Payroll integration
Workday to Sage Payroll integration: import files for Sage 50 Payroll of the UK entity
Workday is connected to Sage 50 Payroll through import files, because Sage 50 Payroll has no API. Each period KoppelHet produces ready-made CSV files from Workday for new and changed UK employees and for hours and rates, which payroll loads into Sage 50 Payroll after a backup.
What the integration does
Organisations that record HR in Workday and run UK payroll in Sage 50 Payroll retype new UK employees and pay changes. Overtime and one-off payments reach payroll by email or spreadsheet, and payroll enters them once more.
- HR completes a hire or change in the UK pay group in Workday.
- KoppelHet converts the changes into the Employee Details template and checks mandatory columns and codes.
- Before the run KoppelHet prepares the hours and rates file for the period.
- Payroll takes a backup and loads the files through Data Import in Sage 50 Payroll.
- After the import payroll reports any rejected lines, and KoppelHet puts them on the difference list.
What to watch for with Workday and Sage Payroll
- Sage 50 Payroll has no REST API. Data goes in through Data Import, and a user starts that import. KoppelHet therefore delivers files that are ready, not an integration that writes directly into Sage.
- With the Employee Details template Sage creates new employees and updates existing ones. KoppelHet therefore puts new UK workers and changes from Workday in one file per day, with the Workday ID as reference.
- An employee's RTI Payroll ID cannot be changed after the import. KoppelHet leaves the field empty for new starters, so Sage creates it, and never sends the Workday ID in that field.
- Hours and rates per period use a different template from the employee record, and that template only changes the entered payments of the period. A pay rise in Workday therefore goes through Employee Details, overtime through Employee Payments (Hours and Rates).
- The template for assigning payments only works for new payments on an employee. A Workday payment plan that already belongs to the employee in Sage therefore goes through the hours and rates template, not through assigning again.
- Factored payments cannot be imported into Sage 50 Payroll. Workday payments set up that way in Sage are put on the list for manual entry by KoppelHet instead of being placed in the file.
- In Workday a pay group belongs to one country. KoppelHet only reads the UK pay group, so workers from other countries never end up in a Sage file.
- Departments and cost centres must exist in Sage before an employee can refer to them. A new cost centre from Workday therefore goes first as its own file, before the employee file.
How we build and run it
- The integration runs on the KoppelHet platform, hosted in a data centre in the EU.
- Every sync and every error is visible in the functional log; on an error your administrator is notified.
- A change that cannot go through is not half-applied but queued for another attempt.
- KoppelHet is ISO 27001 certified. Data travels encrypted and stays on the platform no longer than needed.
- After go-live we manage the integration and adjust it when your process changes.
- The integration fits next to your existing integration layer. Only the fields in the design are transferred; the platform keeps no register of its own.
Implementation and price
This is not an app you switch on. We build the integration for your organisation on our platform, with building blocks we reuse on every project. So it is custom work that does not start from scratch.
A consultant prepares the intake and analyses both systems. We then record the mapping and exceptions field by field, test in the test or acceptance environment and go live at a moment you choose. Costs are a one-off amount for the setup and a monthly amount for platform, monitoring and support.
Frequently asked questions
Can KoppelHet load the files into Sage itself?
Not without Sage's SDK, which is only available through the paid Sage Developers Programme. Without the SDK payroll starts the import, with a backup first.
What happens with a leaver in Workday?
KoppelHet puts the last working day in the employee file. The P45 and the RTI submission stay in Sage 50 Payroll with payroll.
Does this also work with the cloud version of Sage Payroll?
This page is about Sage 50 Payroll. Whether the cloud version has a public API we could not verify; we check that per project.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Workday is read through a RaaS report on the UK pay group and change date (Employee_ID, Legal_Name, National_ID GBR, Hire_Date, Cost_Center, Base_Pay, One_Time_Payment_Plan_Reference, Termination_Date), with CSV as output.
- Sage 50 Payroll through File > Data Import with the CSV templates from the program folder (Employee Details, Company Departments, Company Cost Centres, Employee Payments (Hours and Rates), Assign Employee Payments), or through Advanced Data Import with your own file and field mapping. Fully automatic loading requires the SDK from the paid Sage Developers Programme.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in Workday | Field in Sage Payroll | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Employee_ID | Employee Reference | Fixed key between both systems |
Legal_Name | Forename en Surname | |
National_ID (GBR) | NI Number | |
Hire_Date | Start Date | |
Cost_Center | Cost Centre | Cost centre must exist in Sage first |
Supervisory organisation | Department | Through a lookup table |
Base_Pay | Regular pay in het medewerkerrecord | |
Uren per periode | Employee Payments (Hours and Rates) |
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