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Leaves in Roubler – Overview for Payroll Administrators

Audience

This article is for payroll administrators, payroll managers, and finance users who:

  • Configure and maintain leave types, allowance templates, and accrual rules in Roubler.

  • Need to understand how leave requests and balances in Roubler interact with payroll, including:
    • Direct Employment Hero / KeyPay integration
    • SimplePay middleware integrations
    • Payspace middleware integrations

  • Troubleshoot leave balance discrepancies, missing leave in pay runs, or integration delays.

Before you start

Before managing leave from a payroll perspective, make sure:

  1. You know your payroll setup
    • Your Roubler account is connected to one of:
      • Direct integration: Employment Hero / KeyPay payroll.

      • Middleware integrations: SimplePay or Payspace via Expert Solution Technologies (EST).

  2. Permissions and access are correct
    • Your permission group allows you to:
      • View and manage the Leave screen (management view).
      • Open Leave & Availability on employee profiles.

      • Access Timesheets / Time & Attendance and payroll configuration where needed.

  3. Leave configuration is in place
    • HR/Payroll have configured:

      • Leave types (Annual, Sick, TOIL, etc.) and whether they accrue automatically, appear on payslips, or are included in termination payouts.

      • Leave allowance templates that define entitlements for different employee groups (FT, PT, etc.).

    • For SimplePay middleware:

      • Roubler leave types are mapped to the correct SimplePay service types so both balances and leave taken can sync.

  4. You understand the “source of truth” for balances

    • For direct EH/KeyPay: leave is configured within the EH/KeyPay engine; Roubler reflects those settings and balances.

    • For SimplePay middleware: SimplePay calculates entitlements/balances and sends them back; Roubler displays what SimplePay reports.

    • For Payspace middleware: Payspace handles leave balances and applications; employees do not see live balances in Roubler (see below).

How Leaves work in Roubler (payroll view)

1. Leave lifecycle (in Roubler)

  1. Request creation
    • Employees or managers create leave from:
      • The Leave management screen; or

      • The employee profile → Leave & Availability.

    • Each request includes leave type, dates, duration (full/part day), and notes/attachments.
  2. Approval
    • Managers approve, decline, or cancel requests.
    • Common statuses:
      • Pending / Submitted – waiting for review.
      • Approved – confirmed and ready to flow into rosters/timesheets/payroll.

      • Declined or Cancelled – not to be processed.

  3. Rosters and timesheets

    • When Leave is enabled in the Roster filter, Approved leave shows on the roster for visibility and coverage management.

    • Approved leave usually creates a leave timesheet, which then:
      • Appears in Time & Attendance reports.

      • Feeds into payroll export or integration as “leave taken” for the period.

  4. Payroll processing and balances
    • In the pay engine (EH/KeyPay, SimplePay, or Payspace), leave taken and leave accrued are processed in each pay run.

    • The payroll engine updates the employee’s leave balances; for direct/EH and SimplePay this updated balance is then sent back to Roubler, where you see it under Accrued / Used / Remaining/available (details below).

  5. Corrections after payroll

    • Once leave has been processed in a pay run, changes generally must be made via payroll adjustments in the pay engine (e.g. corrections in a later pay run), not only by editing the Roubler request.

How leaves integrate into the payroll engine

1. Direct integration – Employment Hero / KeyPay

For accounts using Employment Hero / KeyPay–backed payroll:

  • Approved leave in Roubler creates leave timesheets, which flow straight into the EH/KeyPay pay run as leave taken.

  • The EH/KeyPay engine:

    • Applies leave rules and accrual methods (hours per pay run, per hour, in advance, etc.).

    • Recalculates balances (Accrued and Remaining/available) and sends updated balances back to Roubler after the pay run.

If leave is Approved but not visible in the pay run:

  • Check:
    • Employee is in that pay run/entity.
    • Dates fall inside the pay period.
    • Leave category is correctly mapped to pay categories.

    • Sync has completed.

2. Middleware integrations – SimplePay

For accounts using SimplePay payroll via middleware integration (EST):

  • Key 2025 change:
    • Leave no longer integrates at the moment of approval.

    • Leave now integrates when you add it to a pay run in SimplePay, not when the manager approves it.

