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Set Up PDS Employee Self Service

Before you can set up ESS, ensure the following are correct for all employee records in your Ledger/Payroll program on the Payroll tab, under Employees:

Assign ESS Security Access Rights

If security is enabled in your program, you must assign security access rights to the user who registers your site. Also assign these rights to any users who will upload records in the future.

  1. Log in to Ledger/Payroll as an administrator.
  2. On the Administration tab, click Users & Passwords > Access and Privileges.
  3. Use the navigation tools to locate the user you want to give rights to.
  4. Under the Program Level column, expand Data Sync (near the bottom). In the Employee Self Service row, select All.
    CAUTION: Any user with All Access rights can register your site and upload records.
  5. At the top, click Save.

After assigning rights, you can register your site.

Register Your ESS Site

Before you register your site, make sure the person who will act as the administrator for the site has an employee record in the program.

  1. On the File menu in your PDS program, click Data Synchronization > Employee Self Service.
  2. Click Register.
    Note: If you don't see the Register button, your site was already registered. You only have to register once per site.
  3. Select the employer and an employee to be the administrator for the site, and enter the employee's information.
    CAUTION: This must be one person. Don't set up a church login to be used by multiple users.
  4. Enter a password to be used when the administrator logs in to the ESS site. This information is not stored in the program, nor does it have to correlate with program login credentials.
  5. Enter your site information if it didn't already display.
  6. Enter a URL name. This defaults to your site name with the spaces removed and your city appended.
    Your employees will use this URL you create to view their information: ess.parishdata.com/yourURLName.
  7. When you're finished, click Apply.

After registering, the administrator for the site receives two emails. The first email provides an authorization code. On the File menu in your PDS program, click Data Synchronization > Employee Self Service. Copy and paste the code, and click Submit.

The second email includes a link to the login page of your Employee Self Service site. To validate your account, click the link and log in with the email and password used to register the site.

Once completed, you can verify and upload your employee records to the site.

Verify Employee Records

When you verify employee records, a list displays the information you need to correct or add.

  1. On the File menu in your PDS program, click Data Synchronization > Employee Self Service.
  2. Select the employer.
    Note: You do not need to select time-off definitions when verifying, only when uploading records.
  3. Click Verify.
    This checks that each employee has a valid email address, date of birth, and social security number.
  4. If all active employees have the required information, a blank list displays. Otherwise, the list displays employees with missing information. If necessary, print the list for reference.
  5. To correct information:
    1. Close the ESS window.
    2. On the Payroll tab, click Employees > Addresses & Phones.
    3. Enter the missing information.
  6. If you make changes to employee records, go back to the ESS process and click Verify to recheck the data.
  7. After all employee data is verified (a blank list displays), click Close.

If you have multiple employers, you need to complete this initial verification once for each employer. After that, changes for all employers are uploaded together, with the exception of employers kept in separate databases.

Upload Records to Your ESS Site

Note: Follow these steps to upload records for the first time. After the initial upload, see Upload Records to PDS Employee Self Service to upload employee records.
  1. On the File menu in your PDS program, click Data Synchronization > Employee Self Service.
  2. Select the employer.
  3. Select time-off definitions. You can select up to four activities to upload.
  4. Click Upload. For each active employee under the employer you selected, this uploads all history for the current year and the last calendar year.
    CAUTION: Some time-off history information is not kept in the program and is not sent in the initial upload. The initial upload provides a basis for which these totals can be presented in a meaningful way going forward.
  5. Once the upload completes, click Close.

After uploading the records, you can send email invitations to your employees with a secure link to the ESS site. For more on that, see Use PDS Employee Self Service. Once you send invitations, instruct employees to click the link in the email, create a password, and verify their accounts. After employees enter their date of birth and last four digits of their social security number, they can log in and view their information.