HR & Payroll Administrator User Manual

1. Introduction

The Magnar HCM HR & Payroll web application is the central platform for all human resource and payroll operations within your organization. This manual is intended exclusively for authorized HR and Payroll administrators who are responsible for managing employee records, processing payroll, overseeing leave and attendance, and maintaining HR configuration across one or more company entities.

The system is accessed via a standard web browser at hcm.magnarsystems.com:XXXX and supports multiple languages including English, Arabic (RTL), and Spanish, adapting its layout automatically based on the selected language.

Who This Manual Is For

This guide is designed for users who have been granted one or more of the following roles within Magnar HCM:

• HR Administrator — Manages employee records, organizational structure, leave policies, and HR workflows.
• Payroll Administrator — Responsible for payroll runs, salary structures, deductions, allowances, and payslip generation.
• HR & Payroll Manager — Has combined access to both HR and payroll functions, including approvals and reporting.

2. Logging In

The Magnar HCM portal is a web-based application. You do not need to install any software — simply open a supported web browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox) and navigate to the login URL provided by your system administrator.

2.1 Language Selection

Before logging in, you can switch the interface language using the language selector located in the top-right corner of the login page (top-left when Arabic is selected, as the layout switches to right-to-left). The system currently supports:

Selecting a language applies it immediately to the entire interface — all labels, buttons, and messages will appear in the chosen language. The Arabic interface uses a right-to-left (RTL) layout, and the decorative banner panel moves to the right side of the screen.

2.2 Login Steps

1. Open your browser and go to hcm.magnarsystems.com:XXXX/login.
2. If needed, select your preferred language from the dropdown in the top-right corner of the page.
3. Enter your Email address in the Email field (e.g., username@gmail.com).
4. Enter your Password in the Password field.
5. Click the Log In button (or Acceso / تسجيل الدخول in other languages).
6. If your account has Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled, you will be prompted to enter a verification code. See your system administrator for 2FA setup.
7. After successful authentication, you will be directed to the Dashboard or prompted to select a company if your account is linked to multiple entities.

2.3 Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password, click the Forgot Password? link located below the Password field on the login page. You will be prompted to enter your registered email address, and a password reset link will be sent to your inbox.

1. On the login page, click Forgot Password?
2. Enter your registered email address.
3. Check your inbox for a password reset email from Magnar HCM.
4. Click the reset link in the email and follow the instructions to create a new password.
5. Return to the login page and sign in with your new credentials.

3. After Login — Navigating to HR & Payroll

After successfully logging in and selecting your company, the system will direct you to the ESS (Employee Self-Service) Dashboard — provided your account includes an ESS user profile. This is the employee-facing portal. To access the HR & Payroll administration system, you must navigate from the ESS Dashboard using the settings menu.

3.1 The ESS Dashboard

The ESS Dashboard provides a summary of your personal HR information — leave balances, timesheets, pending tasks, open trainings, holidays, and more. As an HR or Payroll administrator, this is not your primary workspace. You need to switch to the HR & Payroll system.

3.2 Switching to the HR & Payroll System

To navigate from the ESS Dashboard to the HR & Payroll administration system, click the Settings (⚙️) icon in the top-right corner of the screen. A dropdown menu will appear with the following options:

How to switch to HR & Payroll

1. From the ESS Dashboard, click the ⚙️ Settings icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
2. In the dropdown menu, click Go to payroll.
3. The system will load the HR & Payroll Corporate Dashboard, which is your main workspace as an administrator.

3.3 The HR & Payroll Dashboard

The HR & Payroll Dashboard is the central hub for all administrative operations. It features a left-side navigation menu with access to all modules, and a Corporate Dashboard in the main panel displaying key analytics including leave days, employee count by department, leavers over time, and compensation & benefits trends.

The left navigation menu provides access to the following modules:

• Dashboard — Corporate analytics and summary charts
• Company Details — Organization structure and company information
• Employees — Employee records and profiles
• Employee Transactions — HR transactions and employee movements
• Payroll Process Tool — Run and manage payroll cycles
• Setup — System configuration and HR settings
• Appraisals — Performance evaluation management
• Time and Attendance — Attendance records and shift management
• Salaries and Allowance — Salary structures, grades, and allowances
• Insurance — Employee insurance management
• Leaves — Leave policies, types, and balances
• End of Service — End of service calculations and management
• Configuration — Advanced system configuration
• Expenses — Expense management and reimbursements
• Send Payslip — Distribute payslips to employees
• Data Import — Bulk data import tools
• Financial Reports — Payroll and financial reporting

3.4 Returning to the ESS Portal

At any time while working in the HR & Payroll system, you can switch back to the ESS employee portal by clicking the ⚙️ Settings icon in the top-right corner and selecting Go to ESS.

4. Currency Management

The Currencies module allows authorized HR & Payroll administrators to define and maintain the currencies used across the system — for payroll processing, salary structures, expenses, and financial reporting. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Currencies.

4.1 Currencies List

The Currencies list displays all currencies currently configured in the system. Each row shows the currency's ID, Code, Description, and ISO name. You can sort any column by clicking its header, search for a specific currency, or create a new one using the + New button.

4.2 Creating a New Currency

To add a currency that is not yet in the system, click the + New button on the Currencies list page. The Create form will open with three required fields.

How to create a new currency

1. From the Currencies list, click + New.
2. In the ISO dropdown, select the currency standard (e.g., Euro, US Dollar). This field drives the Code automatically.
3. Enter a Description for the currency (e.g., EUR, USD) in the Description field on the right.
4. The Code field will be populated automatically based on the ISO selection. Verify it is correct.
5. Click Save to create the currency, or Cancel to discard.

4.3 Editing an Existing Currency

To modify an existing currency, click the ⋮ menu on the currency row in the list and select Edit. The Edit form opens pre-populated with the current values, allowing you to update any of the fields.

How to edit a currency

1. From the Currencies list, click the ⋮ menu on the row you want to edit.
2. Select Edit from the menu.
3. Update the ISO, Description, or Code fields as needed.
4. Click Save to apply the changes, or Cancel to discard.

5. Exchange Rates

The Exchange Rates module allows administrators to define monthly currency conversion rates between the base currency and all other configured currencies in the system. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Exchange Rates.

5.1 How Exchange Rates Work

Exchange rates in Magnar HCM are defined per month and per year. Each row in the grid represents a day of the selected month, and each column represents a configured currency. The system uses these rates when converting amounts between currencies during payroll processing or expense calculations.

The base currency (typically EUR in the example below) is always set to 1. All other currencies (GBP, USD, Japanese Yen, etc.) must have their daily exchange rate entered relative to the base currency.

5.2 Setting Exchange Rates

How to enter exchange rates for a month

1. Navigate to Organizations → [Your Company] → Exchange Rates.
2. Select the Month from the Month dropdown (e.g., January).
3. Select the Year from the Year dropdown (e.g., 2026).
4. The grid will display one row per day of the selected month, with a column for each configured currency.
5. Click the ⋮ menu next to a rate value in a cell to edit that specific day's rate for a currency.
6. To apply the same rate to all days in the month for a currency, click the ⋮ menu on any cell and select Apply to all. This fills every row in that column with the same value — useful when the exchange rate is fixed for the entire month.
7. Once all rates are entered, click Save (or navigate away — rates are saved per cell).
8. Click Cancel at any time to discard unsaved changes.

6. Tax Brackets Setup

The Tax Brackets Setup module allows authorized administrators to define the income tax brackets used by the payroll engine when calculating employee income tax deductions. This configuration directly reflects the income tax law of the country in which the company operates and must be kept in sync with any legislative changes.

6.1 Tax Definition

The Tax Brackets setup is organized into three tabs: Tax Definition, Tax Amount Exclusions, and NSSF Setup. The primary configuration is done on the Tax Definition tab, where you define the taxable income base, any exemptions, and the progressive tax bracket table.

Top-level settings

Tax Bracket Grid

The bracket grid defines the progressive tax structure. Each row represents one income band, and together they form the full tax schedule applicable to employees. A new bracket row can be added using the + button on the right side of the input row at the top of the grid.

Example tax bracket table

The screenshot above shows the following bracket configuration (for illustrative purposes):

6.2 Adding a New Tax Bracket

How to add a bracket row

1. Navigate to the Tax Brackets Setup screen and open the Tax Definition tab.
2. In the input row at the top of the grid, enter the From, To, %, and Ceiling values for the new bracket.
3. Click the + (blue plus button) on the right side of the input row to add it to the bracket table.
4. Verify that the Tax Amount and Prorate Amount columns are calculated correctly by the system.
5. Click Save to apply, or Cancel to discard all changes.

6.3 Tax Amount Exclusions

The Tax Amount Exclusions tab allows you to define fixed annual deduction amounts that reduce an employee's taxable income based on their family and dependent status. This feature applies in countries where tax law grants personal relief allowances — for example, a reduction for the employee themselves, their spouse, children, or other dependents.

These exclusions are subtracted from the employee's gross taxable income before the tax brackets are applied, resulting in a lower effective tax liability for qualifying employees.

