Create bulk actions or updates in QuickBooks Online Bureau Payroll

To put it simply, bulk actions or updates help save time by allowing you to apply the same changes to multiple businesses at once. This includes updates that you would normally make to individual client files.

Keep in mind that this article is only about non-pay run related bulk updates. For info on bulk pay run activities, read this.

In this article, we'll cover:

• Create a bulk action
  • Salaries
  • Settings
• Bulk actions overview
  • Bulk action troubleshooting
• Bulk user restrictions
• Bulk update restricted users

Create a bulk action

1. Go to Bureau admin.
2. Select Bulk actions.
3. Select Bulk update.
4. Select either Settings or Salaries.

Bulk update salaries

Here you can update salaries across brands and companies. To do so:

1. Choose how you want to update salaries:
   • Current annual salaries uplifted by percentage.
     If the commencement date falls mid-pay period, the pay run will adjust rates accordingly within that period. To start the new rate from the beginning of the next pay period, select the pay period start date as the commencement date.
   • Current annual salaries uplifted from a fixed amount to another fixed amount.
   • Current hourly rates uplifted from a fixed amount to another fixed amount.
2. Apply the salary update.
3. Decide whether to update only directors (tick box for yes or no).
4. If a business is selected, choose the default location and any relevant tags.
5. Select the businesses you want to apply the update to–since this is a bulk update, you can select multiple businesses.
6. Select Preview.
7. Select Save. Alternatively, select Cancel to make adjustments.

Bulk update settings

You can choose to bulk copy settings from one business to another.

1. From the dropdown, select the business from the available options within the selected brand.
2. Choose settings to copy, which currently include:
   • Advanced settings.
   • Employee portal settings
   • HMRC settings
   • Manage users
   • Payslip
   • Report packs
3. Use the Preview data option to view the current data for the selected settings.
   By default, all options within the settings will be marked for copying. If you only want to copy specific settings and not others, you can untick the ones you don't wish to copy and Save.
4. If you want to apply the updates to all businesses you have access to, tick Available to all businesses. Alternatively, manually select one or multiple businesses to apply the updates to if you don't tick the box.
5. Select Bulk update. You will see the bulk actions overview.

Bulk actions overview

From here, you can see a list of the following:

• Bulk action type: Includes all the bulk updates and bulk activities.
• Activities: Shows each business and the individual activity performed as part of the bulk update.
• Create: Shows the date the update was performed.
• Created by: Shows the user who performed the update.
• Status: Shows the status of the bulk action (in progress, error or completed).

If a bulk action fails, you can:

1. Select the Activity column. This will bring up the error and provide more information about the cause, including the affected business.
2. To manually investigate an issue in a business payroll file, select the arrow.
3. You can re-try the bulk action for that specific business. Go back to the bulk actions overview and select the retry icon.

If you're unable to find the problem manually and the issue continues, reach out to our support team.

User restrictions

Bureau managers and payroll processors can use bulk actions for the businesses they have access to. Access is granted by assigning business groups or individual businesses.

If a payroll processor needs to make updates to businesses they don't have access to, the bureau manager is responsible for granting access.

For more info on managing user access, read this.

Bulk update restricted users

If a user has restricted access to one or more reports, they can get the same reporting access to multiple businesses created by the bureau.

1. Select Bulk actions.
2. Select Bulk Update.
3. Select Settings from the dropdown.
4. Select the brand and business you want to copy the user from.
5. From the 'Settings to copy' dropdown, select Manage users.
6. Select Preview data to see users in a specific business with restricted access included reports. You can untick any users that you don't want to include in the update.
7. Select Save.
8. You can choose to give this user restricted access to all businesses, or select individual businesses.
9. Select Bulk update.
10. Select Proceed. Once the update is done, QuickBooks will return to the bulk actions list and show the status of the update.

Selecting the number in the activities link will show the updated businesses and status.

Note: If a user already exists in any of the businesses and has access to multiple reports, QuickBooks will add any new reports from the business being copied from that are not yet accessible to the user.