MYOB EXO EMPLOYER SERVICES

Transcription

1 MYOB EXO EMPLOYER SERVICES NZ Edition Release Notes EXO EMPLOYER SERVICES MYOB ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS

2 Important Notices This material is copyright. It is intended only for MYOB Enterprise Solutions Business Partners and their customers. No part of it may be reproduced in any way without the prior permission of MYOB. MYOB has carefully prepared this material but excludes (to the extent allowed by legislation) any direct or indirect liability arising from errors or omissions or from its use. Any case studies (including the application of particular accounting standards or legislation) are representative examples only, and will not directly apply to the user s own circumstances. They are not a substitute for professional advice. Users must check that third party materials, for example from the IRD and the ATO, are current at the time they are used. Trademark Rights MYOB is an internationally registered trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. The use of this trademark and MYOB s other trademarks is prohibited without prior consent. Other products mentioned may be service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

3 Contents Introduction 1 What s New in this Release?... 1 Installation 2 Pre-Install Requirements... 2 System Requirements... 2 Installing MYOB EXO Employer Services... 3 Before Upgrading... 3 Upgrading MYOB EXO Employer Services Online... 3 Upgrading MYOB EXO Employer Services Manually... 5 Network Setup... 9 Post-Installation Check the Release New Features 12 Changes to ESCT Calculation New ESCT Gross Liable Field Report Changes Effects on Upgrading Improved Document Management Updated Documents Tab Adding Documents Editing Documents Changes to Candidates Resolved Issues 21 Known Issues 22

4 Introduction What s New in this Release? This focus of the release is on addressing issues identified in the release, and enhancing the documentation features of EXO Employee Information. The purpose of this document is to provide essential information on the installation and use of this release: The Installation section provides an overview of the installation process, including pre-installation requirements and post installation steps. The Resolved Issues section describes all issues that have been addressed by this release. The Known Issues section details any issues in this release that have been identified as requiring attention. Need assistance? If you have any questions or you need assistance with installing this update, contact MYOB EXO Support from 8:30AM to 5.00PM, Monday to Friday on 0800 MYOB EXO ( ) or via at anzpayrollsupport@myob.com. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 1 of 23

5 Installation Pre-Install Requirements System Requirements Minimum system requirements for PCs running MYOB EXO Employer Services components are detailed below. The performance of the MYOB EXO Employer Services system is not assured if these requirements are not met. Similarly, performance cannot be assured if the EXO Employer Services system is installed on a PC that is already under load from other processes. See the Minimum System Requirements document, available on the MYOB website, for full details on requirements and supported operating systems. Workstation requirements Any PC running the MYOB EXO Employer Services application modules should meet the following minimum requirements: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Intel Pentium 4 1.3MHz processor (or equivalent) DVD-ROM drive 1GB RAM At least 2GB hard disk space available 16-bit colour, screen resolution Note: MYOB EXO Employer Services supports 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7. On 64-bit systems, EXO Employer Services uses the WOW64 emulator, which allows 32-bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows systems. See Microsoft s website for details. Other Requirements Certain features of MYOB EXO Employer Services require one or more of the following: Internet access TCP/IP networking Serial port (required for some features in EXO Time and Attendance) Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 or later Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or later MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 2 of 23

6 Installation MyStaffInfo Browser Requirements The following web browsers are supported for accessing the MyStaffInfo website: Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8 and above Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and above Safari 3.0 and above Google Chrome 1.0 and above Opera 9.0 and above Installing MYOB EXO Employer Services Before Upgrading Before installing this upgrade: Ensure that there are no open pays within the system (either Current Pays or One Off Pays). Ensure that all users have closed their MYOB EXO Employer Services applications. Ensure that you are running the upgrade under a Windows account that has administrative privileges. If you have multiple PCs set up to run MYOB EXO Employer Services across a network, see Network Setup (page 9) for networking upgrade considerations. Upgrading MYOB EXO Employer Services Online Follow these steps to upgrade an existing installation of MYOB EXO Employer Services from within the application using the Upgrade Software Online function. Before installing this upgrade, ensure that all users have closed their MYOB EXO Employer Services applications. To perform the installation: 1. Close all programs running on the computer on which you are installing this upgrade. Open your MYOB EXO Employer Services application. Log into any one of your payroll companies. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 3 of 23