How to configure Tax Amount Exclusions

1. In the Tax Brackets Setup screen, click the Tax Amount Exclusions tab.
2. Enter the Self Amount — the annual relief for the employee themselves.
3. Enter the Spouse amount — the annual relief for a qualifying spouse.
4. Enter the Child Amount — the annual relief per qualifying child, as defined by local tax law.
5. Enter the Dependents amount — the annual relief for other qualifying dependents.
6. Ensure that the maximum number of children entitled to relief is configured in the system settings (consult your system administrator if this limit is not visible on this screen).
7. Click Save to apply, or Cancel to discard.

7. Employee Type

Employee Type is one of the foundational configuration elements in Magnar HCM. It provides a flexible way to group employees based on their employment category — such as full-time monthly staff, daily workers, subcontractors, or any other classification relevant to your organization.

Employee Type is not just a label — it drives key payroll and HR behaviors across the system:

• Benefits & Compensation — Salary structures, allowances, and benefit plans can be linked to specific employee types, ensuring each group receives the correct entitlements automatically.
• Payroll Runs — Payroll can be executed by employee type, giving you the flexibility to process monthly staff and daily workers in separate payroll runs on different schedules.
• Reporting & Filtering — Employee type is a common filter in HR and payroll reports, making it easier to analyze data by workforce category.

7.1 Employee Type List

The Employee Type list displays all types currently configured for your organization. Each record has a system-generated ID and a Code which serves as the name or label for that employee grouping. You can sort by ID or Code, search for a specific type, or create a new one using the + New button.

7.2 Creating a New Employee Type

To add a new employee type, click the + New button on the Employee Type list page and enter the Code (name) for the new type. Click Save to confirm.

7.3 How Employee Type Is Used in Magnar HCM

8. Profession

The Profession module allows you to define a list of job professions or occupations that can be assigned to employee profiles. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Profession.

8.1 Creating a New Profession

Click + New, enter the profession name in the Description field, and click Save. To export the full profession list to Excel, use the Export to Excel button on the list toolbar.

9. Employee Group

The Employee Group module allows you to define custom groupings that can be assigned to employee profiles. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Employee Group.

To add a new group, click + New, enter a name in the Description field, and click Save.

10. Nationality

The Nationality module allows you to define and maintain the list of nationalities that can be assigned to employee profiles. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Nationality.

While nationality is primarily an informational field used in employee records and HR reporting, it carries additional importance in certain countries where an employee's nationality directly affects payroll calculations — such as income tax rates, social security contributions, or statutory deductions that differ between nationals and expatriates.

10.1 Nationality List

The Nationality list displays all nationalities currently configured in the system. Each record includes a system-generated ID and a Description (the nationality name).

10.2 Creating a New Nationality

To add a nationality, click + New on the list page. The Create form has three fields.

How to create a new nationality

1. From the Nationality list, click + New.
2. Enter the Code (e.g., USA).
3. Enter the Description (e.g., American).
4. Click the ISO dropdown and use the search box to find and select the correct nationality (e.g., USA – American).
5. Click Save to confirm, or Cancel to discard.

11. Pay Elements

Pay Elements (also referred to simply as Elements) are the fundamental building blocks of the payroll structure in Magnar HCM. Every monetary component that appears on an employee's payslip — whether it is earned, deducted, or calculated — is defined as a Pay Element.

Examples of Pay Elements include: Basic Salary, Housing Allowance, Transportation Allowance, Food Allowance, Mobile Allowance, Income Tax, Social Security, Other Deduction, Penalty, and Provision Days Basis. Each element defines not just a label, but how it behaves — whether it is a fixed amount or variable, whether it is manually entered or system-calculated, and whether it is an earning or a deduction.

11.1 Elements List

The Elements list shows all Pay Elements configured for the organization. Each row displays the element's ID, English Description, whether it is Calculated by the system, and its Max Amount, Min Amount, and Ceiling constraints. Inline edit (✏️) and delete (🗑️) actions appear when hovering over a row.

11.2 Element Configuration

The element form has two tabs: Element (the main configuration) and Element Accountings (for linking to the chart of accounts, if applicable).

11.3 Element Category

The Category field classifies the element's purpose within the system. It has no direct effect on payroll calculations — it does not change how amounts are computed — but it is used by certain system configurations, reports, and workflows to identify and group elements correctly.

11.4 Element Options

The Options field controls how the element's amount is sourced during a payroll run.

11.4.1 The Formula Builder (Calculated Elements)

When an element's Option is set to Calculated, the system exposes a Custom Calculation Setup screen — a visual formula builder that works similarly to an Excel formula engine. It allows implementers and system administrators to define complex payroll calculation logic without any programming or coding knowledge.

Common use cases for calculated elements include: unpaid days deductions, social security contributions based on salary thresholds, overtime pay, nationality-based tax rules, and any element whose value depends on other elements, parameters, or employee attributes.

The Formula Builder is made up of the following components:

11.4.2 Plugins (Plugin Elements)

When an element's Option is set to Plugin, the system links the element to a pre-built calculation engine — a plugin — that automatically computes and returns a value to the element during each payroll run. Plugins are used for scenarios that are either too complex for the Formula Builder or that require the system to retrieve or aggregate data from other modules.

When Plugin is selected, a Plugin dropdown appears allowing you to choose which plugin to attach to the element. Each plugin is purpose-built to handle a specific payroll calculation or data retrieval task and will return its result directly to the element.

11.5 Element Type

11.6 Element Currency

By default, elements use the company's base currency. If an element is paid in a different currency — for example, an expatriate allowance denominated in USD — select the appropriate currency from the Currency dropdown. The system will use the configured exchange rates to convert the amount to the base currency during payroll processing.

12. Plugins

Plugins are pre-built system engines attached to Pay Elements with the Plugin option. Each plugin performs a specific calculation or data retrieval task and returns a single value to its element during the payroll run. Unlike the Formula Builder, plugins handle logic that is too complex to express as a visual formula — such as progressive tax calculations, cumulative social security, or end-of-service computations.

The plugins available in Magnar HCM are listed below, organized by functional area.

12.1 Salary & Earnings Plugins

12.2 Tax Plugins

Tax plugins calculate income tax deductions automatically based on the employee's taxable income, the configured tax brackets, and applicable exemptions. Each plugin is tailored to the tax law of a specific country or calculation method.

12.3 Social & National Security Plugins

12.4 Leave Plugins

12.5 End of Service & Provisioning Plugins

12.6 Overtime & Time Plugins

12.7 Expenses Plugin

13. Dimensions

Dimensions define the different types of cost centers used in the organization. Each dimension represents a classification axis — such as Branch, Project, Department, Employee, or Sister Company — and can hold a list of related cost center values beneath it.

Dimensions are fundamental to cost allocation: when payroll is posted to an ERP or accounting system, the payroll costs are distributed and tagged against the relevant cost centers based on the dimensions configured here. This ensures that payroll expenses are accurately attributed to the correct business unit, project, or entity in the financial system.

The example above shows five configured dimensions — each representing a different cost allocation axis used when distributing payroll costs during ERP posting:

13.2 Cost Centers

Once dimensions are created, the next step is to define the Cost Centers that belong to each dimension. A cost center is a specific value within a dimension — for example, HR Department or ALSTOM under the Department dimension, or Elevate DMC and Salario Owners under the Branch dimension.

Cost centers are accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Cost Center and can be linked to employee profiles — ensuring that each employee's payroll costs are posted to the correct cost center in the ERP system.

How to create a new cost center

1. Navigate to Organizations → [Your Company] → Cost Center.
2. In the input row at the top of the list, enter the Code and Description for the new cost center.
3. Select the Dimension it belongs to from the dropdown.
4. Click the + button to add it to the list.

14. Lookups

The Lookups module is a centralized configuration area for defining reference lists used across Magnar HCM. Each lookup is organized under a Lookup Type — a category that groups related values together. These values are used as selectable options in various employee and payroll configuration screens throughout the system.

Lookups are accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Lookup. To view or manage a specific lookup, select the desired Lookup Type from the dropdown at the top of the screen.

14.1 Employee Grade

Employee Grade is one of the lookup types available in the system. It defines the list of grades or bands used to classify employees within the organization's job hierarchy — for example, Engineers, Executive Committee, Blue Collar, Grade 1, Grade 2A, etc.

Grades are configured here in the Lookup screen and are later linked to Jobs in the system. This allows each job position to carry a defined grade, which can then be used to drive compensation structures, reporting, and HR workflows based on the employee's grade level.

How to add a new Employee Grade

1. Navigate to Organizations → [Your Company] → Lookup.
2. In the Lookup Types dropdown, select Employee Grade.
3. In the input row at the top of the list, enter the Name and optionally a Description for the new grade.
4. Click the + button to add it to the list.

14.2 Employee Rank

Employee Rank is used when the organization operates a two-level grading system — where each Grade contains one or more Ranks beneath it. Ranks provide a finer level of classification within a grade, allowing organizations to distinguish between sub-levels of the same grade (e.g., Grade 1 → Rank 1A, Rank 1B, Rank 1C).

Ranks are defined here in the Lookup screen under the Employee Rank lookup type and are later linked to jobs alongside the grade, enabling precise job classification within the organization's grading structure.

