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Payroll Errors and Validations

Before you close a payroll period, Pulse checks for open clocks, timesheet problems, and unprocessed jobs. The checks are laid out as the steps of the payroll close wizard on the Payroll Summary page. This article explains what each step means and how to clear it.

Who Can Access This​

RoleAccess Level
AdministratorFull access, including closing the period
Payroll AdminView the close wizard and its issues. Cannot close the period, update job dates, or create tips.
Office, Sales, HR AdminNo access
note

If you cannot see the close wizard in Payroll Summary, your role may not have payroll access. Contact your administrator.

How the Close Wizard Works​

When you view the current (open) payroll period in Payroll Summary, the close wizard appears with a timeline of steps across the top. Each validation step shows a count of the issues it found. Click a step to open its list of issues. When the page loads, the wizard opens the first step that has issues. If nothing needs attention, it opens Payroll Summary instead.

The steps, in order:

StepWhat it checksBlocks closing?
Open Day ClocksEmployees still clocked in for the dayYes
Timesheet IssuesJob clocks outside the day clock, missing clock-outs, and clocks on the wrong dateNo (warning)
Change RequestsClock change requests waiting for a decisionNo (warning)
Missing TipsTips with no matching tip pay (only shown when tip validation is on for your company)No (warning)
Missing TimesheetsCompleted jobs with no timesheet, or a timesheet with no clock-outYes
Uninvoiced JobsCompleted jobs that have not been invoicedYes
Payroll SummaryA review of the period's payroll totals—
Close PeriodReadiness check and the close button—

Only three steps block closing: Open Day Clocks, Missing Timesheets, and Uninvoiced Jobs. Everything else is a warning. Review warnings before you close, but they never disable the close button.

Blocking Steps​

You must clear all three blocking steps before Close Payroll Period becomes available. Closing also needs the full pay week selected in the date picker.

Open Day Clocks​

This step lists employees who are still clocked in for the day, with no clock-out time recorded.

What you see: A table with Date, Employee, Work Start, Clock In, and Hours Elapsed columns. A warning icon appears when more than 12 hours have passed.

How to fix:

  1. Click a row. The clock edit drawer opens with the entry already filled in.
  2. Enter the clock-out time and save.
  3. Repeat for each open clock.

If the clock-in was a mistake: delete it instead of entering a clock-out. In the clock edit drawer, click Delete, then click Delete again in the Delete Day Clock? confirmation. The Delete button only appears if your role can delete time entries. See Day Clocks for who can delete.

Missing Timesheets​

This step lists completed jobs that have no time entries at all, or where an employee clocked in but never clocked out. Each row has a badge. No Clocks means no timesheet was recorded. Incomplete means there is a clock-in but no clock-out.

What you see: A table with Date, Type (No Clocks or Incomplete), Employee, Customer, Home, Team, Service, Scheduled, and Actions columns.

How to fix:

  1. Click Add Timesheet on a row, or click anywhere on the row.
  2. The timesheet drawer opens with the job details already filled in.
  3. Enter the clock-in and clock-out times and save.
  4. Repeat for all remaining jobs.

Uninvoiced Jobs​

This step of the payroll close wizard lists completed jobs that have not been invoiced yet. Jobs set up for batch billing are left out of this check.

What you see: A table with Date, Customer, Home, Service, Team, Status, Bill Rate, Ready, and Actions columns, with a total row at the bottom. The Ready icons show whether the customer is linked to QuickBooks, has a payment method set up, and has an email address on file. Click a customer name to open the customer's details, or click a row to open the job's details.

How to fix: Click a job's date. Daily Invoicing opens in a new tab for that day and scrolls to the job (in card view), so you can invoice it there. To open several jobs at once, select them with the Invoice, Charge or Send buttons (on each row, or Select All at the top), then click Go to Invoicing. That button appears only when the selected jobs fall within 7 days, because Daily Invoicing shows up to 7 days at a time. When jobs are invoiced, they drop off this list.