7 Installation 2. Go to the Help menu and select Upgrade Software Online. 3. The Employer Services Update wizard checks for updates, and displays the Update Available window for this release. Click Next. 4. Follow through the steps in the upgrade wizard, clicking Next when prompted to move to the next window. Note that while the upgrade process only downloads the changed and new files required for this upgrade, the download may still take several minutes to install. 5. When the upgrade is complete, click Finish. MYOB EXO Employer Services is launched, and the Upgrade Software window is displayed. 6. Use the arrow buttons to move companies between the WILL be backed up and will NOT be backed up lists. During the upgrade, a backup will be made for each of the companies listed on the right of the screen. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 4 of 23

8 Installation Note: If you did not make a backup before starting the upgrade process, we strongly recommend that you select all payroll companies for backup. 7. Click Upgrade Now. If you chose to back up your companies, the backup will be performed before that company s data is upgraded. As each company is upgraded, you will see the names of the files being upgraded in the top right hand corner of your screen. Do not interrupt this process. It may take several minutes. 8. You may be prompted to Convert 3.0 resource file to 6.0 format. Click Yes. 9. Once the upgrade process has finished, you will be returned to the company selection window. You can now continue using the software in the normal way. Upgrading MYOB EXO Employer Services Manually If you are unable to download the update using the Upgrade Software Online function, visit the MYOB Enterprise Knowledgebase to download the installer executable, Upgrades.exe, manually. Contact MYOB Support if you require further assistance. Once you have downloaded this file: 1. Close all programs running on the computer on which you are installing this upgrade. 2. Start the upgrade wizard. To do this, either: Double-click on the Upgrades.exe file, or Open MYOB EXO Employer Services and select Upgrade Software from the Help menu. Browse to the location of the Upgrades.exe file and click OK. 3. The upgrade wizard opens. Click Next on the Welcome screen. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 5 of 23

9 Installation 4. Select the location of your MYOB EXO Employer Services install, then click Next. Note: When upgrading, make sure to install the upgrade into the existing install location. This location is displayed on the About window in MYOB EXO Employer Services check the Installed in field. Alternatively, right-click on the MYOB EXO Employer Services icon on your desktop and select Properties to see where the application is installed. 5. Select the MYOB EXO Employer Services components you are licensed for, then click Next. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 6 of 23

10 Installation 6. Specify where the MYOB EXO Employer Services shortcuts should be located in the Windows Start menu, then click Next. 7. The installation is ready to begin. Review the details and click Next to proceed. If you need to change any details, click Back to return to the previous screen and change your selections. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 7 of 23

11 Installation 8. The installation progress is displayed. 9. Once the installation is complete, click Finish to close the installation wizard. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 8 of 23

12 Installation 10. Open MYOB EXO Employer Services. The Upgrade Software window is displayed. 11. Use the arrow buttons to move companies between the WILL be backed up and will NOT be backed up lists. During the upgrade, a backup will be made for each of the companies listed on the right of the screen. Note: If you did not take a backup before starting the upgrade process, we strongly recommend that you select all payroll companies for backup. 12. Click Upgrade Now. If you chose to back up your companies, the backup will be performed before that company s data is upgraded. As each company is upgraded, you will see the names of the files being upgraded in the top right hand corner of your screen. Do not interrupt this process. It may take several minutes. 13. You may be prompted to Convert 3.0 resource file to 6.0 format. Click Yes. 14. Once the upgrade process has finished, you will be returned to the company selection window. You can now continue using the software in the normal way. Network Setup If you have other workstations set up to run MYOB EXO Employer Services across a network, the system will check to see if the necessary support files are in place and if the version number is up to date. If the system needs these files to be updated then the install program will run automatically. You no longer need to run the Network.exe program manually to install the support files. If you are installing to a network location, either onto a Windows 2008/Vista/ Windows 7 server or onto a Terminal Services/Citrix server, you must be logged in to the network or computer as a user with administrator rights. If you are unsure, contact your IT administrator. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 9 of 23