14.3 Year

The Year lookup defines the list of years available for selection in various system screens — such as payroll period configuration, reports, and historical data views. Each year is added as a simple Name/Description entry (e.g., 2022, 2023, 2024).

Years must be added to this lookup before they can be used in payroll runs or reporting filters. Ensure that the current and upcoming fiscal years are always present in this list.

14.4 Per Diem Destinations

Per Diem Destinations defines the list of travel destinations used in the per diem and travel expense configuration. When employees submit travel requests or expense claims, the destination they select determines the applicable per diem rate for that trip.

Destinations can be broad categories (e.g., Domestic, GCC, International) or specific countries or cities (e.g., Germany, USA) — depending on how granularly the organization wants to manage per diem rates across different locations.

15. Security Groups

Security Groups control access to different areas of Magnar HCM by grouping users under named roles. Each group defines a set of permissions, and users assigned to a group inherit those permissions automatically. Security Groups are accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Security Group.

15.1 Creating a Security Group

To create a new security group, enter a Group Name in the input field at the top of the screen and click Add. The group will appear in the list and users can then be assigned to it.

Once a group is created, you can add users to it so they inherit the group's access permissions across the relevant modules and screens in Magnar HCM.

15.2 Assigning Users to a Security Group

After creating a group, open it to add the users who should belong to it. Each user added to a group will have the corresponding access rights applied to their account.

15.3 Default Security Groups

The system comes with pre-configured security groups to cover the most common access roles:

16. EOS Setup

The EOS (End of Service) Setup module allows administrators to configure the rules used by the system to calculate End of Service entitlements. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → EOS Setup.

This setup is required for companies that pay End of Service benefits upon employee separation, or that want to track and provision EOS liabilities on a monthly basis in their payroll and accounting records. The configuration is defined per Employee Type, allowing different EOS rules to apply to different categories of employees.

Once configured, the system uses these rules for two purposes:

• Monthly Payroll — EOS Provision: During each regular payroll run, the system automatically calculates and accrues the monthly EOS provision for each employee, prorated according to the applicable country law and the number of days defined in the setup.
• Final Settlement — EOS Payment: When an employee exits the company, the system calculates the full EOS amount owed based on their years of service, employee type, and exit reason.

16.1 EOS Days

The EOS Days tab defines the number of days of salary an employee is entitled to per year of service, based on their Employee Type and the applicable service band (from year / to year).

Select the Employee Type from the dropdown, then configure the service bands in the grid. Each row defines a range of years of service and the corresponding number of EOS days applicable for that band.

16.2 Exit Reasons

The Exit Reasons tab defines the possible reasons for an employee's departure from the company (e.g., Resignation, Termination, Retirement). Each exit reason determines how much of the EOS entitlement is actually disbursed — since labor laws in many countries pay different percentages or amounts of EOS depending on why the employee left.

For each exit reason, you can configure service bands (From Month / To Month) with either a percentage of the provisioned EOS days or a fixed number of man days to be paid. This allows the system to handle progressive rules — for example, paying 0% EOS for resignations within the first year, 50% between years 1–3, and 100% thereafter.

17. Elements Mapping

Elements Mapping is a critical configuration step that tells the system which Pay Elements represent the working days basis used for two key payroll calculations: Income Tax and Annual Leave Provision. It is accessed via Organizations → [Your Company] → Elements Mapping.

Getting this mapping right is essential for accurate calculations — particularly for employees who join or leave the company mid-month, where the number of applicable working days must be correctly prorated.

To configure a mapping, click on the row and select the appropriate Pay Element from the available elements list. The element selected must be one that is already configured in the system and returns the correct number of days during a payroll run.

18. Company Setup

Once the organization-level configuration is complete — including currencies, tax brackets, employee types, pay elements, dimensions, lookups, security groups, and EOS setup — the next step is to set up the Company. A company in Magnar HCM is the legal entity or business unit under which employees are hired and payroll is processed.

One organization can contain multiple companies, each with its own configuration, employees, and payroll runs. The Company screen is accessed via Organizations → [Your Organization] → Company.

18.1 Adding or Editing a Company

To add a new company, click the + Add a new company card on the Company screen. To edit an existing company, click the ⋮ menu on the company's card and select Edit.

18.2 Company Creation Form

When creating or editing a company, the following form is presented. Fill in all required fields and click Save to create the company.

19. Company Dashboard

After opening a company, the first screen you will see is the Corporate Dashboard. This provides a visual overview of key HR and payroll metrics for the company — including leave days by type, employee count by department, leavers over time, and compensation & benefits trends.

The dashboard shown above is an example only. The number of tabs, charts, and metrics displayed depends entirely on which dashboards have been installed and activated for your company. There is no fixed limit on the number of dashboard tabs — each organization can have a fully customized set tailored to their reporting needs.

20. Employee Profiles

The Employees module is where all employee records are created and managed. It is accessed via the left navigation menu under Employees. The list view shows all employees in the company with their System ID, Code, Name, Start Date, and Status.

To add a new employee, click + New and complete the form. To invite all existing ESS-registered employees to the system, use the + Invite All button. The employee form is organized into the following sections:

20.1 Personal Information

The top section captures the employee's core personal details and profile photo.

20.2 Employee Information

This section captures additional employee identifiers, system settings, and contact details.

20.3 Company Information

This section links the employee to their position, employment type, contract, and statutory details within the company.

20.4 Bank Details

The employee's bank account information used for payroll salary transfer.

20.5 Dependents

Record the employee's dependents (spouse, children, or other family members). This information is used for tax exemption calculations (Section 6.3) and benefit eligibility. Click the + button to open the dependent form.

20.6 Education

Record the employee's educational qualifications for HR records and reporting. Click the + button to open the education form.

20.7 Address

Record the employee's residential address. Multiple address records can be added by clicking the + button.

20.8 Skills

Record the employee's professional competencies and skill levels. Click the + button to add a skill entry.

20.8 Personal Objectives

Assign personal performance objectives to the employee. Used in appraisal and performance management workflows. Click + Add to open the objectives form.

20.9 Employee Assets

Record company assets assigned to the employee — such as laptops, vehicles, mobile phones, or any other equipment. Click the + button to add a new asset entry.

20.10 Attachments

Upload and store documents related to the employee — such as ID copies, contracts, certificates, or any other supporting files. Enter a Name for the document, then click + Choose to select the file from your computer, and click the + button to add it to the list.

20.11 Cost Center Assignment

Each employee can be assigned to specific cost centers across the dimensions configured in the system (Section 13). This determines how the employee's payroll costs are allocated and posted to the ERP or accounting system during payroll runs.

The available cost center fields correspond directly to the dimensions set up for your organization — for example, Branch, Project, Department, Employee, and Sister Company. Select the appropriate value for each dimension from the respective dropdown.

21. Employee Transactions

The Employee Transactions module provides HR and Payroll administrators with direct access to manage employee-level transactions — including salary elements, loans, leave, travel, and overtime. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Employee Transactions, which expands to reveal the following sub-modules:

• Employees Elements — Manage salary and pay element assignments per employee
• Employee Loan — Create and manage employee loan records
• Leave Transactions — View and manage employee leave records
• Travel Transactions — Manage travel and per diem requests
• Overtime Transaction — Record and manage overtime hours

21.2 Employee Loan

The Employee Loan sub-module allows HR administrators to create and manage loan records on behalf of employees. Loans created here are linked directly to payroll — the repayment installments are automatically deducted from the employee's salary each period via the Loan Plugin (Section 12).

21.2.1 Creating a New Loan

Navigate to Employee Transactions → Employee Loan and click + New to open the loan creation form.

21.2.2 Generating the Repayment Schedule

After filling in the loan details and clicking Save, you must generate the repayment schedule by clicking the Schedule button. A dialog will appear asking for the First Payment Date — the date of the first payroll deduction.

Once the first payment date is set and Schedule is clicked, the system automatically generates the full repayment schedule — one installment row per payroll period until the loan is fully repaid.

21.3 Leave Transactions

The Leave Transactions sub-module allows HR administrators to create, view, edit, or delete leave records on behalf of employees. Navigate to Employee Transactions → Leave Transactions and click + New to create a leave record.

21.3.2 Leave Type Behavior

The fields displayed on the leave form vary depending on the leave type selected. The leave type's configuration in the system determines how the leave behaves — for example:

21.4 Travel Transactions

The Travel Transactions sub-module allows HR administrators to record employee travel requests — for domestic or international trips related to business travel, training, or other company-approved purposes. Navigate to Employee Transactions → Travel Transactions and click + New to create a record.

Travel transactions are linked to the Per Diem Destinations configuration (Section 14.4), which determines the applicable daily allowance rates based on the destination country.

21.5 Overtime Transaction

The Overtime Transaction sub-module allows HR administrators to record overtime hours worked by employees. Navigate to Employee Transactions → Overtime Transaction and click + New to create a record.

Overtime is calculated by the Overtime Plugin (Section 12.6) during payroll runs. The plugin multiplies the recorded hours by the overtime rate configured for the overtime type — returning the weighted hours to be compensated. Overtime rules, rates, and daily/monthly hour limits are defined in the overtime setup and may vary based on company policy and applicable labor law.

