Building a payroll processing and client administration app
Appfront builds apps that help accountancy firms take control of their clients' submissions: hours, changes and absence arrive through a single portal instead of by email, messages and spreadsheets. At a glance, your team sees which client is complete and which still needs to submit something.
What is an app for payroll processing and client administration?
Payroll processing itself takes place in your payroll software. What comes before it is still handled by email at most firms: one client sends a spreadsheet, another a photo of a timesheet, and a third phones to say someone has left. That submission stage is what takes up time, and it is where errors creep in.
An app for client submissions brings structure to it. Each employer gets their own entry point, where they record what has changed for the period: hours worked, new staff, leavers, changes to hourly rate or contract, and sickness notifications. Your firm can see, client by client, whether the period is complete and where something is missing.
We build this to measure because every firm has its own way of working. Which client submits what, which collective agreements apply, which checks you want enforced before anything comes in, and which member of staff is responsible for which portfolio. That is your setup, and the app should follow it.
One entry point per employer
Your client submits hours and changes through a portal tailored to your firm, showing only the fields that apply to them.
Completeness per period
Your team sees, client by client, what has come in, what is missing and who needs a reminder.
Straight through to payroll
The submitted data goes to your payroll software in the format it expects, so nobody has to retype it.
How we build your app for payroll processing and client administration
We start with your busiest week of the month and with the clients who cost the most in follow-up calls. That shows clearly what the app needs to solve.
Which clients submit what, in which form and when. We focus especially on clients who are always late or incomplete, because that is where the gains are.
We build the input side so that an employer only sees what applies to them. A small client with five employees does not get a screen designed for a client with two hundred.
Missing hours, an employee without a contract or a change without an effective date are flagged at the point of submission, not later during processing.
The data goes to your payroll software in the format it can handle. After that, we take the app under management and expand it where needed.
What an app for payroll processing and client administration actually does
The components you need depend on the size of your portfolio and on how varied your clients are.
Hours submission
Employers submit hours worked per employee and per period, with the option to confirm fixed rosters instead of re-entering them.
Payroll changes
Joiners, leavers, changes to hourly rate, contracted hours or job role, each with the effective date that processing requires.
Absence notifications
Sickness and recovery notifications with dates, so that sick pay and submissions to the absence insurer are accurate.
Completeness monitoring
For each client and each period, a clear view of what has come in and what has not, with reminders sent by the system rather than relying on memory.
Documents
Contracts, identity documents and tax declarations stored in the right place in the employee's file.
Integration with the payroll package
The submission goes through to your payroll package in the format it expects, with feedback if anything is rejected.
Who we build a payroll and client administration app for
This app is intended for offices that handle payroll administration for multiple employers and depend on what those employers supply.
Accountancy firms
You handle payroll administration alongside bookkeeping. Collecting submissions is the part that disrupts your planning, especially around the processing date.
Payroll administration firms
Payroll is your core business and volume is your model. Every minute per client per period adds up to a considerable amount.
Accountancy firms
You have a payroll department alongside your compilation practice. The data needs to fit with the rest of the client file.
Firms with many small employers
With small clients, submissions take proportionally the most time, because there is no in-house HR department to submit things neatly.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
The app runs in the browser and on the phone, so an employer can confirm their hours on the go. The salary calculation itself stays in your payroll package; we build the submission around it and the integration towards it. For integration with financial administration we have experience with, among others, e-Boekhouden. If you work with time registration for your clients, also look at time registration software. Our approach is described under custom software development.
For the office itself, with work queues, checks and deadlines, there is our client payroll processing software.
Why choose Appfront for your payroll and client administration app?
A portal your clients don't use doesn't lighten the workload, it adds to it: then you have a portal and a mailbox.
Built for your client, not for you
An employer who fills in five hours once a month must be able to do so without explanation. That is what we design for, otherwise they will call anyway.
Checks where they belong
Flagging a missing start date at the point of submission saves your staff a follow-up phone call.
Alongside your payroll package, not instead of it
Processing stays where it belongs. We build the layer around it, so you don't have to migrate.
Security and privacy for a payroll and client administration app
Payroll administration holds personal data and sometimes special category data, such as sickness absence reports. An employer must not record the nature of an illness, and we build for that too: the portal asks for a sick note with a date, not a reason. Access is strictly separated per employer, so clients can never see each other's data.
We use two-factor authentication for your staff, authorisation based on portfolio, and complete logging of who has viewed which file. Retention periods align with the statutory tax retention obligation and with what the GDPR permits, and documents are stored encrypted. We agree in advance exactly what you record and for how long.
Frequently asked questions about a payroll and client administration app
Questions administration firms ask about submissions and processing.
No, and that is a deliberate choice. Payroll calculation, payroll tax filing and processing stay in your payroll package, which is kept up to date with the legislation and regulations. We build the layer around it: the data collection from your clients, the monitoring of completeness, and the integration with the package you already use.
Through a dedicated entry point for each employer, either in the browser or on the phone. They only see their own employees and only the fields that apply to them. A client with fixed rosters confirms them, a client with variable hours fills them in. The form adapts to the client rather than the other way round.
You see it before it becomes a problem. For each period you can see which clients are complete and which are not, and reminders go out from the system rather than from your employee's memory. You decide when a reminder goes out and to whom.
Usually, yes, and that is the intention. The data submitted passes through to your package in the format it expects, so nobody has to re-key it. What is possible depends on the package; we investigate the integration options before making any promises.
With restraint, as this involves special categories of personal data. An employer may record the sick notification and its date, but not the nature of the complaint. The portal therefore does not ask for a reason. The data is strictly protected and visible only to those who need it for processing.
They can, for example to submit their own hours or retrieve their payslip, but it is not required. Some firms deliberately prefer that only the employer submits. Both set-ups are possible, and we agree in advance which suits your way of working.
Yes. Which fields and rules apply can differ per client, for example for allowances or shift work. We record that for each employer so that the submissions match the agreements that apply to that client. The interpretation of the collective agreement remains the work of your payroll adviser.
Are your clients' submissions under control?
Tell us how many employers you process and how submissions currently arrive. We will look at your busiest week with you and show what a portal would save you there.