13 Installation You will also need to know the location of your current installation on your network. If you are unsure, go to the Help menu and choose About. The location of your installation is displayed near the bottom of the About window. Terminal Servers When installing MYOB EXO Employer Services on Terminal Services/Citrix Server, you must run the installer from the Add or Remove Programs window, as follows: 1. Insert the MYOB CD. (If you are not using a CD, copy the installer/upgrader executable to the Terminal Server.) 2. From the Windows Start Menu, select Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs. 3. Click Add New Programs. 4. Click CD or Floppy. 5. The Install Program From Floppy Disk or CD-ROM wizard starts. Click Next. 6. Click Browse to locate the installer/upgrade executable, which will be called Setup.exe, Upgrades.exe or Austupgrades.exe. If installing from a CD, it should automatically locate it. When clicking Browse, you may need to change the Files of type from Setup Programs to Programs. 7. Once the installation is complete, click Finish to close the wizard. Note: When upgrading a Terminal Services/Citrix server, it is possible to use the Upgrade Software Online function to upgrade the installation. However, after the upgrade is complete, Network.exe must be run from the Add or Remove Programs window to complete the upgrade. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 10 of 23

14 Installation Post-Installation Check the Release After the installation is complete, the version numbers of all MYOB EXO Employer Services applications should be as follows: Application Version MYOB EXO Employer Services MYOB EXO Payroll MYOB EXO Health and Safety MYOB EXO Employee Information MYOB EXO Time and Attendance Runtime Files Tax version To check that this release installed successfully, check that the versions displayed on the About window (Help menu > About) match the versions listed here. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 11 of 23

15 New Features Changes to ESCT Calculation Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax (ESCT) is a tax on the contributions employers make to their employees superannuation schemes, e.g. KiwiSaver. The rate of taxation depends on the employee s income; MYOB EXO Payroll allows you to set a specific ESCT rate for an employee, or you can select a Calculated option to have the system determine the appropriate rate. When the Calculated option is selected, the rate is determined according to one of the following values: For employees who have been employed for a full financial year or more, the ESCT rate is determined based on their earnings for the previous financial year. For employees who have been employed for less than a full financial year, an estimate of their annual earnings for the current year is used to determine the ESCT rate. Note: A full financial year means working from 1 April of one year to 31 March of the next. In EXO Payroll, this is based on each employee s Start Date property. For example, at the time of this release, any employee whose start date is 2 April 2011 or later will not have worked a full financial year yet, even though they have worked for more than a full calendar year. In previous versions, MYOB EXO Payroll calculated the estimated earnings automatically, and the estimated amount was updated each pay. Subsequent to the release of MYOB EXO Employer Services , the IRD has clarified that the ESCT rate threshold is set at the beginning of the tax year and cannot change until the following year when the rate is re-calculated. Furthermore, issues were identified with the way in which the estimate was calculated, which meant that the estimated amount could be inaccurate. To address these issues, several changes that affect how ESCT rates are determined have been made to MYOB EXO Payroll. These changes are detailed below. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 12 of 23

16 New Features New ESCT Gross Liable Field Changes have been made to the Employee Details tab of the Employee Maintenance window: When Calculated is selected for the ESCT Rate, the calculated rate is displayed. 2. When Calculated is selected, a new ESCT Gross Liable field becomes available. The value in this field is used to calculate the ESCT rate. The contents of this field differ depending on how long the employee has been employed: For employees who have been employed for a full financial year (as determined by the Start Date), this field is read-only, and displays their previous year s earnings. For employees who have been employed for less than a full financial year, this field is editable. An estimate of the employee s yearly earnings must be manually entered. This value will be used to determine their ESCT rate for the entire financial year. This means that for employees with less than a full financial year s history, the estimated yearly earnings must now be entered manually. It is up to the employer to provide an accurate estimate of the employee s earnings. If, by the start of the next financial year, the employee has a full year s pay history, they will switch automatically MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 13 of 23

