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Pakistan country pack — this guide covers Pakistan-specific statutory rules. Octal HR is configurable for other regions too.

Overview

Running payroll in Octal HR follows a three-phase process: Pre-payroll (verify data is ready), Run (initiate and process), and Post-payroll (approve, export the bank file, distribute payslips). This guide walks through each phase for a standard monthly payroll cycle.

Pakistan fiscal year: Octal HR uses a July–June fiscal year by default. Monthly payroll periods run from the 1st to the last day of each calendar month unless you have configured a custom cut-off date.

Phase 1 — Pre-payroll checklist

Before initiating a payroll run, verify the following:

  • Attendance is up to date for the month — review the monthly attendance so worked days feed proration correctly.
  • Leave balances are reconciled — check for any pending leave applications that span the payroll period.
  • New joiners are added with their correct joining dates so mid-month proration is calculated automatically.
  • Resigned employees are marked with their last working day.
  • One-time additions or deductions (bonuses, fines, advance recoveries) are entered as adjustments on the run after it is initiated.

Phase 2 — Initiating and processing the run

1
Navigate to Payroll → Payroll Runs and click New Payroll Run.
2
Select the payroll period (the date range, e.g., 1–31 May 2026).
3
Optionally filter the employee scope by department or designation, then select the employees to include. For your first run, include all active employees.
4
Click Initiate to create the run, then click Process. Octal HR calculates all salary components, deductions (EOBI, PESSI, income tax, loan EMIs), and any adjustments you have added.
5
Review the Payroll Summary table. Key columns to verify:
  • Gross Salary — basic + all allowances before deductions
  • Total Deductions — tax, EOBI, loans, fines
  • Net Pay — amount to be transferred

Phase 3 — Approval

1
If a multi-level approval chain is configured, click Submit for Approval. The run then moves through each configured approval level in order.
2
Once all levels have approved (or, if no chain is configured, once you click Approve), the run is approved and its payslips are locked. To reverse an approved run, use the Void action.
3
On approval, Octal HR:
  • Marks the payslips as approved and makes them available on the employee self-service portal
  • Applies loan and salary-advance recoveries for the run

PDF payslips are emailed later as a separate manual step — see After payroll below and the payslips guide. The journal is pushed to Octal Accounts when you run the Export step, not automatically on approval.

Exporting the bank transfer file

Open the approved run's Bank File Export and select your bank from the dropdown (HBL, MCB, UBL, Meezan, or Allied). Download the file and upload it to your corporate internet banking portal. The file format and column sequence are pre-configured per bank — do not reformat the file before uploading.

First run validation: On your first payroll run, cross-check the net pay total against a manual calculation for at least 5–10 employees. Any discrepancy is usually due to missing salary components or incorrect attendance data, not a system error.

After payroll — what to do next

  • Distribute payslips — click Distribute on the approved run to bulk-email each employee their PDF payslip. This is a manual action; payslips are not emailed automatically.
  • File EOBI challan (via EOBI portal) using the EOBI contribution report exported from Octal HR
  • File PESSI / SESSI challan using the corresponding report
  • Reconcile bank transfer confirmation against the bank file total

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