22. Payroll Process Tool

The Payroll Process Tool is the core module for executing all payroll-related financial operations in Magnar HCM. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Payroll Process Tool, which expands to reveal the following sub-modules:

• Periodic Movement — The place to add manual payroll adjustments and review the results of the payroll run after execution
• Payroll Generation — Generate and review payroll output, payslips, and payment files
• Payroll History by Period — View historical payroll runs by period
• Off-Cycle Periodic Movement — Run off-cycle payroll for specific situations (e.g., mid-month joiners, leave payouts)
• Employee Exit — Process final settlement payroll for departing employees
• Off-Cycle Leave Process Wizard — Used to pay the employee's leave salary in advance before going on vacation. This is applicable in specific countries only where labor law requires leave salary to be paid prior to the leave period.

22.1 Periodic Movement

Periodic Movement is one of the most important screens in the Payroll Process Tool. It serves two key purposes:

• Before payroll execution — Add manual adjustments (variable elements, one-off payments, corrections) for the current payroll period, either manually or via Excel upload.
• After payroll execution — Review payroll results, check element values per employee, export to Excel for verification, review accounting vouchers, and post or close the payroll period.

22.1.1 Filtering and Loading Data

Use the filters at the top of the screen to load the payroll data for the desired period and employee group, then click Get Data.

22.1.2 Adding Manual Adjustments (Before Payroll Run)

Before payroll is executed, the Periodic Movement screen allows payroll administrators to enter or upload variable element values — such as bonuses, commissions, penalties, or any other manually entered pay component — for the current period.

• Manual entry: Click on the relevant cell in the results grid and enter the value directly.
• Excel upload: Use the Export to Excel button to download the template, fill in the adjustments, and re-upload the file to apply all changes at once — useful for bulk updates.

22.1.3 Reviewing Results (After Payroll Run)

After payroll is executed, return to the Periodic Movement screen to review the calculated results for each employee. The grid displays all pay elements and their computed values, allowing you to verify totals before posting.

• Click Export to Excel to download the full payroll results for detailed review and audit.
• Click Review Payroll to view the generated accounting vouchers and verify the payroll journal entries before posting to the ERP.

22.1.4 Posting and Closing the Payroll

Once the payroll results have been reviewed and approved, click Post to finalize the period. Posting closes the payroll run and triggers the creation of accounting vouchers to be sent to the ERP system. Depending on the company's configuration, the posting action may be subject to an approval workflow before it is finalized.

22.2 Payroll Generation

Payroll Generation is the core engine of the payroll process. This is where the actual payroll calculation is executed — computing all earnings, deductions, and net pay for each employee based on their salary structure, manual adjustments, transactions, and configured pay elements.

Payroll can be generated based on predefined payroll periods — monthly, bi-weekly, or any other frequency configured for the company. You can execute payroll for all employees of a selected type, or filter down to a specific employee, cost center, branch, project, or department using the available filters.

22.2.1 Filters

22.2.2 Execute, Revert, and Clear

Three key actions are available at the top of the screen:

22.3 Payroll History by Period

Payroll History by Period allows payroll administrators to look up and review the results of previously processed payroll periods. It provides a granular view of payroll element values per employee across past periods, which can be filtered by employee type, generation type, period, and individual employee.

The results grid displays one row per pay element per employee, showing values in:

• Local Currency — the amount in the company's base currency
• System Currency — the system-level currency amount
• Foreign Currency — the amount in the element's foreign currency (if applicable)

Additional columns include Month, Year, and Branch for further breakdown.

22.4 Off-Cycle Periodic Movement

Off-Cycle Periodic Movement allows payroll administrators to run a supplementary payroll at any point in time — outside the regular monthly payroll cycle. Common use cases include paying a bonus, processing a commission, correcting a previous payroll period, or any other payment that needs to be made independently of the standard payroll schedule.

22.5 Employee Exit

Employee Exit is the module used to process the final settlement and last salary for employees who have been terminated or have resigned. It calculates all outstanding pay components — including the last month's salary, accrued leave, end of service entitlement, and any other applicable elements — based on the selected exit profile.

Once the data is loaded, select the employee(s) to process and click Generate to calculate the final settlement. The same toolbar actions available in off-cycle payroll apply here — Generate, Revert, Post, Export to Excel, and Review Payroll.

22.6 Off-Cycle Leave Process Wizard

The Off-Cycle Leave Process Wizard is used to pay an employee's leave salary in advance before they go on vacation. This is a common practice in certain Middle Eastern countries — such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — where labor law or company policy requires that employees receive their salary (and sometimes their leave days pay) before departing on annual leave.

The process works as follows: when an employee submits a leave request via ESS and selects the Off-Cycle option, the system flags them as an off-cycle leave requester. The payroll administrator then runs the off-cycle leave payroll 2 to 3 days before the employee's leave starts, settling the employee's pay for that period in advance.

The settlement includes:

• The salary for the days worked in the current month up to the leave start date
• The salary for the leave days themselves
• Any applicable additions or deductions for the period

23. Setup

The Setup module contains all company-level configuration settings for Magnar HCM. This is where administrators define the rules, policies, templates, workflows, and reference data that drive the system's behavior across HR, payroll, attendance, training, and more. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Setup.

The Setup module is organized into the following sub-sections:

23.1 Organization Setup

Organization Setup contains the foundational configurations that define the structural and operational framework of the company within Magnar HCM. It is accessed via Setup → Organization Setup and contains the following sub-sections:

23.1.1 Branch

Branch is the first step in the Organization Setup. Branches represent the physical locations or offices of the company. Each branch is linked to the Branch cost center dimension (Section 13), allowing payroll costs to be allocated per branch during ERP posting. Branches are also assigned to employee profiles to indicate which location the employee belongs to.

To add a new branch, click + New, enter the Code, Description, and Short Description, then click Save.

23.1.2 Company Structure

Company Structure defines the organizational hierarchy of the company — including departments, branches, units, divisions, sections, or any other grouping that reflects how the company is organized. It is displayed as an interactive org chart showing each unit, its manager, and how units relate to each other through a parent-child hierarchy.

The org chart can be navigated using the toolbar controls: Search to find a specific unit, Collapse All / Expand All to show or hide child nodes, Compact for a condensed view, and the zoom controls to adjust the chart scale. You can also switch between the card view (org chart) and list view using the icons in the top-right corner.

Creating a New Unit

Click + New to add a new department, branch, division, or section to the company structure.

23.1.3 Salary Scales

Salary Scales allow companies to define minimum, midpoint, and maximum salary ranges for specific employee grades and levels. While not widely used by all organizations, it is a powerful tool for controlling salary equity — ensuring that employees with the same grade and level do not have major salary discrepancies from one another.

When a salary scale is configured and assigned, the system will prevent the payroll administrator from assigning a salary to an employee that falls below the minimum or above the maximum allowed for their grade and level. This enforces consistent and fair compensation practices across the organization.

23.1.4 Positions

Positions define the specific roles that exist within the company's organizational structure. Each position represents a single seat in the company's headcount plan — separate from the employee who occupies it. This distinction is important: a position exists independently of any person, and when an employee leaves, the position remains and shows as vacant, ready to be filled through recruitment.

Positions serve several purposes in Magnar HCM:

• Headcount planning — Define how many seats exist per role using the Number of Seats field
• Organizational hierarchy — Link positions to each other via the Reporting To field to build the management chain
• Employee assignment — Assign employees to positions in their profile
• Recruitment — Vacant positions are used as the basis for job openings in the recruitment module
• Approval workflows — Approval chains can be configured based on position hierarchy

List View

Graphical View

Positions can also be viewed as an org chart (card view) by clicking the grid icon — displaying the full position hierarchy across the company in a visual tree.

Creating a New Position

Click + New to create a new position in the company.

23.1.5 Jobs

Jobs define the role profiles within the organization. A job represents a standardized role type — such as CEO, HR Manager, or Finance Analyst — that can be linked to one or more Positions. The job also determines the employee's grade, connecting the role to the company's grading and salary scale structure.

Each job contains a detailed description of the role's responsibilities, as well as a list of required competencies with their expected proficiency levels and weights. These competencies are later used in the Performance Appraisal module to evaluate employees against the expectations of their role.

Competencies, Duties & Requirements

Each job has three additional tabs below the main form:

23.1.6 Company Lookup

Company Lookup is a centralized reference data store for company-level parameters used across various forms and modules in Magnar HCM. Similar to the organization-level Lookups (Section 14), each lookup type holds a list of configurable values that appear as selectable options throughout the system.

Select a Lookup Type from the dropdown and enter the corresponding ID to view, add, or edit values for that category.

The available lookup types include:

23.1.7 Outgoing Email Configuration

Outgoing Email Configuration sets up the SMTP mail server used by Magnar HCM to send system-generated emails — such as workflow notifications, approval alerts, payslip delivery, and ESS registration emails. This configuration is required for any email-based communication from the system to work correctly.

23.1.8 Policies & Procedures

The Policies & Procedures section allows administrators to upload company policy documents and procedure files that will be made available to all employees through the ESS (Employee Self-Service) portal. Any employee with ESS access can view and download the published documents directly from their portal.

To add a new policy document, click + New, enter a Name for the document, and upload the file using the file chooser. Each entry shows the document name, last modification date, and the uploaded filename.

