Making the most of iTrent
Get the most out of iTrent with our handy hints and tips guide
We’re constantly developing iTrent to help you keep up to date with the evolving world of work. We understand that time (and money) is precious, so having a platform that can help you be more efficient is crucial. iTrent is one of the most comprehensive integrated HR and payroll platforms on the market and we want to help you to use it to maximum effect.
So, our team of experts at MHR have pulled together their top hacks for getting the most out of the platform. You may know some of these already, but some may be new. Read on to discover our top tips to make your life easier!
iTrent automation
Claims
You can write logic into calculations to pay different values for different scenarios, such as premium pay at weekends, so that you can establish the day of the week a claimed value was made.
National Minimum Wage
Salary sacrifice schemes or uniform costs are just a couple of ways that employers inadvertently pay below the minimum wage. You can configure the payroll calculation in iTrent to notify you if an employee is paid below the National Minimum Wage for their age or role, saving you expensive non-compliance fines.
Holiday booking
With the holiday booking rules feature you can automatically limit how many people can be absent each day, which means you don’t need to authorise holidays. Not only will this save time for line managers, it also avoids the headache of keeping things fair when holiday requests clash.
Holiday balance
You can automatically pay any outstanding holiday balance when an employee leaves. The value is calculated each time the payroll process is run which means that the correct value is always given, even if an employee books holiday after the leaving record has been updated.
Leaver holiday entitlement
When a person leaves you can automatically pay/deduct remaining holiday entitlement in the period in which the person receives their last payment. To be able to do this, see section 18 of the iTrent Absence Guide on Service Cloud.
Task authorisation
Within workflow you can condition what tasks require authorisation. Take time and attendance: the time someone has worked does not need to be authorised but any time away from the office does need authorising. This means reduced administration and time savings, while keeping vital appropriate authorisation levels.
iTrent configuration
Leavers
Did you know that even if an employee leaves you can configure the system so that they still have access to Employee Self Service to view their payslips or P45? This means they can still locate their personal correspondence without having to contact HR.
Pension and salary sacrifice
Did you know that you can configure a pension scheme to be a salary sacrifice scheme, removing the need for any additional elements or steps to capture the sacrifice value.
Minimum/living wage
If you have people paid at minimum/living wage levels, you can configure iTrent to change the rate automatically when one of the age thresholds is reached.
P11Ds
If you still produce P11Ds, have you considered ‘payrolling’ benefits in kind instead? Doing this could save you a lot of effort. Employees also benefit by paying their tax in real-time rather than getting a tax code adjustment part-way through each tax year. You still pay the Class 1A NI in the usual way, after the end of the tax year, but note, you can only switch to payrolling at the beginning of a tax year.
NIC
One of the major causes of incorrect NI contributions is the failure to change the category at the appropriate time. You can configure your payroll to automatically change the National Insurance (NI) category of employees then they reach one of the age thresholds in iTrent. The flags you need can be found on the payroll-level legislation details page for UK payrolls.
BACS
BACS files can be created with headers and footers included removing the need to manually create or use additional software to format files.
Income tax
Did you know that you can configure iTrent to send employee address details on every Full Payment Submission (FPS) rather than just for new starters and employees with no NI number? Doing this is voluntary, but it helps ensure that your employees are on the correct basis of income tax (Scottish, Welsh or Rest of UK). The flag that turns this feature on is at the organisation level, on the organisation preference details page.
iTrent communications
Employee paperwork
Most of the routine paperwork you need to send to employees (e.g. payslips, P60s and P45s) can be supplied electronically by iTrent, email or Employee Self Service. Switching to electronic delivery saves you time and money. More information on this is in the User Guide on Service Cloud.
Payslip PDF
A person can download all their payslips into a single multi-page PDF. To do this they need to click the Search and Download button in the payslips section in Employee Self Service, search for their required date range and then click the download button when the search results are displayed.
T&C
Did you know you can configure iTrent so that when you attach a T&C to a person, it can automatically generate elements for processing by payroll? This can be a cash value or a value from a payment table. For more information see section A13 of the iTrent Organisation and Structure Management Guide on Service Cloud.
iTrent displays
Summary screen
A quick way to go back to the summary screen is by selecting the link at the top of the screen.
Salary displays
An employee’s salary can be displayed in Employee Self Service, which can be derived in numerous ways. Just employ a user calculation and this will show whatever the method you choose. Displaying this information provides an extra layer of communication and transparency between you and your employees to understand how they are paid. With the user calculation, the breakdown can be worked out for you to avoid any unnecessary hassle.
iTrent links
Alphabetical links
All links can be ordered alphabetically in the navigation screen by clicking ‘AZ’.
Workflow links
Did you know that you can add links into your workflow emails that will take the user straight into the relevant screen? For example, you can embed a ‘deep’ link to the absence calendar, so when a manager receives an email to approve a holiday, they can click on the link and they will be taken straight to the absence calendar. The calendar will display the person who has requested the holiday as well as his/her peers which the manager can authorise without having to go to any other part of the system.
Numbered links
Did you know that you can create a folder with numbered links, so your users can quickly navigate from one screen to another in the navigation screen?
Quick find
You can easily locate a link by using the browser ‘Find’ function (shortcut keys: CTRL+F).
Get even more from iTrent
We’ve introduced several modules recently into iTrent including Managing Toil and flexi-arrangements and holiday buy/sell with automatic creation of payroll adjustments. If you need support in introducing any of these services, our Professional Services or Strategic Consultancy team can assist.
Alternatively, have you considered outsourcing your payroll instead? Our managed payroll services team can take full responsibility for your end-to-end payroll process with 99.9% accuracy. Let our team of experts provide you with an efficient, accurate, secure and compliant service.