Typical flow:

  1. Manager approves leave in Roubler.
  2. You create or open the SimplePay pay run and add leave for the period as per the new integration process.
  3. Once added to the pay run, middleware sends this leave from Roubler to SimplePay.

  4. You should expect to see the leave in SimplePay within ~15–30 minutes of being added to the pay run; in busy periods allow up to around 60 minutes before treating it as a failure.

Balances:

  • SimplePay calculates leave entitlements and balances using its own policies, then sends balances back to Roubler; Roubler displays what SimplePay reports under Accrued / Used / Remaining/available.

  • If you need a full list of balances for reconciliation, run the relevant leave/balance report directly in SimplePay; Roubler only supports per‑employee leave/balance exports for SimplePay‑integrated accounts.

Monitoring and errors:

  • Use “Roubler Integration Update” emails and EST “Monitor Logs” to see Leave‑module failures (e.g. overlapping leave in SimplePay, entitlement conflicts).

3. Middleware integrations – Payspace

For accounts using Payspace via middleware integration:

  • Payspace is treated as source of truth for leave balances and applications:
    • Employees apply for leave and view their balances in Payspace.
    • Roubler receives leave‑taken history back from Payspace, so employees and managers can see their leave history in Roubler, but live balances do not display in Roubler.
  • Practically:
    • Employees will see historical leave records in Roubler (dates, types, and statuses), but not an Accrued / Used / Remaining/available summary driven by Payspace.
    • All new leave requests and balance checks must be done through Payspace, not Roubler.

Integration behaviour:

  • Middleware jobs send leave‑taken information between Roubler and Payspace on a scheduled basis (near real‑time or by batch, depending on configuration).

  • If middleware logs show Payspace access‑token or 401 errors, you must reconnect the Payspace company, then re‑run the jobs before new leave‑taken records will flow.

How leave balances work: Accrued, Used, Remaining/available

For direct EH/KeyPay and SimplePay middleware accounts, the Leave & Availability page and related views use three key headings:

  • Accrued
  • Used
  • Remaining/available

(For Payspace middleware accounts, employees and managers do not see these headings in Roubler; they use Payspace to view balances and submit leave, with only leave history reflected in Roubler.)

1. Accrued

Accrued shows the total leave earned up to the “As at” date, including:

  • Opening balances / carried‑forward leave.
  • Any “accrued in advance” entitlement.
  • Accruals added by each completed pay run.

  • Any manual adjustments made by HR/Payroll.

How it behaves:

  • If “Leave balance as at last pay run” is ticked, Accrued reflects the balance as of the last finalised pay run.

  • If you change the As at date, you’re effectively looking at Accrued “as at” that point in time, including projected accruals/adjustments depending on configuration.

2. Used

Used represents Approved leave in Roubler that has not yet been integrated into the payroll system as part of a pay run:

  • When a leave request is Approved in Roubler, but the corresponding leave has not yet been added to a pay run (EH/KeyPay or SimplePay), those hours/days appear under Used.
  • Once those leave records are included in a pay run and the middleware or direct integration sends them to the payroll engine:
    • They drop out of the Used column in Roubler.
    • The payroll engine recalculates the employee’s leave balance (reducing Accrued and Remaining/available appropriately).

    • The updated balance is then sent back to Roubler, so Accrued and Remaining/available now reflect that the recently “Used” leave has actually been paid and deducted.

Conceptually:

  • Used = Approved but not‑yet‑pay‑run‑processed leave, still waiting to be pushed through to the payroll engine.

3. Remaining/available

Remaining/available represents what the employee can still take as leave as at the chosen date:

  • It is essentially the current entitlement minus everything that has already been committed to leave, including:
    • Accrued balance from the pay engine;
    • Less any Approved leave that is still showing under Used (i.e. not yet integrated to payroll);
    • Less any historical leave already processed in pay runs.

You may also see related concepts in some UI/specs:

  • Forecasted – a projection of what the balance will be at a future date, taking into account future accruals and approved leave that will occur before that date.

