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ZIPPER Payroll (TM) User's Manual (C) Copyright 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 All rights reserved. SOFTCRAFT Everett, Washington FAX: (206) 337-1842 CompuServe ID [ 71221,376 ] (Ed Protas) (206) 728-8427 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction......................................................... 1 Starting during mid-year............................................. 2 Hardware requirements................................................ 3 Installation......................................................... 4 Starting ZIPPER...................................................... 5 Keyboard - use of special keys....................................... 5 Data Entry Methods................................................... 7 Pick / check menus................................................... 8 First things first................................................... 8 Entering company information......................................... 9 Multi-state payroll.................................................. 10 Company departments.................................................. 11 Labor union & union dues............................................. 12 Password security.................................................... 14 Printer configuration................................................ 14 Printer control codes................................................ 16 Withholding taxes.................................................... 17 Creating local tax tables............................................ 17 Other payroll taxes.................................................. 21 State disability insurance........................................... 23 Creating employment classes.......................................... 23 Employee benefits.................................................... 25 Entering new employees............................................... 28 Personnel management................................................. 35 Editing employee data................................................ 35 Selecting employees.................................................. 35 Changing an employee's name.......................................... 36 Entering year-to-date payroll information............................ 37 Processing payroll................................................... 41 Normal or special payroll............................................ 41 Payroll frequency.................................................... 42 Entering payroll dates............................................... 42 Entering earnings.................................................... 44 Entering deductions.................................................. 46 Computing payroll.................................................... 47 Negative payroll..................................................... 48 Proofing payroll records............................................. 49 Creating multiple payroll groups..................................... 49 Printing paychecks................................................... 50 Printing checks with Quicken......................................... 51 Importing payroll data into Quicken.................................. 52 Printing payroll vouchers............................................ 53 Printing reports..................................................... 54 Selecting a date range for reports................................... 54 Payroll reports...................................................... 56 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sending reports to the printer....................................... 59 Sending reports to a text file....................................... 59 Printing W-2 forms................................................... 59 Destroying payroll records........................................... 61 What-if analysis..................................................... 62 Advances............................................................. 63 Printing advance checks.............................................. 64 Deducting advances................................................... 64 Utilities............................................................ 65 Checking data pointers............................................... 65 Compressing (packing) the database................................... 67 Creating a new year.................................................. 67 Undo / Redo.......................................................... 70 Incorrect payroll dates.............................................. 70 Undo payroll records................................................. 71 Undo payroll group................................................... 72 Undo advances........................................................ 72 Registration and technical support................................... 73 Ordering checks...................................................... 76 ZIPPER Payroll data structure........................................ 77 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual SOFTCRAFT is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. INTRODUCTION Until the invention of the zipper, getting in and out of clothing was sometimes a hit-and-miss process. The greater your hurry, the more likely you were to make mistakes. Sure, the clothes got on, but sometimes buttons wound up in the wrong place. Traditionally, the preparation of payroll has been a similar process. Payroll is a task that requires care, accuracy, and a great deal of time. The amount of time involved always depended on the skill and experience of the person doing this work. Due to the number of steps and variables involved, it was easy to make errors, no matter how skilled you were. Often these errors were not apparent until preparation of quarterly returns. Then you had to go looking for them. The solution for many business has been to hire bookkeeping personnel with the skills to handle the task. Hopefully the number of errors and the time involved was reduced, but the cost of preparation was increased. Along came the computer, a powerful device that was best suited to the detail and repetition of a complex task like payroll preparation. Then came payroll programs. They got the job done, but unfortunately you needed to think like an accountant to understand and use them properly. The small business owner was still faced with the alternatives of hiring this work out, or spending the time to learn to use the software. This is the primary reason so many computers became very expensive paper weights. With the invention of the zipper (the one on your clothing) everything changed. The process was immediately easier, quicker, more reliable, and less prone to errors. Because the approach was new, it became easier for everyone -- not just those with dexterity. ZIPPER Payroll is just such an improvement; that's why we called it ZIPPER. ZIPPER does all your calculation, finds and uses the right tax table, considers the proper number of exemptions, computes the payroll deductions and tax liabilities, and keeps track of annual totals for all your reports. If you want (why wouldn't you?) ZIPPER will print your payroll checks. ZIPPER also accumulates sick pay and vacation pay based on whatever parameters you choose. We designed ZIPPER so it could optionally work with Quicken (TM). The ability to add your payroll to your Quicken check register can be a distinct advantage if you are already a Quicken user. Either way, ZIPPER doesn't care, and works the same regardless of how you write your checks or keep your financial records. You may, of course, even write your checks by hand, in which case ZIPPER will ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 1 - print payroll vouchers to include with the checks. This is the perfect option for a small business. You don't have to buy special payroll checks. If you use R:BASE (TM) (System V, R:BASE for DOS, R:BASE version 3.XX, or Personal R:BASE) your data is accessible for any custom reports and queries you might choose to design. The FileGateway utility included with R:BASE will enable to export your data to a variety of other computer programs (Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, VisiCalc, Multiplan, dBase III, ASCII, and many others). Obviously, you need R:BASE to take advantage of these additional features. ********************************************************************** ALL REGESTERED TRADEMARKS ARE OWNED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES ********************************************************************** If you are in a hurry..... don't be! ZIPPER won't save you time now. But it will save you time and aggravation later. Read the program documentation carefully, especially the chapter on setting up the program. A little extra time at the beginning will be well spent. This documentation is presented like a tutorial. Follow along from here, and we will take you through every step necessary to get ZIPPER Payroll to work for you. We don't need to train you to be an accountant, or how to use a computer, so the process of getting you up to speed won't be long. You should note the brevity of this User's Manual. We didn't need to write several hundred pages to teach you how to use the program. After your initial set-up, it is likely that you will need to make little use of the printed documentation. We think you'll find the menus and data entry forms (the user interface) quite natural and easy to use. STARTING DURING MID-YEAR This is likely to be the most difficult part of the process, as you are "converting" a manual system to a computerized one. You need to enter all existing data (totals) for each employee, for any payroll that you have prepared for the year to date. If you are starting ZIPPER at the beginning of a year, or perhaps setting up ZIPPER for a new company, you will not have any "historical" data to enter. If such is the case, you can skip the section that describes this procedure. ZIPPER also includes personnel management features. ZIPPER can provide budget information, and track payroll by department. ZIPPER will even print an employees' birthday list. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 2 - Although ZIPPER was designed for a "small" business, it could be used with a business of any size. The number of employees ZIPPER can handle is limited only by the storage space (the hard disk drive) of your computer. The concept of "small" is up to you. One employee or several thousand, it makes no difference to ZIPPER. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ZIPPER runs in the MS-DOS / PC-DOS environment. ZIPPER requires MS/PC DOS version 2.0 or later, and will run on the full family of IBM & Compatible PC's. This means a PC, or an XT, or an AT. The installation of ZIPPER program and data files requires a hard disk drive. You should consider 2.0 megabytes of free disk space as an absolute minimum. The use of a printer is optional for program operation, but you will be severely limited without a printer. Printer output is provided to parallel ports LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3, or serial ports COM1, or COM2. Your printer will need to be able to print in the compressed mode, or have a "wide carriage". A "daisy wheel" printer will not work. ZIPPER supports the use of laser printers, but will not print checks or W-2 forms on a laser printer. ZIPPER requires approximately 525K of RAM when it loads. If you have less then this amount of memory available, ZIPPER may still load, but it's performance will be reduced. ZIPPER utilizes a 64K memory buffer for processing (sorting, etc). If the full 64K is not available ZIPPER will use your disk drive for this memory space. This will make the program noticeably slower, or it may not run at all. You should be able to run ZIPPER Payroll if you computer has 640K of conventional memory, and you do not have too many TRS's (memory resident programs) or device drivers loaded. IMPORTANT! You need to modify your CONFIG.SYS file to include the following statements: FILES=25 BUFFERS=30 This configuration allows ZIPPER to make the most efficient use of your computer by creating a memory area for processing (buffer space), and allowing ZIPPER to have all necessary files open when necessary. Each buffer requires 528 bytes of memory. The DOS default is two buffers, and this is not enough. After you make this modification, be sure to re-boot your computer before you start ZIPPER Payroll. Changes to your CONFIG.SYS file do not take effect until you re-boot. See your DOS User's Manual regarding your CONFIG.SYS file. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 3 - INSTALLATION ZIPPER program and data files come in an "archived" condition, and must be uncompressed (unpacked) to be made usable. Begin the installation process by placing the original ZIPPER distribution diskette in either Drive A or Drive B. See the README.1ST file, included on your distribution diskettes for the latest installation information and list of included files. Installation of ZIPPER Payroll involves three steps. These steps should be performed in the order listed. If you carefully follow these instructions, you should not encounter any difficulty. ZIPPER Payroll must be run from a hard disk drive. If your computer does not have a hard disk drive, you will not be able to use this program. Additionally, you should have at least two megabytes (2 MB) of disk space available. After ZIPPER Payroll is installed you can reclaim some of this disk space (see below), but the ZIPPER Payroll Data Files will continue to grow as you add data (create payroll). Consider 2 MB a reasonable minimum. [1] CREATE A ZIPPER DIRECTORY ON YOUR HARD DISK DRIVE. You need to create a DOS directory to hold the various program and data files that make up the ZIPPER Payroll program. If you are unsure about how this is done, see your DOS User's Manual. Example: Start by selecting a name for this DOS directory. We recommend the name ZIPPER. Assuming you want to install ZIPPER Payroll on your C Drive, at the DOS prompt type: "MD C:\ZIPPER". (Do not enter the quotes). The DOS command MD (Make Directory) will create a directory named ZIPPER on your C Disk Drive. [2] COPY ZIPPER FILES TO YOUR HARD DISK DRIVE. NOTE: ZIPPER Payroll is supplied on both 5-1/4" (360 K) and 3-1/2" (720 K) diskettes. If you have the 3-1/2" diskette size, then ZIPPER Payroll is included on a single diskette. 5-1/2" requires two diskettes. Insert either of the ZIPPER Payroll program diskettes in the floppy disk drive you wish to use, and enter the command: COPY A:*.* C:\ZIPPER where "A:" represents the floppy drive you are installing from, and "C:\ZIPPER" represents the Drive and directory (that you created in step #1) where you want to install ZIPPER Payroll. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 4 - After DOS has copied the files contained on the first diskette, repeat this process for the other ZIPPER Payroll program disk. It does not make any difference in which order the diskettes are copied. SHORTCUT - Insert the second ZIPPER diskette in the same floppy drive you just used for the first diskette, Press [F3], then press [ENTER]. [3] UNARCHIVE ZIPPER PROGRAM FILES. All ZIPPER Payroll program, data, and documentation files are contained in the self-extracting compressed files ZPACK1.EXE and ZPACK2.EXE. You need to uncompress these files before you can use ZIPPER Payroll. To do this you need to be in the ZIPPER Payroll directory. Assuming you have created this directory on your C Drive, first "log on" to this drive by entering the command (no quotes) "C:". You should now be "logged-on" to the C drive (or whatever drive you selected). Now enter the command (no quotes) "CD \ZIPPER" where "ZIPPER" is the directory name you have used. The DOS command CD (Change Directory) will move you to the ZIPPER Payroll directory. To unpack (decompress) ZIPPER Payroll, enter (no quotes) "ZPACK1". When the unpacking process is finished, enter (no quotes) "ZPACK2". You should erase the two files ZPACK1.EXE and ZPACK2.EXE, as these files are no longer needed, and only take up disk space. STARTING ZIPPER ZIPPER Payroll is now ready to use. To start ZIPPER, at the DOS prompt type in "ZIPPER" (no quotes), and press the [ENTER] key. KEYBOARD - USE OF SPECIAL KEYS ZIPPER makes consistent use of the keyboard, and you should become familiar with these special keys. The User's Manual refers to these keys by enclosing them in [ ] brackets. When the User's Manual or a data screen indicates [ESC], this means "Press the Escape Key"; [F8] means "Press the F8 Function Key". In general, the following keys perform the following operations. [ENTER] Enters the value displayed in a field, or accepts the selection offered. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 5 - [ESC] Terminates a data entry session, and sometimes brings up a data entry MENU BAR. [ESC] is generally thought of as the "bail-out" key, and will, under almost all conditions, terminate what your are doing and take you "one step backwards". [TAB] Takes you to the next data field during a data entry session. If you are in the last field it will take you to the first field [SHIFT-TAB] Press down the [SHIFT] key & press [TAB]. Takes you to the previous field during a data entry session. If you are in the first field it will take you to the last field. [UP-ARROW] Same as [TAB] [DOWN-ARROW] Same as [SHIFT-TAB] [PgUp] or [PAGE UP] Takes you to the previous screen, or "page" of a multi-page data entry form. [PgDn] or [PAGE DOWN] Takes you to the next screen, or "page" of a multi-page data entry form. [F2] Blanks the current field of a data entry form. [F5] Resets the current field of a data entry form. If you delete the displayed value with [F2] or [Delete], or overwrite the displayed value by typing new data you may press [F5] to redisplay the original value. This can only be done before you leave the current field. [F7] Takes you to the previous row in a "multi-row" display (where similar type values are displayed one above the other). [F8] Takes you to the next row in a "multi-row" display. Optionally use [Enter] to move from field to field, or row to row (downward). [Insert] Inserts a blank space at the current cursor location. [Delete] Deletes a single character at the current cursor location. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 6 - MENU BAR The ZIPPER Menu Bar will sometimes be displayed at the end of a data entry session. The menu bar appears at the top of the screen. A copy is shown below. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Add Edit again Discard Quit --------------------------------------------------------------------- ADD Adds the data displayed in the data entry form to the payroll database. The data entry form is cleared, and the form is then ready to add another "row" of data. Select Add when you have a number of entries to make. After the last entry is made select Quit. Quit will save your last entry, and return you to the previous menu or mode EDIT AGAIN Returns you to the data entry form so that you may edit the displayed row before ADD(ing) it to the payroll database. DISCARD Removes the data displayed in the data entry form from the screen, and does not enter it in the payroll database. Once the data entry form is cleared, new data may be entered in its place. QUIT Select Quit to save the entered data and terminate the present data entry session. DATA ENTRY METHODS ENTERING DATES: ZIPPER Payroll uses the date format MM/DD/YY, where MM represents the Month of the year (01 - 12), DD represents the Day of the month (01 - 31), and YY represents the Year (entered as two digits; EXAMPLE - 92). The months and days may be entered as one or two digits where appropriate; one through nine may be entered as 01 or 1 through 09 or 9. ZIPPER will except either format. Years must be entered as two digits (always). The months, days, and year digits MUST be separated by a slash (/). You may not enter a date that is not in that format, and you may not enter a invalid date (like 2/30/91 or 9/31/91). Thus the date January 5, 1991 may be entered as 1/5/91, 01/5/91, 1/05/91, or 01/05/91. When you are preparing payroll, ZIPPER will allow you to enter payroll dates only for the "active year". The concept of the Active Year is ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 7 - important. ZIPPER does your payroll one year at a time. If the active year is 1991, ZIPPER assumes you have made an incorrect date entry if you enter 1990 or 1992 (or any other year). ENTERING DOLLAR VALUES: When you are entering dollar values, ZIPPER does not require that you enter the dollar sign ($), or commas (,). If you are entering a whole dollar amount (like $100.00), you may simply enter 100 (no period required). Zipper will automatically format the entry. Below are a few examples of how you might enter dollar amounts, and how ZIPPER will format them for you. REMEMBER, DO NOT ENTER DOLLAR SIGNS ($) OR COMMAS (,). Entry ZIPPER formats to --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 $1.00 .01 $0.01 1.1 $1.10 100 $100.00 1234 $1,234.00 1234.56 $1,234.56 ZIPPER PICK / CHECK MENUS ZIPPER Payroll uses a series of "Pick / Check" menus. These menus allow you to select individual employees, payroll records, or payroll groups for additional processing. Each of these Pick / Check menus operate in a similar fashion. To make a selection simply press any letter (alpha-numeric) key. When you do, a check mark will appear next to the item you have selected. You may remove the check mark by pressing the space bar. This will "unselect" the previously made selection. You move down the displayed list by pressing [ENTER] or [F8]. To move back up the list press [F7]. If there are more items in the list than will fit in the form, the list will "scroll" as you move up or down. In almost all cases, employees will be listed in alphabetical order. Dated lists will usually appear with the most recent record first (at the top). Press [ESC] after you have selected all the items (records) you want. In some cases, however, ZIPPER will limit you to making only one selection at a time. You will be advised when this occurs. FIRST THINGS FIRST This section of the User's Manual provides a step by step guideline to help you get going. The list presented below are the tasks that need to be accomplished, and they are listed in the order that you must ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 8 - follow. Each item is followed by a referral to the location in this manual where that particular task is explained. Start with Task #1, and return to this section as you complete each task. You can then proceed to the next task. TASK # DESCRIPTION REFERENCE (Page) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Program installation 4 2 Enter company information 9 3 Enter departments (optional) 11 4 Enter labor union information (optional) 12 5 Select password protection (optional) 14 6 Configure printer / control codes 14 7 Configure for Quicken (optional) 51 8 Other payroll taxes 21 FICA - Social Security FICA - Medicare FUTA - Federal Unemployment Tax SUTA - State Unemployment Tax User Defined Payroll Tax (optional) 9 State Disability Insurance codes 23 Print SDI report 25 10 Create city / local tax tables 17 11 Enter employee benefits / rates 25 12 Enter employee data 28 13 Enter year-to-date data (if you begin ZIPPER during 37 mid year) ENTERING COMPANY INFORMATION The first time you use ZIPPER it will know that it has not as yet been configured for any state. The first data entry screen will ask you about your company (Name, Address, ... etc.), to include the state where your company exists. The data entry field for the "State" allows only two characters, and must contain a valid two letter state abbreviation (CA, NY, VT, WA, ... etc.) Once you have completed this entry, ZIPPER will then configure itself for the state in which you are located. At this point ZIPPER is loading the proper tax tables (for your state) from the tax table database (ZIPxxTX2.RBF) into your ZIPPER payroll database. All of the withholding (income) tax tables, and the methodology for computing state withholding have now been loaded for your state. The Federal tax tables are already included. You should enter your Federal and State Tax Identification Number at this time. It is not mandatory to enter this number, but if you want ZIPPER to print W-2 Forms at the end of the year, it should be entered. If you don,t have this number handy, you may enter it at a later date. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 9 - MULTI-STATE PAYROLL If you do not have company branches in other states (all you employees are in one state), you may skip this section. As indicated above, ZIPPER configures itself for the state where you are located. This means that you cannot process payroll (without some changes) if you have branches or employees in several states. If your company needs to process payroll for several states, simply create a payroll database for each state. Each database will need to be located is a different directory. Say your company does business in Washington, Oregon, and California. Each state has different tax requirements. In order to process payroll for your company, you must create a different DOS sub- directory for each state. (See your DOS users manual and the installation instructions for ZIPPER Payroll.) An example for this situation might be as follows: C:\ZIPPER______ \ZIPCA (or ZIP_CA or CAL-ZIP) | |_____ \ZIPOR | |_____ \ZIPWA You could locate the ZIPPER Payroll program files (ZIPPER.EXE, ZIPPER.OVL, etc) in the directory C:\ZIPPER, and the database files ZIPPER1.RBF, ZIPPER2.RBF, and ZIPPER3.RBF in each of the sub- directories for each state. This configuration will work as long as "C:\ZIPPER" is located in your DOS "path" (see your DOS manual). You will also need to copy the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF) to each of these sub-directories as well. When you initially use ZIPPER Payroll for each of these states, simply use the two letter state designation (CA, OR, or WA) for the state in question. (Use the address for your branch location). ZIPPER will load the proper tax tables for each configuration. At the end of the year, when you wish to print W-2 forms, simply change the two letter state designation to whatever matches your company location, or enter the address of the parent location. This will insure that your company address will appear correctly on the W-2 form. ZIPPER will sense this change in state location, and ask you to verify that this is what you wish to do. If you affirm this action, ZIPPER will then load the state tax tables for the new state you have selected. THIS MODIFICATION WILL NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON YOUR DATA, BUT YOU DO NOT WANT TO PROCESS ANY PAYROLL WITH THESE NEW TAX TABLES LOADED. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 10 - In order for ZIPPER to load the new tax tables, you will need to be sure that the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF -- where ?? is the current tax table year) are available in the current directory. If there is an city or local withholding tax (in your "old state"), and you have created one or more city / local withholding tax tables, ZIPPER will assume that the existing local tax tables will not be applicable to the new state you have selected. ZIPPER will want to delete these tables, and will ask if you want to review / approve deletion of each table. Select "YES", and then disapprove each tax table deletion. ZIPPER will delete the actual tax table(s), but save the templates containing the rates and ranges you have created. In effect, this will save your tax tables. After you print your W-2 forms (this should be about the last thing you do for the year), simply change back to your original state designation. This will reload the proper state tax tables. Again, you will need to be sure that the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF -- where ?? is the current tax table year) are available in the current directory. See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. You should now reactivate your local tax tables (if you saved them as indicated above). To do so, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (3) City / Local Income (Withholding) Tax. You need to again indicate the basis by which your City / Local Income Tax is to be computed. (See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES.) After making your selection you will be shown the first of your city /local tax tables (templates). Press [ESC], and then press "Y" for YES, or press [ENTER]. ZIPPER will now recreate your tax tables. COMPANY DEPARTMENTS ZIPPER provides the option of grouping employees by department. This feature allows additional management reporting capabilities, such as reporting payroll by department. Use of this feature is optional, and is also described in the section on PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT. If your company is small, and you do not have different departments, you do not have to use this feature. In order to group employees by department, you will need to enter Department ID Codes (that you define) and a Department Name that you assign to that code. Department ID Codes may be letters and/or numbers that you select to uniquely identify this department. The following are all valid entries: 0001, 1, 2, 3, 15, Exec, EXEC, Adm6. You may use from one to four characters. The entry must be unique, and ZIPPER will warn you if you attempt to make a duplicate entry. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 11 - DEPARTMENT ID CODE: A Department ID Code should be entered for each employee (optional) within that department when the employee is first entered. If you later decide to change a previously entered Department ID Code, you will need to update each employee record that has been assigned this ID Code. You may change an employee from one department to another, at any time, and this will not have an effect on previous payroll. Payroll is "charged" to the "assigned" department at the time payroll is computed. This allows proper departmental budget reporting. DEPARTMENT NAME: Each Department ID Code is related to a Department Name. You are allowed any twenty characters for this purpose. Typical departmental entries are shown below. The entry must be unique. ZIPPER will warn you if you attempt to make a duplicate entry. You may enter the department names in UPPER or lower case letters. Department ID Department Name --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Executive 2 Administrative 1050 Financial ACCT Accounting Prod Production You can print a "hard copy" listing of all Departments that have already been entered. This will make it easier for you to select the correct Department ID code when entering each employee. When you enter new employees into your payroll database, enter the Department ID Code for the appropriate department. This will "assign" your employee, for payroll purposes, to that department. LABOR UNIONS & UNION DUES ZIPPER supports payroll deduction of union dues. You may want to take advantage of this feature if some of your employees are union members, AND you wish to deduct union dues from their pay. If your employees are responsible for paying their own union dues, then you should not use this feature. ZIPPER allows you to compute and track payroll deduction for up to 9 labor unions, and provides two methods of computing union dues. To use this feature, you will need to enter the information for each labor union you wish to include. From the MAIN MENU select (4) System, and then (4) Labor Unions. You may enter new information, or edit previously entered data. Note that each labor union is assigned ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 12 - an ID Number (1 through 9). This is the number you will later need to assign to each employee that is a member of that labor union. This is done when you first enter the employee into the payroll database. If you do not need this feature, simply leave the "Union Affiliation" field blank when the employee record is entered. UNION DUES: ZIPPER allows up to two types of union dues for each employee. These are "Flat Rate" and "Variable Rate" dues. FLAT RATE dues is the dollar amount of dues to be deducted per payroll period (each time payroll is prepared for this employee). This information is entered into the individual employee record. A flat rate system supports different rates for each employee. Thus, if the labor union in question had a different rate for each category of membership (apprentice, journeyman, etc), then the appropriate rate would be entered for each employee. In each case, you will need to convert the monthly dues into an annual amount, then divide it by the number of pay periods per year (either 12, 24, 26, or 52) to convert it to the amount to withhold per pay period. VARIABLE RATE dues is the rate (percentage) applied to the base you have selected. The base would be (1) Regular Hours, (2) Total Hours, or (3) Gross Wages. Thus, if the union in question computes dues as a percentage (say 1-1/2% of gross wages), then enter 3 for Dues Basis, and 0.015 for Dues Rate. If you need to deduct and track union dues, either Variable or Flat Rate: (1) First enter Union Information. (2) Assign a union affiliation to each employee that is a member of that union. (3) Enter a "Flat Rate" with each employee, if applicable, AND / OR (4) Enter a "Variable Rate" for that union, if applicable. ZIPPER will now automatically compute and deduct the proper amount of union dues for each employee assigned to any of the 9 available unions. ZIPPER will print a report (See LIABILITY REPORTS) of accumulated union dues liability for each labor union, showing the amount of dues computed and deducted for each employee. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 13 - PASSWORD SECURITY The use of a password security system is optional. If you elect not to utilize a password system, then you will never be asked for a password. INSTALLING A NEW PASSWORD: A password can be set by selecting (4) System from the MAIN MENU, and (2) Password / Security from the SYSTEM MENU. You will be informed that no password is in use, and then asked to enter a password. If you decide not to enter a password at this point, simply press [ENTER], and no password will be set. To enter a password type in any letters and/or numbers you wish. You are limited to a maximum eight (8) characters, and a minimum of one (1). The password is "case sensitive". In other words, the passwords "goForIt" is not the same as "GOFORIT" or "Goforit" or "goforiT". Some examples might be: "zipadedo", "JohnBrow", "12345678", "Bill6/%%", or "ZZ9z". Do not enter quotation marks unless you want them as part of the password. CHANGING A PASSWORD: To change the current password, you will be required to first enter the current password. If the password is entered correctly, you will be asked for a new password. You may enter any valid password. REMOVING PASSWORD PROTECTION: You will be required to enter the the current password. If the password is entered correctly, you will be asked for a new password. Press [ENTER], and the password system will be removed. You will no longer be asked for your password when THE ZIPPER starts. USING THE PASSWORD SYSTEM: If a password is in effect, ZIPPER issues a warning when the program starts that a password security system is in use. The user is given three (3) chances to enter the correct password. If the password is not correctly entered by the third attempt this event (date and time) is recorded and the program terminates. The next authorized user (someone who correctly enters the password) will be informed that someone tried to access the program, and the date and time of the event is reported. We call this the "tattle-tale" feature. Zipper does not keep a permanent record of these events - only the last occurrence is recorded. PRINTER CONFIGURATION ZIPPER gives you the ability to select from among three printers, and five printer ports at any time a report is printed. Prior to printing your first report, you need to give ZIPPER the information about your printer(s). ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 14 - PRINTER NAMES: Printers are numbered 1 through 3, and you may enter any printer name to correspond with any of these printers. You will want to enter a name that will provide easy identification at "print- time". You might consider the following names as typical: Okidata 192 HP LaserJet Series II Epson FX 80 OR 80 Column Dot Matrix 132 Column Dot Matrix Laser Printer The name is purely for your identification. Once you have selected a printer it will remain the default (normal setting). You may change this setting any time a report is printed. This provides the option of sending some reports to a laser printer, some reports to a dot matrix printer, or using a wide carriage (132 column) printer. Using a wide carriage printer will allow you to print reports that are normally printed in compressed print, in a 10 point font. You may find reports printed in this manner easier to read. After entering a printer name, Press [ENTER] or [F9] to enter the printer control codes. Enter the control codes (described below) for the corresponding printer effect, and Press [ENTER] or [F8] to move to the next printer control mode / sequence. Press [F8] to move DOWN the list, and [F7] to move back up the list. After entering all of the printer control codes for this printer, Press [F9] to return to the printer name. You may then press [F8] to enter the next printer (if you wish to use more than one printer), or Press [ESC] to finish. ZIPPER will ask if you want to update any printer drivers (save changes). Press "Y" or [ENTER] if you have just entered a new printer, or you have changed any of the existing printer control codes. Press "N" if you do not want to update printer drivers. Printer driver(s) will only be updated if you elect to do so. Changes made to the control codes will be saved, but the printer driver(s) will not be updated unless you elect to do so. You must build / update the printer drivers in order to print reports correctly. Once you have entered the control codes for the printer(s) you use, and have built new printer drivers, you will not need to modify these settings unless you replace any of your printers. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 15 - PRINTER CONTROL CODES Printer control codes are special sequences of numbers that are sent to the printer. These numerical sequences mean special things to your printer, and allow ZIPPER to tell your printer what print mode or print size (pitch) is to be used. Since ZIPPER doesn't know what printer(s) you might use (ZIPPER doesn't care), you just need to tell ZIPPER what printer control codes your printer uses. ZIPPER needs to know the control codes that correspond to the following printer modes. START BOLD : Begins printing characters in bold, or double strike. STOP BOLD : Stops printing characters in bold, or double strike. START COMPRESSED: Begins printing in compressed mode. STOP COMPRESSED : Stops printing in compressed mode. DEFAULT : Normal printer setting. Printer control codes, normally found in the manual that came with your printer, need to be entered in decimal values (usually 1, 2, or 3 digits) , separated by a forward slash (/). The "/" needs to be entered to separate the decimal values. The example below is for the Okidata 192/193 series of printers. CONTROL CODES PRINTER EFFECT (Decimal Value) --------------------------------------------------------------------- START BOLD............................................... 27/69/ STOP BOLD................................................ 27/70/ START COMPRESSED......................................... 15/ STOP COMPRESSED.......................................... 27/35/48/ DEFAULT.................................................. 18/ ***** REMEMBER TO ENTER THE "/" BETWEEN EACH "SERIES" OF CODES. ***** PRINTER PORTS: ZIPPER recognized five printer ports; LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, and COM2. LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3 are Parallel printer ports, and COM1 and COM2 are Serial printer ports. You may configure any of your (up to three) printers to any of these five printer ports at print time. At print time ZIPPER will show you the current printer and printer port settings. The current settings are the ones used at the last printing session. You may leave the current settings as they exist, or change them to any other combination you choose. NOTE: ZIPPER does not currently support printing of checks or W-2 Forms on laser printers. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 16 - WITHHOLDING TAXES FEDERAL & STATE WITHHOLDING TAXES: See the README.DOC file for any special conditions regarding your state. ZIPPER Payroll includes all federal and state tax tables, and ZIPPER "knows" the methodology of computing withholding taxes for your state. You do not have to do anything to create or configure these tax tables. Once you tell ZIPPER where (in which state) your company is located, it will configure and load the proper tax tables. The tax table databases for the current year (ZIPxxTX?.RBF - where xx is the year in two digits - 91, 92, etc.) must be located in the same DOS directory as your payroll database. If the tax tables are not present, ZIPPER will not be able to configure itself for your needs. Also see INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES. CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES If you city or local municipality has a personal income tax, and requires that the employer withhold this tax from an employee's pay, than ZIPPER can automatically compute this withholding for you, within certain limitations. ZIPPER comes configured so that there will be no computation of city / local taxes. To change this, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, and (3) City / Local Income (Withholding) Tax. ZIPPER now asks you to select the basis by which your City / Local Income Tax is to be computed. You have five options: (0)-None (1)-% of Gross Wages (2)-% of Taxable Wages (Federal Base) (3)-% of Taxable Wages (State Base) (4)-% of State Withholding (5)-% of Federal Withholding (0)-None means that ZIPPER will not compute any city / local withholding tax. (1)-% of Gross Wages means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of Gross Wages. ZIPPER will not consider any type of deductions, personal exemptions, or allowances. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (2)-% of Taxable Wages (Federal Base) means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of the amount computed to be "taxable wages" for federal withholding purposes. In other words, the ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 17 - same amount (not necessarily the same tax rate though) used to compute federal withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (3)-% of Taxable Wages (State Base) means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of the amount computed to be "taxable wages" for state withholding purposes. In other words, the same amount (not necessarily the same tax rate though) used to compute state withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (4)-% of State Withholding means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of state withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (5)-% of Federal Withholding means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of federal withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. ZIPPER will accept only zero (0) through (5) as a proper entry. If you enter 1 through 5, ZIPPER will then allow you to enter the appropriate information into a template from which ZIPPER will create a tax table. You may create up to six local tax tables. On the following page is a sample of a tax table template. This table is for the city of New York for 1991. This is the tax table for single persons. ZIPPER USES ONLY ANNUAL TAX TABLES, and then computes the proper tax based on the payroll frequency for each employee. Enter the information to create ANNUAL tax tables. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 18 - The table below uses six "payroll ranges" (although you may have as many as eleven payroll ranges). Each range includes a minimum (the OVER column), a maximum (the BUT NOR OVER column), a minimum amount of tax, a tax rate, and a tax base. Tax Table #: 1 Table Description: City of New York - Single --------------------------------------------------------------------- If the amount of wages (after subtracting The amount of income tax withholding allowances) is: to be withheld shall be: OVER -- BUT NOT OVER OF EXCESS OVER $0.00 -- $8,000.00 $0.00 plus 0.02 $0.00 $8,000.00 -- $8,700.00 $160.00 plus 0.028 $8,000.00 $8,700.00 -- $15,000.00 $180.00 plus 0.033 $8,700.00 $15,000.00 -- $25,000.00 $388.00 plus 0.0395 $15,000.00 $25,000.00 -- $60,000.00 $783.00 plus 0.0415 $25,000.00 $60,000.00 -- $2,236.00 plus 0.0425 $60,000.00 -- plus -- plus -- plus -- plus -- plus --------------------------------------------------------------------- As an example consider an employee who receives an annual salary that once adjusted for deductions and exemptions equals $39,000.00. The tax table above would translate this into the following equation (see row five): "The amount of (ANNUAL) income tax to be withheld shall be $783.00 plus 4.15% (.0415) of the excess over $25,000.00", = $783.00 plus .0415 times $14,000.00 ($39,000.00 - $25,000.000), = $783.00 plus $581.00 = $1,364.00. This is exactly the same as the federal tables, but the amount is computed (in New York) on the basis of (3)-% of Taxable Wages (State Base), or the same amount used to compute state withholding (but not the same rate.) You can create as many as six local tax tables. When you first enter information into these tax tables, the "Table Description" will indicated that it is "Unused". This is a key word for ZIPPER, and you must enter some other type of description, like "City of New York - Single" (whatever identifies the table for you), so that ZIPPER will create a tax table from the information you have entered. If you do not enter something other than key word "Unused", ZIPPER will not build a tax table. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 19 - Additionally, it is important that you do not enter any amount in the maximum (BUT NOT OVER) column in the row that represents the highest payroll range. In the table above this is the sixth row, which is also displayed below: $60,000.00 -- $2,236.00 plus 0.0425 $60,000.00 | |_____ No entry in maximum column The maximum column is blank. This tells ZIPPER that this is the last row in the table you have created. If your local tax rate is based on a flat rate (percentage) of federal withholding, than creating a tax table is simple. The example below shows how to create a tax table where the local withholding rate is eight percent (8%) of the amount of federal withholding. You need to enter information only in the first row. Tax Table #: 1 Table Description: Your local tax table --------------------------------------------------------------------- If the amount of wages (after subtracting The amount of income tax withholding allowances) is: to be withheld shall be: OVER -- BUT NOT OVER OF EXCESS OVER $0.00 -- $0.00 plus 0.08 $0.00 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Notice again that the maximum column is blank. This tells ZIPPER that this is the last (and in this case the only) row in the table you have created. The table above creates an infinite range from $0.00 upward. If you selected (5)-% of Federal Withholding as the basis for your local withholding, then all employees (unless you have indicated that they are exempt from local tax) will have local withholding computed at the rate of 8% of the amount of federal withholding for this pay period. After you have made all of the necessary entries in the first tax table (Table # 1), you may use the [TAB] key or the [ENTER] key to move through the fields to the next tax table (Table #2). You may also press [F8] to move to the next table, or [F7] to move to the previous tables. If you do not have any more tables to create press [ESC]. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 20 - ZIPPER will respond by asking you if you need to update (save) any tax table changes. Press "Y", "y", or [ENTER] to save these changes. Actually, if you press something else, your entries will not be lost. The entries you make for a template that ZIPPER uses to create your local tax tables. ZIPPER cannot compute local withholding, however, until you "save" the entries or changes you have entered in this template. If you press "Y" or [ENTER], ZIPPER will then create tax tables from your templates. WARNING. You should carefully review your entries in these templates. Improper entries will effect the proper computation of local withholding, and therefore net pay. You may review these tables at any time, and make any corrections to the templates. If you make changes you need to tell ZIPPER to update the tax tables (save these changes). UPDATING LOCAL TAX TABLES: Any local tax tables you create may need to be updated annually, or more frequently, as required. You should not update these tables until you want the new rates to take effect. You can enter the new values in the templates and then press "N" (for No) to tell ZIPPER not to update the tables now. That way you can enter the changes whenever you receive them, but not have them go into effect until you choose to update or save the changes. Changing your tax tables will not have any effect on previously prepared payroll. DELETING LOCAL TAX TABLES: Should you need to delete any of the tax tables you have created, simply edit the templates. Change the Table Description to "Unused" and blank each of the fields by pressing [F2] when the cursor is located in that field. After you have done this to all the tables you wish to delete, press [ESC], then press "Y" or [ENTER]. ZIPPER will delete these tables. OTHER PAYROLL TAXES In addition to Federal, State, and City Withholding (Income) Tax, ZIPPER provides the ability to calculate the following payroll taxes. FICA: Social Security & Medicare FUTA: Federal Unemployment Tax SUTA: State Unemployment Tax SDI: State Industrial (Disability) Insurance and OTHER: A user defined payroll tax To enter or edit the information relating to these payroll taxes, form the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (1) FICA, FUTA, SUTA, and User Defined. