Latest on v4.5.0

This newest release of the HR Unity software, v4.5.0, is what we term the "statutory release" for the forthcoming 2008/09 tax year. At the very least, the Uniwage payroll software is updated to handle changes in legislation and changes to what is calculated in payroll, and how that might be achieved.

This release is no exception, but this time we have concentrated on 2 areas: Expenses & Benefits, and the appearance of the software. As you would also expect, Internet filing recogntition has been achieved for End of Year and the Payroll Standard has been re-approved for the sixth consecutive year.

Expenses & Benefits

This module has been rewritten from the very beginning. A lot of what was in there before has gone, and almost everything that remains has been improved. The endeavour has been to make it simpler to use and more informative. Take, for example, the new P11D Summary:

This screen (click the image to view it full size) provides a simple overview for the selected employee, listing the expenses & benefits recorded against him or her and providing a total. This can be printed for the employee.

Also evident from this screen shot is the introduction of user-defined colour schemes which is a new feature in v4.5, both in the Expenses & Benefits module and the HR Unity software in general. This can be set at either a global level (to match your company colour scheme for example) and optionally at user-level.


The P11D Entry screen has been simplified so that users now only see the figures that they are required to enter. Although the previous versions showed all of the workings, it was often reported that this was confusing and so the decision was taken to reduce the amount of information shown, as seen in this image:

This screen shot of the P11D car entry form (working sheet 2) shows the reduced amount of information that is presented. However, note the hyperlink at the bottom of the window: "How was this calculated?". For each of the six working sheets, this link is presented when the total benefit charge is calculated. This will open a new window that details, step by step, how the figures were achieved. This can be directly correlated to the P11D Working Sheets themselves.

Other significant additions or changes to v4.5.0 are:

• Improved New Employee Wizard: this is now the only way to insert a new employee directly and the wizard has been significantly enhanced to reflect the importance of this task.
• Unistaff. Personal vehicles in HR are now recorded differently to company cars. Company cars are still recorded in the Company Benefits section (and are linked to the vehicles in the Expenses & Benefits module); personal cars can be recorded against the employee's record. Please read the release notice on your v4.5 CDs to appreciate the implications of this fully.
• Unistaff. A new field is available under Company Rules that allows the company eligibility period for pensions to be defined. This is used by the New Employee Wizard where appropriate to set the employee’s Pension Eligibility Date for new starters.
• Unistaff. The existing Registration Number Enquiry report did not allow for partial matching and only searched for cars entered on the Company BenefitsCar Details screen. This report has been removed and replaced by an improved enquiry that allows for partial number plates to be matched, and searches both the vehicle fleet and personal car details. The details are matching cars are returned and where known, the owner and the colour of the car.
• Absence. Absence Allowance schemes can now be tracked on a rolling year basis.
• Uniwage. Leavers can now be entered before their actual leave period, and if the leave date is in a future tax periodthen they will remain a live employee until the appropriate Period End marks them as a leaver.
• Uniwage. If a leaver has to be reinstated for a payment after he or she has left, an extra option is now provided to ask whether this employee is returning for good or whether this is for a one-off payment. If the latter is selected, the employee will be marked as a leaver again by the subsequent Period End.
• Uniwage. A report is now available of all internet filing submissions made.
• Event Diary. The Diary Manager scheduler screen has a new option called "Attach iCal file". If ticked then an iCal file is attached to the email (if an email is being sent). An iCal file is an industry standard calendar export file that is supported by most (if not all) calendar products on the market. This option has been added to the software for those customers who do not use Microsoft Outlook so that they can receive the diary entries as an email attachment and then import that file into their calendar application of choice.

v4.5.0 has completed the in-house testing and is currently under beta testing. It is slated for release in the middle of February 2008.