Pay Cat Toolbox Guide

 

This article explains how to set up and use the Pay Cat Toolbox Google Sheets™ extension.

 

Pay Cat created the Pay Cat Toolbox Google Sheets™ extension to make common Pay Cat payroll, reporting, timesheet, accounting, redundancy, and Portable Long Service Leave workflows easier to run from a spreadsheet.

This tool can be used to:

- Update employee details in Pay Cat from a Google Sheet™

- Prepare source timesheets in a Pay Cat-ready format

- Generate salaried hours and classification reports

- Run file reviewer checks before implementation or payroll processing

- Generate redundancy worksheets

- Generate wage accrual reports for accounting

- Generate Portable Long Service Leave reports and supporting worksheets

- Assess SCHADS employees for 5-week annual leave eligibility

- Generate travel time timesheets during eligible gaps

- De-Overlap existing passive and active timesheets 

 Before you begin:

You will need to have already installed the Google Sheets™ extension. You will also need an Pay Cat API key with access to the relevant business file.

 

Instructions:

1. Open any Google Sheet™ and go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox.Toolbox spreadsheet - step 1

2. Enter your Pay Cat API key and select the relevant business file through the Pay Cat Settings menu.

Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Pay Cat Settings > Set API Key and paste your API key into the prompt.

Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Pay Cat Settings > Select Pay Cat Business and select the business you want to use.

Toolbox spreadsheet step 2 API Key

3. If you want to see the available toolbox options from inside the sheet, open the built-in read me.
Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Show Read Me.

Toolbox spreadsheet step 3 show read me


4. Select the toolbox item you want to run from the menu. The main menu sections are:

  • Pay Cat Settings for API key setup, business selection, and Toolbox subscription upgrade review.
  • Employee for Employee Updater.
  • Payroll for Salaried Hours Report, Portable LSL Report, Redundancy Template, and File Reviewer.
  • Accounting for Wage Accrual Report.
  • SCHADS for Quantum of Leave Report and Classification Report.
  • Time and Attendance for Timesheet Shaper and post-import timesheet tools.
  • Organise Sheets for grouping and colour-coding generated sheets by feature.

 

 

Employee Updater

What it does: Quickly and easily drop your employees into a Google Sheets™, make bulk record changes, and push those changes back into Pay Cat without leaving the spreadsheet. This avoids the common export and re-import issues that come with manual bulk updates.

1. To update employee details, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Employee > Employee Updater > Open.

2.  Select whether to list active employees only, tick the employee fields you want to include, and click Get Data.

This will create an Employee Updater: Data tab. Update the values in that tab, then click Update Data from the Employee Updater sidebar.

3. Review the Employee Updater: Log tab after the update finishes.

 

 Note:

If the selected Pay Cat business appears to be connected to an Employment Hero HR file, the Employee Updater will show a warning before fetching or updating employee data. In that case, employee profiles should usually be managed in Employment Hero HR because HR is the source of truth.


 
Timesheet Shaper

What it does: Takes a range of generic timesheet formats and reshapes them into Pay Cat import-ready timesheets, saving hours of manual work. It includes error handling for issues such as overlapping shifts and handles common scenarios like sleepovers and kilometre shifts, which is especially useful when using a CRM without a dedicated Pay Cat integration.

1. To prepare timesheets, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheet Shaper > Create source sheet.

This will create the sheet Timesheet Shaper: Source Timesheets. Paste your timesheets for shaping into this sheet.

2. If needed, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheet Shaper > Show source sheet instructions.

3. Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheet Shaper > Map columns for active sheet.

Here you can map your source columns to the relevant Pay Cat fields. The minimum required fields are:

  • Employee ID
  • Either Start Time and End Time, or a combined Start and End Time field

4. If the timesheets include kilometres or sleepovers, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheet Shaper > Settings.

5. Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheet Shaper > Generate Import.

This will create a Timesheet Shaper: Pay Cat Import tab containing the formatted timesheets and any issue flags.

6. Once there are no issues, use the shaped timesheets and import them to Pay Cat using the custom file upload method.

Note: 

Review the import tab before importing or posting timesheets. Fix any rows with issues in the source data, then reshape the sheet again.

 

Salaried Hours Report

What it does: Breaks salaried employees down into salary hours, leave, and leave without pay, then compares those figures to contracted hours. This is useful for exception reporting where salaried staff are rostered onto participant shifts.

1. To generate a salaried hours report, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > Salaried Hours Report > Generate Report.
2. Choose whether to report on a single pay run or a date range, then click Generate Report.