23.1.9 Corporate Offers

Corporate Offers allows administrators to publish company benefit offers, promotions, and perks that will be displayed to all employees through the ESS portal. Any employee with ESS access can view the published offers directly from their portal — for example, partner discounts, internal promotions, or company benefit packages.

To add a new offer, click + New, enter a Name for the offer, and upload the associated file (image or document). Each entry shows the offer name, last modification date, and the uploaded filename.

23.2 Attendance Setup

Attendance Setup contains the configurations that govern how employee attendance, overtime, absences, and shifts are managed in Magnar HCM. It is accessed via Setup → Attendance Setup and includes the following sub-sections:

23.2.1 OverTime Type

OverTime Type defines the different categories of overtime applicable in the company, each with its own rate multiplier and hour limits. The Overtime Plugin (Section 12.6) uses these types during payroll to calculate the weighted overtime hours for each employee.

Overtime Ceiling Limits

Each overtime type also has configurable ceiling (maximum) limits for how many overtime hours are allowed per time period. Hours recorded beyond the ceiling will not be compensated.

23.2.2 Absence Type

Absence Type defines the categories of unplanned absences that can be recorded against employees in the attendance system. Similar to Overtime Types, each absence type is linked to a Pay Element and a Rate, allowing the system to calculate the corresponding salary deduction during the payroll run via the Deduction Plugin.

23.2.3 Attendance Rules

Attendance Rules define how the system handles employee attendance exceptions — such as arriving early, arriving late, leaving early, or leaving late. Rules are configured per Grade and specify which exception types are active, how they are distributed into payroll-impacting values, and which overtime and absence types to apply.

Distribution Rules

Each active attendance exception (Early In, Late In, etc.) has a configurable Distribution — a set of time bands that determine how many minutes of absence or overtime to apply depending on how late/early the employee was. Click the edit (✏️) icon on any active rule to configure its distribution bands.

23.2.4 Shift Template

Shift Templates define the standard work shifts used in the company — such as Morning, Night, or any other shift pattern. Each template specifies the shift's start and end times and is later assigned to employees through the Employee Schedule (Section 23.2.5). Shift templates are the foundation of the attendance system — the system uses them to determine when an employee is expected to be at work and to evaluate early/late in and out exceptions against the Attendance Rules (Section 23.2.3).

To add a new shift, click + New, enter the Code, From time, and To time, then click Save.

23.2.5 Employee Schedule

Employee Schedule provides a calendar view of a specific employee's work schedule, allowing HR administrators to view, update, or override their assigned shifts on a day-by-day basis. Select an employee from the dropdown to load their schedule, then navigate by Month, Week, Day, or List view.

Each day on the calendar displays the employee's assigned shift (e.g., 7a – 3p) or a special status such as Day off. Administrators can click on any day to change the shift assignment or mark a day as a day off — overriding the employee's baseline calendar schedule for that specific date.

23.3 Training Setup

Training Setup contains the configurations for managing classroom-based (physical attendance) training within Magnar HCM — including course definitions, trainers, agendas, and feedback. It is accessed via Setup → Training Setup.

This section covers instructor-led and in-person training only. Online and e-learning based training is managed separately through the LMS (Learning Management System) module, which will be covered in a dedicated section of this manual.

23.3.1 Course Categories

Course Categories are used to classify and group training courses. Each course created in the system (Section 23.3.2) is assigned to a category, making it easier to filter, report on, and manage the training catalog by area of learning.

To add a new category, click + New, enter the Code, Name, and Description, then click Save.

23.3.2 Courses

Courses are the individual training programs available in the company's training catalog. Each course is assigned to a Course Category and can be filtered by category on the list screen. Courses defined here are used when scheduling training sessions through the Training Agenda (Section 23.3.7).

Use the Course Category dropdown to filter the list by category. The full course list can be exported using the Export to Excel button. To create a new course, click + New to open the course creation form.

Course Tabs

23.3.3 Feedback Category

Feedback Categories group the feedback questions asked to employees after a training session. For example, categories might separate feedback about the course content from feedback about the trainer. Each category contains one or more Feedback Items (Section 23.3.4).

To add a new category, click + New, enter the Code and Name, then click Save.

23.3.4 Feedback Item

Feedback Items are the individual questions or statements within a feedback category that employees are asked to rate or respond to after completing a training session. They form the post-training evaluation questionnaire.

To add a new feedback item, click + New, enter the Code and Name for the question or statement, then click Save.

23.3.5 Trainers

Trainers defines the individuals who deliver training sessions. Trainers can be classified as either Internal (company employees acting as trainers) or External (third-party trainers or training providers from outside the organization). Use the Trainer Type dropdown to filter the list by type.

To add a new trainer, click + New, enter their name details and select their Trainer Type, then click Save. Trainers defined here are assigned to training sessions through the Training Agenda (Section 23.3.7).

23.3.6 Training Agenda Types

Training Agenda Types define the categories or formats of training sessions used when creating a Training Agenda (Section 23.3.7) — for example, Project Management Training, Classroom Session, Workshop, or On-the-Job Training. They support bilingual labeling through a Foreign Name field.

To add a new type, click + New or click the edit icon on an existing row, fill in the fields, and click Save.

23.3.7 Training Agenda

The Training Agenda is where actual training sessions are created and scheduled. It brings together the course, trainer, dates, attendee limits, and day-by-day schedule into a single training event that employees can apply for through ESS.

Details Tab — Session Schedule

The Details tab below the main form allows you to define the day-by-day schedule of the training session — specifying which days of the week are active training days and the start and end times for each active day.

For each day, check the Active checkbox to include that day in the schedule, then enter the Start Time and End Time. The session also has two additional tabs:

• Applicants Received — view the list of employees who have applied to attend this training session through ESS
• Close — close the training agenda once the session is complete and enrollment is finalized

23.3.8 Training Rating

Training Rating defines the rating scale used when employees evaluate a training session through the post-training feedback form. Each rating has a Name, a numeric Value, and a Description. The values are used to calculate aggregate scores for training effectiveness reporting.

To add a new rating level, click + New, enter the Name, the numeric Value, and a Description, then click Save.

23.4 Questionnaire Setup — Resignation Questionnaire

The Resignation Questionnaire allows HR administrators to define exit questionnaires that employees must complete when submitting a resignation through the ESS portal or mobile app. This is the exit interview in digital form — capturing the employee's reasons for leaving, feedback, and any other information the company needs to collect at the point of resignation.

Multiple questionnaire templates can be created and assigned to different Grades — allowing companies to use a different exit questionnaire for executives versus standard employees, for example. The questionnaire assigned to the employee's grade will automatically appear when they submit their resignation.

To create a new questionnaire, click + New, enter a name, assign it to a grade, and then add the questions that employees will be asked to answer when resigning.

23.5 Reports

The Reports section under Setup allows administrators to configure and manage the report templates used throughout Magnar HCM — for payslips, payroll summaries, HR letters, and more. It contains two sub-modules accessed via Setup → Reports:

• Reports Setup — Register and configure report templates by uploading pre-designed .repx report files
• Reports Designer — Build or modify reports directly within the system using the built-in visual report designer

23.5.1 Reports Setup

Reports Setup is where report templates are registered in the system. Reports are typically pre-designed externally using DevExpress (producing .repx files) and then uploaded here along with any required sub-report files. Once registered, a report becomes available for selection in the relevant module — for example, the payslip report template appears in the Send Payslip module.

23.5.2 Reports Designer

The Reports Designer is a built-in visual report builder that allows administrators and implementers to create new reports or edit existing ones directly within Magnar HCM — without needing external design tools. It is based on the DevExpress reporting engine and provides a full drag-and-drop design surface with a rich component toolbox.

The Reports Designer provides:

• A design canvas with report bands (Top Margin, Detail, Bottom Margin, headers, footers) for laying out report content
• A component toolbox on the left with labels, text fields, images, tables, barcodes, charts, cross-tabs, shapes, and more
• A Properties panel on the right for configuring data sources, filters, appearance, page settings, and printing options
• Standard editing controls: cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, zoom

23.6 Dashboard Designer

The Dashboard Designer is a built-in visual tool for creating and editing the dashboards displayed in the Corporate Dashboard (Section 19). Using a drag-and-drop interface, administrators can build custom analytics panels — adding charts, grids, gauges, maps, filters, and layout components — and connect them to live company data.

Dashboards created here are installed and activated by the system administrator and then displayed to authorized users on the Company Dashboard screen.

The Dashboard Designer provides:

• A live preview canvas showing the dashboard exactly as it will appear to users, with real data
• A left-side component toolbox organized into four categories:
  • Common — charts, pivot tables, grids, gauges, range filters, image and text widgets
  • Maps — geographic map components for location-based analytics
  • Filter — date range pickers, combo boxes, list boxes, and other filter components
  • Layout — tab and group panel containers for organizing dashboard sections
• A top toolbar with undo/redo and size controls (W and H — set to Auto or Fixed width/height) for precise layout control
• The ability to add multiple tabs (e.g., Main, Vacancies by Department, Benefits Analysis, Income Dashboard) using the + button on the tab bar

23.7 Calendar

The Calendar module defines the working schedules used across the company — specifying working days, weekends, public holidays, daily working hours, and optional shift-based schedules. Calendars are assigned to employees in their profile and drive attendance tracking, leave calculation, payroll proration, and overtime/absence rule enforcement.