17 New Features to having their past year s earnings calculated by the system and the ESCT Gross Liable field will become read-only. In addition to these changes, the employee s ESCT rate is now displayed on the KiwiSaver Contributions window in both the Standard Pay and the Current Pay: Report Changes Employees ESCT rates and thresholds (yearly earnings) are now displayed on the Employees Report: MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 14 of 23

18 New Features When exporting a report to CSV Output, the following new fields are available: ESCT Method ( Calculated or Fixed Rate ) ESCT Rate ESCT Gross Liable ESCT Gross Liable Source ( Estimated or Calculated ) Effects on Upgrading Upgrading to MYOB EXO Employer Services has the following effects on existing employee records whose ESCT Rate is set to Calculated : For employees who have been employed for a full financial year, the previous year s earnings will be calculated and the ESCT Gross Liable field will be populated automatically. The calculated ESCT rate will be set according to the value in the ESCT Gross Liable field. For employees who have been employed for less than a full financial year, the ESCT Gross Liable field will become editable, and will set to $0.00. The calculated ESCT rate will default to the lowest rate of 10.5%. This means that the following actions will be required: Following an upgrade to MYOB EXO Employer Services : Employers must ensure that all employees with less than a full financial year s history have their ESCT Rate set to Calculated (unless they have agreed to an arrangement where a specific ESCT rate is specified). Employers must go through and manually enter estimated yearly earnings for all employees with less than a full financial year s history. Note: Use the Employees Report to identify the employees who will require these steps; look for employees whose Start Date is 2 April 2011 or later. When adding a new employee: Employers must manually enter estimated yearly earnings for the new employee. At the start of each financial year: Employers must update the estimated yearly earnings for all employees who have not yet been employed for a full financial year. Employees who required an estimate in the previous financial year, but who now have a full financial year s pay history will switch automatically to having their past year s earnings calculated by the system. Employers do not need to do anything. Note: Use the Employees Report to identify employees whose ESCT Gross Liable will need to be updated; look for employees whose ESCT rate is Calculated and whose ESCT Gross Liable contains still Est. after the start of the new financial year. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 15 of 23

19 New Features Improved Document Management This release includes updated to the document management features of EXO Employee Information, making them more flexible and easier to use. The document management features have also been extended to candidates (where previously they were only available for employees). Updated Documents Tab The Documents tab on the Employee Maintenance window has been reworked: Documents are now listed in a grid. The grid can be sorted by clicking on the column headers, and rows and columns can be resized. 2. Documents can now be classified into categories. A document s category is specified when creating the document (see page 17). 3. For external documents that have been attached to the employee or candidate, the document s file name is now displayed on the Documents tab. 4. The date when each document was last modified is now displayed on the Documents tab. 5. It is now possible to right-click on a document and select the Edit document properties option to edit the document s Name, Category or Description (see page 18). 6. The Add button is now a dropdown, providing easier access to the various options for adding new documents (see page 17). MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 16 of 23

20 New Features Adding Documents The Add button on the Documents tab is now a dropdown, where all options for adding documents can be accessed: Selecting Create Document opens a window where the document s properties can be entered: Only a name is required; the other fields are optional. Note: The Category property is an edit field where a new category can be entered; once entered, the category is available from the dropdown at the end of the field, so it can be reused for other documents. Once the properties have been entered, clicking Continue opens EXO Employee Information s built-in word processing interface, where the new document can be edited and saved. Selecting Attach File opens a browse window where the new document is selected. Once the document is selected, the properties window appears, so the newly attached document can be given a name, category and description. Selecting Create from Template opens a window displaying all Document Templates that have been set up in the EXO Employee Information system: MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 17 of 23

21 New Features After selecting a template, the properties window appears, as with the other methods of adding documents, so the new document can be given a name, category and description. Once the properties have been entered, clicking Continue opens EXO Employee Information s built-in word processing interface, where the new document can be edited and saved. Editing Documents As in previous versions, double-clicking on a document on the Documents tab opens the document for editing. If the document is an attached file, it will open in the default editor for the type of file; if it is a document created in EXO Employee Information, it will open in the word processing interface. Right-clicking on any document on the Documents tab and selecting Edit document properties opens a window where the documents properties can be altered: MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 18 of 23