Warning Steps​

Review these before closing a period. They do not disable Close Payroll Period.

Timesheet Issues​

Timesheet Issues is a warning. It does not block closing payroll. If payroll flags a job because its time clock does not match the job (the job clock falls outside the employee's day clock, has no clock-out, or is on a different date than the job), you can still close the period. If the clock or the job date is wrong, fix it before you close, using the steps below.

This step combines two kinds of timesheet problem in one table. The Type column tells you which kind each row is.

  • Invalid Clock: a job clock is not covered by the employee's day clock (plus any breaks) for that date. For example, the job clock starts before the employee clocked in for the day, or ends after they clocked out. A job clock with no clock-out time also shows up here, because it cannot be matched to the day clock.
  • Wrong Date: an employee clocked in on a different calendar date than the job was scheduled. This often happens when work crosses midnight or a date was entered incorrectly.

What you see: A table with Type, Date, Employee, Home, Clock In, Clock Out, Clocked Date, and Issue / Action columns. On Invalid Clock rows, a missing clock-out shows as "Missing" in red, and the Issue / Action column shows a badge reading "Job clock falls outside the employee's day clock" or "Missing clock out time". On Wrong Date rows, Date is the scheduled job date and Clocked Date is the date the employee actually clocked in.

How to fix an Invalid Clock row (correct the job clock):

  1. Note the employee and date.
  2. Go to Office > Time and find the employee's day clock and job clock for that date.
  3. Adjust the day clock or the job clock so the day clock covers the whole job clock, or add the missing clock-out time.
  4. Return to Payroll Summary. The step updates on its own.

How to fix a Wrong Date row (update the job date):

  1. Compare the Date and Clocked Date columns.
  2. If the clock date is the correct one, click Update Job Date in the Issue / Action column to move the job to the date the employee clocked in. If the job date is correct instead, fix the clock in Office > Time.
  3. An Updated badge confirms the change.

If you have already closed the period and need to correct a clock, see How to Reopen Payroll.

Change Requests​

This step lists employee requests to adjust their clock times that are still waiting for a decision.

What you see: A table with Employee, Type (Timesheet or Day Clock), Original Time, Requested Time, Status, and Reason columns.

How to fix:

  1. Click a row. The change request review drawer opens.
  2. Click Approve, or click Deny, enter a reason, and click Confirm Deny.
  3. Repeat until no pending requests remain.

Missing Tips​

This step appears only when tip validation is turned on for your company. It lists completed jobs that have a tip amount recorded but no tip pay created for the job yet, with one row per employee who clocked in.

What you see: A table with a selection checkbox, Employee, Job Date, Customer, Home, Team, Tip Amount, Pay Amount, Trainee (a badge if the employee is a trainee), and Actions columns. Open Report opens the full Missing Tips report.

How to fix:

  1. Click Create Tip on a row to create that tip record.
  2. Or check several rows (or click Select All), then click Create N Tips to create them all at once.
  3. A Created badge appears on each row when it is done.

Trainees are flagged with a badge because tip split rules apply to them automatically.

Closing the Period​

The Close Period step shows a readiness banner:

  • "Ready to close payroll": no blocking issues and no warnings.
  • "N warning(s) remaining": no blocking issues, but some warning steps still have items. You can still close.
  • "N blocking issue(s) must be resolved": at least one blocking step still has items. Close Payroll Period is disabled.

Below the banner, Remaining Issues lists every step that still has items, with its count. Click one to jump to that step. The period's totals (Payroll, Employees, Hours, Tips, and OT Pay) appear underneath.

To close, click Close Payroll Period, choose which Scopes of Work to include, and confirm.

Force close: If you are an administrator and blocking issues remain, you also see Force Close (Skip Validations), labeled "Admin override: bypasses all blocking validation checks". Use it only when you are sure the remaining issues do not need fixing for this period. Force Close cannot skip one check: a Pending job whose technician is still checked in. The close stops and names the job and technician; enter the clock-out in Office > Time and close again.

