WARNING: 23rd October 2014. Some links on this page may NOT work. Images may also not display normally - because this page is being updated - to change the URLs from www.spontaneousdevelopment.com to www.tayosolagbade.com. Other contents may also change. For now, I've left it this way to enable persons who click to this URL, to find it. Read what happened to Spontaneousdevelopment.com HERE
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you start reading this, let’s be clear. This is NOT the tutorial proper. What you are about to read is an introduction that offers YOU details, and the opportunity to apply for access to the tutorial in my website’s members-only area.
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QUICK TAKE AWAY
If you signup (click here) for details of how to enroll for my MS Excel Payslip Generator tutorial, you get to pay $25 (instead of $250) to purchase :
1. a workbook compilation of Six Different Payslip Formats
2. a limited version of my advanced Payslip Generator workbook (described below) with automated data entry forms features de-activated (you'll be able to use it by making direct spreadsheet entries).
"Preparation of staff salary has now been reduced from days to just two days. (The Payslip Generator) has helped me a lot...I really commend the CB Solutions* for (an) excellent job. It has solved my organisation's accounting problem. More grease to your elbow." - Adeniyi S. Elegbede, Accountant Motayo Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.
Fill/submit THIS form, and then call 234-803-302-1263 for details of how to enroll for this tutorial series. .
Click this link or the image below, to request my FREE PDF report.
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What Is A Payslip Generator, And Why Would Anyone Want One?
If this question popped up in your mind, I can assure you that you are not alone.
I've lost count of the number of companies and business owners who do not use a Payslip Generator, even though they have upwards of five or more employees.
Please note that FIVE as used above is simply my personal estimation of the maximum number of people I would personally be prepared to engage in computing salary details for, if I had to do it.
Payslips are required for a variety of important purposes, and this is why many government wants businesses to issue them to employees every pay period. However, due to its calculation intensive nature, manually preparing payslips can be a delicate process, and as a result mentally tasking and time consuming.
A TESTED & FUNCTIONAL system, that can cut down on the need for manual calculation will not only save effort, but also cut down on time taken, while increasing productivity, and accuracy. Payslip Generators offer such a system. A variety of platforms have been used to build Payslip Generators.
What I discuss in this tutorial series is MS Excel-based. I do this using my industry relevant experience from 5 years of delivering customised MS Excel-VB driven Payslip Generators for use by companies catering for employees numbering over 120.
Why Am I Offering YOU A Tutorial On Building A Custom Payslip Generator?
"Everybody knows some Excel, but stop seeing Excel as an office program that everybody MASTERS and that is used to organize numbers in columns and make a few calculations. Excel is the best reporting application on the market and it is fully programmable with its own PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE within called VBA" - Pierre LeClerc PLI Consulting Inc
It’s because I have found it is a subject of KEEN and SERIOUS interest, for many people who run their own businesses or have to manage salaries in companies. In other words, people like that are looking for solutions that can help them generate payslips.
I have been deliving such solutions for clients, for some time now, and today I have companies within and outide Lagos that use my custom MS Excel-Based Payslip Generators.
I decided to offer this tutorial because I have found that the sensitive nature of the salaries data, makes MANY of those who may need help rather wary of engaging an “outsider” to develop the unique solution they need.
Are There NO "Off-The-Shelf Payroll Applications" That Generate Payslips?
Of course there are. However, my experiences and observations from working (as Graduate Trainee, later Process Manager, and then Head of Department) in a large multinational manufacturing company, and with CEOs of small, medium and large client companies, reveal the following:
1. Many companies do not have a reliable payroll system of any sort in place. Preparation of payslips thus becomes near impossible. As a result errors and fraud tend to happen. Sometimes they go undetected. In many cases, it hurts such companies.
2. Companies which have payroll systems in place, sometimes do not generate payslips. This could be because they do not think it’s necessary. Or those in charge cannot be bothered, maybe due to work pressure. Then there are cases in which the number of salaried persons to be given payslips is intimating.
For instance, the companies that use a basic version of my automated Payslip Generator in Lagos, each have more than 120 employees. Before they began using my application, their paylips were hand-written out for each employee into pre-printed payslip formats. According the accountant for one of those companies, it used to take them at least a week, to get it all done!
3. Some companies already have a working system that takes care of permanent, regular or contract employees. However, perhaps due to the way they operate, say in plants or factories, they have to regularly take on and disengage temporary workers e.g. for overnight offloading, packing, etc. Most of these temps are typically students or unskilled labour. Yet, they need to be paid, and their earnings/payments to them captured comprehensively for record and tax purposes.
It is the situation described in 3. above in particular that tends to make the use of a custom MS Excel App justifiable. That way, the manager responsible will be able to minimise the hassle of tracking and making payments(or reconciling issues). Items 1 and 2 of course also have potential benefits if they are addressed.
