Every payroll input is checked against its source before the monthly run

Overtime, incentives, joiners and leavers are checked line by line against punches, the incentive scheme and Darwinbox. Each owner fixes their own errors before cut-off, and the payroll lead decides what is left.

Used day to day by
  • Payroll team
  • Plant HR
  • Sales operations team
  • Financial controllers

How it runs with AI

The AI checks every line as each sheet arrives: overtime against punches, incentives against the approved scheme, revisions against signed letters, and joiners and leavers against their dates. Each owner gets their own errors on Teams and fixes the sheet. On cut-off day, the payroll lead gets one report and decides the few items still open.

How it is done today

Each month, the plants email overtime and shift allowance sheets, sales operations sends the field-force incentive sheet, and Darwinbox holds the joiners, exits and pay revisions. In the days before cut-off, the payroll team checks them by eye against punches, schemes and approvals. Errors that slip through come back after payday as recoveries and arrears.

Step by step

Where the work happens, what the AI does, and where it hands over to a person.

  1. Step 1, AI

    Picks up each input sheet as it arrives, plus the month's changes in Darwinbox

    Needs to know: Who sends each sheet, Payroll cut-off date

    In Outlook , Excel , Darwinbox

  2. Step 2, AI

    Checks every line against its source and marks each error with its effect on pay

    Needs to know: Overtime limits by plant, Approved incentive scheme, Limits for unusual changes

    In Excel , Darwinbox

  3. Step 3, AI

    Sends each owner their own errors on Teams and checks the corrected sheet

    Needs to know: Owner of each sheet, Payroll cut-off date

    In Microsoft Teams , Excel

    Exception to step 3

    Tells the payroll lead about any error still open on cut-off day

  4. Step 4, AI

    Gives the payroll lead one report on cut-off day, with the items still open

    Needs to know: Who sees which totals

    In Excel

  5. Step 5, Person

    Decides the open items and starts the payroll run

    In Darwinbox

What stays with a person

  • Decides the open items and starts the payroll run

Who sees what

  • Each plant HR team sees only the errors in its own sheet. Sales operations sees only the incentive errors.
  • Each Teams message carries the employee ID and the one figure in question, which the owner sent in the first place. Salaries stay in Darwinbox.
  • The payroll lead sees every site and the full report. The finance controller sees the totals by site.

Apps in this example

  • Darwinbox
  • Excel
  • Outlook
  • Microsoft Teams

The same flow works with the apps you use.

This fits you if

  • You run payroll for more than one plant, entity or field force
  • Overtime, incentives or deductions reach payroll as Excel sheets
  • Your payroll team checks the inputs by eye in the days before cut-off
  • Errors show up after payday, as recoveries or arrears

What to watch for

  • Pay decisions stay with the payroll lead, including the open items, any recovery and the release of the run. The AI checks the inputs, and Darwinbox still calculates pay, PF, ESI and TDS
  • A bank account changed close to cut-off gets a call to the employee, on the number already on file, before that salary goes out
  • Payroll sets the rules up front, such as each plant's overtime limit, the incentive slabs and how big a change from last month needs a look
  • Payroll owns the list of checks and updates it whenever a law or a company rule changes

Read more

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