I have started using BrightPay but there appears to be a few quirks.
I have phoned technical support but they say that is how the software works.
Does anybody notice the same problems as me?
1 When I am processing the payroll I have to enter an HMRC payment date. Shouldn't this be entered when the payment is made?
2 It’s not possible to save a P32 for one month. I am having to delete the other 11 months and then save the PDF to send to my client.
3 it’s not possible to save an agents user ID and password into all the employers. I have to enter the agents user ID and password into each of my employers.
4 It’s not possible to save one payslip per A4 page. You have to save two payslips - unless you only have one payslip to produce!
5 It’s not possible to easily produce a set of monthly reports. I used to use Sage and it was easy to save reports as favourites and run them one after the other. It should even be possible to run them all from one command.
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What I do
Like you, I was using Sage payroll, and as Brightpay has been written in a rather different way various things look quite odd to us ex Sagers. I've been using Bpay for about 8 months, and it has been tough getting up to speed, as there are so many things we might want payroll to do.
1. If you don't enter any HMRC payment date for last month's PAYE it will be brought forward onto your P30 this month, which is extremely irritating. I don't need this facility, but we are all forced to use it. So just enter a date of 6th of the last tax month as the payment date if you don't want last month's PAYE to be added to this month's PAYE.
2. For each client I have a folder with their name on it, and every printout I need gets saved as a pdf to that folder first. After that I am asked if I want to print it (and I usually do). The only problem area here is that a pdf of the payslips won't fit onto the actual payslip paper, so in that case I print first, then save to my folder. So you can do this and save whatever files you need to the client folder. Unfortunately some of the files, such as P30, don't show a date, so I add one as I'm saving.
Even if some clients want printouts mailed to them as they are used to, I now always email all their payroll pdf' for that month to them as well. I shall be sending a letter in December, giving notice of new payroll charges at 1/4/16 and offering a small discount for anyone who feels able to just accept pdf's after that.
3. In Sage we had to enter agent ID & password separately for each company, so there is no difference in Brightpay.
4. I found initially that some of the payslip options didn't work properly. I suggest you send an email rather than phoning to make your request. The people who answer emails are often a bit more technically oriented.
5. It may be that after a few more months you will have devised a better system. On the other hand, perhaps yet another detailed email to Brightpay will encourage them to set up a new way of reporting that would suit you better.
What I do notice about Brightpay is: it's quick to get through to a very knowledgeable and helpful person if you have a query. Sometimes with Sage (at the start of autoenrolment) it was impossible to speak to anyone within an hour and even then they didn't know what they were talking about. I will never ever forgive Sage for this.
With Brightpay I have not found any peculiar things that go wrong as I regularly did with Sage.
Several clients find the reports much more understandable than Sage reports.
Bp is so much more internet friendly than Sage.
Thanks
Before posting my OP I sent an email to BrightPay support so I'll see what they have to say for themselves.
I paid extra for support so I didn't have long waits but quite often it was longer than promised when they introduced "priority support".
They're getting there
Brightpay is nowhere near as functional as 12Pay, but it is easier to use. BP needs to expand its bureau functionality (which they tell me they are working on) and improve reports. It is difficult to report all the additions and deductions on one report and there isn't what I'd call a journal report that makes it easy to post ...... a payroll journal.
That said it is good value and they seem to listen to feedback. What they don't have is a user group or user forum.
Extra for support with BrightPay?
I'm currently using the trial version of BrightPay. I was told support is free of charge? Do you have to pay extra for support with BrightPay?
Support with Brightpay is free
What Peter meant in his last post is that he paid extra to Sage, not Brightpay.