Attendance-to-Payroll Interface Files: Format, Fields and Monthly Error Prevention

An attendance-to-payroll file must represent approved decisions, not only clock times. Recurring failures are rarely “CSV problems”: missing employee, unmapped payroll code, wrong period, negative hours, or a row resent after correction.

Define a short data contract. Every row needs employee ID, period, component code, quantity, source, version, and status. Decide whether a correction is sent as a cancelling row plus a new row, or as a replacement version. Without that rule, the same file can increase payroll by mistake.

Before export, run three reconciliations: employee count against the approved report, hours by code against manager summaries, and changes since the previous export. After payroll import, retain the intake confirmation and version number so the team knows exactly which file affected the period.

Verification

Use the format set by the attendance and payroll providers for the organization.