2. Below: Screenshot showing payslip BEFORE custom automation
I found SURIYA’s payslip workbook which he made available for use by members of an online community I joined. with his payslip format linked to the DATA worksheet with formulas and VLOOKUP functions. I decided to use my custom automation to generate output via his format.
I actually used the above format as the default in the ADVANCED version of my Payslip Generator demonstrated in the video shown below. It was made available in an online community by a guy named SURIYA – working for a company in India.
What he had in his copy, was a salary table and a ready to print page with two payslips. Suriya’s payslip workbook had fields containing VLOOKUP functions tapping from the salary table. It also had a user defined VBA function, that wrote the Payable Amount in words at the bottom of the payslip. Original versions of both are included in the Payslip Formats Workbook you get to buy along with the limited featured Advanced Payslip Generator (for $25 instead of $250) when you fill and submit the form below.
In my advanced Payslip Generator, what I did was to adapt the elaborate automation from my original Payslip Generator application, to dynamically generate payslips using Suriya’s ready to print page payslip page.
I also added a more powerful user defined function (called Number to Letters) created by Pierre LeClerc, which offers more flexibility in dealing with payable salary amounts that include decimal places.
The screenshots below, show the transformed interfaces that resulted.
3. Below: Screenshot showing salary table AFTER custom automation
This is what the DATA worksheet table looked like AFTER I had incorporated my enhancements/automation. The control buttons at the top of the table execute time/effort saving automation for printing, export import etc.
Note that shaded areas get auto-completed via one-off “settings” that are provided by the user. This is triggered via In-cell vaidation list drop menus, which make addition of employee names quicker, easier, less prone to errors. Add a name, and other set details(e.g department, job title/designation, Employee Pension Fund A/C No) about him/her automatically retrieved from a settings database.
But that's just the mild part. It's when the payslip preparation process proper is initiated, that the power and ease of use offered by this simple application, can be appreciated.
1. Each month's records are automatically stored in seperate workbooks, saved with passwords in the application folder, year in year out. The user chooses a month from the drop menu, and the scroll bar to choose the year. Clicking IMPORT causes the relevant passworded workbook's contents to be retrieved into the open salary table. Changes can then be made.
2. In the advanced version, the LOAD FORM control button enables the use of an automated modeless data handling form. When the user is done, clicking SAVE and EXPORT causes the application to automatically re-open the source file ( or create it, if it not existing) and save the new salary records into it, with password added.
NEXT STEP: The user clicks the uses the PRINT SCHEDULE button and/or goes on to click the VIEW PAYSLIPS button, to open the payslips page, which has its own automation controls.
4. Below: Screenshot showing payslips generation page AFTER custom automation
Automated LOGO Addition to Payslips: A client hospital once called me in to further customise their copy of my Payslip Generator, to make it automatically insert the company's logo into EACH payslip, prior to printing. Apparently, some employees in trying to get travel visas, got told a company logo, was required for the payslips they provided, to be seen as authentic. I have added THAT logo insertion feature to THIS version(see screen shots above and below):
The client simply needs to adds 304px x 227 px JPEG version of their logo to the application's folder. Clicking the "ADD LOGO" button auto-inserts and resizes the logo to fit on EACH payslip generated. Clicking "DELETE LOGO" removes ALL the logos inserted.
I also added a more powerful user defined function (called Number to Letters) created by Pierre LeClerc, to WRITE the payable amount in WORDS. It replaces the SPELL user defined function used by SURIYA in his workbook. LeClerc's function offers more flexibility in dealing with payable salary amounts that include decimal places (see payslip above).
This version of my payslip generator caters for a company with 25 salaried persons. However, anyone with average familiarity with MS Excel, and indeed ANYONE who is willing to apply him/herself, can easily extend the worksheets and make formula changes, needed to get it to handle data for up to 200 or more salaried persons per month.
To be able to do any of the above, you will find it useful to study my tutorial in conjunction with that particular payslip format and salary schedule, included in the Payslip Formats Workbook.
5. Below: Screenshot showing a worksheet holding image/picture versions of payslips for 25 individual employees.
This is a single sheet workbook auto-created by the Payslip Generator, when the "EXPORT AS PICTURES" button on the payslip page(see above screenshot) is clicked.
The application actually creates picture versions of EACH payslip, to match the number of names added to the print list. If only one name is added, it generates just ONE payslip image. The payslips are always automatically laid out in ready-to-print format (2 per page). All the user needs to do is click PRINT.
Now, the best part is that since the payslips are produced as images, the dangers of data manipulation, or accidental changes to the payslip values, are virtually eliminated. This effectively minimises that issues of "data integrity" normally associated with using MS Excel to produce sensitive documents like payslips.
