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Research and Sponsored Programs

Single Payroll Impacts to Research Administration

Page Updated: November 30, 2021

Overview

In July, the University of Wisconsin will be moving to a single biweekly payroll for all staff. The move of academic staff from monthly to biweekly pay will result in a number of changes and impacts to Research Administration related tasks. This webpage will contain information about those impacts and will also contain links to other tools and references.

Presentations

RED Hot Discussion – Impacts of Single Payroll on Research Administration

Session Recording RED Learning Videos
Session Slides PowerPoint Slides

Single Payroll – How It Affects Grants

Session Recording Session Recording
Session Slides PowerPoint Slides

Changes and Impacts by Area

Information about Research Administration areas that are impacted by single payroll or were reviewed for single payroll impacts.

Area Changes and Impacts
Advance Accounts
Updated July 20, 2021
  • Bi-weekly payroll means more frequent paychecks and payroll deadlines.
  • Plan ahead and submit requests with plenty of lead time.
  • Review payroll calendar for payroll processing deadlines. The calendar now includes "Project/Dept ID SFS Deadline” dates.
  • Project IDs must be active in SFS a few days in advance of the payroll calc deadline.
    • Project IDs must be generated in SFS by close of business days identified as “Project/Dept ID SFS Deadline” on the calendar. To ensure the best chance of obtaining active project IDs in time for payroll, plan to begin process about 10 days in advance of deadline.
Cost Share
Updated June 16, 2021
  • No changes to the program that calculates payroll cost share.
  • Future start and end dates for payroll cost share schedule entries may need to be adjusted to align with biweekly payroll schedule.
ECRT/Effort
Updated June 16, 2021
  • Effort performance periods will align with biweekly payroll schedule starting with the July to December 2021 period.
Funding Allocation
Updated November 7, 2021
  • It has recently been learned that funding is still being allocated over 14 days. This means that if you switch the HRS funding source (ie. new appointment or funding change) in the middle of a pay period or create a salary cost transfer for only a portion of the pay period, it will be allocated over 14 days, rather than the 10 days in which it is earned.
  • As you can imagine this results in budgeting and estimation errors. If someone’s biweekly salary is $1,400, they earn salary at $140/day (10 days) and yet it’s allocated at $100/day (14 days). At this point, our guidance is to use a 14 day pay period to make estimates when planning cost transfers and budget allocations.
  • Further guidance will be provided in the near future.
NIH Salary Cap
Updated June 16, 2021
  • Matching funds must be available for all biweekly pay periods.
Payroll Guidance Change
Updated June 16, 2021
PI Financials Tool
Updated September 29, 2021
  • Scenarios have been updated to account for biweekly payroll.
Salary Encumbrances
Updated September 13, 2021
Salary Fringe Calculation
Updated June 16, 2021
Summer Session and Summer Service
Updated June 16, 2021
  • Due to the conversion occurring in July, payroll may be incorrect (normally an underpayment) without intervention.
  • Solutions were identified that would involve lump sum payments or a modification to the FTE % for the 8B payroll.
  • FTE percentage option should be used for individuals paid on Grants as the lump sum solution would negatively impact Cost Share calculations and Effort.
  • In order to accommodate the transition to biweekly payroll along with appropriate application of Vilas summer salary, RSP has made the decision to implement a one-time, transitional exception for Vilas award recipients with respect to the payroll guidance located here. Recipients of Vilas summer salary will need to utilize the full extent of summer service pay periods including 7M, 7C, 8A, and 8B in order to receive the proper amount of salary and remain in compliance with effort and payroll expectations. This means, they can be appointed in HRS at the very beginning of period 7M. With regard to Vilas summer salary, please disregard past payroll guidance, as we are aware that it contradicts this newly implemented exception.
Training Grants and Fellowship
Updated August 4, 2021
  • Looking into solutions for the overage issue.
  • Goal is to not have students pay back stipends.
Tuition Remission
Updated September 16, 2021
  • Business Service's Tuition Remission webpage has been updated for single payroll.
  • New Tuition Remission Estimator Workbook for FY2022 has been published.
  • Program that calculates tuition remission is being updated for the move to biweekly payroll.
  • Calculation frequency will remain at once a month.
  • Monthly processing will be scheduled to on the earliest possible date following the posting of the final bi-weekly payroll of each month. This will result in a delay in TR data becoming available by 3 to 17 days depending on the month.

Tools and References

Links to external tools and references that can assist with the transition to single payroll.

Tool Description
Academic Year 2021-2022 Pay Model Tool
Updated June 16, 2021		 Project out payroll payments for an individual on a nine month appointment.
Annual Pay Date Model (calendar year 2021 and 2022)
Updated June 16, 2021		 Project out payroll payments for an individual on a twelve month appointment.
Salary Funding Projection Tool
Updated October 17, 2022		 A resource to help administrators better predict salary and stipend payments to sponsored grants and contracts in a biweekly payroll system. The information provided by this tool is for planning purposes only. Data entered by users does not impact nor update HRS or any other campus system. To make any payroll changes, contact your HR department and/or make the change in HRS.
Paycheck Estimator
Updated June 16, 2021		 Tool to estimate payment amount for an individual after conversion to single payroll. Recently updated to also include projection on partial July monthly payroll.
Payroll calendars
Updated November 30, 2021		 Important payroll dates. Calendars of note include:

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the conversion happen?

Starting July 18th, all staff will be paid on a biweekly basis. For detailed dates, see the 2021 Payroll schedule.

Who is my HR contact?

HR contacts can be found at: https://hr.wisc.edu/contact/.

How will partial pay periods be calculated for employees when they start or terminate during a pay period? RECENTLY UPDATED

See the UW-System Salary & Fringe Benefit Calculation policy, section (6)(C). Note: workdays are considered to be Mondays through Fridays.

What happens if funding is changed in HRS in the middle of a pay period? RECENTLY UPDATED

See UW System guidance on Changing Current Funding, specifically the note in "Add a New Effective Dated Funding Row", section 3.

For More Information

Links to single payroll sites at UW – Madison and UW – System that will contain more information with a focus on impacts to HR and individual employees.