Overview
At the end of each pay period, review all employee time and pay, resolve any disputes, approve payroll for processing, and export finalized data to your third-party payroll provider. This workflow ensures accurate compensation and provides a complete audit trail before submitting payroll for payment processing.
Who uses this feature
Administrators, accountants, bookkeepers, and managers
Applies to all business types
Applies to all trades
Feature configuration
Payroll Sign-off and Office Timesheets require account configuration. Please contact Technical Support for details.
Payroll permissions are required to use this feature. Please contact the account administrator on your team. For more, see Manage payroll permissions.
Things to know
If you use Payroll Sign-off, employees must approve or dispute their payroll before you can finalize and export.
Changes made after employee sign-off reset the employee's status to Pending, requiring them to approve again.
Once you approve payroll for a pay period, you need to undo the approval before making any edits.
Best practices
Review payroll at least two to three days before your processing deadline to allow time for corrections.
Create a payroll checklist that includes verifying all employees are included and checking for missing time entries.
Before you begin
If this is the first time you're processing payroll, complete these setup steps before proceeding with this workflow:
Configure employee payroll settings, including hourly rates, payroll IDs, and business unit assignments.
Ensure employees and technicians have tracked their time throughout the pay period. For more, see:
Use the Time Clock to track your time with Flexible Timekeeping
Track your time in the Field Mobile App
Earnings codes are created and assigned to map ServiceTitan pay types to your payroll processor.
Variations for different configurations
Without Payroll Sign-off
If you don't use Payroll Sign-off, skip Steps 3 and 4. After reviewing payroll and making adjustments in Steps 1 and 2, proceed directly to Step 5 to approve payroll for processing.
For multi-state or multi-business unit payroll
If you process payroll for multiple states or business units with different pay periods, use the Business Unit filter on both the Payroll Dashboard and the Master Pay File report to process each group separately. Export separate Master Pay File reports for each business unit as needed.
Step 1: Review payroll on the Payroll Dashboard
Review all employee time and pay for accuracy before finalizing. The Payroll Dashboard provides a centralized view of payroll for the selected pay period.
Go to the top toolbar, click your Profile icon, and click Payroll.
On the Payroll Dashboard that opens, use the Payroll Period dropdown to select the pay period you want to review.
Review the following for each employee:
Timesheet Pay: Total hourly earnings.
Performance Pay: Commissions, bonuses, and other performance-based compensation.
Total Hours: Combined total of all paid hours worked.
Employee Status: Current approval status, such as Not Received, Pending, Disputed, Approved, Manager Approved.
Tip: If you see any employees with missing data or unexpected pay amounts, investigate before proceeding.
(Optional) Step 2: Make payroll adjustments
If you identify corrections needed during your review, you can add adjustments directly from the Payroll Dashboard.
On the Payroll Dashboard, find the employee who needs an adjustment.
In the Action column, click View Actions for that employee.
Click the Payroll Adjustments tab, and click Create.
On the Create Payroll adjustment screen that opens, complete the following fields:
Posted on: Select the date for the adjustment to post.
Code: Select the appropriate earnings code.
Adjustment Amount: Enter the dollar amount of the adjustment.
(Optional) Invoice: Enter the invoice number to attach the adjustment to a job invoice.
Type: Select the type of adjustment you want to create:
Direct: Full adjustment amount paid directly to the employee
Commission Base: Adjustment paid based on the employee's commission rate
Labor: Adjustment treated as labor cost on the invoice
Advance: Payment given before payroll, deducted later from gross pay
Sold Advance: Sold credit paid early, deducted later from gross pay
(Optional) Business unit: Enter the business unit to attach the adjustment to it.
Memo: Add a description explaining the reason.
When finished, click Save.
You can also create bulk adjustments. For more, see Create bulk payroll adjustments.
Caution: Adjustments made after employee sign-off will reset their status to Pending, requiring them to review and approve again.
Step 3: Release payroll for employee sign-off
If you use Payroll Sign-off, release the pay period to allow employees to review and approve their own payroll. Skip this step if you don't use Payroll Sign-off.
On the Payroll Dashboard, select the employees you want to release payroll to by checking the boxes next to their names.
At the top of the table, click Send to Employee.
On the confirmation pop-up, click Confirm.
Their status changes from Not Received to Pending.
For more details, see Release payroll for employee sign-off.
Step 4: Resolve payroll disputes
If employees dispute their payroll, review their concerns, make corrections if necessary, and re-release the payroll.
On the Payroll Dashboard, find the disputed payroll.
Tip: Filter the Employee Status column to show only Disputed records.
For an employee with a disputed payroll, click View Actions in the Action column to open their payroll details screen.
Click the Audit Trail tab and review the dispute details.
You can then take one of the following actions:
If everything looks good, skip to the next step.
Click Update
.
For more details, see Resolve payroll disputes.
Step 5: Approve payroll for processing
After all employees have approved their payroll and you have verified all data is accurate, you can approve the payroll for final processing.
On the Payroll Dashboard, the selected employees' payroll moves from the Pending tab to the Manager Approved tab. If you locked the payroll after approving, they will appear on the Locked tab.
Caution: Once you approve payroll, you cannot make changes without first undoing the approval. To undo, select the employee and click Undo Approval.
For more details, see Approve payroll for processing.
Step 6: Run and export the Master Pay File report
The Master Pay File report consolidates all employee time and pay data into a single report that you can export. After verifying the Master Pay File report is accurate, export the data to upload into your payroll processor.
Go to the navigation bar and click Reports.
Click the Master Pay File report.
Tip: In the search field, enter a few letters from the report title for quick access.
On the report screen, configure the filters as needed.
Tip: Click Edit Report to add and remove columns. For further customization, you can also arrange and filter your results.
Click Refresh Payroll Data to ensure all changes are saved and reflected in the report.
Click Run Report.
After you read the report results, click Export.
Under Exporting Format, select the format of your export:
Export to PDF: For printing or use in other documents.
Export to XLSX: For use in a spreadsheet application.
Select Export only aggregated data to download just the aggregated report data.
Click Export.
The exported XLSX file contains employee identifying information, time and pay details, earnings codes, and date information.
Tip: Open the exported file in Excel before uploading to verify all data appears correctly.
Step 8: Upload to your payroll processor
Import the Master Pay File data into your payroll provider's system.
Caution: The first time you import, work with your payroll processor's support team to ensure proper field mapping and verify earnings codes align correctly.
Troubleshooting common issues
Missing employees in Master Pay File
If an employee does not appear in your export:
Verify the employee had active time entries during the selected pay period.
Check that the Date Range filter includes the full pay period.
Confirm the Business Unit filter includes the employee's assigned business unit.
Ensure the employee's is Included in Payroll.
Incorrect earnings code mappings
If earnings codes don't match your payroll processor's categories:
Review your earnings code setup in Settings > Payroll > Earnings Codes.
Verify you have created custom earnings codes that match your processor's requirements.
Contact your payroll processor to obtain their exact earnings code list.
Update your ServiceTitan earnings codes to match.
For more details, see Create and edit earnings codes.
Time data discrepancies
If timesheet hours don't match expected totals:
Verify that employees clocked in and out correctly for all work.
Review non-job timesheets for meetings, training, or other paid time.
Check for time entries that may have been deleted or edited.
Use the Audit Trail to identify when changes were made.