What If I Just Want To Buy A Good Payslip Generator(& Don't Want A Tutorial or Training)?
I realise YOU, the reader, could be someone who need application of the kind described above, but might not have the time, training or interest to learn to build one yourself. Then again, you could be the boss of someone who needs this kind of application - and are also possibly not keen to do it yourself.
If the foregoing apply to you, you can still benefit, by simply getting someone you know to be averagely familiar with MS Excel, to follow the steps described in this tutorial, and use it to create the application you want for you.
And if you are keen to save money or to NOT spend ANY, I propose you talk to a student, or your nephew or niece, who may be inclined to do this as a favour. Tell them they'll come away with massively enhance MS Excel know-how. It's true!
If you insist on buying, consider one of these options:
1. Do a Google search and you should come up with some good results - many likely to be free. I have found that at this "micro" level of needs, virtually every person (or company) has a preference in terms of salary information and/or payslip details they wish to capture or present. As a result, there is always a need to make changes to whatever one finds on the web - be it free or paid.
2. Alternatively, you can fill/submit my signup form, and then call me on 234-803-302-1263 to discuss your needs with me. 5 to 10 minutes should be adequate to steer you in the right direction. If it appeals to you, we could discuss customizing my existing apps for your use, or building one from scratch for your company.
In this tutorial, I aim to show you how you can build YOUR very own customisable MS Excel based Payslip Generator in a way that allows you to quickly, and conveniently make changes to accommodate new developments or future preferences. I will be demonstrating and explaining (via Audio Video clips) the time and cost saving techniques and worksheet design/layout logic that I use in building custom applications for my clients.
Specifically, you will gain access to :
1. Written step-by-step instructions with annotated screenshots
2. User-friendly audio-visual instruction videos like those available on my Youtube Channel.
3. Email support to address any requests you have, or clarifications you require.
4. The download link, to a FREE, fully functional copy of the Basic Version of my Payslip Generator ($170 USD), used by my clients since 2007*(Terms apply)
5. Explanations about the essential spreadsheet worksheet design and basic Excel application development principles/logic that I use. You will come away with a better understanding of why and how to layout your worksheets/interfaces for optimal user enhancement of user productivity. This will help you make more effective use of MS Excel in future. Consider the following TWO examples:
a. It's always a VERY good idea to leave some rows blank above and to the left of your spreadsheet data tables/content area. Failing to do that can create MAJOR challenges when you want to introduce automation or link reports etc. Do you know why that is so?
b. It's important to understand where your data entry interfaces and report preparation interfaces should be, relative to each other, in your workbook. Should they be on the same worksheet or on different ones? Many will argue for and against. The FACT is that best practice permits ONLY ONE of those two possible options. Do you know which one it is?
You will learn the why's and how's of the above and other relevant aspects from my tutorial.
Fill/submit THIS form, and then call 234-803-302-1263 for details of how to enroll for this tutorial series.
If you apply yourself diligently, and carry out the steps I show you in the tutorial, you WILL end up with a custom Payslip Generator built by YOU, to enhance your work performance.
Better still, you would actually be able to offer YOUR application to others, for FREE or a FEE. They would find it greatly flexible and adaptable, with minimal effort required on their part.
If you signup (click here) for details of how to enroll for this tutorial, you get to pay $25 (instead of $250) to purchase :
1. a workbook compilation of Six Different Payslip Formats
2. a limited version of my advanced Payslip Generator workbook (described above ) with automated data entry forms features de-activated (you'll be able to use it by making direct spreadsheet entries).
Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade - works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably.
Depending on his availability, Tayo accepts invitations to deliver customisable talks and keynote speeches (on Self-Development, Career Development, Best Practice/Workplace Performance Improvement, Getting Maximum Benefits From Spreadsheets, and Entrepreneuring) for an affordable fee. Visit http://www.tksola.com to learn more about how you can invite Tayo to speak to your group or organisation's members at your next meeting or retreat.
VIDEO : Advanced MS Excel-VB Driven Payslip Generator
The video demonstration below, of the latest ADVANCED version of my Custom Payslip Generator shows what is possible in terms of custom MS Excel automation of payslip preparation.
VIDEOS NOT UP YET: Sorry, but I'm having problems uploading the 2 videos. Should be able to get that done tomorrow. If you're reading THIS, and want to be notified when the videos are up, fill/submit the form above, and I'll send the links to you. - Tayo @ 9.45pm 29th Feb. 2012
- finally got ONE video up @ 9pm 8th Mar. 2012!! (Connectivity blues!!) - and the 2nd one on 30th March 2012...!!
