NCAS

Payroll/Health Benefits Interfaces Questions and Resolutions

Questions
Resolutions
When can I expect my Health Benefits Interface to post to NCAS? The Health Benefits Interface is run the night of the first working day of the month.  It should post that night with an effective date of the first working day of the month.
When can I expect my Payroll Interface to post to NCAS? The Payroll Interface posts four times monthly, usually two to three days before the payroll actually pays.  After Central Payroll has closed a payroll, they send OSC a tape with all the data keyed for that payroll.  Since Central Payroll's processing schedule varies from month to month, it is best to refer to the Operations Calendar in the SIG for specific Payroll Interface posting dates.  
When my payroll interfaced into NCAS, the amount posted by the interface is different than the total costs shown on my payroll registers and cash requisition report  Why did that happen and how do I fix it? Missing or additional costs are probably related to an employee that has just left your agency and transferred to another agency, or an employee you have just hired from a another agency.  If a state employee is paid from two different agencies on the same payroll cycle, all their payroll costs will be charged to the agency that last entered transactions for that employee.  If you have properly accounted for your payroll costs and you know a transaction is not correct or is missing, you will need to prepare a journal entry to correct the posted amounts.  All corrections should be recorded against the agency expenditures and the payroll clearing account.  Look at the Central Payroll Distribution Error report in the X/PTR report group, OSCOP* FC710-4 PR TO NCAS ERRORS, to identify discrepancies.  Click here to review documentation on the PR Error Report.
When my payroll interfaced into NCAS, I had a transaction to post to payroll suspense because it had a salary code (accounting distribution) that isn't valid.  I know that the total costs posted by the Payroll Interface are correct.  Why did that happen and how do I fix it? Transactions posted from the payroll interface reflect data keyed into the Central Payroll system.  The same accounting distributions processed by the Payroll Interface will show on your payroll register.  Look at the register to determine which position is causing the problem.  Generally, two possibilities exist: 
  1. The accounting distribution associated with the position was keyed incorrectly into the Personnel and/or Payroll systems.  Contact your payroll or personnel technician and request a correction to the Personnel and/or Payroll systems.  If a correction is not processed through the Personnel/Payroll systems, the error will continue to post to suspense with each payroll until it is corrected.  Clear your payroll interface suspense balance with a journal voucher.
  2. The salary costs probably relate to a non-recurring type of payment (e.g. premium pay) being paid for the first time and for which the accounting distribution has never been validated on the General Ledger.  Verify with your payroll technician that the accounting distribution on the payroll register is correct.  If it is, establish the distribution on the GL and prepare a journal voucher to clear the payroll interface suspense balance.
Why do the FICA costs associated with short-term disability payments always try to post with an invalid account? The Payroll Interface generates the employer FICA costs account based on the salary/wage account used to post the employee's gross wages.  Only one account (531625) is used to record short-term disability payments.  Since the status of appropriated vs. receipt supported is not distinguishable from the salary code, the interface cannot determine the appropriate FICA cost account to use.  As a result, the interface charges the FICA costs to an undesignated (531513) account.  Journal entries are required to clear suspense and properly classify these FICA costs to the appropriate account.
It seems every time we have a Personal Check Refund to process through the Central Payroll system, our payroll clearing account balances don't clear out.  How are we supposed to record transactions for Personal Check Refunds processed through Central Payroll? The Payroll Interface will properly record all expenditures related to Personal Check Refunds when it posts to GL.  All other transactions (those keyed by the agency) should be charged against the Payroll Clearing Account (211240).  If an agency improperly records PC Refund transactions against expenditures instead of the clearing account, their clearing account balance will not zero out and the agency's payroll expenditures will be incorrectly stated.