Business Category Mapping links each Rotaready entity to a Paycircle business category so that employee pay is attributed to the correct department, site, or cost centre. This is the foundation for cost attribution across payslips, reports, and journal exports for customers with multiple entities in Rotaready.
What is business category mapping?
An entity can represent a physical site, a department, or both, depending on how you have set up your organisation.
In Paycircle, a business category groups employees or costs for reporting and journal purposes, for example, by Role, Department, Branch, Cost Centre, or Sector.
Business category mapping connects the two: each Rotaready entity is linked to a Paycircle business category. Once mapped, Paycircle automatically assigns the correct business category to an employee based on their home entity in Rotaready.
Accessing the entity mapping screen
To access the entity mapping screen, follow the steps below.
Click the Settings icon, and then click Integration (Modules and Integration).
Click Rotaready (Time and Attendance), then click Edit.
Click Go To Mapping, then click Entity Mapping.
This screen lists every Rotaready entity currently in use, alongside its payroll calendar and current business category mapping. Entities without a mapping are clearly highlighted so they're easy to spot.
Mapping an entity to an existing business category
To map a single entity to an existing business category in Paycircle, follow the steps below.
đ¤Tip: If you navigate away with unsaved changes, you'll see a warning so you don't lose your work.
Open the Entity Mapping screen and find the entity you want to map.
đNote: Use search or filter if you have a large number of entities.
Use the dropdown on that entity's row to select the target business category.
Save your changes.
Creating business categories from Rotaready Entities
If a business category doesn't yet exist for an entity, you can create it directly from the entity mapping screen, in one of two ways. In both cases, the business category itself must already exist in Paycircle first; the screen assigns entities to it, it doesn't create new categories from scratch.
Bulk: Create all as new
đNote: Entities that already have a mapping are left untouched.
Click the Create all as new button at the top of the entity list to assign every unmapped entity to a single business category in one action. This is useful during initial setup when all entities should route to the same category structure.
Individual: Create as new
Click the Create as new button on an individual entity row when different entities need to route to different business categories. A side panel lets you choose the category for that entity before confirming.
If no business categories exist in Paycircle yet, the screen will direct you to create one in Paycircle first, then return to complete the mapping.
How business categories are applied to employees
Once an entity is mapped, Paycircle automatically applies the linked business category to every employee whose home entity is that entity. This happens when an employee's appointment is created or updated in Rotaready, and the resulting business category is used across payslips, reports, and journal exports.
If an employee's home entity doesn't have a business category mapping, Paycircle raises a CRITICAL alert on the Rotaready Updates page, flagging the missing mapping so it can be resolved.
Keeping mappings up to date
Business category mapping is a one-time import carried out during setup rather than an ongoing sync with Rotaready. As a result:
New entities added in Rotaready after setup are not automatically created or mapped in Paycircle. They need to be mapped manually on this screen.
If an entity is renamed in Rotaready, the linked Paycircle business category name does not update automatically.
We'd recommend checking the entity mapping screen after making organisational changes in Rotaready (for example, adding a new site or department) to make sure the new entity gets mapped.
Best practice
Map every entity before relying on the integration for reporting or journal exports.
Create any required business categories in Paycircle before using the Create all as new or Create as new actions.
Review the entity mapping screen for unmapped entities periodically, especially after adding new sites or departments in Rotaready.
If you see a CRITICAL alert about a missing business category mapping, resolve it from the entity mapping screen as soon as possible, as it affects payslips, reports, and journal exports for the affected employees.
Current scope and limitations
Business categories must already exist in Paycircle before they can be mapped to an entity; the entity mapping screen doesn't create new business categories.
Mapping is based on an employee's home entity. It determines the business category used for an employee's regular shifts.
This is an internal Paycircle process. It doesn't involve any changes to Rotaready or its API.
Cost attribution for cover shifts, where an employee works at a different entity to their home entity, is a separate capability planned for a future release.