2. BELOW: Screen shot of Automated Data Handling Form in another of the advanced versions of my Payslip Generator
About The Custom Automated Modeless Data Handling Forms I Create
It can be a headache to find one's way around a large data entry spreadsheet, even if it's report preparation interface is automated via formulas.
The custom built modeless data handling forms (with minimise buttons), that I build into ADVANCED versions of my applications, make crawling around a large data entry spreadsheet (no matter how large) totally unnecessary.
You simply click the relevant control on the form, make entries or changes into fields provided, and the application implements them immediately WITHOUT ERROR - again and again. When you are ready to print (salary schedule or payslip), save changes, export or import salary data and so on, the relevant buttons are also on the form.
Like I said, the tutorial I'm offering will NOT cover the use of form automation.
Tayo Solagbade’s Excel Heaven™ is the FIRST provider of Preprogrammed and Custom Spreadsheet based solutions in Nigeria.
We offer Workbook Auditing/Optimisation and VBA Automation; Custom Spreadsheet Software Development; Sales; Job-Based Spreadsheet Coaching; and Consulting/Advisory Services on effective application of spreadsheets for business use.
Call 234-803-302-1263 to find out how we can help you.
"(The General Accounts Manager) has been a tremendous improvement in our weekly and monthly report.. my Medical Director expressed his happiness when he saw the report...Mr. Tayo, I am impressed by your talent, you're thorough in your job, sincere and friendly with your client. Keep it up." - Rev. Mfon Inyang, Manager-Accounts, Med-In Specialist Hospital & pharmaceutical Company, Ogudu, Lagos.
My name is Tayo Solagbade. I work as a multipreneur, serving clients in different industries and lines of business, using a variety of skills.
As the opportunities appear in the market place, I leverage over fifteen (15) years of Spreadsheet Solutions Development experience, to help clients develop custom MS Excel Visual Basic(VB) driven application, for their company’s data handling and report generation.
My greatest strength is however NOT in my knowledge or mastery of MS Excel formulas, functions or VBA. Instead, it is my high aptitude for simplification of complex tasks, by providing intuitive graphical interfaces driven by intelligent, non-superfluous coding.
The Spreadsheet Automation achievements I recorded in - my spare time - as an employee in Guinness Nigeria (from when I was a trainee) helped me quickly achieve a high-flyer status over a 7 year period, fom 1995.
Departmental heads (Laboratory Service, Engineering Services Packaging) constantly demanded my help to automate their report generation and data handling.
This was especially after I successfully introduced similar automation in my brewing department, and while on secondment to Training Department.
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You will recall I earlier mentioned helping out my Utilities Manager colleague by automating his Engineering Services usage monitoring charts preparation.
Well, here's what he wrote (in part) to me via email from the new company - a multinational Oil Service company - he had resumed working for some months after my departure:
-----Starts-----
To:olufelatks@xxxxxx.com
Subject:WANT US TO MEET
Date:Wed, 26 Jun 2002 09:59:16 +0100
Hi Tayo,...my main reasons for my search for you are... to involve you in my new task of computerizing my departmental reports....I believe you have the competence to transform our reports having seen your Midas touches in Guinness.
The report will be in Excel spreadsheet, segmented into sheets but to be viewed and accessed by macro buttons. The report should be able to auto print and shows graphs. Presently, we have two mains Computerized Maintenance Systems from which some data need to be downloaded.
The report must be able to give quick predetermined checks for immediate management decisions. In pursuit of this goal, I want us to discuss and agree on the execution modalities and other things.
I am proposing to be in Lagos this weekend and wish to see you...Shola"
-----Ends-----
What made him so sure that I could help him? The answer is obvious: I had shown that I could deliver the kind of results he wanted in the past and he had witnessed it.
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Since becoming Self-Employed in 2002, I have created a niche market catering to the needs of clients (churches, hospital, audiologist, photography services, manufacturing companies, health and fitness clubs, hotels, health care data analysis consultants etc).
"(The Church Records Manager has) really helped me in the preparation of my monthly Accounts..(CB Solutions' service is okay. The personnel is always on ground whenever you call him and solution to problem is (provided) without delay or alteration of data"- Adebisi Folayan Finance & Admin Manager, Anglican Church Of The Ascension, Opebi, Lagos.
Subscribe to Tayo's Self-Development Digest (Published since June 2006) - Below
As an Excel-VB Solutions Developer, I'm a bit contrarian and unorthodox in my approach - and I have NO apologies for being that way.
My "style" has been influenced by the need adapt to serve clients in my unique socio-economic environment. The focus I maintain, is on helping clients develop applications that SOLVE their problems as quickly and efficiently as possible, in a manner that enables me to STAY profitable.
So, even though I have applied stuff I learnt from studying books like Professional Excel Development and others, I will in some cases be showing you my own unconventional methods that help ME deliver the results I need .