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 21 - ZIPPER comes with the current rates and base amounts entered for FICA (Social Security Tax and Medicare Tax) and FUTA. You will need to enter the tax rates / bases in order for ZIPPER to properly compute your tax liability for SUTA, SDI, and OTHER (User Defined Payroll Tax) as may be required by your state. To enter or edit these tax rates, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (1) FICA, FUTA, SUTA, & User Defined. Your state tax rates (SUTA, SDI, and OTHER) may need to be updated annually, or more frequently, as required. You should not update these values until you want them to take effect. Changing these tax rates will not have any effect on previously prepared payroll. ZIPPER does not update these tax rates for you. ZIPPER does provide, to registered users, annual updates for Federal Income Tax (FIT), State Income Tax (SIT), FICA, and FUTA. FICA: In 1991 the IRS split FICA into the separate categories of Social Security, and Medicare. The current rates and maximum wage base for these items can be found on the cover of the Circular E, Employer's Tax Guide. This publication is sent to every business registered with the IRS. The tax rate is the amount paid by both employer AND employee. These tax rates are maintained by ZIPPER. You will not have to make any entries, nor will you have to update these rates from year to year. These tax rates, along with the federal and state withholding tables are provided to registered ZIPPER Payroll users. See the README.DOC file for information about tax table updates, and technical support. FUTA: Same as above. ZIPPER automatically computes the proper rate for the Net FUTA Liability based on the liability rate for state unemployment (SUTA), and the current FUTA maximum credit. SUTA: This information should be provided by the agency in your state that regulates unemployment benefits. The Maximum Wage Basis represents the amount of earnings that is taxable. Any earnings under this amount (total for the year) are taxable, and earnings over this amount are not taxable. SDI: Enter the basis by which this tax (or premium) is to be calculated. Enter (0)-None, (1)-Regular Hours, (2)-Total Hours, or (3)-Gross Earnings. See STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE. (0)-None: ZIPPER will not compute any SDI (1)-Regular Hours: SDI will be calculated on the total number of regular hours worked. Overtime hours will not be included in the calculation. (2)-Total Hours: Includes all hours, both regular and all overtime. (3)-Gross Earnings: SDI will be calculated on the dollar amount of the employees gross earnings. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 22 - OTHER: ZIPPER provides the ability to enter one additional payroll tax that may be used in your state or locality. The following information needs to be entered. NAME / DESCRIPTION: A 24 character text field describing this tax. MAXIMUM WAGE BASIS: The maximum or ceiling, if any. LIABILITY RATE : Entered as a decimal value (0.014). The fields listed above should be left blank if you do not need to make use of this additional tax category. An example of this type of tax would be the California Employment Training Tax. STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE Requirements for figuring State Disability Insurance (SDI) sometimes called State Industrial Insurance, vary widely from state to state. ZIPPER has been designed to compute SDI as though it were a tax, based on payroll. Computation is optional, and if your state does not base SDI premiums on payroll then you should elect "None" (see below). To enter or edit the information relating to SDI, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (1) FICA, FUTA, SUTA, and User Defined. The primary basis for computing SDI applies to all employees. The following options are provided: (0)-None: ZIPPER will not compute any SDI (1)-Regular Hours: SDI will be calculated on the total number of regular hours worked. Overtime hours will not be included in the calculation. (2)-Total Hours: Includes all hours, both regular and all overtime. (3)-Gross Earnings: SDI will be calculated on the dollar amount of the employees gross earnings. CREATING EMPLOYMENT CLASSES FOR STATE INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE The secondary basis for computing SDI applies to individual employees, based on an "Employment Class". If you wish to compute SDI you must have elected one of the options above (other than None), AND you must create at least one Employment Class. To enter information regarding employment classes for SDI, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (2) State Industrial (Disability) Insurance. You may enter new information (create new employment classes), edit existing data, or print a report listing the employment classes that have already been created. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 23 - Each Employment Class includes includes the following items: Class Code : A six (6) character alpha-numeric sequence to provide a unique identification. Description : A thirty (30) character descriptive name. Liability Rates Employer : The rate, entered as a decimal value, that is to be charged to you, the employer. The rate will be applied to the primary basis (Regular Hours, Total Hours, or Gross Earnings). Employee : The rate, entered as a decimal value, that is to be charged each employee in this class. The rate will be applied to the primary basis (Regular Hours, Total Hours, or Gross Earnings). EXAMPLE: |-- Liability Rate --| Code Job Description Employer Employee -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2124 Building construction 1.9507 0.125 In the above example, if the rates are based on the number of hours worked, then the employer would incur a tax liability of $1.9507 for each hour the employee works, and the employee would have $ .125 deducted from his/her pay for this same unit of work. The above example conforms to the model used in Washington State. If your state computes SDI like a premium, based on wages paid, then a similar entry might appear as follows. EXAMPLE: |-- Liability Rate --| Code Job Description Employer Employee -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2124 Building construction 0.0157 In this case, the liability rate would be 1.57% of the gross wages. There would be no deduction from the employees wages. If your state has several different categories, or "Employment Classes", then you will need to enter the above information for each individual class. Once you have entered each of the classes that pertain to the employees within your company, you may then "relate" ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 24 - each of your employees to an Employment Class by entering the six (6) character alpha-numeric code when entering each employee (State Disability Insurance Code). ZIPPER will display the descriptive name for this class. If you enter a code number that does not exist, ZIPPER will provide a warning that "No row found for lookup". This means that ZIPPER attempted to find a record of this employment class, but was unable to do so. This warning appears at the top of the screen for a moment, then disappears. If this "lookup" fails, then ZIPPER will not display the descriptive name for this employment class. If you enter an ID code that does not exist (the lookup fails), then ZIPPER will not be able to compute SDI for this employee. PRINTING SDI REPORT ZIPPER provides a report listing all of the Employment Classes you have entered. We recommend that you print this listing after entering all of your classes and related data. Having a "hard copy" of this information will make it easy to enter the proper code for each employee. You may enter newly assigned SDI rates at any time. You should not enter new rates that may be assigned by the your state's controlling authority until you want these rates to take effect. Changes in rates will have no effect on previously computed payroll. EMPLOYEE BENEFITS The ZIPPER allows you to compute two types of employee benefits; Vacation Pay and Sick Pay. ZIPPER makes certain assumptions to do these computations, and your method of computation must match these assumptions for ZIPPER to work for you. We have tried to provide you with as much flexibility as possible. In order to compute both Vacation Pay and Sick Pay, you will need to enter the amount (number of days per year) each employee is entitled to. This information should be entered for each employee when they are entered into the payroll database. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES. The number of days can be changed at any time (EMPLOYEE MENU - Edit / Change Employee Data), and the updated amount of benefit (days per year) will only affect payroll that is computed after that change. Previous payroll entries are not affected by these changes. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 25 - A typical entry for an employee who will receive two weeks paid vacation, and one week paid sick leave would be as follows: Paid Vacation : 10 (days per year) Paid Sick Leave: 5 (days per year) The above entry assumes a five day work week. Prior to entering this information for each employee, you will need to tell ZIPPER how your benefits are to be configured. This information needs to be entered only once, when you do your initial set-up. What ZIPPER needs to know is: The number of hours in the normal work day : (Usually 8) The number of hours in the normal work week: (Usually 40) The number of weeks in the normal work year: (Usually 52) With this information ZIPPER computes the number of hours in the normal work year: (Usually 2080) This data is entered or changed via the EMPLOYEE MENU, Option (6), Employee Benefits (Vacation & Sick Pay). You are provided with an entry screen requesting the information listed above. Based on your entries, ZIPPER calculates the number of hours per year, and displays that amount for you to see. An example is also provided which will display the actual effects of your company's benefits configuration combined a typical entry for a given employee. You are allowed to change the number of vacation and sick pay days in this example, and it does not have any effect on your particular configuration or any of your employees. Press [ESC] when you have finished entering this data. NOTE: ZIPPER's benefits calculations are "advisory" and do not have any effect on your actual payroll. You may, at any time, exceed the amount of accrued benefits for any employee, or even pay benefits to any employee who normally does not receive benefits. The accrual amounts will be displayed for each employee when you process their payroll. The accruals are also included on the Year-To-Date Payroll report ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 26 - The best way to explain these conditions is to show by an example. You may wish to go to the EMPLOYEE BENEFITS entry screen; MAIN MENU (1) Employees, then (6) Employee Benefits, and follow along. The "default setting" are : Hours per day : 8 Hours per week: 40 Weeks per year: 52 (this creates) --> Hours per year: 2080 Based on the "default setting" of: Paid vacation days (per year) : 10 Paid sick pay days (per year) : 5 the EXAMPLE produces the following result: 0.04 days of vacation pay, and 0.01960784 days of sick pay, for every 8 hour day worked. These calculations assume that each of these employee benefits will continue to accrue even while an employee is on vacation, or off sick. In the above example, this assumption creates the following modification to the more obvious calculations. For the purposes of vacation pay, this employee would actually work 50 weeks (or 2000 hours) per year; for the purposes of sick pay, 51 weeks (or 2040 hours) per year. This condition further identifies that the entries for the number of hours worked (during payroll preparation) is important, even for employees who are paid a salary. Consider the following example: Hours Vacation Sick Pay Basis for Employee: Worked Paid (hrs) Paid (hrs) Benefits ------------------------------------------------------------------- Employee A 28 8 4 40 Employee B 32 0 8 40 Employee C 40 0 0 40 These entries are critical, especially in states where taxes like Industrial Insurance are computed on the number of hours worked. In the example above the taxes would be based on 28, 32, and 40 hours (for Employee's A, B, and C, respectively), and the calculation for employee benefits (accumulations for Vacation Pay and Sick Pay) would be based on 40 hours. When you prepare payroll, enter the number of hours worked to reflect the number of hours that the employee was present, and will be paid for. The "hours worked" should not include any vacation or sick pay. Vacation and sick pay are separate entries. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 27 - These calculations are for the purposes of maintaining a "running total" for the amount of benefits (calculated in hours) available for each employee. Thus, the amount of benefits granted to each employee affects the amount of additional benefits accrued during any payroll period. As indicated above, these "running totals" are displayed (rounded-off) for each employee during payroll processing, and are only advisory. You may exceed the accumulated benefits due for any employee. Printing the Year-To-Date Payroll Register will show the amount accrued for each employee. These amounts are carried over from year to year for each employee. If your company does not provide for carry-over accumulations, then you will need to delete the amount contained in the YTD Register after a "New Year" is created. Hint: If employees are granted company paid holidays (Christmas, New Years Day, etc), then the number of days each employee receives should be added to the number of Paid Vacation Days. These days (actually the number of hours) would be entered as Vacation (Benefit Hours Paid), and not as Hours Worked, during payroll preparation. ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES Creating a new employee record is the basis for processing payroll. Each employee record provides the information necessary to properly calculate payroll, withholding, and tax liability. Creating a new employee record also creates a Year-to-Date (YTD) record for that employee as well. You can not prepare payroll for an employee until you have entered this employee into your payroll database. ZIPPER Uses three data entry screens (or pages) for each employee. Entering the last item on each screen will take you to the first item on the following entry screen. Entering the last item on the last screen returns you to the top of the first screen. You may also use the [Page Up] or [Page Down] key to move to any screen at any time. Use [Enter], [Tab] or [Down-Arrow] to move to the next item, [Shift Tab], or [Up-Arrow] to move to the previous item. After you have entered all items for this employee press [ESC] to bring up the ZIPPER Menu Bar shown below. --------------------Press [ESC] to Abandon Entry------------------- Quit Add Edit again Discard ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to abort entering a new employee, press [ESC] or select Discard. Selecting Discard deletes the entered record, but allows you to continue data entry. If you select Discard, and then press ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 28 - [ENTER], you may now enter another employee by selecting Edit again. Pressing [ESC] deletes the current entry AND terminates the data entry session. Select Quit to save the entered data and terminate the present data entry session. Select Add to save the entered data and enter another employee. Selecting Add clears the present data from the form and brings up the first screen (page) of the NEW EMPLOYEE data entry form. Most of the employee data items (fields) are self-explanatory. Those that require some explanation are listed below. Be careful when entering a new employee; all payroll calculations are based on the data you enter for each employee. Incorrect data may cause calculation errors in your payroll and/or your tax liability. EMPLOYEE NAME: ZIPPER builds an internal code based on the employees name (Last Name, First Name, and MI). Using an employee's name for this purpose allows you to find employees by their name. You are not required to create "employee numbers". We have designed the internal ID code to be unique, but there is always the possibility that a duplicate ID code could be created. You will know this condition exists when you try to enter a new employee and ZIPPER informs your that an error has occurred with the message: -ERROR- Employee ID Code already in use - rule violation. This message will be displayed at the top of the screen when you attempt to add this new employee to the payroll database. By explaining how ZIPPER creates this internal ID code, then you should be able to get around this rule in a way that is acceptable to you, your employee, and ZIPPER. The basis for the ID code is displayed below using the upper portion of the new employee data entry screen. The example employee name to be entered is: Jane R. Smith --NEW EMPLOYEE-------------------------------------[ESC] when done--- Last Name: Smith First: Jane MI: R |__| |_| | | | | | | | SmitJanR _____________________|______________| ZIPPER builds the internal ID code by joining the first four letters of the Last Name (Smit), the first three letters of the first name (Jan), and the Middle Initial (R). If you already had an employee who's name was Jana R. Smitten, the internal ID code SmitJanR would already be in use. ZIPPER will not allow you to create a duplication of this internal code, and give you the warning described above. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 29 - In order to get around this condition, you will need to "change" this employee's name. You may want to discuss this condition with your employee. A simple solution would be to leave out the middle initial for this employee. DATE OF BIRTH: This item is optional, but ZIPPER does provide a birthday list that you may wish to use. The employee's age is not disclosed, only the month and day of the year are listed. TYPE OF COMPENSATION: Enter (S)-Salary or (H)-Hourly. Entering anything else will cause an error, and ZIPPER will not allow you to save this record until this error is corrected. STATUS: You will not see this field when entering a new employee. This field is automatically entered for you when a new employee record is first created. This indicates the employment and/or payroll status of the employee. Payroll is prepared only for (A)-Active status employees. This entry should be changed for any employee that is terminated, layed-off, etc. Valid entries are: (A)ctive, (I)nactive, or (T)erminated. When you enter a new employee the status field is set to (A)ctive". PAY PERIODS PER YEAR: This indicates the frequency that this employee is paid. Valid entries are the numbers 12, 24, 26, or 52 [ (12)- Monthly, (24)-Semimonthly, (26)-Biweekly, or (52)-Weekly ]. Entering anything else will cause an error, and ZIPPER will not allow you to save this record until this error is corrected. The number of pay periods is the number of times per year that an employee is paid. Thus, if an employee is paid once per month, you would enter (12) for this employee. If the employee is paid twice a month, say the 1st and the 15th, enter (24). ZIPPER prepares payroll in groups. If you have employees in your company that are paid at different times (weekly, and biweekly), then these two groups must be created separately. SALARY PER PAY PERIOD: Enter the amount of regular salary to be paid to this employee each time they are paid. An entry should be made only if the employee is paid a salary. This field should be left blank for employees who are paid hourly. Examples: If an employee is paid $1,530.00 per month, and paid semimonthly (the number of pay periods is 24), then the Salary per Pay Period is $765.00 [ ($1,500.00 X 12) divided by 24 ]. If an employee is paid $18,640.00 per year, and paid weekly (the number of pay periods is 52) then the Salary per Pay Period is $358.46 ($18,640.00 / 52) ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 30 - HOURLY RATES: ZIPPER allows three different hourly rates of compensation for each employee. REGULAR pay would be used for the normal rate of pay. OVERTIME1 and OVERTIME2 are provided for different scales of pay. Their use is optional. If you do not pay overtime, then these fields should be left blank. Alternately, you may have employees that perform different jobs, and are paid a different rate for each job. You might use the Overtime categories for this purpose. The overtime rates are not based on the regular pay rate. You must enter a specific rate of pay for each employee who is paid hourly. All hourly rate fields should be left blank for employees who are paid by salary. TAX TABLES: These fields indicates which tax table(s) will be used to calculate withholding taxes. There are fields for Federal Tax Tables, State Tax Tables, and City (or Local) Tax Tables. FEDERAL TAX TABLES: Enter (1) if Single, or (2) if Married. ZIPPER knows there are only two Federal Tax Tables. If you enter a number larger than two, ZIPPER will assume that you have made an error. ZIPPER will not stop you from making this entry, but will instead use Table 2, the "Married" Tax Table, when payroll is processed for this employee. STATE TAX TABLES: Enter the number of the appropriate tax table to use for this employee. If there is no income tax (withholding) in your state, leave this field blank. You may enter any single digit number (0 - 9). ZIPPER knows if your state has a withholding tax, and how many tax tables your state uses. If you enter a table number that does not exist in your state ZIPPER will know that you have made an error, but does not know which is the correct table for this employee. In such cases, ZIPPER will make its own determination. For example, ZIPPER knows there are five (5) tax tables for New Jersey (Rate A through E). ZIPPER uses tables 1 through 5 respectively. If you enter a number larger than five, ZIPPER will assume an error condition. ZIPPER will not stop you from making this entry, but will instead use last table that exists, in this case table number 5. If there is a personal income tax in your state, and you state provides a number of tax tables to calculate this withholding, enter the number of the tax table you want to use for this employee. Depending on the number of tax tables used in your state, enter (1) if the employee files as Single, (2) if the employee files as Married, or enter 3 through 9 if that number of tables is used by your state. If there is only one tax table for your state, enter (1) for each employee. Please review the README.DOC file for special conditions regarding some states. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 31 - If your state computes State Withholding as a percentage of Federal Withholding, (Arizona, North Dakota, & Vermont) leave this field blank. Arizona employers please review the README.DOC file for special conditions. CITY TAX TABLES: If there is no City or Local Withholding in your area, leave this field blank. It there is a City / Local Withholding, you may create up to six tax tables to compute this tax. See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. After creating the necessary tax tables, you need to indicate in this field which table to use for this (each) employee. If you enter a number larger than six (6) ZIPPER will not compute city / local withholding for this employee. If you enter a table number that does not exist (you have not created it), ZIPPER will not compute city / local withholding for this employee. PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Personal exemptions are provided for Federal Withholding, and in some states where income tax exists. Carefully review the income (withholding) tax booklet provided by your state. ********************************************************************** BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS AND ADDITIONAL EXEMPTIONS (ZIPPER CALLS THESE "STATE EXTRA DEDUCTIONS" ) IF YOUR STATE PROVIDES BOTH. ********************************************************************** FEDERAL PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Enter the number of deductions the employee claims for Federal Withholding Tax purposes (Form W-4). You may enter 0 through 99. STATE PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Enter the number of deductions the employee claims for State Withholding purposes. You may enter 0 through 99. This field should be left blank if your state does not have a withholding tax. STATE STANDARD DEDUCTIONS: Not all states use a "Standard Deduction", and you will have to determine what system your state uses. In most cases, states that use a standard deduction use a value between zero and three (0..3). Some states equate zero and one, and others do not. Enter a value between zero and three, inclusive. If you enter a value greater than 3, ZIPPER will process this as the Married Standard Deduction (2). This field should be left blank if your state does not have a withholding tax. Special situations are covered in the README.DOC file. Check this file to see if there are conditions that apply to your state. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 32 - STATE EXTRA DEDUCTIONS: This field should not be confused with the State Personal Exemption, and is used by some states to provide a wider range withholding. Special situations are covered in the README.DOC file. CITY NAME: If your employees are subject to any city or local withholding tax, then you should enter the name of the city or municipality that administers this tax. The name you enter will appear on the employee's W-2 Form in the block labeled "Name of locality" (block 29, Form W-2). Leave this field blank if there is no city or local withholding (personal income tax) in your area. TAX STATUS (Federal, State, and City): A zero (0) is entered as the "default" entry for all employees. You should change this to a one (1) for any employee who is exempt (does not pay) from any of the taxes listed below. Entering a (1) in any field will tell ZIPPER not to calculate that tax. Data entry errors (any number other than 0 or 1) will treat the employee as "Not Exempt", and tax will be calculated for this employee. Most employee are Not Exempt; in other words, they pay tax. In such a case, no entry is required. FEDERAL TAX STATUS FIT (Federal Income Tax) FICA (Social Security Tax & Medicare Tax) FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax) STATE TAX STATUS SIT (State Income Tax) SDI (State Disability Insurance) SUTA (State Unemployment Tax) User Defined Tax Optional for those state that have an additional payroll tax. See ENTERING PAYROLL TAX RATES. CITY TAX STATUS CIT (City or Local Income Tax) EXTRA WITHHOLDING: (Federal, State, & City) Enter the amount, if any, an employee might wish to have withheld from their pay as an extra amount of withholding. You may enter any amount, and it will not effect calculation of normal withholding. Extra withholding may be entered for Federal, State, and/or City. The entry is used as a "constant", and will automatically be included each time payroll is processed. This amount may be changed or deleted for any individual payroll record when you process payroll. You should leave the State and City fields blank if you (your employees) are not subject to this kind of tax. STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE: Enter the six (6) character alpha-numeric sequence for this employee. See STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 33 - PAID VACATION (days per year): Enter the number of days of paid vacation you wish to provide for this employee. Enter 0 (zero) if this employee is not entitled to vacation pay. Remember to include paid holidays, and add them to the number of vacation days each employee receives. See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. PAID SICK LEAVE (days per year): Enter the number of days of sick pay you wish to provide for this employee. Enter 0 (zero) if this employee is not entitled to sick pay. See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. DEDUCTION FOR MEDICAL BENEFITS (per pay period): Use of this field is optional. If your company provides any type of medical / dental / health insurance, and you wish to deduct any or all of the cost of this program from your employees pay, then enter the amount to deduct from each pay period. You must convert a monthly or yearly premium into the proper amount for the number of pay periods per year. DEDUCTION FOR PENSION BENEFITS (per pay period): Same as above. UNION AFFILIATION: This field is optional, and would be used if you wish to incorporate payroll deduction of union dues. Enter the one digit number (1 through 9) that corresponds to the proper union affiliation for this employee. The information pertaining to each labor union should have already been entered. See LABOR UNIONS. UNION DUES: Enter the "flat rate", or dollar amount of dues to be deducted from each pay period. You may have to convert a monthly dues into the amount for this employee, based on the number of pay periods per year. ZIPPER also provides for a "variable rate" method of calculating union dues that can be used instead of, or in addition to a "flat rate". Leave this field blank if you do not wish to deduct any union dues for this employee. See LABOR UNIONS. DEPARTMENT: ZIPPER allows use of a four (4) character alpha-numeric code to group employees by department. Use of this field is optional, and would be used if you intend to use the management and budget reports. In order to properly use this information you must have previously entered the four character code and a department name that corresponds to that code. See COMPANY DEPARTMENTS. If you have previously entered this department information, you may print a listing of departments and codes. This will make the entry of this item easier and less subject to error. JOB TITLE: Provides an optional description of the job held by this employee. This information is used in the management and budget reports, and appears on some of data entry forms. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 34 - PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Although ZIPPER is not a personnel management program, it does provide a number of useful management capabilities. You can take advantage of these additional features by entering the appropriate data for each employee, and then maintaining this data as changes occur. These data items are located on the third data entry screen for each employee. Use of these fields is optional. If you elect not to enter these data items, it will not have any effect on payroll computation. The following data fields provide this management capability. Some of these items are described above. Date of Birth Date Hired Date Terminated Job Title Department Date of last pay increase EDITING EMPLOYEE DATA To change (edit) any employee information, you begin by selecting the employee(s) you wish edit. You may select one employee by entering the employees last name, or you may select several employees by "checking" or "picking" them from a list. You may also edit every employee record. SELECTING EMPLOYEES You may select one employee by entering the employees last name. You may enter the last name in full, or only in part. Whichever method of entry you choose, ZIPPER will search through all your employees to find a match to your selection. This search method provides a good combination of speed and flexibility. If your company is large (more than say 30 employees) the fastest search method would be to enter the employee's last name in full. Since some employee's names may be long and/or difficult to spell, it may be faster (and easier) to enter only a partial name and let ZIPPER search through the employees that match your search parameters. As an example, if you wanted to search for an employee who's name is Robert Villanueva, you could enter the last name in full, or you could enter "v*" or "vil*" or "villa*" (do not enter the quotation marks). In the preceding examples, each entry becomes more specific than the one before. The more letters you enter, the more "specific" your ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 35 - search becomes. By entering just the asterisk (*) wildcard character, you search becomes totally "unspecific", and ZIPPER will then scroll through every employee (they all match the search parameters). To follow this example, assume you enter "vil*" to find the employee Robert Villanueva. ZIPPER will stop at the first match it finds - any employees who's last name begins with the letters "vil". If the first match is correct, press [ENTER] to indicate that this match is correct. If the first match is not correct, and you want ZIPPER to continue the search, press the letter "N" (for NEXT PLEASE...), or press the [TAB] or [RIGHT ARROW] key to move to "NEXT PLEASE...", then press [ENTER]. You may quit your search at any time. If there are no remaining matches , ZIPPER will terminate the search on it's own. If ZIPPER does not find any matches to the search parameters you have set, it will advise you, and then allow you to try again or quit. Remember, you can enter the asterisk "*" by itself if you are unsure of which employee you want, and ZIPPER will let you scroll through every employee in your company. In this case the employees are presented in the order they were added to your payroll database. If you select only one employee to edit, you will have access only the employee you selected. If you select either several or all employees, then the selected (or all) employees will be presented in alphabetical order. You may move through each record by pressing [F8] for the next employee record, and/or [F7] for the previous employee record. There are three screens (pages) of data for each employee. You may quickly move through the screens by using the [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys. You may edit any of the data that is displayed, with the exception of the employees name. ZIPPER makes special use of the employee's name, and therefore provides special processing if you need to change this information. This is discussed below. CHANGING AN EMPLOYEE'S NAME ZIPPER builds an internal code based on the employees name (Last Name, First Name, and MI). Using an employee's name for this purpose allows you to find employees by their name. You are not required to create or remember "employee numbers", and you do not need to remember the employee codes that ZIPPER creates. The method for creating an Employee ID Code is shown below. Last Name: Smith First: Jane MI: R |__| |_| | | | | | | | SmitJanR _____________________|______________| ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 36 - ZIPPER builds the internal ID code by joining the first four letters of the Last Name (Smit), the first three letters of the first name (Jan), and the Middle Initial (R). Thus, the Employee Id Code for Jane R. Smith is "SmitJanR". When you change an employee's name, ZIPPER builds a new ID code for this employee. Since it is possible that this ID code may already be used for another employee, ZIPPER will check for this condition and warn you if this is the case. Since ZIPPER does not allow the duplication of an existing ID code, you will need to somehow modify the change you wish to make. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES - Employee Name. ENTERING YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION From the EMPLOYEE MENU, select (4) Enter / Change Historical (YTD) Data. If you begin using ZIPPER Payroll during the middle of a year, and are converting from another system, you must enter the year to date payroll data for your employees. We recommend that you do this BEFORE you process any payroll with ZIPPER. Although ZIPPER allows you to directly access this data at any time, WE RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT DO SO, OR THAT YOU DO IT WITH EXTREME CAUTION. Some payroll programs restrict you to working within "quarters", and closing these quarter as they pass. This is the way accounting systems seem to work, and we have tried very hard to create a system that works in a more natural fashion. The one draw-back of such a design is that if you begin using ZIPPER Payroll during the middle of a quarter you will not be able to extract the necessary information for your quarterly reports for that particular quarter. EXAMPLE: Say you want to begin using ZIPPER Payroll in May, the second month of the second quarter. By entering the year-to-date data at that time, ZIPPER knows the proper year-to-date amounts for each employee, but has no way of knowing in which quarter (or month) these wages occurred. Thus, ZIPPER does not keep track of quarters, per se, but tracks data based on the "payroll date". ZIPPER allows you to extract information (create reports) based on any quarter, the full year, or any date range you wish to create - at any time. You will understand the advantages of this design when you begin creating reports. Because of this, we recommend that you begin using ZIPPER to process payroll at the beginning of a new quarter (January, April, July, or October), and enter the Year-To-Date values for each employee PRIOR to processing your first payroll. If you incorrectly enter any year-to- date values, ZIPPER will simply continue to build on these incorrect ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 37 - values. If you discover your error at a later date you may correct it, but BE CAREFUL. We give you access to this data to make your life easier, but it also gives you enough rope to hang yourself. As a precaution, we recommend that you print the Year-To-Date Payroll Register Report after you have entered your initial data. This way you will always have a record of your starting point. We also recommend that you print a copy of this report BEFORE and AFTER you make any adjustments to the data. Consider using the [Shift-Print Screen] feature of your computer prior to editing any existing data. ********************************************************************** ONCE YOU CHANGE THE DATA IN THE YEAR-TO-DATE REGISTER IT CAN NOT BE RESET. UNLESS YOU RECORDED THE PRIOR VALUES, YOU WILL NEED TO LIVE WITH THE CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE. ********************************************************************** When editing this data, ZIPPER will allow you one last chance to undo the changes you have made. You may do so by selecting the "Reset" option from the MENU BAR. Think about this before you press [ESC] or select "Quit". The Reset feature is available only while you are editing this record. Once you leave this employee's record, the Reset feature will not work. Listed below are the data items you need to enter. Remember, this is year to date data. The amounts you are entering are the amounts you have paid, deducted, or that have accumulated for the whole year - up to the day you are entering this data. HOURS WORKED : THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE ENTERED FOR BOTH HOURLY AND SALARIED EMPLOYEES. Regular Hours: The # of hours worked, not including any overtime. Overtime1 : The # of hours worked in the first overtime category/rate. Overtime2 : The # of hours worked in the second overtime category/rate. WAGES : THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE ENTERED ONLY FOR HOURLY EMPLOYEES. Regular : The dollar amount of hourly wages paid, not including any overtime. Overtime1 : The dollar amount of hourly wages paid in the first overtime category/rate. Overtime1 : The dollar amount of hourly wages paid in the second overtime category/rate. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 38 - EARNINGS Salary : THIS ITEM SHOULD BE ENTERED ONLY FOR SALARIED EMPLOYEES. Enter the dollar amount of salary paid. Does not include WAGES (above). Other : This is the miscellaneous category. Enter the dollar amount of earnings that are not otherwise covered by other categories. Commission : The dollar amount of commissions paid. Vacation : The dollar amount of vacation pay paid. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN SALARY, OR ANY WAGE ITEM. Sick Pay : The dollar amount of sick pay paid. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN SALARY, OR ANY WAGE ITEM. TIPS : The dollar amount of tips earned. See PROCESSING PAYROLL - EARNINGS - TIPS, for a discussion between Tips Paid and Tips Reported. Paid : The dollar amount of tip you have paid. Reported : The dollar amount of tip collected by this employee, and reported to you. WITHHOLDING Federal : The dollar amount of Federal Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. State : The dollar amount of State Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. City : The dollar amount of City (or local) Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. DEDUCTIONS Social Sec. : Enter the dollar amount of Social Security (FICA) Tax withheld. Medicare : The dollar amount of Medicare Tax (FICA) withheld. SDI : The dollar amount of State Disability Insurance (sometimes called State Industrial Insurance) withheld (the employees portion). Medical : Use this category for any medical / dental / vision insurance plan to which your employee(s) contributes. Advances : The dollar amount of advances you have collected back from this employee. DO NOT ENTER THE AMOUNT OF ADVANCES YOU HAVE PAID, ONLY THE AMOUNT RECOVERED. Union Dues : The dollar amount of union dues (employees portion) withheld. Pension : Use this category for any pension / retirement plan to which your employee(s) contribute. Other : This is the miscellaneous category. Enter the dollar amount of any deductions that are not otherwise covered by another category. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 39 - BENEFITS Vacation Paid: Enter the NUMBER OF HOURS of vacation pay paid to this employee. DO NOT INCLUDE THIS THIS AMOUNT IN HOURS WORKED (see above). If this employee is paid a salary, you must convert the amount paid into an numeric representation of hours. EXAMPLE: An employee who takes a "one week" vacation is actually paid for five days. Assuming a normal eight hour day, this employee actually received 40 hours of vacation pay. (See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS.) Accrued Bal. : Enter the number of hours of vacation pay benefits that are owed (accrued) to this employee AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. Sick Pay Paid: See above, Vacation Paid. Accrued Bal. : Enter the number of hours of sick pay benefits that are owed (accrued) to this employee AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. ADVANCES Accrued Bal. : Enter the dollar amount of advances paid to this employee that have not been recovered. The amount entered should represent the amount owed to you by this employee, AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. WAGES PAID NOT SUBJECT TO : You should enter dollar amounts for these categories only under certain conditions. Social Sec. : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) Social Security Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the social security wage base. ($53,400 for 1991). If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. Medicare : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) Medicare Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the medicare wage base. ($125,000 for 1991). If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. FUTA : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) FUTA (Federal Unemployment) Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the FUTA wage base. ($7,000 for 1991). If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 40 - SUTA : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) SUTA (State Unemployment) Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the SUTA wage base. (Check your state bulletin for the amount of this wage base). If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. TOTALS : When entering the individual year-to-date data values (above) , ZIPPER will automatically calculate the proper totals (INCOME, DEDUCTIONS, AND NET PAY) for you. PROCESSING PAYROLL BEGIN NEW PAYROLL SEQUENCE (CREATE PAYROLL RECORDS): You begin processing payroll by creating a "payroll group". ZIPPER processes payroll as a group, and will lead you through the logical steps necessary to create this group. After the group has been selected, ZIPPER creates individual payroll records for each employee within that group. You may create several payroll groups and process them together, or create and process each as a separate entity. After you have created a payroll group, you can enter the data ZIPPER needs to calculate payroll. Creating a payroll group involves selecting the type of payroll you are processing (Normal or Special), the frequency with which this group is paid (Weekly, Biweekly, Semimonthly, or Monthly), and the type of pay the individuals within this group receive (Hourly, Salary, or either Hourly or Salary). NORMAL OR SPECIAL PAYROLL NORMAL PAYROLL: As the name implies, this is what you will "normally" do. Select this option to create a payroll group that you might logically create every week, every two weeks, twice a month, or once a month. SPECIAL PAYROLL: Select this option for processing payroll that would be beyond the realm of a Normal payroll. Examples of this might be paying an employee early if they go on vacation, or as termination pay, severance pay, or other similar reason. This option might also be used if you underpay an employee (while processing a Normal Payroll) and want to issue a supplementary check for the additional amount due. Do not use Special Payroll to process payroll advance. ZIPPER provides separate capabilities for this purpose. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 41 - PAYROLL FREQUENCY Next you need to further specify the employees to include in your payroll group. This selection is based on the frequency your employees are paid. Your choices are: (1) Weekly (paid 52 times a year) (2) BiWeekly (paid 26 times a year) (3) SemiMonthly (paid 24 times a year) (4) Monthly (paid 12 times a year) If your company has employees that are paid at different times, you might, on certain occasions, need issue paychecks for both groups at the same time. ZIPPER will allow you to process these groups and print checks at the same time, but the two groups must first be created separately. Now ZIPPER asks you to further define your payroll group. Your choices are: (1) All Employees (2) Hourly Employees (3) Salary Employees For example, within a Weekly group you could process all employees (both Hourly and Salary) at the same time. Optionally, you could process only employees that are paid hourly as a separate group from the employees that are paid a salary. The selection here is purely for your convenience and flexibility. If you process these groups separately, you may still print or export paychecks, or print payroll vouchers at the same time. After you have made your payroll group selections, ZIPPER will show you the group that you have created, and then let you accept or reject this group. If you reject the group you have just selected, you may start over or quit. If this is the payroll group you want, press any key, other than the [ESC] key. Next you will need to enter the payroll dates for this payroll group. ENTERING PAYROLL DATES ZIPPER requires three dates for payroll preparation. These are the Payroll Date, the Starting Date, and the Ending Date. See the section on DATA ENTRY METHODS, ENTERING DATES. PAYROLL DATE: Use this date to indicate the the actual date that payroll will be issued. Paychecks will be printed or exported with this date, and this is the date that will be used to calculate your tax liability for your quarterly returns. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 42 - The screen prompting you for entry of these dates also displays a calendar with the current month in the center. The preceding and following months are displayed along side. ZIPPER assumes you wish to use "today" as the payroll date, and displays it as the payroll date. ZIPPER obtains the date from your computer system. If the battery for your clock / calendar is dead, your computer is not equipped with such a device, or the system date is not properly set, the the date pre- entered and the PAYROLL DATE will be incorrect. You may edit this date by typing over it, or Press [F2] to delete it. When entering the payroll dates, ZIPPER requires that all fields have a date entered. If you decide to abort the preparation of payroll at this point, simply leave any date field blank. ZIPPER always knows the "active year", and will not allow you to enter a payroll date that is not in this same year. At the end of the year you will want to create a new payroll database (ZIPPER will do this for you, See UTILITIES - CREATE A NEW YEAR), so that you may continue to process payroll in the new year. ZIPPER computes Federal, State, and City (Withholding) Taxes based on the tax tables for the current year. Since the tax tables change from year to year, ZIPPER will not allow you to create payroll (based on the Payroll Date) in a year different than the year that is covered by the tax tables contained in your payroll database. Updated tax tables (federal and state) will be sent only to registered users. You will need to manually update any local tax tables that you have created. See CREATE A NEW YEAR, and INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES. STARTING & ENDING DATE: These dates are more for explanatory purposes, and indicate the period that is covered by this payroll. Leaving either date blank will abort processing of the selected payroll group. Additionally, ZIPPER assumes an ending date that occurs before a starting date to be an error, and will not allow this condition. If you later discover that any payroll dates are incorrect, you may correct this error after you have completed processing this payroll. See UNDO / REDO. CREATING PAYROLL RECORDS After you have entered the payroll dates, ZIPPER will create new payroll records for the group you have selected. As soon as these records are created, you may enter your payroll data. If you do not wish to enter payroll data at this time, press [ESC]. You may return at any time to continue entering or finish entering payroll data. You may now create another payroll group, and enter payroll data for the two (or more) groups at the same time. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 43 - MOVING THROUGH YOUR PAYROLL RECORDS When entering payroll data, the payroll records are in alphabetical order. Use [F8] to move to the next employee, and [F7] to move to the previous employee. Use the [TAB], [Down Arrow], or [ENTER] keys to move to each field Use the [Shift Tab] or [Up Arrow] keys to move to a previous fields. When you have entered (or skipped over) the last EARNINGS field of the first page of this data entry form, you then move to the first field of the DEDUCTIONS page (page 2). You can move back and forth from EARNINGS to DEDUCTIONS by pressing [PgUp] and [PgDn]. To terminate the present data entry / edit session, press [ESC]. The records will be saved in their present condition, and you may return at any time, find where you left off, and continue to enter or edit the existing data. ENTERING EARNINGS Earnings are entered on the first screen (page) of each payroll record. REGULAR HOURS WORKED: Enter the number of regular (not overtime) hours worked by each employee. ENTER THE HOURS WORKED EVEN IF THE EMPLOYEE IS PAID A SALARY. The number of hours are needed for computing vacation benefits (accruals), and computing State Industrial Insurance (SDI). OVERTIME1 (and OVERTIME2 ) HOURS WORKED: Enter the number of hours in each field where appropriate. ZIPPER allows two rates of overtime pay for each employee. In order to take advantage of this feature, you must have entered the hourly rates for the overtime categories for this employee. If you have entered these hourly rates they will be displayed to the right of the field where you enter the number of hours worked. If there is no hourly rate indicated at this location, an entry in the hours worked field will not generate any wages for this employee. VACATION BENEFIT HOURS PAID: Enter an amount only if the employee is to be paid vacation pay during this payroll period. As an example, consider an employee who is paid BiWeekly (every two weeks) and normally works 80 hours during a payroll period. Assume the employee worked one of these weeks (40) hours, and was on vacation the other week (40 hours). The amount entered under REGULAR HOURS would be 40 (the number of hours actually worked), and the amount entered under VACATION would also be 40 (the number of vacation hours ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 44 - to be paid). In this case, the number of hours worked is 40, yet the employee is still paid the proper amount of pay (based on 80 hours). THIS APPLIES TO BOTH HOURLY AND SALARY EMPLOYEES. SICK PAY BENEFIT HOURS: Similar to the above situation, entry would be made into this field only if the employee is to be paid sick pay. As above, this amount should offset (not duplicate) the number of hours worked. Both vacation pay and sick pay are computed against the REGULAR HOURLY RATE. Salaried employees are paid vacation and sick pay at a rate that equals an hourly representation of their annual pay. BENEFIT HOURS ACCRUED: This field displays the amount of vacation pay and sick pay (hours) accrued to this employee to date. The amount is based upon (1) the parameters you have selected for your company (See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS), and (2) the amount of benefits this employee receives. The amount of benefits for each employee is set when you enter the employee into your payroll database. The amount displayed is advisory only. You may pay any amount (number of hours). If the amount of hours displayed is a negative amount, it means the the employee "owes you" the number of hours indicated. Each time payroll is processed, ZIPPER automatically computes the number of benefit hours earned by each employee, based on the parameters described above. SALARY: This amount is automatically provided but can be changed. The amount displayed is based on the salary per pay period that you have entered for this employee. If the employee is paid hourly this field is blank, and an amount should not be entered. TIPS: Food service businesses have special requirements with respect to income categorized as tips. ZIPPER handles tips in a method that provides the greatest flexibility (for you), and still keeps your bookkeeping (payroll) correct. Tips are not difficult to handle, from ZIPPER's point of view, but it is important that you understand how this information is processes. TIPS PAID: These are tips that are collected by you, the employer, and then included in your employees paycheck. Do not include any tips that the employee has already collected (received). TIPS REPORTED: These are tips that are already in the hands of your employee. How they get there is not important (to ZIPPER). Whether or not you collect and later disperse this money to your employee (as in tips that are included in credit card purchases, or "pooled" tips, or the employee takes them is cash off the table), the IRS requires that these tips be reported as income. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 45 - Since the employee is already in possession of REPORTED TIPS (like an advance) you do not want to include it in their pay. You do, however, need to include it in their payroll calculation to insure that it is subject to withholding and FICA. By entering this amount in the TIPS REPORTED category during payroll processing, you will insure that the above requirements are met. These tips are added to the employee's pay for tax calculations, and then subtracted so they are not paid again. Note that in manually calculating the TOTAL EARNINGS, TOTAL DEDUCTIONS and NET PAY amounts on the check stubs, payroll vouchers, or payroll proof report, the amount of TOTAL DEDUCTIONS will also include the amount of TIPS REPORTED. The DEDUCTIONS column will therefore seem to be incorrect, but it is not so. The TIPS category on the check (payroll voucher, or proof report) combines TIPS PAID and TIPS REPORTED, even though ZIPPER keeps them separate. In a food service business it is possible for an employee to have a "minus" pay. This happens when the amount of TIPS REPORTED is very large, and the amount of wages or salary is relatively small. Usually, the amount of withholding (Federal and/or State) is too large for the small amount of wages included in the check. ZIPPER will not allow the processing of a zero or negative payroll. Should such a condition occur, you will need to correct these payroll record. See NEGATIVE PAYROLL. COMMISSION: Enter the dollar amount of this type of earnings. OTHER INCOME / PAY: Enter the dollar amount of this type of pay. DESCRIPTION (of OTHER INCOME / PAY): Enter a description, up to 30 characters, describing the basis for this entry. ENTERING DEDUCTIONS Deductions are entered on the second screen (page) of each payroll record. EXTRA FEDERAL WITHHOLDING: This item will display an amount if the employee has requested an additional amount of Federal Withholding Tax to be withheld, and you have entered this amount into the employee's payroll record. This amount will appear in every payroll record you create for this employee, but may be edited or deleted for any payroll. DO NOT ENTER FEDERAL WITHHOLDING TAX from the Tax Tables, Circular E, into this field. Federal Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 46 - EXTRA STATE WITHHOLDING: Same as above. DO NOT ENTER STATE WITHHOLDING TAX into this field. State Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER in states where withholding tax exists. This field should be blank if there is not a withholding tax in your state. EXTRA CITY WITHHOLDING TAX: Same as above. DO NOT ENTER CITY WITHHOLDING TAX into this field. City Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER if you have created City / Local Tax tables. This field should be blank if there is not a withholding tax in your city or local municipality. MEDICAL / DENTAL BENEFITS: This field will contain an amount if you have entered this information in the individual employee's record. You may change or delete the amount from this particular record. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES - DEDUCTIONS FOR MEDICAL BENEFITS. PENSION PLAN: Same as above for Medical / Dental Benefits. UNION DUES: See the section on UNION DUES. ADVANCES AGAINST PAY: Use this field to recover payroll advances that have been paid to this employee. ZIPPER displays the amount of advances accumulated to date. The amount displayed (the amount the employee owes you) is advisory. Enter whatever amount you wish to deduct from this payroll. DO NOT ENTER THIS ITEM AS A NEGATIVE AMOUNT. OTHER DEDUCTIONS: May be used for any purpose (savings bonds, profit sharing, etc). DESCRIPTION (of OTHER DEDUCTIONS): Enter a description, up to 30 characters, describing the basis for this entry. After you have entered data into the last DEDUCTION field, you will be taken to the first EARNINGS field of the next payroll record. After you have entered all data for each employee, press [ESC]. You are ready to begin AUTOMATED PAYROLL PROCESSING (compute payroll). COMPUTING PAYROLL After all payroll data is entered, you are ready to begin Automated Payroll Processing. ZIPPER steps through each payroll record and calculates all necessary deductions, taxes, and liabilities. You can watch as each of the records, and each item within that payroll record is calculated. A check mark will appear next to each item as it is calculated. Items that are not checked have not been computed. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 47 - NEGATIVE PAYROLL After all payroll calculations have been completed, ZIPPER checks to see if there are any payroll records where the net pay is zero, or less than zero. If this event does occur, ZIPPER will alert you and continue. You may continue to process (print check or export) your remaining payroll now, or correct the "negative" record(s) first. ZIPPER, however, will not process any zero or negative paychecks. Such records will be held "in limbo" until you have corrected or deleted them. ZIPPER provides the following options. First, you want to determine which records, and/or how many records have a negative (or zero) amount. Do so by selecting (4) Final Proof Payroll Records, from the PAYROLL MENU. You can view these records on screen, or print the payroll proof report. We recommend that you print the payroll proof report, since it provides greater detail. The report should show you why a negative balance exists. The likely causes are: 1. Deducting an advance that is greater than the amount of available pay. 2. A large amount of REPORTED TIPS combined with a small amount of wages or salary. 3. Another deduction that was incorrectly entered. After you have determined the cause of the negative payroll, you must do something to correct it. ZIPPER will not process negative payroll records. These records must be corrected or deleted. To correct these records (See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS) you must make whatever changes are necessary to create a positive (at least $ .01) net pay. In the event that this condition is caused by a large amount of REPORTED TIPS, you can enter a negative amount in EXTRA FEDERAL WITHHOLDING that is greater than the amount of the negative balance. As an example, consider a payroll record with a -$15.52 Net Pay. Select this payroll record for editing, and enter -15.53, or more, in the field for EXTRA FEDERAL WITHHOLDING. The result of this change would be to create a "positive" NET PAY, and an "incorrect" amount of FEDERAL WITHHOLDING. Since the employee has already been paid the amount of REPORTED TIPS, you have no alternative but to adjust the amount of withholding. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 48 - PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS ZIPPER lets you evaluate your payroll records before you print or export your paychecks. You can view these records on screen, or print a report showing the full payroll. While viewing the records on screen, you have the ability to select any or all of the records for further editing or deletion. See DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS. To proof your payroll records, select (4) Final Proof Payroll Records from the PAYROLL MENU. By "Final Proof", we mean this is your last opportunity to review, evaluate, or change any of your payroll records prior to printing checks (or exporting to Quicken). The PAYROLL PROOF/EDIT MENU allows you to: (1) Print Payroll Proof Report (2) Select Records to Edit / Correct / Destroy PAYROLL PROOF REPORT: This report shows the Earnings, Deductions, Hours Worked, Hours Paid, Gross Earning, and Net Pay for each employee. The report also provides a total of these amounts for the entire payroll group. This lets you see your total payroll requirement (Net Pay) before you print checks. The Payroll Proof Report tells you how much money you need in the bank to cover this payroll. SELECT RECORDS TO EDIT / CORRECT / DESTROY: Selecting this option lets you view your payroll records on the screen. This allows you to see the Hours, Earnings, Deductions, and Net Pay for each employee. If you want to change any of these records they must be individually selected. Each record you have selected will be identified with a check mark. After you have made your selection(s), press [ESC]. ZIPPER automatically re-processes each of these payroll records, and makes them available for changes. You may now edit or delete these records. CREATING MULTIPLE PAYROLL GROUPS As soon as you have created a payroll group you may create another payroll group. You can create a payroll group, complete automated payroll processing, and then create another payroll group. These multiple groups can then be printed (paychecks) or exported at the same time. You might find that you generate a payroll group, have it ready to print, and then decide to generate another payroll group as well. ZIPPER allows the greatest flexibility possible. Under certain conditions, however, ZIPPER may become confused as to which payroll group you want to work with. Should this occur, ZIPPER will ask. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 49 - PRINTING PAYCHECKS If you want ZIPPER to print your checks, you need the checks that are designed to be used with ZIPPER Payroll. These checks are available directly from Deluxe Business Systems. See ORDERING CHECKS. After you have finished computing your payroll you may print paychecks. If you do not wish to review (Final Proof) your payroll records, or you have already done so, select (5) Print / Export Paychecks from the PAYROLL MENU. ZIPPER will now update the Year-To- Date payroll records for each employee. You may now select your method of processing paychecks. To have ZIPPER print your checks, select (1) Print Checks, from the CHECK PRINTING / EXPORTING MENU. ZIPPER will show you your currently selected printing configuration, and allow you to make any changes. You need to select the printer that allows printing in the compressed (approximately 17 characters per inch) mode. ZIPPER does not support the printing of paychecks on laser printers. This would be a good time to insert the ZIPPER custom paychecks forms into your printer. The first time you print your checks you will need to do some experimenting with the alignment of your printer and the checks. Your particular set-up depends on the configuration of your printer. In most cases, you will need to order a special "form saver" or check leader to attach to your first check so that you don't waste a check each time you print paychecks. Once you have established the "proper alignment" for your printer, you should "record" this information. Make note of this alignment, and perhaps make a mark on your check leader so that subsequent printing of checks will be easier. For an initial setting, we recommend that you align the top edge of the check (the "first line") with the top of your printer's print head. ZIPPER now displays the number of checks that are ready to print. This will be the same as the number of payroll records that ZIPPER just updated, unless you are printing paychecks for more than one payroll group. If you have created and processed more that one payroll group you can print paychecks for all of them at the same time. ZIPPER now displays the check number it thinks you will want to use for the next check. If this is the first group of checks ZIPPER is printing the number will be zero ( 0 ). Each time you print checks ZIPPER will maintain the number, and display the check number it thinks you will want to use at that time. You may use the check number displayed by pressing [ENTER] or you may enter a new check number. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 50 - ZIPPER will now ask if you want to print one check to verify your printer alignment. Choosing "NO" will have ZIPPER print all of your paychecks. Choosing "YES" is the safe way to see if the alignment of your check and printer is correct. Choosing "YES" will have ZIPPER print only the first check, and then ask you if it printed OK. If you choose not to print just the first check, all of your checks will now print. ZIPPER will then want to know if your check(s) printed correctly. If it printed correctly (the alignment was correct and the printer did not jamb), select "YES", if not, select "NO". Depending on your choice, ZIPPER will take you to the appropriate next step. If your first check did not print correctly, ZIPPER will take you back to where you started in printing these checks, and verify the check number. ZIPPER assumes that you "trashed" the first check and increments the number by one. Accept or change the number displayed, and once again you may print only one or all of your checks. If the alignment of your first check was correct, you may now print your remaining checks. You may even quit and come back later to finish printing your checks. If your checks printed correctly, and there were no printing errors (printer jammed, checks torn, etc.) then press [ENTER]. This tells ZIPPER that everything processed correctly. ZIPPER will then update the payroll register for the check(s) it just printed. The payroll cycle in now complete. If any printing errors occurred, you need to tell ZIPPER the number of the first check that did not correctly print. Based on the number you enter, ZIPPER assumes that the checks that printed before this number printed OK. These records are updated (completed) and removed from the list of checks you have to print. You must enter a number that is between the first and last check number displayed (the check numbers ZIPPER thinks it just printed). PRINTING CHECKS WITH QUICKEN (TM) ZIPPER provides an option to "Export" payroll check data in a format that can be used by Quicken. The format used by ZIPPER is compatible with Quicken, Version 3.x and later. You will need to tell ZIPPER where your Quicken files are located, so that ZIPPER will know where to send the data. This may be done the first time you export data to Quicken, or from the SYSTEM MENU, select (6) QUICKEN Configuration. Payroll data will be exported to a file ZIPPERQ3.DAT, located in the directory that you have identified. If you do not identify a directory to use, ZIPPER will use the default setting as indicated on ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 51 - the screen. You may change the default setting for the Drive & Path, and also the Category or Class for Quicken to use. Be sure the directory location is entered correctly, or the file will not be created. The Default setting are: DRIVE & PATH : C:\Quicken CATEGORY : Net Payroll ********************************************************************** PREVIOUSLY CREATED ZIPPERQ3.DAT FILES WILL BE DESTROYED (OVER-WRITTEN) BY THE CURRENTLY CREATED ZIPPERQ3.DAT FILE. IT IS THEREFORE IMPORTANT THAT EACH UNIQUE ZIPPER PAYROLL CYCLE BE IMPORTED INTO QUICKEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT IS CREATED. ********************************************************************** To export the data to Quicken, select the Export To Quicken option from the CHECKS MENU. ZIPPER will take you through the steps to export your payroll data IMPORTING PAYROLL DATA INTO QUICKEN To import the data into Quicken: 1. Quit ZIPPER 2. Start Quicken. 3. Select the Account Group you wish to use. 4. From the Check Register select F2-Acct/Print. 5. Select - 6. Import. 6. At the "Import From ASCII File" menu: FILE: [ enter the filename ] Enter ZIPPERQ3.DAT Quicken remembers your entry, so the next time you import you will not have to enter a filename. Include items which are transfers (Y/N): [ enter N ] 7. Quicken will import the data, and your paychecks are ready to print. See your Quicken User's Manual for additional information. PAYROLL VOUCHERS: Quicken does not print payroll check stubs for your employees. If you export your "checks" to Quicken, you should let ZIPPER print these check stubs (payroll vouchers) for you. See Printing Payroll Vouchers. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 52 - PRINTING PAYROLL VOUCHERS ZIPPER provides the flexibility to print paychecks, export paychecks to Quicken, or write checks by hand. There are advantages to each, and the decision is yours to make. You choose how you wish to "write" your paychecks after you have created and processed your payroll records. You should print payroll vouchers if ZIPPER is not printing your paychecks. If ZIPPER prints your paychecks, all payroll information, both current and year-to-date, is included on the "pay stub" portion of the check. If you are sending your data to Quicken, Quicken is not capable of providing the detailed payroll information included on the stub portion of the check. ZIPPER will export your data to Quicken and still print a separate payroll voucher to be included with the Quicken printed check. This same option is also available if you elect to write your checks by hand. Payroll vouchers may be printed after the payroll records have been fully processed. From the PAYROLL MENU select (5) Print / Export Paychecks. If you are exporting your data to Quicken, ZIPPER will ask you if you want to print payroll vouchers after your data has been exported. You must print these payroll vouchers at this time. If you do not print the vouchers at that time, you will not be allowed to print them later. You can print your vouchers first and export your data to Quicken second. Select option (3), Print Vouchers, and then export your data. If you write checks by hand select option (3), Print Vouchers, and then select option (4), Manually Process Checks, after you have printed your vouchers. You may then enter the numbers for the checks you have written. Manually entering check numbers is optional, and although you are encouraged to do so, ZIPPER does not require it. If you have paychecks that are ready to be printed, ZIPPER has a feature that will remind you of this when you start the program. If you issue your paychecks by hand, then you will need to select option (4) Manually Process Checks, at some point to "finalize" these records. If you do not do so, then ZIPPER will not know that you have processed them yourself. ZIPPER will continue to recognize these records as unprocessed, and remind you that you have paychecks ready to print the next time (and every time) you start ZIPPER. If you forget to manually process paychecks after printing vouchers, you may do so at any time. NOTE: Unprocessed payroll records will not be included in any printed payroll reports. You must process or "finalize" these records if you ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 53 - want this data to be included in any reports. Payroll records are automatically "finalized" when they are printed by ZIPPER or exported to Quicken. Payroll vouchers are printed one to a page, and are formatted so that the name, address, and zipcode of the employee will be located (when properly folded) for the window of a standard business envelope. PRINTING REPORTS ZIPPER Payroll provides a wide range data output in the form of printed reports. Because of the nature of the data, ZIPPER does not provide data output to the screen. In order to take advantage of ZIPPER Payroll's extensive reporting capabilities, you will need a printer. You may also send your reports to a disk file. With the exception of W-2 forms and payroll checks, ZIPPER supports all printers. Printing of continuous W-2 forms or continuous checks requires a printer that can print in the compressed (17 cpi) mode. Printer control sequences, or codes, are sent to the printer based on the currently selected printer. The selected printer may be changed at any time a report is printed. Be sure that you have configured your printer(s) by giving ZIPPER the necessary control codes listed in your printer manual. See PRINTER CONFIGURATION. Most reports (other than personnel and management reports) will require you to specify a date range and/or specify the employees you want to include. SELECTING A DATE RANGE FOR REPORTS The ZIPPER Payroll Menu System will lead you through the necessary choices to set the various report parameters. As an example, many of the reports require you to specify a report range --the period you want to cover in the report. In such cases, you create the range by selecting the specific dates or the quarter. If you wish to select "BY SPECIFIC DATES", simply enter the Starting Date and Ending Date you want covered in that report. The computer system date appears as the "default" Ending Date. You may delete this date by pressing [F2], and then enter the date you wish to use. The date range is inclusive. If you fail to enter one of the dates, ZIPPER will assume you do not wish to continue. You may create a date range by selecting "BY QUARTER". This feature lets you forget that silly jingle "Thirty days has September, April, June and November....". Now, by selecting "3rd Quarter", ZIPPER will automatically enter the dates July 1, xxxx to September 30, xxxx (where xxxx equals the current payroll year, like 1991). You may also ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 54 - select the "Full Year". This option creates the date range January 1, xxxx to December 31, xxxx. If you want the report to cover a period, say only the month of June, simply select "BY SPECIFIC DATES". SELECTING EMPLOYEES FOR REPORTS When you select a report to print, ZIPPER will ask you to specify the employees you want to include. You may select (1) One employee, (2) Several employees, or (3) All employees. See SELECTING EMPLOYEES. To select one employee, enter the employees last name. Remember, you can do a "wildcard" search by including the asterisk ("*") with a partial name. If you want to create a report including several, but not all your employees, select (2) Several employees. This will allow you to pick the employees you want to include. You must select at least one employee to let ZIPPER know that you want to continue. Your printed report will indicate the date range and the type of employee selection where applicable. In addition to some of the specialized reports (like paychecks, advance checks, W-2 forms, etc.), ZIPPER provides the following reports. Payroll Reports Focus (grouped by) by Employee Focus (grouped by) by Pay Period Employee Benefits Report Year-To-Date Payroll Register Check Register Paycheck Register Advance Check Register Payroll Liability (Quarterly) Reports Federal Withholding & FICA Federal Unemployment (FUTA) State / Local Withholding State Unemployment (SUTA) State Disability (Industrial) Insurance (SDI) User Defined Tax Labor Union Dues Combined Liabilities Report Personnel & Management Reports Department Listing Employees by Departments Employee Birthdays Payroll by Department (Budget) SDI - Listing of Codes, Classes, & Rates ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 55 - PAYROLL REPORTS ZIPPER provides two payroll reports. These reports include the same information, but are formatted differently. Because there is so much payroll information that ZIPPER maintains, this report requires a minimum of four pages. That is to say that the report is four pages wide, even in compressed mode. You must have a printer that prints in compressed mode, or a wide carriage printer capable of printing 132 columns at 10 characters per inch. You must assemble the pages to format the report correctly. You will note at the top of the report that the page header line has special characters at the right edge, the left edge, or both the right and left edge. These characters ">" "<" help to indicate the relative position of the individual pages of the report. Examples of the respective top lines are indicated below. ========== / =========> Indicates leftmost page. (#1) <========== / ========>> Indicates next page to the right. (#2) <<========= / =======>>> Indicates third page to the right. (#3) <<<====================== Indicates rightmost page. (#4) After final assembly, the top line (actually the title underline) of the four pages should look like the sample below. [HOURS] [INCOME] [DEDUCTIONS] [DED & CHECK] == / ========> <== / ========>> <<== / =======>>> <<<=============== | | | | | | | | |____________| |______________| |_______________| |________________| | | | | (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) This report gives you all of the payroll information in one wide report. You need to tape these pages together (hence the special character markings above) to make effective use of this information. This may seem a bit unwieldy, but such is the nature of the payroll beast. This is the only report that requires this configuration. Selecting "Focus by Employee" will present the payroll data grouped by individual employees, and broken down by payroll date. Select this report if you want to review payroll for individual employees. Selecting "Focus by Pay Period" will present the payroll data grouped according to payroll date, with individual payroll records listed in alphabetical order within each payroll date / group. Select this report if you want to review payroll by the payroll date. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 56 - Both payroll reports require a date range. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. EMPLOYEE BENEFITS REPORT The employee benefits report shows the amount of vacation and sick pay that was accrued and/or used for the period selected. It also includes the amount of payroll deductions for pension or medical plans. The actual balance (accumulations as of report time) for vacation pay as sick pay are also shown. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL REGISTER The year to date payroll register is just what the name suggests. ZIPPER maintains year to date totals for each employee, and this report provides this data. The year to date payroll register report does not require a date range. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. CHECK REGISTER ZIPPER maintains two check registers, one for paychecks and one for advances. Select the register you want to print, the date range you want to cover, and the employee(s) you wish to include. The report includes the Date, Check Number, Payee (Employee), and the Amount of the check. The checks are listed in numerical sequence. PAYROLL LIABILITY (QUARTERLY) REPORTS These reports form the backbone of your quarterly tax liability reports -- the ones you file with the IRS, and various agencies in your state. These reports require a date range, and will include every employee for whom payroll was prepared within the selected date range. FEDERAL WITHHOLDING & FICA: This report will serve as the basis for your IRS Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. Although you would generally print this report for a specific quarter, you can select a specific date range to calculate the amount of your periodic tax deposits. This report will include all employees for whom payroll was processed during the selected date range. FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT (FUTA): This report is similar to the one above, but includes information for preparing IRS Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return. You can select a specific ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 57 - date range to calculate the amount of your periodic tax deposits. This report will include all employees for whom payroll was processed during the selected date range. STATE / LOCAL WITHHOLDING: This report includes information for preparing your state and, if applicable, local withholding tax return. STATE UNEMPLOYMENT (SUTA): This report is similar to the Federal Unemployment (FUTA) report, but includes information for preparing the state return. STATE DISABILITY (INDUSTRIAL) INSURANCE (SDI): This report forms the basis for the SDI report, if SDI is treated like a payroll tax. USER DEFINED TAX: This report is used for states that utilize some type of payroll tax other than those listed above. If you have created such a condition for ZIPPER to track, then this report would be utilized to prepare that quarterly report. LABOR UNION DUES: If you are deducting union dues for any of your employees, then this report will provide the information you would need to report and deposit these dues with the respective labor unions. COMBINED LIABILITIES REPORT: This report includes information regarding your entire payroll tax expense. The report includes Gross Earnings, Social Security Tax (FICA), Medicare Tax (FICA) Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), State Disability Insurance (SDI), State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), and Other (User Defined) Payroll Tax Expenses. The total payroll tax expense is also provided. PERSONNEL & MANAGEMENT REPORTS DEPARTMENT LISTING: If you wish to utilize the Payroll By Department report (see below), then you will need to assign each of your employees to a department. You do this by creating department codes and descriptions. After you have created all your departments you should print this report to review what you have entered. Printing this report will make it easier for you to assign your employees to their respective departments. EMPLOYEES BY DEPARTMENTS: If you wish to utilize the Payroll By Department report (see below), then you will need to assign each of your employees to a department. After you have made these assignments you should print this report to review these department assignments. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 58 - PAYROLL BY DEPARTMENT (BUDGET): If you have assigned employees to various departments within your company, then this report will show you what your year to date gross payroll is for each of these departments. It also includes a listing of each employee within that department, and the gross pay for each employee. EMPLOYEE BIRTHDAYS: This is a neat little "freebie" report that you might want to use in your company. It lists employee birthdays by months, but is discreet enough not to include the employees age. This little touch could help to build esprit d'corps within your company. Try it! SDI - LISTING OF CODES, CLASSES, & RATES: This report provides a listing of the codes, classes, and industrial insurance rates that you have entered. See STATE INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE. SENDING REPORTS TO THE PRINTER ZIPPER will next display the current printer settings, and give you the opportunity to make any changes. Select YES to change the current settings. You may change the currently selected printer, the currently selected printer port, or both the printer and printer port. ZIPPER allows you to select among any of the printers (up to 3) you have previously configured, and supports printing to 3 parallel ports (LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3), and 2 serial ports (COM1 and COM2). SENDING REPORTS TO A TEXT FILE To send your report to a text file select that option. ZIPPER will ask you to enter a valid DOS file name. You may enter up to eight (8) letters or characters allowable by DOS. Do not enter a period "." or a filename extension after the "filename". ZIPPER will automatically enter a period and the file name extension ".ZPR" (Zipper Printed Report) to every report you sent to a disk file. ZIPPER creates this file in the current directory (where your payroll database is located). ZIPPER does not check to see if it will "overwrite" a previously created report file, so use care in selecting unique file names. If you enter a file name that matches a file that already exists, ZIPPER will overwrite (destroy) the previously existing file without any warning. PRINTING W-2 FORMS (Wage and Tax Statement) Printing W-2 forms is similar to printing checks; it requires the alignment of a preprinted form in your printer. From the REPORTS MENU, select (6) W-2 Forms. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 59 - You can order continuous W-2 forms from Deluxe Business Systems. (See SYSTEM MENU, (8) Ordering Checks). If you do not wish to purchase the continuous W-2 forms (maybe you only have a few to print), then you can simply "print your W-2's" on plain paper, and then copy the data to the W-2 forms you can get free from the IRS or Post Office. ********************************************************************** YOUR PRINTER MUST BE ABLE TO PRINT IN THE COMPRESSED MODE (17 CPI) IN ORDER TO PRINT THE W-2 CONTINUOUS FORMS. ZIPPER DOES NOT SUPPORT PRINTING OF W-2 FORMS ON LASER PRINTERS. ********************************************************************** ZIPPER begins by checking and verifying year end totals, and then creating control numbers to use for printing W-2's. ZIPPER will print W-2's only for employees who have been paid during the current year. ZIPPER will let you know how many W-2's you have to print, and ask you if you want to print the first W-2 to check the alignment of your printer. Since the alignment of these forms is critical, we suggest that you print the first one, and adjust your printer as necessary. ZIPPER will allow you to print the first W-2 as many times as necessary to get the alignment of your printer and forms correct. Once you have the alignment correct, select "NO". This tells ZIPPER you want to print all your W-2's. ZIPPER considers any previously printed W-2's as "test alignment printings", and will now print ALL your W-2's (including any previously printed "first W-2's"). Box 1 (upper left corner) of the W-2 form is labeled as "Control number". The IRS does not use this information, but it allows us to sequentially number your W-2's. We do this in the event you have a printing error of some type, and one or more of your W-2's will need to be reprinted. After ZIPPER has printed (or thinks it has printed) all your W-2's, it will ask if they all printed correctly. If no printing problems occurred, select "NO", and W-2 printing has been completed. If printing errors occurred, select "YES". ZIPPER will ask you for the number of the first W-2 that did not print correctly. This question refers to the control number in Box 1 of the W-2 form. Enter the control number of the first W-2 that needs to be reprinted. ZIPPER will once again allow you to test print and align your printer and forms. After the alignment issue is resolved (note that ZIPPER will again print the first W-2 for testing alignment; this is not an error, it's just the easiest way for us to do it), ZIPPER will print the remaining W-2's, beginning with the first W-2 you indicated as printing incorrectly. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 60 - After you have successfully printed all your W-2's, ZIPPER will ask you if you want to print a summary W-2. If you leave your printer just where it is, ZIPPER print one additional W-2 form with the totals of all your W-2's. This is the information you need to complete your Form W-3. (The layout of the Form W-3 is different than the Form W-2, and ZIPPER does not directly provide printing of the Form W-3). This report may also be printed from the REPORTS MENU, (7) W-3 Report (W-2 Totals). ZIPPER will allow you to print W-2's at any time, but we assume that you would only want to do so AFTER you have processed all payroll for the year. The information included on the W-2 forms is the year-to- date totals for each employee. If you print W-2's, and then process more payroll for the year, your previously printed W-2's will be incorrect. ********************************************************************** PRINTING W-2's (AND THEN YOUR W-3 REPORT) SHOULD BE THE LAST THING YOU DO FOR THE "ACTIVE PAYROLL YEAR". ********************************************************************** Please note that ZIPPER does not make any entries in Box 6 of the W-2 form. You will need to manually check any of the boxes that apply. See IRS Publication 393, Federal Employment Tax Forms. DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS This feature provides the means to delete individual payroll records prior to the completion of payroll. Consider a new payroll sequence. At some point after creating a "payroll group", you realize that you did not intend to prepare payroll for one of the employees in the group. You might need to prepare payroll for all but one of your employees (for whatever reason), and do not want create a Special Payroll to do so. Now What? ZIPPER can handle each of these conditions. You may Destroy one, several, or all of the payroll records you have created. To understand how destroy works, it helps to understand how ZIPPER handles payroll records. When you first create a payroll group, ZIPPER makes a new payroll record for each employee included in the group. These payroll records are placed in a "temporary work area"; call this Work Area 1. While these payroll records are in Work Area 1, you can enter or change any of the payroll information needed to ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 61 - complete each payroll record (Hours Worked, Benefit Hours Paid, Salary, Tips, Commission, Other Income, and any Deductions). These records are accessible in this work area at any time, up until you Compute Payroll (begin Automated Payroll Processing). AUTOMATED PAYROLL PROCESSING performs all calculations necessary to complete these payroll records based on the information previously entered for each employee, and the data you have entered in the current payroll record. After automated processing is completed, the payroll records are moved to Work Area 2. To Destroy Payroll Records that have not been through Automated Payroll Processed (still located in Work Area 1), select (6) Destroy Payroll Records from the PAYROLL MENU. ZIPPER will then warn you of the number of records you are about to delete, and ask you to confirm this decision. Select "NO" to abort this decision. Select "YES" and they are gone! Payroll records can only be Destroyed when they are located in Work Area 1. If you want to Destroy a payroll record that has already been processed (but not yet printed or exported), it must be returned from Work Area 2 to Work Area 1. Since the Destroy feature works on EVERY RECORD located in Work Area 1, you want to select only those records (in Work Area 2) that you want to Destroy (move to Work Area 1). Selecting payroll records is done by using the Final Proof Payroll Records feature. See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS. After selecting the payroll records you want (to Destroy), ZIPPER "unprocesses" each of these records, and returns them to Work Area 1. This is the same process you would use if you wanted to correct a payroll record. Selected records can now be Edited or Destroyed. Select (6) Destroy Payroll Records to eliminate the records you have selected. ZIPPER will always ask you to confirm any records selected for Destruction. Once you have selected a payroll record for Destruction it has been "separated" from it's payroll group (still located in Work Area 2). If you decide not to delete this record(s), you need to "reunite" this record with it's group. This is done by once again Computing Payroll (Automated Processing). ZIPPER recalculates all amounts for each record, and transfers it back to Work Area 2. WHAT-IF ANALYSIS One of the benefits of providing a feature of this type is that it gives you the ability to create a payroll group just to calculate and/or evaluate any type of payroll scenario. You can create a payroll group, calculate payroll, and print the Payroll Proof Report ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 62 - to see the effects of this payroll. You can change these records (See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS), and print another Payroll Proof Report. After you are through "playing around", you can Destroy these records. The records are gone, and will have no effect on your companies' data. This is sometimes referred to as "What-If Analysis". This type of feature lets you see exactly what your payroll costs might be if your business needs to bid jobs, and part of your bid a based on labor costs. Taking this analysis one step further, you could even compute the cost of state and federal payroll taxes on a hypothetical payroll. To do this, select your payroll group, and use a payroll date that is in the future (to help identify this group). Process your payroll (print the checks with your printer turned off), and then print the quarterly reports for that payroll period (enter the specific payroll date). Remember, ZIPPER allows you to process quarterly reports for any date range you select. not just by quarters. After you have finished this analysis, be sure to UNDO any "what-if" payroll you have created. See UNDO / REDO. ADVANCES ZIPPER makes it easy to provide payroll advances for employees. ZIPPER maintains a running total for the advances that you prepare, so that you will know how much you have advanced an employee (balance) when you prepare a new advance or prepare a regular paycheck. The balance amount is advisory only, and ZIPPER does not restrict the amount you pay (advance) or deduct from a paycheck. Advances are created by selecting (1) Create New Advances from the ADVANCES MENU. You may prepare advances for one employee or several at a time. If you select (1) One Employee, ZIPPER will ask you for the employee's name. Enter the name in full, or use a wildcard (*) search. If you select (2) Several Employees, ZIPPER will provide you with a "Pick / Check" form to select the employees you wish to include. ZIPPER will list only "Active" employees. Press any key to select an employee, press the [SPACE BAR] to unselect any previously selected employee. Press [ENTER] or [F8] to move down the list. Press [F7] to move back up the list of employees. If you have more employees than will fit in the window, you may scroll downward [F8] or upward [F7] to get to the employee you want. Employee names are listed in alphabetical order. Select as few or as many employees as you wish. You may select additional employees in another session if you forget to include an employee. You may add to this list at any time prior to printing (or exporting) advance checks. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 63 - Once an employee is selected for an advance this payroll record cannot be deleted until it has been fully processed. The completed advance may be deleted later (See UNDO / REDO). After you have selected the employees (one or several) you wish to include, ZIPPER will ask you for the date you wish to use for the currently selected advance(s). ZIPPER gives you the current date as the default. Press [ESC] to use this date, or enter a new date and press [ESC]. To enter a new date you can type over the date that is shown, or press [F2] to blank the field. A valid date must be entered. ZIPPER will show you a list of each of the employees you have selected. The Year-To-Date Balance (how much each employees owes you) is also displayed. Enter the amount of the advance you wish to pay each of the selected employees. You must enter an amount for each employee, and the amount must be greater than zero. You may not enter a negative amount. Press [ESC] after you have entered an amount for each employee, and are returned to the ADVANCES MENU. You may now print or export (to Quicken) these checks. If you wish to change the amount of any advance, you may do so up until such time as the checks print, simply select (2) Edit Advances. PRINTING ADVANCE CHECKS Choose (3) Print Advance Checks. ZIPPER checks to see that amounts have been entered for all advances. If proper amounts have been entered you may print or exports these checks. If you have forgotten to enter an amount you will be returned to the data entry screen where you can do so. If you have entered a negative amount (less than zero), you will likewise be returned. Advance checks are printed / exported like paychecks. See CHECK PRINTING / EXPORTING. If you are using ZIPPER Custom Payroll Checks, align them in the same way you do paychecks. ZIPPER does not provide the ability to print Payroll Vouchers for advances. DEDUCTING ADVANCES Advances paid to employees are recovered by payroll deduction. This is done when you process payroll (Normal Payroll or Special Payroll). When you prepare payroll enter the amount you wish to deduct from that employee. The Current (advance) Balance (the amount this employee owes you) is displayed to the right of where you enter the amount you wish to deduct. The Current Balance is "advisory" only. You may ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 64 - deduct as much or as little as you wish during the current payroll. ZIPPER maintains a running balance for each employee, and the Current Balance will always be displayed a payroll time. If you deduct an amount greater than an employee owes you, it will appear at the next payroll as a negative (-) amount. If you have "overcharged" an employee for an advance, you must process an advance for the amount you have overcharged. An overcharged advance cannot be corrected by payroll processing. You can ignore a negative balance (as long as the employee does not object) because the Current Balance does not effect payroll, withholding, or tax liability. ZIPPER treats advances as a "loan". UTILITIES Option (5) of the MAIN MENU brings up the UTILITIES MENU. The Utilities module provides three options: (1) Check Data Pointers (Database Integrity) (2) Compress (Pack) Database (3) Create New Year CHECK DATA POINTERS (DATABASE INTEGRITY): Your data is stored in a file on your hard disk drive. Each piece of data also contains a "pointer" to show where the next piece of data is located. Sometimes, due to power fluctuations, power failures, or other reasons, you data may be damaged. This damage can be to the actual data or to the data pointer. ********************************************************************** A LOSS OF DATA IS NOT DUE TO AN ERROR IN YOUR SOFTWARE. ********************************************************************** Lost and damaged data and data pointers occur due to power fluctuations (like someone switching on the photo-copier at just the wrong moment), power failures, a "hung" computer due to memory errors, or other events of this type. You can be assured, that this will happen to you at some time. It is a fact of life with computers. That is why you back-up your data. ZIPPER provides you with a method to check the reliability of your data, before you save it (back-it-up). This provides an advantage over commercial backup procedures, in that these other methods do not check the integrity of your data prior to saving it. It is therefore possible to continually save corrupted or unreliable data, over a long period of time, without your knowing that a problem exists. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 65 - Without being overly technical, what THE ZIPPER is doing, is checking the condition of the "data pointer chain". The data pointers provide a highway map of your data. Each location of data "points" to the next location, until the end of the data is encountered. Due to the events described above, it is possible for these pointers to become broken. When that happens, the highway map is broken, and all data located beyond the break cannot be found. ********************************************************************** IT IS POSSIBLE TO ENTER NEW DATA BEYOND POINTERS. DATA ENTERED BEYOND A BROKEN POINTER WILL BE LOST. ********************************************************************** With this feature, ZIPPER checks the data tables to verify the pointers are intact. The progress will be updated to the screen as the pointers are checked. This will happen fairly rapidly on a "quick" computer. The process will be halted only if problems are encountered. You may utilize this option as often as you like. ********************************************************************** YOU SHOULD UTILIZE THIS FEATURE PRIOR TO MAKING A BACK-UP COPY OF YOUR PAYROLL DATA. ********************************************************************** If a broken pointer is encountered, you have several options. Your choice will likely be a function of the amount of data you might lose, and how valuable the data is to you. Your options are: (1) Accept your losses, and re-enter all of the lost data. This assumes you know what data you lost. (2) Restore the data from a previous back-up. This assumes that you have made regular data backups, and the data you intend to restore is fairly recent. Very "old data", or data that is missing many recent entries, is not of much value. If you rely on an old back-up, you will still need to re-enter the data that is not included in the backup you use. (3) You can send your database, with any or all backups you have made (PLEASE - COPIES ONLY), to SOFTCRAFT. We can also ATTEMPT to restore your data. ********************************************************************** DO NOT SEND ANY DATA OR FILES TO SOFTCRAFT FILES WITHOUT MAKING ARRANGEMENTS IN ADVANCE. THIS SERVICE CAN ONLY BE PROVIDED TO REGISTERED USERS. ********************************************************************** ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 66 - There is a cost for loosing data, the cost will be up to you. The more frequently you check the data pointers and back-up your data, the smaller your loss will be. The frequency of your back-ups should reflect the value you place on your data. We consider payroll data to be critical, and the few extra minutes you take each week (payroll) to check the data pointers and do a back-up will be time well spent. ********************************************************************** WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU CHECK YOUR DATA POINTERS AND BACK-UP YOUR DATA AFTER EVERY PAYROLL. ********************************************************************** COMPRESS (PACK) DATABASE: Packing your payroll database reclaims the unused spaces in the data file. These unused spaces are created as a result of normal payroll processing. Packing the database may be done at any time, and as frequently as you like. Packing the database will improve the performance (reduce access time) of your payroll processing. ********************************************************************** DO NOT COMPRESS (PACK) YOUR PAYROLL DATABASE WITHOUT HAVING CHECKED THE DATA POINTERS, AND MAKING A BACK-UP COPY OF YOUR DATA. ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** HAVING A RELIABLE BACK-UP COPY OF YOUR DATA WILL HELP YOU AVOID A LOSS OF DATA. ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** PACKING A PAYROLL DATABASE THAT CONTAINS BROKEN DATA POINTERS WILL RESULT IN AN UNRECOVERABLE LOSS OF ALL DATA BEYOND THE BREAK IN THE POINTER CHAIN. ********************************************************************** CREATING A NEW YEAR This option creates a new payroll database for the next (new) year. ZIPPER simply clones your current payroll database, keeping ALL employee records, and resetting the year-to-date totals to zero - just like it was a new year. You may do this at any time, but you should ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 67 - wait until you have processed all payroll for the "old" year. This will insure that all accumulated totals (Vacation Pay, Sick Pay, & Advances) will be correct. ********************************************************************** YOU MAY NOT PROCESS PAYROLL WITH THIS NEW DATABASE UNTIL YOU HAVE UPDATED THE TAX TABLES. ********************************************************************** Since the payroll database files for the new year have the same name as your current year payroll database (ZIPPER1.RBF, ZIPPER2.RBF, and ZIPPER3.RBF), ZIPPER cannot let you build a new payroll database in the same location as your present payroll database. ZIPPER needs to create a new DOS directory to hold your new payroll database. ZIPPER will be prompt you for the Drive and Directory Name or Path where you want to locate your new payroll database. Enter the single letter for the drive you wish to use (C, D, E, F, etc.), and enter a legal DOS directory name. For Example: Suppose your active ZIPPER payroll database is located at C:\ZIPPER. You want to create your new ZIPPER payroll database in the same disk drive (Drive C), and in the directory named NEWZIP. Enter the directory as \NEWZIP . Be sure to enter the backslash [ \ ], and do not include a backslash at the end of the directory name. You can make the new directory a subdirectory of \ZIPPER by entering \ZIPPER\NEWZIP as the directory. ********************************************************************** IF YOU ENTER AN INVALID DIRECTORY NAME, OR THE DIRECTORY ALREADY EXISTS, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE TELLING YOU THAT ZIPPER WAS NOT ABLE TO CREATE THE NEW DATABASE. ********************************************************************** Creating a new year will take a few moments, depending on the speed of your computer. NOTE: Employee records were created for every employee in your old payroll database, including [I]nactive and [T]erminated employees. If you wish to delete any of these employees you may do so at any time. Your original payroll database (for the current year) remains unaltered. After the year is through, you might want to copy the *.RBF files to a floppy disk (you will need a high density diskette, 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB) to do this. Consider compressing these files using a compression utility like PKZIP, from PKWARE, (also a shareware program) to simplify this task and save space. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 68 - In order to work, ZIPPER must have access to the program files that came with your ZIPPER product. These files are ZIPPER.EXE, ZIPPER.OVL, and ZIPPER.MSG. Make sure the the program files are in the DOS PATH (PATH=C:\ZIPPER), and that you are located in this new directory (C:\NEWZIP) when you start the ZIPPER. INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES After you have created a payroll database to process payroll for the new year, you must install the updated tax tables for this new year. ********************************************************************** NEW TAX TABLES ARE SUPPLIED ONLY TO REGISTERED USERS OF ZIPPER PAYROLL. ********************************************************************** Purchase and registration of ZIPPER Payroll provides one year of technical support and one set of updated tax tables. Continued technical support and tax table updates are provided for a modest annual update fee. See the README.DOC file. Install new tax tables from the SYSTEM MENU (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (4) Install New Tax Tables (Federal & State). The tax table databases for the new year (ZIPxxTZ?.RBF) must be located in the same DOS directory as your new payroll database. If the tax tables are not present, ZIPPER will not be able to configure itself for your needs. Tax table updates are supplied by SOFTCRAFT. These files should be copied to the DOS directory where you have located your payroll database for the new year. ZIPPER install new Federal and State Tax Tables, but does not modify any city / local tax tables you have created. You will need to update any local tax tables you have created. See UPDATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. Be sure to copy the new calendar files (ZIPCAL.1 through ZIPCAL.12) to the directory where your new payroll database is located. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 69 - UNDO / REDO ********************************************************************** USE CARE WITH THESE FEATURES. ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED PAYROLL RECORDS THEY ARE GONE - FOREVER. ********************************************************************** If you have spent any amount of time manually preparing payroll, it should be obvious to you that making payroll errors is something that happens. In designing ZIPPER we assumed that mistakes would be made, and we wanted to give you the ability to correct your mistakes without requiring a seemingly endless number of steps. The Undo / Redo features make it easy to correct your mistakes, but proceed with caution; the changes you make may have significant consequences. Since ZIPPER allows for easy error correction while processing payroll (See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS and DESTROYING PAYROLL), what we are now discussing is correction of payroll errors after you have printed or exported your payroll. ZIPPER provides the ability to correct the following types of these "after the fact" errors. Incorrect payroll date(s) Incorrect payroll - Individual payroll (employee) record Incorrect payroll - Entire payroll group (sequence) Incorrect advance - Individual payroll (employee) record Before making any changes, it is very important that you understand how this data is maintained, and what effect any changes will have. You may wish to review DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS. INCORRECT PAYROLL DATES: ZIPPER maintains a "register" of the payroll that you process. Each payroll group is given an internal sequence number (you do not need to know this number), and every record in that group "knows" that number. Since this register maintains data for each record within that group, changes that you make to the register information will effect every record in that group. If you need to change any of the payroll dates, you begin by selecting the specific payroll group that needs to be changed. A "Pick / Check" menu form is provided for your selection. If you select more than one payroll group, ZIPPER will remind you that this is not allowed. You will be returned to the Pick / Check Menu. When you have made your selection, you will be allowed to edit the payroll dates for this payroll group. You can press [F2] to first blank the field, or type over the date displayed. After you have made all of the changes you wish, Press [ESC]. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 70 - The Beginning Date and Ending Date of the Pay Period are more of an "informational" type of data. Changing either of these dates only effects the information that is printed on checks, payroll vouchers, or reports. Changing the Payroll Date, however, could effect your tax liability, and the period in which it is owed. Say you created a payroll group with a Payroll Date of 10/1/91. The Pay Period dates for this group is 09/15/91 to 09/30/91. Even though you processed this payroll and paid your employees on 10/1/91, you realize that this payroll should be charged to September, not October. September is in the 3rd quarter, October is in the 4th quarter. Changing the payroll date from 10/1/91 to 9/30/91 will shift the tax liability for this payroll from the 4th quarter to the 3rd quarter. As always, ZIPPER will assume that you know what you are doing, and will allow you to make such changes. YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE CHANGES TO THE PAYROLL DATES AFTER YOU HAVE PROCESSED YOUR QUARTERLY REPORTS (The ones you file with the IRS and your state). UNDO PAYROLL RECORD(S): There may come a day when you process payroll, print your payroll checks, and then realize that you paid an employee who no longer works for you (the employee's payroll status was not changed to (T)erminated), or you overpaid or underpaid some employee. Now what? You may even process a complete payroll group, print or export the checks, and then realized that you have paid the wrong group of employees. Now What? ZIPPER provides the ability to easily overcome each of these type of errors. UNDO INDIVIDUAL PAYROLL RECORD(S): In the case of underpaying an employee you might consider issuing a "supplemental" payroll check. You can do this by processing a "Special Payroll" See PROCESSING PAYROLL - SPECIAL PAYROLL. If, however, you decide the only way to remedy the error you have made is to delete the payroll record, then proceed to do so. In this case ZIPPER will remove all traces of the payroll record(s) that you select. The Payroll Register is updated to reflect the new number (one less) of records. The Year-To-Date Payroll Register for the individual employee is also updated. When this processing is completed it will be as though this employee had not been paid on the occasion(s) that you select. No muss, no fuss, NO AUDIT TRAIL; just gone! ********************************************************************** REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT UNDO AN UNDO! ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED (UNDONE) AN PAYROLL RECORD IT IS GONE FOR GOOD. ********************************************************************** ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 71 - If you compare this feature to a "manual" system, it is just like tearing up the check and drawing a line through the entry in your payroll register. To UNDO a payroll record you begin by identifying the employee who's record(s) you want to delete. Enter the employee's last name exactly as it is spelled or use a wildcard (*) search. When you have selected the proper employee, ZIPPER will present you with a list of every payroll record for that employee. The payroll records are listed in descending order, with the most recent payroll listed first. Select any payroll record you wish to delete by pressing any key; a check mark will appear. You may unselect any selection you have made by pressing the [SPACE BAR] when the cursor is at a check mark. Press [ENTER] or [F8] to move down the list. Press [F7] to move back up the list of payroll records. Press [ESC] after selecting all the records you want to delete. After selecting payroll records, ZIPPER will ask you to confirm the selection(s) you have made. Choosing "NO" will unselect all the records you have selected. Choose "YES" and they are gone! UNDO PAYROLL GROUP: Undoing a payroll group works like Undoing an individual record. The only difference is that you select the group you wish to delete, and ZIPPER repeats the process for every employee record within that group. ZIPPER presents you with a list of every payroll group you have created. They are listed in descending order, with the most recently prepared payroll listed first. Again, use any key to select, and the [SPACE BAR] to unselect any previously selected record(s). ZIPPER allows you to Undo only one payroll group at a time. If you select more than one payroll group ZIPPER will warn you that you may not do so, and return you to the Payroll Register to make your selection over. In the meantime, ZIPPER has already unselected every record that you have selected. This time make ONLY ONE SELECTION. You may also press [ESC] to abort this process. If you select a group to Undo, ZIPPER will ask you to confirm the selection you have made. Choosing "NO" will unselect the payroll group you have selected. Choose "YES", and each record is gone! ********************************************************************** REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT UNDO AN UNDO! ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED (UNDONE) A PAYROLL GROUP, EVERY RECORD IN THAT GROUP IS GONE FOR GOOD. ********************************************************************** ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 72 - UNDO ADVANCES: Undo(ing) an advance works just like undoing an individual payroll record, with one small difference. Undoing advances combines the abilities of the Destroy feature with the Undo feature. ZIPPER allows you to select from every record in the Payroll Advance Register. The records are listed with the most recently dated records first. You may select advances that have already been processed (printed or exported), or advances that have not been processed. ZIPPER knows the difference, and will update the Year-To- Date totals appropriately for each employee. If you delete an advance that has already been processed, ZIPPER does not know if you have already deducted all, or any part of this advance (while processing payroll). If you delete such a record, and you have already deducted some or all of this amount in a payroll (deduction), than you may end up with a negative balance (-) for this employee. This will appear as a negative number in that employees account, and will be displayed as a negative dollar amount in each payroll record you process. This would seem to indicate that you owe this employee money (the amount of that negative balance), but that may not be the case. This condition, should it occur, will not have any effect on your payroll, or tax liability. It can only be removed by processing another advance for this employee, for an amount equal to the amount of the negative balance. The Undo feature provides you with the best reason to use a security password. Anyone accessing your data can wreak havoc, intentionally or otherwise, on your data. Delete the wrong information any you may be having some unpleasant conversations with the IRS. REGISTRATION & TECHNICAL SUPPORT In the event that you have some difficulty using ZIPPER Payroll, SOFTCRAFT provides free, but rather limited technical support to registered users. If you are experiencing any problems please check your User's Manual first before requesting technical support. Most times, the answer you seek is in the User's Manual. At this time, technical support is provided only on a limited basis. Please see the README.DOC file for information regarding technical support. A Technical Support Request Form is included at the end of this User's Manual. TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS PROVIDED ONLY TO REGISTERED USERS. If you are not a registered user, then please do not call. Technical support takes time, and we reserve this time for the users who have paid the registration fee. If you are not a registered user, then you are ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 73 - seeking a service for which you have not paid. You are also taking time away from users who have paid their registration fee, and are entitled to technical support. WHY REGISTER? ZIPPER Payroll is marketed and distributed by a system called Shareware. With Shareware you can find software that suits your needs before you pay for it. With Shareware you can try before you buy. It comes with the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. If you obtain a Shareware program from a vendor, an electronic bulletin board (BBS), a User Group, or a friend, you have the opportunity to evaluate it for "a reasonable period of time" without charge. Only the evaluation is free. If you continue to use a shareware program beyond this evaluation period, you are expected to pay for it (register). ********************************************************************** THE FEE YOU PAID TO A SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTOR OR VENDOR IS NOT THE REGISTRATION FEE. ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** SOFTCRAFT, THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER OF ZIPPER PAYROLL, DOES NOT RECEIVE ANY OF THE MONEY YOU MAY HAVE PAID FOR THE SHAREWARE (EVALUATION) COPY OF ZIPPER PAYROLL. ********************************************************************** When you register, only then do you pay the author for the work that when into creating this product. Registration pays for the work that has already been done, and encourages future development, bug fixes, and other improvements. If you use ZIPPER Payroll, then register. It's the honest thing to do! If you need technical support, you need your registration serial number. This number is printed on the diskette(s) you received from SOFTCRAFT when you registered. This serial number is also contained in an ASCII text file named SERIAL.NUM. This file should be located in your ZIPPER directory (C:\ZIPPER\SERIAL.NUM). You may get the information from this file by using the DOS TYPE command, or using the COPY command to send the file to your printer. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 74 - ********************************************************************** IF YOU USE YOUR WORD PROCESSOR TO VIEW THIS FILE, BE SURE THAT YOU DO SO IN A "NON-DOCUMENT" MODE, OR THAT YOUR WORD PROCESSOR EDITS IN ASCII (like PC-WRITE). IF YOUR WORD PROCESSOR CHANGES THE FORMAT OF THIS FILE, ZIPPER MAY NO LONGER BE ABLE TO "READ" THIS FILE, AND THIS WILL MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO CALL FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT FROM WITHIN ZIPPER. ********************************************************************** If you are using ZIPPER Payroll, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, and then (7) Registration & Tech Support Info.... The screen below will be displayed. Your registration serial number is displayed in red (color systems) in the upper right corner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIPPER Payroll (R), Version x.x Serial Number: xxxx-xxxxx (C) Copyright 1990,91,92, by Ed Protas, SOFTCRAFT. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIPPER Payroll is Shareware. Shareware allows you, the user, to use and evaluate software before purchasing. If you have used this program for ninety days, have found it useful, and plan to continue using ZIPPER to process payroll, then you should pay the registration fee. Buying a registered copy for $62.00 provides the following benefits: * The satisfaction of knowing you are helping to support past and future development of a quality product. * Limited technical support for one full year. * Current program diskette(s), tax table updates, and improvements. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOFTCRAFT 3612 122nd Pl SE, Everett, WA 98208 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Press [F1] to print registration order form / Any other key to continue.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ****** Technical support is provided ONLY to registered users. ****** If you are not a registered user press [F1] and ZIPPER will print a registration form for you. Fill it out and send it with your registration fee to SOFTCRAFT. Like is says above, if you find ZIPPER Payroll useful, and you use it beyond the evaluating period, then you should pay your registration fee. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 75 - ORDERING CHECKS ZIPPER Payroll provides the ability to print checks, export checks to Quicken, or lets you write your checks by hand. If you want ZIPPER to print your paychecks (and advances) then you need to order these checks. ZIPPER custom payroll checks are supplied by Deluxe Business System, one of the most respected suppliers of business forms and checks. To order these forms you can print out and complete the on- disk order form (DELUXE.DOC) included with ZIPPER, or you can call Deluxe Business Systems, toll-free, at 1-800-328-0304. From within ZIPPER select (4) System from the MAIN MENU, and then select (8) Ordering Checks from the SYSTEM MENU. ZIPPER will display information about ordering your checks, as well as the toll-free phone number for Deluxe Business Systems. Pressing [F1] from this information screen will print an order form that you may complete and send to Deluxe. A copy of the order form (DELUXE.DOC) is also included at the end of the on-disk User's Manual. ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 76 - ZIPPER PAYROLL DATA STRUCTURE The following information is provided for R:BASE users who may wish to access their data for reports and/or analysis beyond the scope of what ZIPPER Payroll provides. ********************************************************************** THE TAX TABLE DATABASE FILES (ZIPxxTX1.RBF, ZIPxxTX2.RBF, AND ZIPxxTX3.RBF - WHERE xx EQUALS THE YEAR OF THE TAX TABLES - 91, 92, ETC) ARE "OWNER" PROTECTED, AND YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THEM. ********************************************************************** ZIPPER Payroll consists of the three database (R:BASE for DOS, Version 2.xx) files: ZIPPER1.RBF -- Contains the database structure ZIPPER2.RBF -- Contains the data ZIPPER3.RBF -- Contains the keys (indexes to the data) The database contains 38 tables (relations) and over 600 columns (attributes). Most of the tables are used by the ZIPPER Payroll program, and contain data necessary for processing. Your data is contained in the 9 tables described below. These tables are not owner, or password (MPW or RPW) protected. You may have access to this data. ***************************** WARNING ***************************** DO NOT OPEN, ATTEMPT TO LOOK AT, OR MODIFY THE ZIPPER PAYROLL DATABASE. YOU MAY INADVERTENTLY CHANGE (DAMAGE) YOUR DATA. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU MAKE A COPY OF THE DATABASE FOR YOUR OWN USE, AND LEAVE THE ZIPPER?.RBF FILES ALONE. YOU MAY THEN FREELY BROWSE, ANALYZE, EXPORT, OR EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR DATA, WITHOUT WORRY OF DAMAGING YOUR ORIGINAL DATA. ***************************** WARNING ***************************** ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 77 - - ZIPPER DATABASE STRUCTURE - (User Data) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table: EMPLOYER *(Company Information) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description Cname TEXT 38 characters your company name Caddress TEXT 38 characters address Ccity TEXT 23 characters city Cstate TEXT 2 characters state Czip TEXT 10 characters zipcode Cacode TEXT 3 characters area code Cphone TEXT 8 characters phone number CphNum TEXT 14 characters area code + phone number FITid TEXT 15 characters federal tax id number SITid TEXT 15 characters state tax id number LITid TEXT 15 characters not currently in use SUTAid TEXT 15 characters not currently in use SDIid TEXT 15 characters not currently in use SITcode INTEGER Table: DEPT *(Company Departments) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description DeptNum TEXT 4 characters yes department code DeptName TEXT 20 characters department name Table: PAYREC *(Master Payroll Register) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description SeqID INTEGER yes sequence code U2flag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) PayDate DATE payroll date PPstart DATE payroll start date PPend DATE payroll ending date ZPtype TEXT 8 characters type of payroll processed ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 78 - ZPgroup1 TEXT 11 characters type of employees included ZPgroup2 TEXT 16 characters pay frequency ZPnum INTEGER # of records in group Table: EMPLOYEE *(Employee Data) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description CEid TEXT 7 characters yes employee id code EEflag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) PickFlag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) SDIcode TEXT 6 characters disability insurance code Efirst TEXT 15 characters first name Elast TEXT 20 characters yes last name Emid TEXT 1 characters middle initial Ename TEXT 35 characters employees full name Eaddress TEXT 38 characters address Ecity TEXT 20 characters city Estate TEXT 2 characters state Ezip TEXT 5 characters zipcode Eacode TEXT 3 characters area code Ephone TEXT 8 characters phone number SSAN1 TEXT 3 characters Social Security # SSAN2 TEXT 2 characters Social Security # SSAN3 TEXT 4 characters Social Security # SSAN4 TEXT 11 characters Social Security # PayFreq INTEGER # of times paid per year Tstat INTEGER use federal tax table # TstatSit INTEGER use state tax table # TstatCit INTEGER use city tax table # FICAexmt INTEGER FICA tax status FITexmt INTEGER federal tax status FUTAexmt INTEGER FUTA tax status SITexmt INTEGER state tax status SUTAexmt INTEGER SUTA tax status SDIexmt INTEGER SDI tax status CITexmt INTEGER city tax status UDexmt INTEGER user defined tax status FedAllow INTEGER # of federal allowances StAllow INTEGER # of state allowances CALallow INTEGER # of extra allowances StStdDed INTEGER state standard deduction CitAllow INTEGER # of city allowances CtStdDed INTEGER city standard deduction TypePay TEXT 1 characters type of pay FITxtd CURRENCY extra federal withholding SITxtd CURRENCY extra state withholding CITxtd CURRENCY extra city withholding RegHour CURRENCY regular hourly rate OThour1 CURRENCY 1st overtime hourly rate OThour2 CURRENCY 2nd overtime hourly rate ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 79 - SalTot CURRENCY salary per pay period SicNum REAL days of sick pay per year VacNum REAL days of vacation per year MediD CURRENCY deduction for medical PensD CURRENCY deduction for pension plan Unum TEXT 1 characters union affiliation Uflat CURRENCY union dues Pstat TEXT 1 characters payroll status JobDesc TEXT 25 characters job description DeptNum TEXT 4 characters company department # DoB DATE date of birth DoB_M INTEGER month of birth DoB_D INTEGER day of birth Hdate DATE date hired Tdate DATE date employment terminated Sdate DATE date of last pay adjustment LITname TEXT 20 characters local taxing authority Table: STORAGE *(Individual Payroll Records) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description CEid TEXT 7 characters employee id code SeqID INTEGER sequence code CkNum INTEGER yes check number DeptNum TEXT 4 characters link to DEPT data table RepFlag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) Pflag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) Uflag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) PayDate DATE payroll date MonDate INTEGER month of payroll DayDate INTEGER day of payroll QtrRow INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) SDIcode TEXT 6 characters disability insurance code RegHrNum REAL # of regular hours paid OT1HrNum REAL # of overtime(1) hours paid OT2HrNum REAL # of overtime(2) hours paid TotNumHr REAL total of above VacHrNum REAL # of vacation hours paid SicHrNum REAL # of sick pay hours paid RegTot CURRENCY amount of regular pay OT1Tot CURRENCY amount of overtime(1) pay OT2Tot CURRENCY amount of overtime(2) pay WageTot CURRENCY total of above SalTot CURRENCY salary paid TipTot CURRENCY tips paid ComTot CURRENCY commission paid VacTot CURRENCY vacation paid SicTot CURRENCY sick pay paid ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 80 - OthTot CURRENCY miscellaneous paid OthDesc1 TEXT 30 characters description of above Gross CURRENCY gross wages xsSS CURRENCY not subject to soc sec xsMC CURRENCY not subject to medicare xsFUTA CURRENCY not subject to FUTA xsSUTA CURRENCY not subject to SUTA VacAcum DOUBLE hours of accumulated vacation SicAcum DOUBLE hours of accumulated sick pay FITd CURRENCY federal withholding FITxtd CURRENCY extra federal withholding SITxtd CURRENCY extra state withholding CITxtd CURRENCY extra city/local withholding SITd CURRENCY state withholding LITd CURRENCY city / local withholding FICAd CURRENCY social security tax withheld MCd CURRENCY medicare tax withheld SDId CURRENCY state disability withheld MediD CURRENCY medical / dental deduction PensD CURRENCY pension plan deduction UnionD CURRENCY union dues deduction AdvaD CURRENCY advances deduction OthD CURRENCY miscellaneous deduction OthDesc2 TEXT 30 characters description of above TotalD CURRENCY total deductions TypePay TEXT 1 characters type of pay Net CURRENCY net pay TLfica CURRENCY tax liability - soc security TLmc CURRENCY tax liability - medicare TLfuta CURRENCY tax liability - FUTA TLsuta CURRENCY tax liability - SUTA TLsdi CURRENCY tax liability - SDI TLoth CURRENCY tax liability - user defined Table: YTD *(Year-To-Date Totals) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description CEid TEXT 7 characters yes employee id code CtrlNum INTEGER yes control number for W-2's YTDflag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) PickFlag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) Elast TEXT 20 characters yes last name yRegHr# REAL # of regular hours paid yOT1Hr# REAL # of overtime(1) hours paid yOT2Hr# REAL # of overtime(2) hours paid yTotHr# REAL total of above hours yVacHr# REAL # of vacation hours paid ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 81 - ySicHr# REAL # of sick hours paid yAllHr# REAL total of all hours paid yRegTot CURRENCY amount of regular pay yOT1Tot CURRENCY amount of overtime(1) pay yOT2Tot CURRENCY amount of overtime(2) pay yWageTot CURRENCY total of above pay ySalTot CURRENCY salary paid yTipTot CURRENCY tips paid yComTot CURRENCY commissions paid yVacTot CURRENCY vacation pay paid ySicTot CURRENCY sick pay paid yOthTot CURRENCY miscellaneous amounts paid yGross CURRENCY gross income yxsSS CURRENCY amount not subject to soc sec yxsMC CURRENCY amount not subject to medicare yxsFUTA CURRENCY amount not subject to FUTA yxsSUTA CURRENCY amount not subject to SUTA yVacAcum DOUBLE hours of accumulated vacation ySicAcum DOUBLE hours of accumulated sick pay yFITd CURRENCY federal withholding ySITd CURRENCY state withholding yLITd CURRENCY city / local withholding yFICAd CURRENCY social security tax withheld yMCd CURRENCY medicare tax withheld ySDId CURRENCY state disability withheld yMediD CURRENCY medical / dental deduction yPensD CURRENCY pension plan deduction yUnionD CURRENCY union dues deduction yAdvaD CURRENCY advances deduction yOthD CURRENCY miscellaneous deduction yTotalD CURRENCY total deductions yAdvaBal CURRENCY accumulated advances (balance) yNet CURRENCY net pay Table: ADVANCE *(Payroll Advances) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description CEid TEXT 7 characters yes employee id code CkNum INTEGER yes check number AdvFlag INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) AdvPick INTEGER *(USED FOR PROCESSING) PayDate DATE date of advance AdvAmt CURRENCY amount paid ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 82 - Table: SDIx *(State Disability Insurance Data) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description SDIcode TEXT 6 characters yes class code SDIdesc TEXT 30 characters class description SDIpmt REAL liability - employeers share SDIded REAL deduction - employees share Table: UNION *(Labor Union Affiliations) Column definitions Name Type Length Key Description Unum TEXT 1 characters union number - 1 thru 9 Uname TEXT 35 characters union name Uaddress TEXT 35 characters address Ucsz TEXT 35 characters city, state & zipcode Uphone TEXT 8 characters phone number Urate REAL union dues rate Ubase TEXT 1 characters basis for dues calculation ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual - 83 - ZIPPER Payroll / DELUXE Order Form 1: PERSON ORDERING: _________________________ Title: __________________ Firm Name: _____________________________ Phone: (___) _____-_________ Street Address: ______________________________________________________ City: _________________________ State: _________ Zip: ____________ 2: SHIP TO: (Fill in only if different from person placing order.) Recipient Name: ____________________________ Title: __________________ Firm Name: ____________________________________________________________ Street Address: _______________________________________________________ City: ______________________________ State: _________ Zip: _________ 3: ORDER INFORMATION: Product Qty Description No. of Check Deluxe Start Unit Total Number Parts Backgrnd Logo No. Price Price Color Number -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______|_______|____________|______|_________|______|________|_____|______ _______|_______|____________|______|_________|______|________|_____|______ _______|_______|____________|______|_________|______|________|_____|______ .. Orders for checks require a sample marked "VOID" for MICR encoding. .. Available in blue, green, tan, yellow or antique .. Choose 1-, 2-, or 3-part checks __ Antique Finish Checks add $10/thous. 500 order also add $10.00 $_______ __ LOGO ARTWORK ATTACHED $25 charge for your logo* $_______ __ $3.95 CHARGE for using standard logos available from Deluxe $_______ SUB-TOTAL $_______ TAX ** $_______ THANK YOU TOTAL $_______ PAYMENT OPTIONS: __ Check or money order enclosed, made payable to Deluxe Computer Forms. __ Bill me later. We have an account with Deluxe. (Minimum $25 order.) __ Please open an account for us. Minimum $25 order. Attached two current trade references and fill in below. Bank Name: _____________________ Acct No: _______________________ Bank Phone: (___)___-____ ext.___ Please bill my __ VISA __ MasterCard __ American Express Cardholder Name |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| Account Number |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| Exp. Date |__|__|__|__| X__________________________________ Authorized Signature MAIL TO: Deluxe Business Systems 3660 Victoria St. No. Shoreview, MN 55126 Code=T09638 ZIPPER Payroll / DELUXE Prices Product |----------- Quantity ------------| Number Description 250 500 1000 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 090973 Check, 1-Part $ 47.50 $ 63.50 $ 83.50 $125.00 " Check, 2-Part 63.50 89.95 131.00 218.00 " Check, 3-Part 73.95 106.00 168.00 271.00 091500 Double Window Envelope 25.50 34.50 56.95 99.50 *************** Prices subject to change without notice. *************** * Additional charge for touchup, typesetting, rearrangement or matching preset ink colors. ** We are required to charge you state, county, or local sales tax where applicable. Illinois residents are required to pay a 1% sales tax. NEW ACCOUNTS: Available with minimum order of $25.00. To open, provide two credit references (with account numbers), including your bank and one additional creditor. Terms are net 10 days. State sales tax will be added to your order where applicable. VISA or MasterCard accepted by phone or mail. Freight pre-paid. FREE DELIVERY: We'll pay surface freight if payment is included with your order (48 contiguous states only). Please include street address with order. All orders are shipped regular U.P.S. but, at your request, we will ship by air for an additional charge. SEND ORDERS TO: Deluxe Business Systems For Assistance call 1-800-328-0304 3660 Victoria St. No. in Minnesota 1-612-631-8500 Shoreview, MN 55126 in Colorado Springs, CO 1-800-528-8411 Order / Registration Form - ZIPPER Payroll NAME : ___________________________________________________________ COMPANY : ___________________________________________________________ ADDRESS : ___________________________________________________________ CITY : ________________________ STATE:_____ ZIPCODE:_____________ PHONE : ________________________ Basic Registration: ( $62.00 each ) $___________ Includes 1 full year of technical support and Tax table updates for the next year Specify media format: [ ] 5-1/4" [ ] 3-1/5" for 3-1/2" diskette only ( $3.00 ) ___________ Shipping & Handling ( $5.00 ) ___________ Subtotal $___________ Sales Tax (Washington residents only) ___________ Total $___________ Your registration of a Shareware copy of ZIPPER Payroll is greatly appreciated. Registration pays for the past and future development of this software. Shareware is user supported software. The Share- ware concept allows you to "try before you buy", and buy only what you use. _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Assiciation of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Remit to: SOFTCRAFT 3612 122nd Place SE Everett, WA 98208 (206) 728-8427 Technical Support Request - ZIPPER Payroll COMPANY : _______________________________________ REGISTRATION:______________ ADDRESS : ___________________________________________________________________ CITY : _______________________________ STATE:______ ZIPCODE:______________ PHONE : ______________________ CONTACT :________________________________________ FAX:______________________ EVENING PHONE:____________________ CompuServe ID:__________________________ (1) Module in which you have encountered this problem: [ ] Employee [ ] Payroll [ ] Reports [ ] System [ ] Utilities [ ] Undo [ ] Printer [ ] Installation [ ] Other:_________________________ (2) Hardware: CPU:_______________ RAM:_____________ Available Memory:______________ (amount available to ZIPPER) Video:_____________ Printer: ______________ (3) Describe the nature of the problem you are encountering. Be specific as possible: __________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ (4) Please indicate the urgency of your request: [ ] Very Urgent [ ] Urgent [ ] ASAP [ ] When you can [ ] Low Priority (5) Please indicate your [P]rimary, [S]econdary, and [L]east preferred method by which we respond to this Technical Support Request. ALL TELEPHONE (voice) RESPONSES WILL BE COLLECT. Place the appropriate letter (P, S, or L) within the appropriate brackets below. [ ] Telephone [ ] FAX [ ] CompuServe [ ] Mail INCOMPLETE TECHNICAL SUPPORT REQUESTS ARE GIVEN THE LOWEST PRIORITY. ******* TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS PROVIDED ONLY TO REGISTERED USERS ******* --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Accrued benefits 45 Data Structure - ZIPPER Payroll 77 Active year 8, 43 Advance data table 82 Add 7 Dept data table 78 Advance balances 65 Employee data table 79 Advances 41, 47, 63 Employer data table 78 Aligning paychecks 50 Payrec data table 78 Annual update fees 69 SDIx data table 83 Automated payroll processing 62 Storage data table 80 Backing-up your data 65 Union data table 83 Birthdays report 59 YTD data table 81 Biweekly 30, 42 Date range 37, 54 Broken pointer chains 66 Deducting advances 64 Budget report 59 Deductions 39 Calendar files 69 Deleting local tax tables 11, 21 Capacity 3 Deluxe Business Systems 50, 60, 76 Changing an employee's name 36 DELUXE.DOC file 76 Changing password security 14 Dental 34 Check data pointers 65 Department ID codes 11, 34 Check printing errors 51 Department listing 58 Check register 57 Department names 12, 34 Check register reports 55 Destroying payroll records 49, 61 Commission 46 Discard 7 Company departments 11 Disk space - minimum required 4 Company information 9 Dollar signs 8 Compress the database 65 Duplicate employee ID code 29, 37 Compressed print 15, 56, 60 Earnings 39 Computing payroll 47 Edit again 7 CONFIG.SYS 3 Editing employee data 35 Copying ZIPPER files 4 Editing payroll records 49 Create a new year 43 Employee benefits 25, 34, 40 Creating Employee benefits report 55, 57 a new year 67 Employee ID Code 29, 36 a payroll group 41 Employees by department 58 a program directory 4 Ending date 42 local tax tables 32 Entering multiple payroll groups 49 deductions 46 Data Entry Methods earnings 44 entering dates 7 new employees 28 entering dollar values 8 Exempt tax status 33 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extra withholding 33, 46 Other income / pay 46 Federal tax tables 9, 11 Other payroll taxes 21 Federal withholding 46 Overtime FICA 22 entering hourly rates 31 First things first 8 entering hours worked 44 Focus by Employee 56 Overtime rates 31 Focus by Pay Period 56 Pack(ing) the database 65 Form 941 42 Page assembly, payroll reports 56 FUTA 22 Paid holidays 28, 34 Health insurance 34 Parallel port 3, 16 Hourly employee 30 Password security 14 Hourly rates 31 Pay periods per year 30 Hours worked 27 Paycheck reminder 53 Incorrect payroll dates 43, 70 Payroll by departments 59 Installation 4 Payroll date 42 Keyboard 5 Payroll errors 49 Labor unions 12 Payroll frequency 42 Laser printers 16, 50, 60 Payroll groups 30 Loading state tax tables 11 Payroll liability reports 55, 57 Loading tax tables 10 Payroll proof report 49 Local tax tables 11, 32 Payroll reports 55 Loosing data 66 Payroll status 30 Manually processing checks 53 Payroll vouchers 52 Medical 34 Pension 34 Menu bar 7, 28 Personnel reports 55, 58 Monthly 30, 42 Personnel management 35 Moving through payroll records 44 Pick / Check forms 8 Multi-state payroll 10 Printer Negative advances 64 configuration 14 Negative payroll 46, 48 control codes 16 New Year 28 drivers 15 Non Exempt tax status 33 names 15 Normal ports 16 payroll 41 settings 59 work day 26 Printing work week 26 payroll vouchers 53 work year 26 advance checks 64 Number paychecks 50 paychecks 50 Ordering checks 50, 60, 76 reports 54 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Processing payroll 41 State disability insurance 23, 33 Proofing payroll records 49, 62 State tax tables 9, 31 Proofing payroll records 62 SUTA 22 Quarter 37 Tattletale feature 14 Quicken 1 Tax table databases 17, 69 exporting to 1, 49, 51, 53, 64 Tax table updates 22 importing into 52 Tax tables 31 Quit 7 creating 17 R:BASE 2 installing new 43, 68, 69 RAM memory 3 Technical support 22, 69, 74 README.1ST file 4 Text file names 59 README.DOC file 17, 22, 31, 32, 69 Tips 45 Registration and tech support 73 Today 43 Registration fee 75 Unarchiving program files 5 Regular hours Undo / Redo 43, 70 entering hourly rates 31 Undo advances 72 entering hours worked 44 Union dues 12, 34 Regular salary 30 Union dues 34 Rejecting a payroll group 42 Updating local tax tables 21, 69 Removing password security 14 User defined payroll tax 23 Reported tips 48 Utilities 43, 65 Rule violation - new employee 29 Vacation pay 1, 25, 34, 45 Salary employee 30 W-2 Form 33, 59 SDI 22, 23 WARNING(s) 21, 71, 77 SDI - Employment classes 23 Weekly 30, 42 SDI report 25, 59 What-if analysis 62 Selecting employees 35, 55, 63 Wildcard search 55 Semimonthly 30, 42 Withholding 39 Serial Number 75 Year-To-Date Serial port 3, 16 payroll 37 Serial ports 16 payroll records 28, 50 SERIAL.NUM file 74 payroll register 28, 38, 57 Shareware 74, 75 payroll report 26, 55 Sick pay 1, 25, 34, 45 ZIPCAL.nn files 69 SOFTCRAFT 66, 69, 75 ZIPPERQ3.DAT file 51 Special payroll 41, 71 ZIPxxTX?.RBF files 77 Standard deduction 32 ZPACK1.EXE 5 Starting date 42 ZPACK2.EXE. 5 Starting ZIPPER 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual