Shared payroll inbox and unresolved-inquiry tracker sheet — "Pay corrections miss the next run because the inquiry never reached the register"
Why the manual spreadsheet breaks financial controls and how a deterministic workflow replaces it.
Payroll inquiries sit in a shared inbox and a tracker sheet that do not write back to the pay register, so a correction is typed only if someone remembers the ticket before lock.
Pay corrections miss the next run because the inquiry never reached the register, and the employee is told the amount is already final.
Inquiry ticket state machine that opens a register patch for the referenced employee and period and blocks lock while an approved correction is still unapplied.
Inquiry assertion: a pay run cannot lock while an approved payroll inquiry for that period lacks a register patch with the same employee, component, and amount.
Three-stage comparison between manual workbook reconciliation and automated rule-based execution.
Payroll questions live in email; the pay register is already treated as final.
Pay corrections miss the next run because the inquiry never reached the register.
An approved inquiry is a patch; lock waits for it.
A pay run cannot lock while an approved inquiry lacks a matching register patch.
Adjacent spreadsheet failure modes in the same APQC Category 9 process group.
Payroll tax-plan workbook and quarterly withholding forecast
Year-end W-2 compilation workbook and payroll register export
HR W-4 change log and payroll tax withholding override sheet
Scope the replacement architecture for manual tracking of employee payroll inquiry tickets or combine multiple failure modes in the directory.
