Running People and Payroll Work in Beam Machine

This page shows payroll and HR users how to maintain employee records, run pay cycles, review exceptions, and keep labour matters in one controlled place.

Product: Beam Machine
Module: People and Payroll
Role: Payroll Clerk, HR Administrator, HR Manager, Reviewer
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 12 minutes first read
Last Updated: 2026-03-10
Version: Current Beam Machine app build in this repo

Before You Start

• You need the correct entity, payroll period, and employee list.
• You should know whether you are doing payroll processing or HR and labour recordkeeping.
• Keep 15-payroll-audit-controls-and-advisory.md open if you need deeper workflow detail.

What is people and payroll work in Beam Machine?

People and payroll work is the part of Beam Machine that keeps employee records, pay cycles, leave information, anomalies, and labour matters organized and reviewable. On paper, this would be your employee files, payroll sheets, leave records, disciplinary packs, CCMA files, and compliance reports.

In Beam Machine, that work sits mainly in Payroll and HR & Labour.

When do you use this?

Use this page when you need to update employee master data, run a pay cycle, review leave or anomalies, or keep labour-related matters in a traceable record.

If employee data is wrong before the pay run starts, the pay run usually goes wrong in a way that is harder to clean up afterward.

Where do you find people and payroll work?

Primary path: Use the Payroll and HR & Labour sections in the left sidebar.
Reference: Use 98-screen-map.md if you need the route list.

How to run people and payroll work safely

People route map

Area	Main routes	Main use
Payroll	/dashboard/payroll/*	Employees, pay runs, leave, anomalies, rosters, self-service, pre-clearance
HR and Labour	/dashboard/hr/*	Employment equity, skills, CCMA, disciplinary, grievances

Check the basics before every pay cycle

1. Confirm the active entity.
2. Confirm the payroll period or roster you are paying.
3. Confirm employee master data is clean enough to use.
4. Confirm whether anomaly review or approvals are part of your process.

Set up or review employee records

1. Open Payroll.
2. Go to Employees.
3. Review active and inactive employees.
4. Add missing employees before the pay run starts.
5. Update employee details before you process pay, not after.

✅ Checkpoint: The employee list should reflect the real payroll population for the period.

Run payroll

1. Open Payroll > Pay Runs.
2. Review previous run status.
3. Click New Pay Run when you are ready to process.
4. Confirm the selected employees and period.
5. Review anomalies or pre-clearance items where your process requires them.
6. Finalize only after checking totals and obvious exceptions.

✅ Checkpoint: The pay run should exist for the correct entity and period, and the included employees should make sense.

Review leave and employee-raised matters

1. Open Payroll > Leave to review balances and requests.
2. Open Payroll > Self Service where employee-facing requests are enabled.
3. Open Rosters when your payroll process depends on roster-driven work patterns.

Investigate payroll anomalies

1. Open Payroll > Anomaly Detection.
2. Review each flagged irregularity.
3. Decide whether the issue is real, expected, or caused by bad source data.
4. Correct the employee record or pay-run input if needed.

✅ Checkpoint: An anomaly should be cleared because it was reviewed, not because it was ignored.

Work labour cases

1. Open HR & Labour.
2. Choose the correct area such as EE Report, Skills Development, CCMA Cases, Disciplinary, or Grievances.
3. Record the matter in the correct category.
4. Keep follow-up notes and supporting evidence with the case where possible.

✅ Checkpoint: Labour records should be traceable by case type and follow-up status.

Stay honest about maturity

1. Use the live UI for current payroll and HR procedures.
2. Do not assume all deeper compliance automation described in intake documents is already delivered.
3. Check 99-functionality-gap-map.md before you design a process around advanced behavior.

Common Questions & Issues

"I can fix the employee details after I run payroll"

Why this happens: Teams try to keep the cycle moving even when the source data is wrong.

Fix: Stop and fix employee master data first. It is usually faster than repairing a bad pay run later.

---

"The anomaly screen is too noisy, so we ignore it"

Why this happens: Some anomalies are expected, which makes users treat the entire control as optional.

Fix: Review each anomaly and decide whether it is valid, expected, or caused by input errors. Do not clear issues by assumption.

---

"We handle labour cases in email only"

Why this happens: HR matters often start informally.

Fix: Use the relevant HR & Labour area so follow-up and evidence are not trapped in private inboxes.

What's Next

• Read 15-payroll-audit-controls-and-advisory.md for deeper pay-run, audit, control, and specialist workflows.
• Read 05-admin-and-system-setup.md if the issue is access, role visibility, or approvals.

Related Pages

• 02-roles-and-access.md
• 15-payroll-audit-controls-and-advisory.md
• 98-screen-map.md
• 99-functionality-gap-map.md

SA Compliance Reference

• Payroll work supports PAYE, UIF, and SDL obligations and depends on accurate employee and period data.
• HR and labour workflows may support Employment Equity, Skills Development, disciplinary, grievance, and CCMA recordkeeping processes.
• Use Beam Machine as the controlled record, but confirm your team’s legal process and filing deadlines outside this page where required.

Still Stuck?

• Check the route in 98-screen-map.md.
• Check workflow maturity in 99-functionality-gap-map.md.
• Contact support: support@veva.co.za

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