Re: [SL] Re: Payroll

[Chris T. <ch...@me...>]

Matthew Palmer wrote:

> The problem is that what you think of as "payroll" and what users think of
>
>as "payroll" don't have much to do with each other.  What users think of as
>payroll includes the money side of it, as well as tracking the rest of the
>weird bits of info you need to worry about when doing HR type stuff, like
>tracking leave, historical payrates, and all of that sort of thing.
>
>  
>
Getting *something* working for being able to do payroll with an 
SQL-ledger installation is more important than the rest of this...  I 
would argue, however, that vacation pay *should* be accreued as it is 
earned by the employee, though I am not a CPA, and if we can't get that 
part working at first, it is no big deal (I am very sure it will be 
added later).

Paid and unpaid leave tracking could also be added as a separate HR 
extension.  These are not, in my mind accrued but rather used under 
certain circumstances.  Eventually, one could even add a timecard app to 
integrate these things.

Regarding historical rates of pay, that could be generated in reports 
later if someone wants it as long as it is stored in the database.  IMO, 
one of the nice things about an SQL-based solution is that your 
reporting does not need to be limited to your application.

>A general set of rules to do the calculations would be a good start,
>however, and should be something you can define in a general (XML or SQL
>statements) fashion for distribution within a tax jurisdiction.  Just don't
>kid yourself that you'll be able to sell it to the businessman-on-the-street
>as a payroll app -- they don't consider it as such.
>  
>

Maybe not, but it will vastly increate my ability to sell SQL-Ledger to 
customers as an accounting solution.  And if these customers need 
additional extensions they can pay someone to develop them.  This is the 
wonderful thing about open source.  Customers can pay for the 
development of features they really need, and when you consider the base 
price they often still get a deal :-)

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
Metatron technology consulting