23.7.1 Calendar List

The Calendar list shows all work calendars configured for the company, with their Working Days count and Default Working Hours per day.

23.7.2 Calendar Configuration

Click + New to create a calendar. The calendar form has two tabs: Calendar (schedule configuration) and Employees (employee assignment).

Holidays

Add public holidays that apply to this calendar. Each holiday has a Name, From Date, and To Date. Holidays are excluded from working day counts in leave and attendance calculations.

Weekdays

For standard calendars (Schedule = Off), define which days of the week are working days and how many hours each day. Check Is Working Day for each active day and enter the Working Hours. Days left unchecked (e.g., Sunday, Saturday) are treated as rest days.

23.7.3 Shift-Based Calendar (Schedule = On)

When the Schedule toggle is set to On, the calendar becomes shift-based — displaying a full monthly calendar view where specific shift assignments are shown day by day. This is used for employees working rotating shifts or non-standard weekly patterns.

In the shift-based view, each day on the calendar shows the assigned shift (e.g., 7a – 3p) or is blank for rest days. The schedule can be navigated by Month, Week, Day, or List view.

23.7.4 Assigning Employees to a Calendar

The Employees tab on the calendar allows administrators to assign the calendar to one or more employees in bulk — as an alternative to assigning the calendar individually on each employee's profile. Employees can be filtered by Employee Type, Employee Code, Employee Name, Position, Department, or Branch.

23.8 Loan

The Loan setup defines the loan types available to employees — such as Personal Loans, Car Loans, Salary Advances, or Traffic Fines. Each loan type specifies its maximum amount, installment limits, the pay elements used for monthly deductions and disbursement, and the approval workflow to apply. Loan types configured here appear as options when creating employee loan records in Section 21.2 — Employee Loan.

23.9 General Request Types

General Request Types define the categories of miscellaneous HR requests that employees can submit through the ESS portal or mobile app — beyond the standard request types (leave, loan, travel, overtime). Examples include contract renewals, hotel booking requests, passport submissions, iqama renewals, bank account applications, and any other company-specific request type.

Each request type has its own approval workflow and can optionally include a PDF form attachment for cases where employees need to fill out or submit a specific document alongside the request.

23.10 Templates

Templates define how payroll results are grouped and displayed when viewing or reviewing payroll data. A template is essentially a custom column layout for the payroll results grid — each Pay Element included in the template becomes a column in the display, and the Order number determines the column position from left to right.

Templates are required in the following key screens:

• Payroll Generation (Section 22.2) — a template must be selected to view payroll results after execution
• Periodic Movement (Section 22.1) — used to review and display payroll element values per employee
• Off-Cycle and Employee Exit payroll runs — templates are selected to control the view of results

You can create as many templates as needed — for example, one template for monthly salary review, another for overtime analysis, and another for management reporting. Templates can also be duplicated using the Duplicate button to quickly create a variant of an existing template.

23.11 Period

The Period module defines and manages the payroll periods for each employee type and year. Each period represents one payroll cycle — monthly, bi-weekly, or otherwise — with a specific From Date, To Date, and number of calendar days. Periods must be created and kept up to date for payroll processing to function correctly.

Select an Employee Type and Year then click Filter to view the periods for that combination. Use Auto Fill to automatically generate all periods for the selected year based on the employee type's payroll frequency.

23.11.1 How Periods Work

Understanding the period lifecycle is essential for smooth payroll processing:

• When payroll is executed for a period, the Is Processed checkbox is automatically checked.
• When payroll is posted, the Is Posted checkbox is checked, and the system automatically advances the Is Current flag to the next period.
• If the next period does not exist yet, the system will not allow payroll to be run. Always ensure the next period is created before posting the current one.

23.12 Profiles

A Profile is one of the most critical prerequisites for payroll generation. It defines the complete list of Pay Elements to be calculated during a payroll run and — crucially — their execution order. The profile tells the payroll engine exactly which elements to process, in what sequence, and how each element value is sourced (manually, via formula, or via plugin).

Profiles are organized into two types, accessible via the Regular and Off-Cycle tabs:

• Regular — The standard monthly payroll profile. Only one regular profile is allowed per Employee Type.
• Off-Cycle — Profiles for off-cycle, exit, or leave settlement payroll runs. Multiple off-cycle profiles can be created per Employee Type (e.g., one for commissions, one for annual leave settlement, one for final settlement).

23.12.1 Element Order — Critical Rules

The rules apply differently depending on the element type:

23.13 Workflow Setup

Workflow Setup defines the approval chains used across Magnar HCM for all types of HR and payroll requests — from leave approvals and loan requests to resignation submissions and payroll posting. Each workflow is linked to a specific request Type and can have multiple approval levels, each with its own approvers, activity types, and conditional logic.

Multiple workflow setups can be created for the same request type — for example, different leave approval chains for different leave types. The specific workflow to apply is then selected when configuring that module (e.g., linking a workflow to a specific leave type in the Leave Setup, or to a loan type in the Loan Setup).

23.13.1 Creating a Workflow

Click + New to create a workflow. Each workflow has a Name, Description, a Type (the request category it applies to), and one or more Approval Levels.

Available Workflow Types

The following request types can have approval workflows configured:

23.13.2 Approval Levels

Each workflow can have one or more Levels — sequential stages in the approval chain. Click + next to a level to add an approver row, or the red × to delete the level.

23.14 Per Diem

The Per Diem module defines the daily travel allowance rates linked to each travel destination, broken down by employee grade. When an employee submits an expense claim related to a travel request, the system automatically calculates the applicable per diem amounts based on the destination and the employee's grade — without any manual calculation required. The expense claim section covers how this works in practice.

23.15 Employment Letter

The Employment Letter module allows administrators to define the types of HR letters that the system can generate — such as salary certificates, employment confirmations, experience letters, NOC letters, or any other official document issued to employees. Letter types configured here appear as options when employees submit a Letter Request through the ESS portal.

Each letter type is backed by a pre-designed .repx report template (uploaded via Reports Setup — Section 23.5.1). Letter templates are typically designed during the implementation phase according to each client's official letter formats and branding requirements.

23.16 Banks

The Banks module allows administrators to define the banks used for salary disbursement — including WPS (Wage Protection System) transfers and direct bank payments. Banks configured here are available for selection when assigning bank account details to employee profiles (Section 20.4).

Each bank supports multiple country/SWIFT combinations — useful for organizations operating across multiple countries using the same banking institution.

23.17 Projects

The Projects module allows organizations to define company projects and assign employees as resources to them. Projects are used for timesheet and worksheet tracking — employees log their working hours against specific projects — and can also be linked to cost centers for accurate labor cost allocation during ERP payroll posting.

23.17.1 Creating a Project

Click + New to create a project. The project form includes the project's basic details, its assigned cost center, and a Resources grid for assigning employees to the project.

23.17.2 Assigning Resources

The Resources grid at the bottom of the project form lists all employees assigned to work on this project. Click Add Resource or the edit icon on an existing resource row to open the Edit Resource dialog.

23.18 Fixed Allowances

Fixed Allowances defines the types of recurring monthly allowances that can be assigned to employees. Each fixed allowance is linked to a Pay Element — the element that will carry this allowance's value during payroll calculation. The actual amounts are assigned to individual employees in the Salaries and Allowances section of the employee profile.

23.19 Workplaces

Workplaces define the physical or virtual locations where employees are expected to clock in and out. They are used to enforce attendance through geo-location (GPS-based proximity check via mobile app) or IP address (network-based check via web browser). This ensures employees can only register their attendance when they are physically present at an authorized location or connected to an authorized network.

23.20 Employee Fields

Employee Fields controls which employee profile fields employees are permitted to request changes to through the Employee Edit Request in the ESS portal. When an employee submits an edit request, only the fields selected here will be available for them to update — any change still goes through the configured approval workflow before being applied.

The screen shows two panels:

• Available — all employee profile fields that can potentially be made editable via ESS. Use the search box to find specific fields quickly.
• Selected — the fields currently enabled for employee edit requests. Only these fields will appear when an employee submits an Employee Edit Request through ESS.

Use the arrow buttons between the panels to move fields: › moves one selected field to the right, » moves all available fields, ‹ removes one selected field, « removes all selected fields. Click Save to apply the configuration.

23.21 Employee Assets

The Employee Assets (Fixed Assets) module is where you configure the asset types that can be assigned to employees. The asset types defined here appear as selectable options when adding assets to an employee's profile in the Assets tab of the Employee Profile (Section 20.9).

To add a new asset type, click + New, enter a Code and Name for the asset category (e.g., Laptop, CAR, Mobile, SIM Card), and click Save. The full asset type list can be exported using Export to Excel.

24. Leaves

The Leaves module covers the full configuration and management of employee leave — from defining leave types and policies to managing balances, sick leave rules, encashment, and leave calendars. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Leaves.

24.1 Leaves

The Leaves screen is where all leave types are defined — Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Unpaid Leave, Maternity Leave, and any other leave category applicable to the company. Each leave type controls how leave days are accrued, renewed, calculated, and approved.

