7

payroll packages set up and tested

£2

per employee per month excl. VAT, export included

0

numbers re-keyed between systems

What is a payroll export?

A payroll export is a file produced by your time and attendance system that holds each employee’s approved hours for the pay period, split into basic, overtime, premiums and absence, in the layout your payroll package imports. Payroll imports it, and nobody retypes a figure.

Computime’s export is one engine configured for each package, not a generic spreadsheet someone has to rework. Your payroll software still does the pay, tax and RTI. Our guide to getting hours from clocking to payroll covers the options in more depth.

How your hours reach payroll

Three steps take you from a clocking to figures your payroll team can run with.

Staff clock in

Hours, overtime and absence are recorded as people work, at a clocking terminal or in the Syncro Connect app.

Managers approve

Anything that looks wrong is flagged for a decision, so what moves forward has been checked by someone rather than assumed.

Payroll imports the file

Approved figures go across in the layout your payroll software expects. Import it and the hours are in place.

What goes to payroll

Everything payroll needs for the period, worked out from the clockings and approved before it leaves.

Hours worked

Totals calculated from clock in and clock out, with your rounding and break rules applied.

Overtime and premiums

Overtime at each rate, plus shift premiums and bank holiday rates, calculated against your own rules.

Holiday and sickness

Paid and unpaid leave reflected in the period. With Leave Connect, sickness spells and qualifying days travel in the export for statutory sick pay.

Department and cost centre

Hours split by department or cost centre, so labour cost lands where it belongs.

What it works with

Set up and tested for these packages, each in the layout it expects.

  • Sage
  • Pegasus
  • QuickBooks
  • BrightPay
  • Xero
  • IRIS
  • ADP

Running something else? Tell us what it is and we will check whether the export can be set up for it before you commit, rather than after.

Worth knowing: we handle the hours, not the pay. Payslips, P60s, tax and pension deductions all stay with your payroll software.

Why accurate payroll data matters

Most payroll problems start with the hours going in. Get them right at source and the corrections, costs and awkward conversations afterwards mostly go away.

£5.8m

owed to more than 25,200 underpaid UK workers, identified by HMRC minimum wage enforcement in 2024 to 2025

Source: HMRC enforcement and compliance report

25%

of UK PAYE employees say they have received an incorrect pay packet from their employer

Source: Global Payroll Association survey of 4,248 employees

£20,000

maximum penalty per underpaid worker for failing to pay the minimum wage, on top of the arrears

Source: National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 19A

HMRC’s own checklist for workers, reported by the CIPP, includes unpaid working time: early starts, late finishes and mandatory training. Recording hours as they happen, in a time and attendance system, is the simplest way to know what people are actually owed.

Export or integration

Want hours to go straight into Sage?

An export means someone imports a file, which takes a few minutes and suits most businesses. If you run Sage Payroll and would rather nobody handled a file at all, our installed system, Realtime, offers direct integration.

Realtime Sage Payroll integration

Approved hours pass directly into every version of Sage Payroll, with no file in between.

An optional Realtime module at £395 a year excl. VAT, flat per installation. Realtime’s export to all seven packages is included as well.

Why Computime

Hours into payroll since 1989

For over 35 years we have helped UK businesses turn clockings into figures payroll can use, without anyone moving numbers by hand.

The export removes the typing, not the checking.

Why every period is approved before it goes

We do not sell payroll software

We record the hours and hand them to yours. If you need payroll software itself, we will say so rather than take you through a demo.

The export is included

No connector fee and no per-package charge. It comes with Syncro Connect from £2 per employee per month excl. VAT, as set out on our pricing page.

Built and supported in Leeds

Our own team writes and supports the software, with no minimum or maximum headcount. When you call, you speak to someone here.

Your records are not tied to one payroll

Your time and attendance records stay with us. Change payroll package and the hours export in the layout the new one expects.

Payroll export FAQs

What businesses ask about getting hours into payroll. If yours is not here, call the Leeds team on 0113 350 9043.

Does Computime handle payslips, tax or RTI?
No, and it is worth being plain about it. Your payroll package does the pay: payslips, P60s, tax codes, National Insurance, pensions and RTI submissions to HMRC. We do the hours that go into it. If you are looking for payroll software itself, we are not that, and we will tell you so rather than take you through a demo first.
Which payroll packages does it work with?
Sage, Pegasus, QuickBooks, BrightPay, Xero, IRIS and ADP are all set up and tested. It is one export engine configured to produce the layout each package expects, rather than a generic file somebody has to rework at the other end. If you run something not on that list, tell us what it is and we will look at whether we can set it up rather than guessing.
Does it work with Pegasus?
Yes. The export is set up and tested for Pegasus, producing approved hours, overtime and absence in the layout Pegasus expects to import. Pegasus then produces the payslips; Computime does not. If you run a particular Pegasus product or version, tell us and we will confirm before you commit.
Does it work with Xero and QuickBooks?
Yes, both are set up and tested. The export produces approved hours in the layout each package imports, so whoever runs payroll imports the file rather than typing hours in.
Is the payroll export included in the price?
Yes. It is included with Syncro Connect, from £2 per employee per month excl. VAT, and with Realtime. There is no connector fee and no charge per payroll package. The only payroll extra we sell is the optional direct Sage Payroll integration on Realtime, at £395 a year excl. VAT.
What is the difference between an export and an integration?
An export means we produce a file in the format your payroll expects and somebody imports it, which takes a minute and works perfectly well. Direct integration means the systems are connected and the hours pass across without a file. We offer direct integration with Sage Payroll on Realtime, as an optional module, and the export from both our systems.
Does it calculate overtime before it reaches payroll?
Yes, against your own rules. You set when overtime starts, what rate applies, and how evenings, weekends and bank holidays are treated. Those rules are applied to the recorded hours, so payroll receives overtime already split by rate rather than a total someone has to unpick.
Can hours be split by department or cost centre?
Yes, if your payroll setup uses them. Hours can be attributed to departments or cost centres and carried across, so labour cost lands where it belongs rather than in one total. If you need hours against individual jobs rather than departments, that is job costing, which is a Realtime feature.
Can we check the figures before they go to payroll?
Yes, and you should. Nothing goes across until a manager has approved it, and exceptions like missed clockings or unbooked absence are flagged for a decision first. The export removes the typing, not the checking.
How long does it take to set up?
The export itself is quick. The work is mapping your pay elements and agreeing the rules: overtime thresholds, premium rates, rounding, bank holiday treatment. That is a conversation with whoever runs your payroll, and it is worth doing carefully, because rules set wrongly at the start produce figures that look plausible and are not.
What if we change payroll systems later?
Your time and attendance records stay with us and are not tied to any one payroll package. If you move, the hours export in the layout the new package expects instead, and we would help you set that up. You are not locking your attendance data inside a payroll decision.

Try it on your own payroll

Tell us which payroll you run

Start a free trial of Syncro Connect, or book a demo and we will walk through the export for your payroll package.

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