Answer
Lightning Payroll can exchange data with BundyPlus time and attendance software. You export your employees and pay items out to BundyPlus, record time and attendance against them there, then import the approved pay run's time back into Lightning Payroll, where it becomes rostered shifts on the pay run. All three steps are handled by the one wizard.
Opening the Time & Attendance Import Wizard
Open the pay run you want to work with, then on the toolbar click Timeclock (Portal) Sync >> Import/Manage Time And Attendance Data. The same option is available from the Rosters/Shifts screen toolbar.
On the first page, Choose Time & Attendance Format, select BundyPlus (Import/Export BundyPlus CSV Data) and click Next. Lightning Payroll remembers this choice for next time.
The next page offers three options - Import Time And Attendance Data, Export Employee Data and Export Pay Items. Do the two exports first, then the import.
Step 1 - Export your employees to BundyPlus
Employees need to exist in BundyPlus before you import any time, so do this first.
- Select Export Employee Data.
- Choose the employees you want to export in the list. You can select more than one, and terminated employees are shown in red.
- Click Export Selected Employees To CSV and choose where to save the file.
The file includes each employee's name, card number, email address and department (sent to BundyPlus as "Groups"), along with a payroll and user number that lets BundyPlus send time back against the correct person.
Step 2 - Export your pay items to BundyPlus
Pay items tell BundyPlus which pay rates, allowances and leave types the recorded time should map to, so export them before importing as well.
- Select Export Pay Items (Pay rates, allowances, leave types, etc.).
- Choose the employees whose pay items you want to include.
- Click Export Pay Items To CSV and choose where to save the file.
The export covers your ordinary and overtime rates, company and employee pay rates, allowances, and both system and custom leave types. Load both exported files into BundyPlus, then record time and attendance for the pay period as normal.
Step 3 - Import the approved time and attendance data
Once the pay run has been approved in BundyPlus, export it from BundyPlus as a CSV file, then bring it back into Lightning Payroll.
- Select Import Time And Attendance Data.
- Click the open (folder) button and select the BundyPlus CSV export. It must be a non-empty .csv file.
- Click Next to process the file.
Please note: importing resets and overwrites any existing rostered shifts for the employees included in the file, within the pay period being imported. Other employees, and shifts in other pay periods, are left untouched.
Reviewing the import and fixing errors
The final page, Review Imported Time & Attendance Data, lists the shift records that were imported. Any rows that could not be imported appear in the Errors table below - for example an employee or pay item that could not be matched, or a pay item that does not belong to that employee.
When there are errors, an Export Errors To CSV button appears so you can save the problem rows (date, employee, error, pay item and payable hours) to review. Correct the source file in BundyPlus and run the import again. Once you finish the wizard, the imported time appears as shifts on the pay run, ready to process.
This article covers BundyPlus. The format page also lists Lightning Payroll (Web App CSV/JSON Format) and, under Direct Payroll Import, Import from Aussie Timesheets (MYOB format). If you use a different time and attendance app, send our support team an example export file and we can look at connecting to it.
