Run a pay period
New period, Generate, review, Approve, Export — and why an approved period's numbers never change again.
2 min readUpdated August 15, 2026OwnersIncluded from Starter
It's the end of the fortnight. The sales are closed, the tips are on them, the time cards are in — payroll's job is to turn two weeks of activity into a number per person you're willing to stand behind.
The five steps
- 1
On Payroll, press New period. The dialog offers This pay period and Last pay period as chips built from your pay schedule — one press instead of two date fields.
- 2
Press Generate. RewireBox computes the report from the period's sales, tips, time cards and adjustments. It's a snapshot, not a live feed — and that's deliberate: Re-generate recomputes the lot, as often as you like, until you approve.
- 3
Review. The screen points at what needs you: a banner lists days where someone had appointments but no time card, with an Add card button per day; a red No comp rule — fix flag marks anyone paid $0.00 for want of a setting; staff with no activity are named below the table rather than silently dropped. Rows expand to a day-by-day breakdown when a total needs explaining.
- 4
Add what the sales can't know. Add adjustment records a bonus, a reimbursement or a correction against a person and a date — or type it into the bar ("give Andre a $200 bonus for last Saturday's wedding party") and let it draft the entry for you to confirm. Then Re-generate, so the report absorbs it.
- 5
Press Approve, then export — a provider-shaped file from Export to…, or Download report as CSV, JSON, PDF or Excel. The period's status walks Reviewing → Approved → Exported on the landing page.
Prefer being led? Close period runs the same steps as a wizard and shows you which one you're on.
Approved means finished
Approval freezes the report. From that moment it is the paystub of record — what your team was told, what your provider was sent — and nothing edits it, including you.
Found a mistake later? Press Reverse on the adjustment: RewireBox writes an equal-and-opposite correction into an open period and labels both sides of the pair. This period's report shows a Reversed chip; the open period shows the Correction. The mistake stays visible, the fix stays visible, and no number ever changes behind anyone's back. The demo salon's current period carries exactly this: a −$150.00 correction for a bonus that was entered twice a period ago.
Common questions
I added a bonus and it isn't on the report.
The report is a snapshot. Press Re-generate and it recomputes everything, your bonus included. Until a period is approved you can re-generate as often as you like.
Can I edit an approved period?
No — its money never changes, and that's what makes it trustworthy. Press Reverse on the adjustment that's wrong: an equal-and-opposite correction lands in an open period, and the pair stays linked and labelled on both sides.
What do the flags on rows mean?
"No comp rule — fix" means someone worked but has no compensation rule — the link takes you to their staff page. "No services or products" marks a row that's hours, tips or adjustments only. Staff with no activity at all are named below the table instead of padding it.
What's the difference between Approve and Export?
Approve freezes the numbers — after it, the report is the permanent record. Export produces the file for your provider and can be repeated; every export is listed on the period.
Who can run payroll?
Running periods is owner work by default. Managers can read the report and manage adjustments, but generate, approve and export sit with the owner.
Related articles
- How pay is worked outPayroll · Commission, hourly, salary, tips — the maths behind the payroll report, and the line between what RewireBox computes and what your provider does.
- Tips and tip poolsPayroll · Where a tip goes after checkout, why cash tips aren't paid twice, and how a pool splits across the team by a rule you set once.
- Sending it to your payroll providerPayroll · Map the report's columns to your provider's headers once, then every period exports as a file they can ingest — taxes stay their job.
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Book a 20-minute walkthrough and we’ll answer it on a screen share — or start free and try it on your own salon’s data.