The Payroll Run Workflow Explained
A deep dive into the four statuses of a payroll run — Draft, Review, Approved, and Paid — and what happens at each stage.
Every payroll run moves through four statuses: Draft, Review, Approved, and Paid. A run can also be Cancelled at the Draft or Review stage. Understanding this workflow prevents errors and ensures your payslips are accurate before they reach employees.
Draft is the initial state. You configure the period, region, and pay date, and all calculations are performed. You can edit salaries, add one-off payments, or remove employees. Nothing is committed at this stage — it's safe to experiment.
Approved locks the payroll figures. No further edits are possible without cancelling and recreating the run. From Approved you can generate payslips, download a payment CSV, and produce the corresponding statutory form (e.g. EMP201 for South Africa). This lock maintains a tamper-proof audit trail.
Marking a run as Paid records when the bank transfers were made. SORMALITICS does not initiate bank payments — you export the payment file and upload it to your bank. Paid is a record-keeping marker. Your accounting module can optionally import paid runs as journal entries.