22 New Features This window is the same as the window used to enter the properties when adding documents, but it also shows the date when the document was last modified, and for attached documents, the file name is also displayed. Changes to Candidates All changes to documentation management apply to candidates as well as employees. The Documents tab on the Candidate Maintenance window has been updated to match the Documents tab on the Employee Maintenance window: MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 19 of 23

23 New Features It is now possible to create a candidate document from a template, functionality that was previously only available for employees. The ability to attach files has also been added for candidates; files attached to candidates are copied to the Database\candidatefiles folder (sub-folders are created for each candidate, named after the candidate s ID number). Note: The Include Employee Document option on the Backup Options window now applies to candidate documents as well as employee documents all files will be backed up if this option is ticked. When converting a candidate to an employee, all documents associated with the candidate are copied across to the new employee record. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 20 of 23

24 Resolved Issues Resolved Issues The following issues have been addressed in this release: Product EXO Payroll Description The system was not correctly truncating values in the calculation of the ESCT amount for an employer s Superannuation contribution to their employee, which could result in minor discrepancies in ESCT, KiwiSaver and Superannuation amounts. This has been resolved. If an employee had an Allowance with a user-specified tax rate and a pre-tax Deduction, the tax rate specified for the Allowance would also be applied to the Deduction, which meant that the PAYE total would be incorrect. This has been resolved. After changing the salary of an employee who had a deduction with protected pay, then clicking Next or Prev, the amount of the deduction would change. This has been resolved. When opening the Employee Maintenance screen for a terminated employee, the Student Loan Rate field was always blank, even if the employee had a Student Loan before they were terminated. This has been resolved. Where more than one pay frequency was in use, the KiwiSaver Report did not display all employees with KiwiSaver contributions when Any was selected for the Pay Frequency. This has been resolved. The Student Loan totals on the PAYE Calculator were not reset to $0 when changing from a Student Loan tax code to a non-student Loan code. This has been resolved. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 21 of 23

25 Known Issues Known Issues The following Known Issues have been identified in this release. Administrator profile and mapped network drives Message: Program Error - UNC Path Network Sharing or the upgrade process stalling on installation, falling to find the mapped network path. Program: Setup.exe and Upgrades.exe Operating System: Windows Vista Problem description: When upgrading MYOB EXO Employer Services within a network situation, from a client machine, using a mapped network drive to a source server, the install process will not proceed unless the mapped drive exists under the Administrator profile. Workaround: As this issue is due to Vista s need for mapped drives to exist in both the Administrator profile and the standard user profile, the mapped drive that is set for the standard user of MYOB EXO Employer Services must be replicated under the Administrator profile. To do this: 1. From the client machine, within the standard user profile, check and note the mapped drive settings that EXO Payroll is using (including location and drive letter used). 2. Log off as a standard user and log on as an Administrator. 3. Ensure that a mapped drive exists with the same settings as in the standard profile. If this does not exist create this mapped drive, as per the same settings as the Standard User. 4. Install the product as per the instructions in the Installing MYOB EXO Employer Services section on page After installation complete, make sure to log off as the administrator (for security purposes only). The upgrade is now complete. Security settings reset in MyStaffInfo In an upgrade to EXO Employer Services or later, the security settings that control the ability to change and view user-defined information, and the ability to make leave requests have changed the existing settings have been removed and replaced with new ones. As new settings are always disabled by default, users may no longer have access to these abilities following an upgrade. You must go to the Common Tasks > Security section of the MyStaffInfo Management Console and reconfigure the settings for user-defined information and leave requests as necessary. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 22 of 23

26 Known Issues Printing MyStaffInfo reports from Internet Explorer 6 When MyStaffInfo reports are printed from Internet Explorer 6, they will appear truncated, with the sides and/or bottom of the reports cut off. This is a known issue that affects Internet Explorer 6 only. Upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or later will fix this issue. Microsoft XPS Document Writer not supported for reports The system does not support printing reports to the Microsoft XPS Document Writer printer. MYOB EXO Employer Services Release Notes Page 23 of 23