From a payroll admin perspective:

  • Accrued – what the pay engine says has been earned up to the As‑at date.
  • Used – Approved in Roubler but not yet integrated into a pay run (and therefore not yet reflected as deducted by the pay engine).
  • Remaining/available – what is left after taking Accrued and subtracting both historical processed leave and any currently “Used” leave that has not yet gone through payroll.

Frequently asked questions and troubleshooting

1. Leave is Approved in Roubler but not showing in the pay run

For direct EH/KeyPay and SimplePay middleware:

  • Confirm:
    • Employee is included in that pay run / entity.
    • Leave dates fall inside the pay period.
    • The leave category is correctly mapped to a pay category/pay item.

    • The integration/sync has run successfully for that period.

For SimplePay middleware specifically:

  • Check that the leave has been added to the SimplePay pay run (new behaviour), and allow up to ~60 minutes for middleware to push it through.

  • Review Roubler Integration Update emails and EST logs for Leave‑module failures (e.g. overlapping or duplicate leave in SimplePay).

For Payspace middleware:

  • Remember that leave requests and balances are handled directly in Payspace; ensure:
    • The employee applied for / is recorded with leave in Payspace.

    • Middleware jobs are running and not blocked by access‑token or other errors.

2. Leave balances in Roubler don’t match the pay engine

For EH/KeyPay and SimplePay:

  • Roubler displays balances from the pay engine; discrepancies usually mean the engine and Roubler are out of sync or filters are confusing the view.

Checklist:

  1. Check the As at date and whether “Leave balance as at last pay run” is ticked.

  2. Confirm all relevant pay runs have been finalised and leave accruals/leave taken are correct in the engine.
  3. For SimplePay middleware:

    • Treat the SimplePay leave/balance reports as definitive; use Roubler’s per‑employee view only for spot checks.

If a true mismatch remains, capture examples (employee ID, leave type, screenshots from both systems) and escalate via internal support.

3. SimplePay leave integration seems slow or inconsistent

  • Under the updated integration model:
    • Leave integrates when added to a SimplePay pay run, not when the manager approves it.

    • Expect to see leave in SimplePay within ~15–30 minutes, with up to ~60 minutes allowed in busy periods.

If leave still hasn’t appeared after that:

  • Check EST Monitor Logs and Roubler Integration Update emails for:
    • Failures due to existing leave on those dates.
    • Disconnected or expired tokens.

    • Mapping issues for leave/service types.

4. Which system should employees use for leave?

  • Direct EH/KeyPay and SimplePay middleware:
    • Employees typically submit leave in Roubler.
    • Roubler then sends leave taken to the pay engine and receives updated balances back.
  • Payspace middleware:
    • Employees submit leave and view balances in Payspace.
    • Roubler receives leave‑taken history so employees and managers can see what leave has been taken, but not the live balances.

Who to contact for help

  1. Internal payroll / HR / finance team
    • First line for:
      • Questions on entitlements, accrual rules, negative balances, and manual adjustments.

      • Deciding how to handle special cases (carry‑over, forfeiture, back‑dated corrections).

  2. Internal Roubler/system administrator or IT
    • For:

      • Issues with Leave screens, permissions, or visibility (e.g. managers not seeing employees or their leave requests).

      • Configuration of leave types, leave allowance templates, and integration mappings (SimplePay service types, Payspace mappings, pay categories).

  3. Roubler / MYOB Support (vendor)

    • Should only be contacted by authorised internal administrators, after local checks.

    • Escalate when:
      • Approved leave consistently fails to reach the pay engine despite correct configuration.
      • Middleware logs (SimplePay or Payspace) show persistent or unclear Leave‑module failures that you cannot resolve with your payroll provider.

When raising a ticket (internally or with Roubler Support), include:

  • Company name and environment (production / test).
  • Payroll setup (direct Employment Hero/KeyPay, SimplePay middleware, or Payspace middleware).
  • Example employee(s), leave type(s), dates, and relevant screenshots:
    • Roubler Leave & Availability view (Accrued / Used / Remaining/available, plus requests).
    • Payroll pay run or leave balances in the engine.
    • Any Roubler Integration Update emails or EST logs for those employees/dates.

This context helps teams quickly identify whether an issue is configuration‑related, integration‑related, or truly a defect, and keeps your leave and payroll data aligned.