Leave Configuration Form

Leave Settings

Each leave type has additional behavioral settings accessible by clicking the settings icon on the leave row. These control how the leave behaves during requests and payroll:

24.2 Sick Leave Percentage

The Sick Leave Percentage screen defines the tiered salary coverage rules that apply to sick leave days. These tiers provide the input for the Sick Leave Percentage Plugin (Section 12.4), which calculates and returns the number of sick leave days that will not be paid — based on how many cumulative sick days the employee has taken.

In the example above: the first 15 sick days are paid at 100%, and days 15–30 are paid at 75%. The plugin calculates how many of the employee's sick days fall into the unpaid or partially-paid tiers and returns that amount as a deduction element.

24.3 Leave Balance

The Leave Balance screen displays and manages the leave balances for all employees. It shows the full picture of each employee's leave position — yearly entitlement, days earned, consumed, pending, paid, opening balance, carried forward, and total balance — for any selected year. Balances can be filtered by employee and exported to Excel for review.

How Leave Balance Processing Works

Leave balances are processed either manually (by clicking the Process button) or automatically at the beginning of each month. The system calculates each employee's earned days based on the Based Leave setup (Section 24.4) which defines the number of leave days per year according to the employee's grade and years of experience.

The calculation starts from the first current period defined in the Periods setup (Section 23.11) and accrues leave provisions month by month from that point forward.

Adding Leave Balance Manually or via Upload

HR administrators can add leave balance records manually using the + New button, or bulk-upload balances using the Upload button. Manual entries are also used to grant Earned Days — for example, when an employee worked on a holiday and is entitled to a compensatory leave day.

24.4 Based Leaves

Based Leaves defines the annual leave entitlement rules per leave type and employee grade — specifying how many leave days an employee is entitled to per year based on their grade and months of service. This setup feeds directly into the leave balance processing (Section 24.3) and must be configured immediately after creating leave types and before processing leave balances or running payroll.

24.5 Leave Encashment

Leave Encashment is used when HR wants to pay out an employee's leave days in cash rather than having the employee take the time off. This can be initiated by HR directly from this screen, or by the employee through an encashment request via the ESS portal — which goes through the configured approval workflow before being recorded here.

Select an employee to view their current Leave Balance Till Date and their encashment history. Click the + button to record a new encashment.

24.6 Leaves Calendar

The Leaves Calendar is a company-level visual calendar that provides HR and management with a comprehensive view of all employee leave — both planned (pending approval) and taken (processed). It is the company-wide equivalent of the leave calendar available to individual employees in the ESS portal, giving HR a full picture of leave coverage across the organization at any point in time.

The calendar supports three view modes — Month, Week, and Day — and uses a colour-coded legend to distinguish leave types:

• ■ Orange — Leave Request: leave that has been submitted and approved through the workflow but not yet processed in payroll
• ■ Blue — Leave Transaction: leave that has been processed in the system (recorded directly by HR or processed through payroll)
• ■ Green — Holiday: public holidays (visible when Display Holidays is toggled On)

25. End of Service

25.1 Notice Period Setup

Notice Period defines the minimum notice period an employee must serve before their last working day, based on their grade and years of service. The system uses this configuration to automatically calculate the Notice Period Date on each exit record.

25.2 Exit Process List

The Exit Process is where HR administrators formally terminate an employee's record in Magnar HCM. Recording an exit here is the prerequisite for running the Employee Exit payroll (Final Settlement) in Section 22.5. Only employees with an active exit record will appear when loading the Employee Exit payroll run.

25.3 Recording an Employee Exit

Click + New to record an employee termination. Fill in the exit details and click Save.

25.4 Reversing a Termination

A termination can be reversed depending on how far the final settlement payroll has progressed:

25.5 Rejoining Process

The Rejoining Process handles two distinct scenarios where an employee needs to be reactivated in the system. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under End of Service → Rejoining Process.

Rejoining of Employees (Terminated)

The top section handles employees who were previously terminated and are rejoining the company. Rather than creating a new employee profile and code, the existing profile is reactivated — preserving the employee's history, documents, and records. This is useful for companies that allow former employees to rejoin, and avoids duplicate employee codes in the system.

Select the Employee from the list of terminated employees, enter the Rejoining Date, and click Rejoin. The employee's profile will be reactivated from that date.

Rejoining of Employees on Leave

The bottom section handles employees who are currently suspended due to an off-cycle leave payroll run or where leave resumption is configured and the employee is returning from leave. In both cases the employee must be formally rejoined before they can appear in the regular payroll run again.

Filter by Rejoining Month, Year, and optionally a specific Employee, then click Filter to load the employees due to return. Select the relevant employees and click Rejoin to reactivate them for payroll.

26. Time and Attendance

The Time and Attendance module manages employee clock-in/out records, timesheets, and project worksheets. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Time and Attendance and contains the following sub-modules:

26.1 Connection Settings

Connection Settings configures the integration between Magnar HCM and an external biometric or time attendance device (e.g., fingerprint scanners, face recognition terminals). Once connected, the system automatically pulls attendance records from the device and populates the Attendance Records module. This eliminates manual data entry for clock-in and clock-out times.

26.2 Timesheet

The Timesheet module is the central screen where HR and payroll administrators review, manage, and approve daily attendance records across all employees. Each row represents one day per employee, showing whether it was a working day, whether leave was taken, hours worked, overtime, deductions, and the day's overall status.

The Timesheet is primarily populated from Attendance Records (Section 26.3) — the raw clock-in/out data captured from the biometric device. The system applies the configured Attendance Rules (Section 23.2.3) to automatically calculate overtime hours, deduction hours, and absence types for each day based on the employee's expected shift and actual time logged.

In addition, employees can submit their own timesheet entries directly through the Timesheet screen on the ESS portal — which HR can then review and approve from this screen. Attendance data can also be entered manually or bulk-uploaded via Excel. Once records are reviewed and corrections made, they are closed — marking them as final for payroll processing.

Admin / HR View (All Employees)

Individual Employee View

26.3 Attendance Records

Attendance Records is the raw data store for all employee clock-in and clock-out events. Records can be captured through multiple channels:

• Web Clock-In/Out — employees clock in and out through the browser-based ESS portal
• Mobile Clock-In/Out — employees clock in and out via the Magnar HCM mobile app (with optional geo-location validation)
• Attendance Device Integration — automatic pull from biometric devices (fingerprint, face recognition) configured in Connection Settings (Section 26.1)
• Excel Upload — bulk import of attendance records using the Download Template → Import workflow

Mass Update

Select filtered records and click Mass Update to apply bulk changes. The Mass Update dialog allows you to:

• Override the Check In or Check Out time for all selected records
• Toggle Shift Start Time or Shift End Time to On — which replaces the actual clock-in/out time with the employee's scheduled shift start or end time. Useful when a biometric record is missing or incorrect and you want to default to the scheduled time.

Migrating to Timesheet

Once attendance records have been reviewed and are ready, click the Migrate button to transfer them to the Timesheet (Section 26.2). During migration, the system applies the employee's shift schedule, calendar, and Attendance Rules (Section 23.2.3) to calculate working hours, overtime, and deductions — populating the Timesheet automatically.

26.4 Project Worksheet

The Project Worksheet is used to record the hours employees work on specific projects — including regular working hours and overtime hours — broken down by day. It is particularly useful when an employee works across more than one project during the same month or even the same day, allowing accurate labor cost allocation per project.

The worksheet is filtered by a date range and a project, and shows all employees assigned to that project (Section 23.17). Each employee row can be expanded to enter their daily hours and overtime. Entries can be submitted for approval using the Send for Approval button.

27. Salaries and Allowances

The Salaries and Allowances module is where the basic salary and fixed allowances are defined and maintained for each employee. This is the data source used by the Basic Salary Plugin and Fixed Allowance Plugin (Section 12.1) to retrieve the correct salary values during each payroll run.

Each employee has a salary history — allowing salary changes to be tracked over time with effective dates, retroactive adjustments, and a full change log accessible via the history (🔄) button.

27.1 Salary

The top section displays the employee's salary records. The Amount field shows the current active salary, while Calculated shows the system's computed total (which may include retroactive adjustments or other computed components).

27.2 Fixed Allowances

The Allowances section at the bottom of the screen lists all fixed allowances assigned to the employee. Select an allowance type from the dropdown (from the Fixed Allowances configured in Section 23.18) and enter the Amount. Click the + button to add each allowance row.

These amounts are retrieved by the Fixed Allowance Plugin during payroll and passed to the linked pay element — for example, Housing Allowance, Transportation Allowances, or Hourly Rate.

28. Expenses

The Expenses module manages employee expense claims — from defining the types of expenses that can be submitted to reviewing and processing approved expense transactions. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Expenses.

28.1 Expense Types

Expense Types define the categories of expenses that employees can claim through the ESS portal. Each type is linked to a Pay Element, so when an expense claim is approved the Expense Plugin (Section 12.7) automatically retrieves the approved amount and passes it to the linked element during the payroll run.

28.2 Expense Transactions

Expense Transactions is the HR-side equivalent of the expense claim submission in the ESS portal. HR administrators can create expense claims directly on behalf of employees — following the same structure as employee-submitted claims. Each transaction can contain multiple expense line items of different types, supports multi-currency amounts, and can be optionally linked to an approved travel transaction.

Expense Line Items

Each expense transaction can contain multiple line items — one per expense type claimed. Click the + button or use Choose to add items, or use Download Template to bulk-upload line items via Excel.

29. Send Payslip

The Send Payslip module allows payroll administrators to distribute payslips to employees by email directly from Magnar HCM. Payslips are generated from a .repx report template configured in the system's application settings by the administrator or implementation team. Each payslip is sent to the employee's registered email address.

Once the filters are set, click Send by email to dispatch the payslips. Each employee will receive their individual payslip at the email address on their employee profile.

30. Configuration

The Configuration module contains advanced system-level settings for the company. It is accessed from the left navigation menu under Configuration and is typically managed by system administrators during implementation or when system behavior needs to be adjusted.

30.1 Company Configurations

Company Configurations is a key settings screen that controls how specific parts of the system behave — from notifications and workflow approvals to leave rules, payroll settings, and hierarchy levels. Changes here affect system-wide behavior and should be reviewed carefully during implementation.

Notifications

Workflows

Leaves

Payroll

General

Hierarchy Level

The Hierarchy Level section defines the number of management levels above an employee that are involved in various system activities. A value of 1 means only the direct line manager is involved; a value of 2 means the manager and the manager's manager are both included.

30.2 Workflows Mapping

Workflows Mapping is where you link each request type to its corresponding Workflow Setup (Section 23.13). Rather than selecting the workflow on each individual leave type, loan, or general request configuration, this screen provides a centralized view of all request types and their assigned workflows — making it easy to review and update the approval chains for every module from one place.

Click the ✏️ edit icon on any row to assign or change the workflow for that request type.

30.3 Timer Job

Timer Job allows administrators to create automated scheduled tasks that run at configurable intervals — sending alert emails to selected employees or HR staff based on custom data queries. This is used to build proactive notifications such as contract expiry alerts, visa expiry warnings, ID renewal reminders, or any other date-based or condition-based alert the organization needs.

Build Your Query

The Build Your Query section is a visual query builder that defines the condition under which the notification is triggered. Click the + button to add a condition. For example:

• ContractEndDate → Less than or equal to today → Show Days — triggers the alert for all employees whose contract end date is approaching or has passed

Conditions can be combined with AND / OR logic to create complex filters.

Set New Job Timer

The timer defines how frequently the job runs. Select a frequency tab and configure the interval:

30.4 Extended Properties

Extended Properties allow administrators to add custom user-defined fields to any form in the system — without any development work. This is a powerful tool for capturing additional data that is specific to your organization's requirements, such as extra employee attributes, custom transaction fields, or company-specific information.

To create an extended property, navigate to Configuration → Extended Properties and click Create. Once saved, the new field will appear in the designated section of the target form for all users.

Value Selector Types

30.5 Special Permissions

Advanced Permissions Security allows administrators to grant or deny access to specific high-impact system actions on a per-security-group basis. Unlike menu-level permissions (which control visibility of screens), special permissions control whether a user can execute critical operations regardless of their general role.

To configure special permissions, navigate to Configuration → Special Permissions, select or create a security group, and set each action to either Permit or Deny.

The following special permissions are available:

30.6 Menu

The Menu configuration section allows administrators to control which menu items are visible to users at the company level. This is useful for hiding modules or screens that are not relevant to the company's workflow, keeping the interface clean and focused for end users.

To manage the menu, navigate to Configuration → Menu and select a menu type (e.g., Payroll, Setup, Appraisals). The system displays a hierarchical tree of all available menu items for that type. You can then add specific items to the company's active menu list or remove ones that should not be visible.

31. Insurance

The Insurance module allows HR administrators to manage employee insurance policies and track coverage details including insurance class, contribution amounts, policy dates, and enrolled dependents or beneficiaries.

31.1 Insurance Policies

Insurance Policies is where HR can create and manage individual insurance records for employees. Each policy captures the employee's coverage period, insurance class, contribution, and a list of covered members (such as dependents) with their type, member ID, and insured amount.

Covered Members

The lower section of the form allows HR to add covered members under the employee's policy, such as children or other dependents. Each member row captures:

32. Recruitment Process

This section covers the full recruitment workflow in Magnar HCM, from job openings and applicant tracking through interviews, job offers, and the recruitment portal. Content coming soon.

32.1 Applicants

Content coming soon.

32.2 Job Opening

Job Openings are the starting point of the recruitment process. Each job opening represents a vacancy the organization needs to fill. Once created, applicants can be linked to the opening, interviewed, scored, and offered positions — all from within the system.

To create a new job opening, navigate to Recruitment Process → Job Opening and click + New. The form has two tabs: Details (vacancy information) and Candidates (linked applicants and their progress).

Details Tab

Posting to the Recruitment Portal

Once the job opening details are complete and saved, you can publish it to the Magnar e-Recruitment portal by clicking the Post to Magnar Recruitment button. This makes the vacancy visible to external or internal candidates through the recruitment portal, allowing them to apply directly online.

Managing Candidates

The Candidates tab inside a job opening is where HR manages all applicants for that vacancy. Click Add Candidate to link an applicant from the Applicants list (Section 32.1), or candidates may appear automatically if they applied via the Recruitment Portal.

Each candidate row shows their name and current status. Use the Filter by Status dropdown at the top to narrow the list. For each candidate the following actions are available:

32.3 Activities

The Activities screen is a calendar-based view that allows HR to schedule and manage recruitment-related events for candidates — primarily interviews and tasks. It provides a central place to coordinate interview schedules, assign interviewers, and automatically notify all participants.

Activities can be accessed directly from the main Recruitment menu, or from the Activities button on a candidate row within a Job Opening (Section 32.2).

The calendar supports Month, Week, Day, and List views. On the left, a searchable employee panel lets you filter the calendar to show a specific employee's scheduled activities.

Creating an Interview Activity

Click New Activity → Interview to schedule an interview. The interview form allows you to specify:

Once saved, the interview is added to the Activities calendar and an email notification is automatically sent to the interviewee with the interview details, date, and time.

Creating a Task

Click New Activity → Task to create a recruitment-related follow-up task (e.g., reference check, document collection). Tasks appear on the calendar and can be assigned to a responsible HR team member.

32.4 Job Offer Types

Job Offer Types is an optional but recommended prerequisite before issuing job offers. It allows you to define the different categories of offer letters your organization uses — for example, Local Offer for locally hired employees and Expat Offer for expatriate hires. Each type is later linked to a specific offer letter template, allowing the system to automatically generate the correct document when a job offer is issued.

The offer letter templates are .repx report files designed by the BI developer or implementer, based on predefined layouts agreed with the HR team. Once uploaded and linked to an offer type, they can be generated directly from the job offer screen.

To create a new Job Offer Type, navigate to Recruitment Process → Job Offer Types and click + New. Enter a Code and Name (e.g., Local Offer) and save.

32.5 Job Offer

The Job Offer screen allows HR to create and send a formal offer letter to a selected candidate. The offer includes the job, salary, currency, allowances, and offer type, and can be sent directly to the candidate's email. The candidate can then accept or reject the offer, and HR can track the response status from within the system.

Job offers can be created from the Check Offer button on a candidate row in a Job Opening (Section 32.2), or directly from Recruitment Process → Job Offer.

Use the action buttons at the top to manage the offer:

Counter Offers

If a candidate rejects the offer, HR can issue a revised counter offer. To do this:

1. Open the existing offer and set the Status to Rejected, then save.
2. Click the New Offer button that appears once the offer is marked as rejected.
3. A new offer form opens — adjust the salary or allowances as needed and send the revised offer.

Hiring the Candidate

Once the offer status is updated to Accepted, HR can initiate the formal hiring process directly from the applicant record. Navigate to the applicant, open the edit screen, and click the Hire button at the top left. This launches a 3-step wizard to convert the applicant into an employee:

1. Step 1 — Employee Info: Enter the employee's basic details including Employee Code, First Name, Last Name, Level, Calendar, Daily Rate Element, Username, Sponsor File Number, Sponsor Name, Sponsor File Expiry, and the linked Job Opening. Some fields like name are pre-populated from the applicant record.
2. Step 2 — Company Info: Set the employee's company-related information such as start date, department, position, job title, direct manager, and salary details.
3. Step 3 — Bank Details: Enter the employee's bank account information for payroll payment processing.

Click Next to advance through each step. Once all three steps are completed and saved, the applicant is converted to a full employee record in the system.

32.6 Interview Criteria

Interview Criteria are the evaluation categories used to assess candidates during the interview process. Each criterion represents a dimension of assessment — such as Education, Experience, or General Work Field knowledge — and will be used to score candidates when the system's interview scoring feature is enabled.

Criteria defined here are later linked to specific positions via Position Interview Criteria (Section 32.7), allowing each job to have a tailored set of evaluation dimensions. This is optional — only relevant if your organization uses Magnar HCM to conduct and score structured interviews.

To add a new criterion, navigate to Recruitment Process → Interview Criteria and click + New. Enter the criterion name and save. Examples of commonly used criteria: