Running payroll · 5 min read · Updated October 2026
Bringing data in, getting files out: what moves in a payroll month
How your data reaches us, what each month's inputs are and how they arrive, and which files come back once you approve them, whether or not your team logs in.
How does payroll data reach Global Kinect, and how do the files come back?
Your data comes in by file. Your workforce is loaded once from CSV, and each month's joiners, changes, hours and one-off payments arrive by file or in the platform. Once you approve the month, its files go out by SFTP to a folder share we set up for you. API connections are built over time. We do the build, and you need never use our front end.
Know which way each file travels
Two routes carry your payroll, and each runs one way. Your data comes in by file. Your files go out by SFTP. Keeping the two apart makes each one simple to check.
| Data in | Files out | |
|---|---|---|
| What travels | Your workforce data at the start, then each month's inputs | The month's files, once you have approved them |
| In what form | CSV, laid out to a template we give you | The files your entity submits, pays from and posts |
| By what route | Sent to us as files, or entered in the platform | SFTP, to a folder share we set up for you |
| Who builds it | We do | We do |
The folder share is the quickest connection to stand up. Nothing in your own systems has to change for it.
API connections to your systems come later, and we build them over time. Until one is built for a system, that system's data reaches us by file.
Reading your data out works differently. Power BI, Excel and Tableau can already read your payroll and workforce data by API. They connect with a key we set up for you.
Load your workforce once, at the start
At the start, your workforce is loaded from CSV. Each row is one employee: their name, nationality, start date, salary and allowances, identity numbers and the IBAN their salary goes into.
That load happens once. After it, each month brings only that month's inputs.
If you are moving from another provider, the same load starts the two months in parallel. Our guide to moving payroll sets out what to gather and how the load is checked.
Send each month's inputs whichever way suits your team
Every cut-off is agreed before the month starts. Five kinds of input reach us by the cut-off. All but leavers can come by file. Any of them can come in the platform, and you can mix the two.
| Input | By file | In the platform |
|---|---|---|
| Joiners | A row each, in a joiners file laid out to our template | Each new starter completes their own record on a secure link |
| Leavers | Not by file. You tell us, and each leaver is raised on its own, with the final settlement worked out before it goes in | HR raises each leaver and sees the final settlement before submitting it |
| Changes to pay, role or bank details | A row each, in a changes file laid out to our template | Raised and approved in the platform |
| Hours and attendance | Hours, overtime and unpaid days, in the month's input file | Clock-ins, leave and timesheets, approved and locked before payroll reads them |
| One-off payments | A bonus or other payment, in the month's input file | Added to the run as an adjustment, and approved |
A leaver is never part of a bulk file. Their final settlement depends on why they are leaving, so each one is worked out and seen on its own.
A changes file is accepted whole or not at all. One wrong row sends the file back, so nobody is left working out which changes went in.
Catch a wrong input before it is calculated
Each month's file is checked before anything runs. A row whose employee reference matches nobody stops the file. So does a reference that appears twice, or a figure that is not a number. So does an employee filed under an entity that does not employ them.
A file that fails comes back to you with each problem named by its row. Once it passes, we calculate.
A pay change backdated into a month already paid is worked out month by month. The difference is paid in the next run, and the month you approved stays as it was.
Get back everything your entity needs to pay and file
Once you approve the month, its files are delivered. Your entity submits them and pays from them.
| Output | What it carries | What your entity does with it |
|---|---|---|
| The bank file | Each employee's net pay and the account it goes into | Submits it through its bank or the wage platform, and pays salaries |
| The government file | What the authority needs for the month, such as each employee's contributions | Submits it to the authority and pays what is due |
| Payslips | Each employee's pay for the month, line by line | Shares one with each employee |
| The ledger journal | The month's payroll, ready to post | Posts the month to your accounts |
In Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, an end of service schedule comes alongside, showing what each employee has built up. In the UAE, the end of service schedule shows what each expatriate has built up. An unemployment insurance schedule there shows each employee's premium. In Egypt, Form 4 comes with the run that closes each quarter.
Each country names its files its own way, such as the salary file for Mudad in Saudi Arabia or the NOSI return in Egypt. Our guide to what stays with your entity lists them country by country.
The files reach your folder share by SFTP. If you work in the platform, the same files can be downloaded there, and each employee can see their own payslips.
Run the month from one record, however the data arrives
Joiners from HR, hours from your attendance system and pay changes from finance all land in one record. Payroll reads only from that record. The calculation history behind every figure stays open to you.
Your team can send its inputs by file, tell us of each leaver and never log in. Or your people can work in the platform and serve themselves. Either way, we do the build, and the record is the same.
Common questions.
Can some inputs come by file and others in the platform?
What happens if our file has a mistake in it?
How do the hours from our own attendance system reach payroll?
See how a payroll month runs with us.
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