Setup Bi-Weekly or Semi-Monthly Pay

Some customers require a payroll schedule other than the traditional weekly process. This article covers how to configure BiWeekly and SemiMonthly payroll at the customer level, explains how each pay period type behaves in the system, and provides examples to help you set up and manage each correctly.

On This Page
→ Configure Pay Period & Pay Cycle	→ Job Order Configuration (Integrated Clients)
→ Determining Your Pay Cycle Number	→ Pay Period & Pay Cycle Reference
→ BiWeekly Pay Cycle	→ SemiMonthly Pay Cycle
→ Troubleshooting

Configure Pay Period & Pay Cycle

Pay Period and Pay Cycle are set at the Customer level in Sales & Service. Both fields should also be configured at the Job/Order level to match.

Note: Pay Period and Pay Cycle should be set at the Job/Order level to match the customer configuration. Mismatched settings can affect tax withholding calculations.

1. Go to the Customer record.
2. Click the Sales & Service tab.
3. Locate the Pay Period and Pay Cycle fields in the Payroll section.
4. Select the appropriate Pay Period and Pay Cycle for this customer.
5. Press the Tab key to move to another field and save your changes.

Job Order Configuration (Integrated Clients)

If your organization uses AviontéBOLD integrated with Classic Back Office, you must also update the Pay Period on all current and future job orders in AviontéBOLD. Clients who do not use AviontéBOLD can skip this section.

1. Navigate to all current and future job orders in AviontéBOLD.
2. Update the Pay Period field to BiWeekly in the Operations & Financials widget of the Job Details screen.

Determining Your Pay Cycle Number

When configuring BiWeekly pay, the Pay Cycle field (1 or 2) must match the current cycle in your accounting period. Use the steps below to look up the correct number before entering it in the Customer record.

1. Navigate to Time Entry.
2. Select the Actions dropdown.
3. Select Open Accounting Period.

1. The number shown in the BiWeekly column indicates the current Pay Cycle number.
2. Enter this number in the Pay Cycle field on the Customer record.

Pay Period & Pay Cycle Reference

The Pay Cycle options available change based on the Pay Period selected. The table below outlines the available Pay Cycle values for each Pay Period type.

Pay Period	Pay Cycle Options	Notes
BiWeekly	1, 2	Select the first or second week of the pay period that you want to distribute checks for. See BiWeekly Pay Cycle below for details and examples.
Daily	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.
Hourly	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.
Monthly	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Select the number of the week in that month that you want to pay for. Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.
SemiMonthly	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Unlike BiWeekly, these options do not suppress transactions during off-cycle weeks — all time entry flows into every payroll batch. See SemiMonthly Pay Cycle below for details. Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.
Weekly	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.
Yearly	1, 2, 3, 4, Last Week	Last Week adds transactions to the Accounting Period that contains the last day of the month.

BiWeekly Pay Cycle

BiWeekly payroll distributes checks every two weeks. The Pay Cycle field (1 or 2) tells the system which week is the designated pay week — this acts as a gate that holds transactions during the off-cycle week and releases them on the configured pay week.

Note: Always generate time for each week when paying BiWeekly — even in weeks where the employee is not receiving a check. The system pulls transactions from the past two weeks on the week the employee is being paid.

Example — August 2021

The calendar and grid below use August 2021 to illustrate how Pay Cycle selection affects when Payroll and Billing are processed each week for both BiWeekly and Monthly pay periods.

The grid shows how Payroll and Billing fall across each week of August 2021 depending on whether the Pay Period is BiWeekly or Monthly, and which Billing Cycle (1–4 or Last Week) is selected.

Using Pay Cycle = 2 as an example:

• Cycle 1 week (off-cycle): Time entry is generated and imported as normal. No checks are distributed. Transactions are held for the following week.
• Cycle 2 week (pay week): Time entry is generated. Payroll runs and checks are distributed for both weeks combined.

Note: The same logic applies for Pay Cycle = 1 — payroll distributes on Week 1 and Week 2 is the off-cycle accumulation week. The calendar pattern simply reverses.

Note: Invoicing done in an off-cycle week does not change the invoicing process. Invoices are pushed to the next billing week and billed together. For example, if Billing Cycle = 2: Week 1 invoices are pushed to Week 2, and Week 2 invoices are created for both weeks combined.

SemiMonthly Pay Cycle

SemiMonthly payroll is designed to pay employees twice per calendar month — typically aligned to the 1st–15th and 16th–last day of the month.

SemiMonthly behaves differently from BiWeekly in one important way: there is no pay week assignment. With BiWeekly, the Pay Cycle setting (1 or 2) gates which transactions appear in a payroll batch — off-cycle week transactions are held. With SemiMonthly, no such gate exists. Any time entry that exists in the system will flow into every payroll batch.

Note: If SemiMonthly transactions are appearing in every payroll batch, that is expected behavior. Manage this through time entry workflow, not Pay Cycle settings.

Recommended Workflow

Because the system does not suppress transactions between pay dates, managing what is in time entry before running a batch is essential to accurate payroll.

• Only generate and import time for the pay period you are actively processing (for example, 1st–15th or 16th–31st — not both at once).
• Process payroll twice per month aligned to your defined pay period dates.
• Confirm your Accounting Period end dates are configured to support your semi-monthly check dates.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Resolution
Customer was recently changed from Weekly to BiWeekly and payroll is not calculating as expected.	Finish the current billing and payroll cycle before the system recalculates to the new pay frequency.
One assignment is following the new pay cycle but others for the same customer are not.	Pay cycle changes only apply to assignments that have been updated. Verify all relevant assignments and orders are aligned to the new configuration.
SemiMonthly transactions are appearing in every payroll batch.	This is expected behavior. See the SemiMonthly Pay Cycle section above and manage through time entry workflow.
Taxes appear to calculate incorrectly after a pay frequency change.	Confirm Pay Period is set at both the Customer and Job/Order level. A mismatch between these records can cause the system to calculate withholding using the wrong frequency. See Federal Withholding FAQs for more information.

Related Articles:

• Setup BiWeekly or Monthly Invoicing – Aviontè Classic
• Customer Sales & Service – Aviontè Classic
• Federal Withholding FAQs – Aviontè Classic