The Rotaready Paycircle integration is one-way only. Data flows from Rotaready into Paycircle. No data flows back from Paycircle to Rotaready.
The integration works through a series of real-time events. When something changes in Rotaready, such as an employee being approved, their details are updated, or a rota is signed off, an event is sent to Paycircle and processed automatically.
Understanding what each event does and what the integration doesn't handle helps ensure smooth payroll processing and avoids confusion when data does not appear as expected.
How employee identity works in the Integration
The integration links employees between Rotaready and Paycircle using the Rotaready ID only. This is the sole identifier used to match records between the two systems. No other ID, including Employee number, HR ID, or HMRC Submission ID, is used as the integration link.
Payroll ID: does not currently flow from Rotaready to Paycircle.
HMRC Submission ID: Assigned by Paycircle — either at the point of initial payroll setup if one is provided, or allocated automatically by Paycircle if not. The HMRC Submission ID does not flow from Rotaready.
Employee number and HR ID: These fields in Rotaready have no function in Paycircle and are not used by the integration.
What data transfers - event types
User Approved Event
A User Approved Event is triggered when an employee is approved in Rotaready. It then creates the employee record in Paycircle.
New starters: If the start date falls within the current pay period and all required fields are completed in Rotaready, the employee will be automatically marked as complete in Paycircle.
Existing employees: May be created as incomplete and require additional information to be added manually in Paycircle, such as a tax code or year-to-date values.
📌Note: Employees who are not yet approved in Rotaready will not appear in Paycircle and will not be included in the mapping screen. Always ensure employees are approved in Rotaready before expecting them to appear in the integration.
User Updated Event
A User Update Event is triggered when an employee's details are changed in Rotaready. It then updates the following in Paycircle:
Personal details, such as name, date of birth, gender, and title.
Address.
Bank details.
National Insurance number.
Starter declaration.
Validation
The integration applies validation rules to ensure data meets Paycircle requirements before updating. If validation fails, the event will show as failed on the Rotaready Updates page and will need to be corrected in Rotaready and retried.
Employment Event
An Employment Event is triggered when changes are made to an employee's employment record in Rotaready. It then updates the following in Paycircle:
Employment start date.
Employment leave date.
📌Note: Employee number does not transfer from Rotaready to Paycircle and has no function in Paycircle.
Restrictions
Some changes are blocked if the employee has already been submitted to HMRC. The integration will raise an error in these cases; the change will need to be handled manually in Paycircle.
Leaver details
When a leave date is added to an employee's record in Rotaready, the following transfers to Paycircle automatically:
Employment leave date.
Leaver reason.
Leaver notes.
Whether holiday allowances have been finalised.
Leaver Holiday Pay
⚠️Important! Final holiday pay for leavers should transfer through the integration. However, there is a known issue where leaver holiday pay does not always come through correctly. If a leaver's final holiday payment is missing or incorrect in Paycircle, this will need to be checked and entered manually. This issue is under active investigation.
Appointment Event
An Appointment Event is triggered when changes are made to an employee's appointment in Rotaready, such as site, department or payroll calendar. It then updates the employee's site/department and payroll calendar in Paycircle.
Restrictions
If an employee is moved to a site, department, or payroll calendar in Rotaready that is not linked to their current Paycircle company, the event will fail. This scenario requires manual intervention using the Paycircle Payroll Mover feature.
Rota Sign-off Event
A Rota Sign-off Event is triggered when rota days are signed off in Rotaready. It then imports the time and attendance data for that period into Paycircle for payroll processing. This includes:
Shifts and hours worked.
Hourly rates.
Daily rates.
Fixed pay elements.
⚠️Important! Each signed-off day generates one event in Paycircle. Rota data will only appear in Paycircle once it has been signed off in Rotaready. Unsigned rotas will not transfer.
Data validation rules
The integration applies strict validation to all incoming data. If any of the following rules are not met, the event will fail and must be corrected in Rotaready before retrying.
Personal details
First name and surname are required.
Date of birth must be provided and cannot be more than 100 years in the past.
Title defaults to 'Ms' if not specified in Rotaready.
Gender defaults to 'Female' if not specified in Rotaready.
Contact information
Email address must be in a valid format.
Addresses must use a valid UK postcode format.
National Insurance number must follow the correct format: 2 letters, 6 numbers, 1 letter (e.g. AB123456C).
Employment details
Starter declaration defaults to 'B' if not specified in Rotaready.
Financial information
Bank details require both a valid sort code (6 digits) and a valid account number (8 digits); both must be present for the transfer to succeed.
Student loan plan information is transferred if provided.
Tax code is assigned based on the starter declaration.
How the integration pauses and resumes
The integration automatically pauses when a pay period moves into a calculated state in Paycircle. This prevents data conflicts during payroll processing.
When the pay period moves out of the calculated state, the integration resumes automatically.
Any events received during the pause are queued and processed in chronological order; no manual intervention is required.
📌Tip: If you notice events are not processing, check whether the pay period is currently in a calculated state before investigating further. This is the most common reason for events appearing to be stuck.
What doesn't transfer through the integration?
It is equally important to understand what the integration doesn't handle, to avoid confusion and ensure these items are managed manually where needed.
TRONC Payments: TRONC does not flow through the integration and this will not change. TRONC must be processed manually by exporting the data from Rotaready as a CSV and importing it into Paycircle separately.
Unpaid Absence: Unpaid absence does not currently transfer through the integration. This must be entered manually in Paycircle.
Salaried Holiday: Holiday for salaried employees does not sync through the integration by design. Salaried employees receive their salary regardless — holiday absence does not generate a separate pay element and does not need to flow through the integration.
Journal / Cost Attribution: The integration cannot automatically split shifts and holiday payments to different nominal codes or GL codes. All time posts to the same nominal code. Manual journal entries or month-end accounting adjustments are required if costs need to be split.
HMRC Submission ID: The HMRC Submission ID does not flow from Rotaready to Paycircle. It is either set at the point of initial payroll setup in Paycircle, or allocated automatically by Paycircle. Manual tracking across the three IDs (Rotaready ID, Paycircle payroll ID, Paycircle HMRC Submission ID) is required.
Monitoring events
All events processed by the integration can be viewed on the Rotaready Updates page in Paycircle, accessed via Team, then Rotaready Updates.
Each event displays the event type, timestamp, processing status, the employee affected, any data changes made, and any error or warning messages if the event did not process successfully.