Why is Confirm & Close Payroll disabled?​

In the scope dialog, Confirm & Close Payroll stays disabled until you select at least one scope of work and live payroll updates are connected. If it stays disabled, check your connection, then cancel and reopen the dialog. This also applies to Force Close (Skip Validations).

"Close the Week" Reminder​

If your company has the close-the-week reminder turned on, the Close Period step reminds you when payroll has not been closed recently. It counts the days since the end of the most recently closed period:

  • More than 14 days: a warning banner reads "It has been N days since the week has been closed. We recommend closing the week each week to ensure accurate reporting."
  • 28 days or more: a popup with the same message also appears.

The reminder never blocks closing. It only tells you that payroll is falling behind.

Tips and Best Practices​

  • Check the wizard daily. Small issues are easier to fix early. Do not wait until close day to review them.
  • Encourage daily clock-outs. Open day clocks are one of the most common blocking issues. Set a team reminder to clock out at the end of every shift.
  • Use change requests for corrections. If an employee entered the wrong clock time, have them submit a change request. This keeps an audit trail and routes the fix through the right workflow.
  • Watch the "Ready" column. The icons next to each uninvoiced job show whether the customer has a QuickBooks link, a payment method, and an email address. Fix any missing items so invoices can be sent and charged.
  • Close every week. Closing on a regular schedule keeps the close-the-week reminder from appearing and keeps reporting accurate.
  • Use bulk actions for tips. When many missing tips need creating, Select All and Create N Tips save significant time.

Troubleshooting​

What you seeSolution
Payroll flagged a job because the time clock and the job do not matchThis is a Timesheet Issues warning and does not block closing. Correct the job clock in Office > Time, or click Update Job Date if the job should move to the clock date. See Timesheet Issues.
Payroll shows negative hours for an employeeNegative hours mean a timesheet error, such as an end time before the start time. Go to Office > Time, find the employee's day clock and job clocks for that date, and correct the times. See Editing Time Entries.
A step still shows issues after I fixed themThe list updates on its own a few seconds after you save a correction. If the issue is still listed — for example because you fixed it in another browser tab — click Refresh in the workspace toolbar.
"Missing" appears in red in the Clock Out columnThe employee is still clocked in or the clock-out was not saved. Go to Office > Time and add the missing clock-out time.
Close Payroll Period is still disabled after resolving all blocking issuesWarnings do not disable the button. The banner updates on its own a few seconds after you save each correction. If it still shows a blocking issue after that, click Refresh in the workspace toolbar.
Update Job Date does nothing when I click itA sync issue may have occurred. Wait a few seconds and try again. If it persists, contact your administrator.
A change request is not showing in the listAnother user may have already reviewed it. Click Refresh in the workspace toolbar to check the current state.
Uninvoiced Jobs keeps listing a job and I can't find its invoiceA deleted invoice puts its jobs back on this list. Re-invoice the job from the Invoicing workspace. If the customer's Ready icon shows no QuickBooks link, link the customer first. See QuickBooks. An Administrator can use Force Close if the job shouldn't block this period.
A completed job does not appear in Uninvoiced JobsBatch-billed jobs are left out of this check. Check the customer's billing term. If it is a batch billing term, handle invoicing from the Batch Invoicing page.
The Missing Tips step does not appearTip validation may not be turned on for your company. Contact your administrator to review the tip validation setting.
I do not see Close Payroll PeriodYou are viewing part of a pay week. In the date picker, click the arrows or Full pay week to select the whole week. See Why is Close Payroll Period missing?.
I do not see Force Close (Skip Validations)It appears only when blocking issues remain, a full pay week is selected, and you are an administrator. The Payroll Admin role does not include it.
Force Close stopped with "Payroll can't be closed while a technician is still checked in"A job in the period has a time entry with no clock-out. Fix it in Office > Time (or in the Missing Timesheets step) and close again.