What AI can see
AI can see employee names and hours only. It cannot see pay, tax, PPSN or bank details.
Payroll Manager uses AI to read paper timesheets and to help with spreadsheets of hours. AI is off for a client until the payroll bureau switches it on, after agreeing it with the client. Everything stays in the European Union, and nothing you send is used to train AI models.
What each feature sends
| Feature | AI receives | AI never receives |
|---|---|---|
| Timesheet scan | The photo of the timesheet, the first and last names of the people expected in the pay period, and the period dates | Pay rates, amounts, tax, PPS numbers, bank details, addresses, employee IDs |
| Import help (spreadsheets of hours) | The column names of your file and up to 5 example values from columns that look like names, dates or hours. PPS numbers, bank account numbers and money amounts are replaced with [redacted] before sending. |
All the other cells of your file |
| Assistant (planned) | Names, hours per pay period, the period status and the deadline for hours | Calculations, payslips, Revenue and MyFutureFund data, bank files |
Every screen with an AI feature shows a short note with What AI sees and never sees.
A person always confirms
- AI only suggests. Rows the AI is unsure about are shown first, marked Check, next to the part of the photo they come from. Rows it is sure about are marked Sure, and you can still change them.
- Nothing is paid until a person confirms it. The hours go into the payroll only after someone at the client or the bureau saves them.
- AI never submits or approves anything. It sends nothing to Revenue or MyFutureFund and cannot approve a payroll.
- Names it doesn't know are flagged (New person or Unclear name) for a person to sort out. AI never adds an employee.
See Hours and timesheets (bureau) and Photograph a paper timesheet (Employer app).
Only names and hours are read
AI reads names and hours from the photo. If something else is written on the sheet, such as a PPS number, the AI may see it in the photo, but it is not read into Payroll Manager.
Where it runs and who sees the photo
- Where: Amazon Bedrock in the EU (Ireland), through Payroll Manager's own servers in Germany. Photos are stored encrypted in the EU.
- Who sees the photo: people at the client with access to hours, and the payroll bureau.
- How long photos are kept: as long as the payroll records for that pay period, unless the bureau has set a different period.
Turn AI on or off
The bureau chooses it per client: in the Add employer wizard (step 4) or later in the client's settings. See Client settings. When AI is off, timesheets and spreadsheets can still be entered by hand or imported with a saved layout.
Questions
Clients: ask your payroll bureau. Bureaus: contact Payroll Manager support.