Payroll System Integration - SFTP Process

Automated payroll journal import

Overview

This article describes the SFTP process for payroll companies that are integrated with Accountability through SFTP.

Prerequisites

This service is part of your Accountability Platform fee.
Reach out to integrations@counta.com to confirm if your payroll company is integrated with Accountability.
Accountability needs to complete the SFTP set-up and provide credentials to your agency and your payroll provider. There will be 3 folders for each SFTP site:
1. Received
2. Processed
3. Failed
The Payroll Location Codes/Names need to be mapped to your Accountability Offices. See Payroll System Integration - Office Mapping

Payroll file format

The Payroll company needs to generate a CSV file with the following column headers. The file name is used as the Journal header description. For ease of tracking,

Column Header	Details
Company	This is your agency name
Location	This is your Accountability Office Code. If the codes between the 2 platforms are different, map them by following the directions here: Payroll System Integration - Office Mapping
Pay Code Description	This will populate in the journal entry line description
GL Code	This needs to be a valid GL Account Number in Accountability.
Cost Center	This needs to be a valid Department code in Accountability. This is optional.
Debit	Debit amount posted to the GL Account
Credit	Credit amount posted to the GL Account

The sum of the Debits need to equal the sum of the Credits on the file. This validation should take place in the payroll system prior to transmission.
The Transaction Date will be the date that the file is imported into Accountability
The Accounting Month and Year will default to the month of the transaction date. For example, if the import date is April 15, 2023, the Accounting Month and Year will be April 2023.

Workflow

The payroll company sends the payroll journal file to a designated SFTP folder. The timing of this file is defined in the payroll system, e.g. after a payroll run
A scheduled task runs at specified intervals, i.e. daily or custom
The task checks all files in the Received folder in the SFTP host and processes each one.
1. If successful, the file is moved to the Processed folder and a journal with relevant entries is created in an 'unposted' status.
2. If failed, the file is moved to the Failed folder. See how to handle errors in the next section.
An email notification is sent to the designated agency contact with the result. The notification is sent to the employee's email address designated for the office.

Error Handling

The import stops at the first error. For example, if there are 20 entries in the file and the second entry fails the validation routine, the failed email notification will only contain that error.

The issue needs to be resolved in the payroll platform

If the issue needs to be corrected in the payroll platform by the agency or the payroll provider, they can import another file to the SFTP site. The file name needs to be different from the file that errored out, but it should follow the agreed-upon naming convention.

Your agency has access to delete the original file from the Failed folder.

The issue needs to be resolved by the agency outside the payroll platform

If the issue is in Accountability:
- An authorized user can update the data on the platform
- A user who has access to the SFTP site can move the file from the Failed to the Received folder, to be processed in the next scheduled task.
If the issue is in the file itself:
- A user who has access to the SFTP site can download the file, update the content, and upload it to the Received folder, to be processed in the next scheduled task.