded, and returns its timesheets to Approved. Requires a reason (min 10 characters), which is logged and sent to the original finaliser. An earlier run cannot be unfinalised once a later run exists in its cycle — correct it in the later run instead.

Exceptions and warnings

The Exceptions tab lists everything that could go wrong with this cycle's payroll, each tagged blocker, warning, or info, with a Fix link straight to the record that needs attention. Kinds you'll see include:

Timesheet issues — awaiting approval, no work entries logged, more than 12 hours in a day, Sunday work, an approved timesheet with no recorded approver.
Employee master-data gaps — no active pay level assignment, missing Xero employee ID / MYOB card ID / payroll employee code, missing tax file number, incomplete super or bank details.
Missing weekday timesheet — a coverage gap for an employee who's already in this cycle's pay run.
LAFA travel to review — a living-away worker whose boundary-day travel hasn't been confirmed yet (see above).

Blockers surface again as a checklist when you Finalize, and most can be overridden with an acknowledgement — but they don't go away on their own; fix the underlying record to clear them.

Settings

Settings (top right, needs "update tenant settings") configures how the Hub and pay runs behave, in tabs:

Approvals — the mandatory timesheet checklist, whether supervisors can approve their own timesheets, and which roles/users appear as timesheet and leave approvers.
Pay Cycle — default shift times, default pay level, pay cycle frequency and start day (with a preview of the next cycles), the date automatic pay runs started, whether bank details are collected in Subgrade, and the pay-run name template. A frequency change only affects cycles that have not started; stored cycles never move.
Allowances — which allowance types workers can claim, and the productivity allowance mode and eligible projects.
Rain Pay — effective-dated rain-pay entitlement caps (per-day, monthly hours, monthly days).
Export — payroll export format (Xero/MYOB/Generic) and per-format earnings labels, plus export safeguards: dual control (needs at least two "manage pay runs" users to turn on), and whether a missing payroll employee code or bank details hard-block export.

Connected pages

Team Approvals — where timesheets get approved, which is what sends them to a pay run.
New Timesheet — how workers log the hours that feed payroll.
My Work Log — a worker's own submitted timesheets.
Compensation — pay levels, rates, and allowance templates that drive what a pay run calculates.
Budget Ledger — where processed payroll cost lands against projects.

Tips & common mistakes

Looking for Build Pay Run? It is gone — approved work collects into its cycle's run on its own. To keep something out, hold it.
Finalize is greyed out? The run needs up-to-date figures (Recalculate OT) and a review of its current version (Mark Reviewed).
"Recalculate OT" banner won't go away? An entry on a timesheet in the run changed since the last calculation — recalculate before trusting totals or finalising.
A timesheet shows under Not collected? Check whether it is held or has an amendment open. If neither, collection has not picked it up — contact support.
A late approval for last week? It opens a new run for last week's cycle; finalise it from Ready to process.
Recorded the wrong run as processed, or sent an export by mistake? Don't try to delete anything — use Void Processing Record, Void an Export, or Unfinalise Pay Run (all need "override payroll" and are logged).
Dual control won't turn on? You need at least two users holding "manage pay runs" — the finaliser can never approve their own export.