 
Classifications Report

What it does: Shows how many hours and days an employee has spent at a particular classification. This helps identify when employees may need to graduate between levels and pay points that require total hours worked, such as SCHADS Level 1 Pay Point 1 to Pay Point 2.

1. To run the classification report, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > SCHADS > Classification Report > Generate Report.

The toolbox will create a Classification: Report tab and, where relevant, a Classification: Diagnostics tab.


 
File Reviewer

What it does: Reviews a Paycat business file and highlights setup risks before you run payroll or complete an implementation. It produces a summary plus detailed result tabs for common red flags, helping you know what to fix before those issues become pay run problems.

1. To run the file reviewer, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > File Reviewer > Review File.


2. Select the review areas you want included, then click Review File.

3. Review the File Review: Summary tab first, then work through any File Review: Results tabs that were created.

4. Fix any failed or please-review items in Pay Cat. You can open the links provided in the File Review Summary tab to make the relevant adjustments, then run the review again if needed.

 

 
Redundancy Template

What it does: Automatically calculates redundancy payments based on employee age, tenure, and the termination circumstances you enter. It helps calculate ATO reporting, tax, and super treatment, and pre-populates details from the employee record.

1. To generate a redundancy template, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > Redundancy Template > Generate Template.


2. Select the financial year, confirm whether notice has been provided, enter the severance weeks, enter any other genuine redundancy payment amount, then select the employee.

3. To generate the HR worksheet, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > Redundancy Template > Generate HR Worksheet.


Wage Accrual

What it does: Calculates the true value of unpaid wages at the end of a month or year for reporting purposes. It includes accurate timesheet costings and pro-rated salaries so period-end accounting journals can be posted more efficiently.

1. To generate a wage accrual report, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Accounting > Wage Accrual Report > Generate Report.


2. Enter the month you want to report on in YYYY-MM format. The toolbox will create:

    • Wage Accrual: Pay Schedule Details
    • Wage Accrual: Raw Report
    • Wage Accrual: Consolidated Report



Portable LSL Report

What it does: Lets you nominate pay categories and generate Portable Long Service Leave reports ready for upload to the relevant state bodies. Pay category selections are preserved from month to month, so there is no rework required each reporting period.

  1. To generate a Portable Long Service Leave report, first go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > Portable LSL Report > Generate Pay Category Selection.
  2. Select the Portable Long Service Leave scheme and industry, then generate the selection sheet.
  3. Review the PLSL: Pay Categories tab and tick the pay categories that should be included.
  4. Then go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Payroll > Portable LSL Report > Generate Report.
  5. Confirm the remaining report settings, including date range, terminated employee setting, leave allowance template setting, and earning location setting where available.
 
Quantum of Leave Report

What it does: Identifies when SCHADS employees may be ready for the extra week of annual leave based on historic shifts worked against SCHADS Award criteria. It checks finalised pay run earnings for weekend work and 24 Hour Care shifts, then produces an action list and reassessment tracking sheets.

1. Confirm the correct Pay Cat business is selected under Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Pay Cat Settings > Select Pay Cat Business.
 
2. Go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > SCHADS > Quantum of Leave Report > Run assessment.
 
3. Review the SCHADS 5 Week AL: Action List tab for employees whose annual leave accrual rule may need to change.
 
4. Use the SCHADS 5 Week AL: Reassessment Dates tab to track employees placed on 5-week accrual for future reassessment.

 

 

Timesheet De-Overlapper

What it does: Reviews imported timesheets and finds sleepover or passive time that overlaps active work. It can preview or apply updates that trim, split, or delete passive timesheets where they overlap active time.

  1. Set the date range by going to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Timesheet De-Overlapper > Settings.
  2. Enter the from date and to date.
  3. Preview the changes by going to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Timesheet De-Overlapper > Preview De-Overlapped Timesheets.

This creates a Timesheet Post Import: De-overlap Results tab.

  1. Review the results. The preview shows whether each affected passive timesheet would be updated, split, or deleted.
  2. To apply the changes in Pay Cat, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Timesheet De-Overlapper > Import De-Overlapped Timesheets.
Travel Time Generator

What it does: Finds eligible gaps between existing shifts and generates travel time timesheets after the main timesheets have been imported.

  1. Configure the generator by going to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Travel Time Generator > Settings.
  2. Enter the report date range.
  3. Select the work type to use for generated travel time.
  4. Set the minimum and maximum gap to fill, in minutes.
  5. Choose the location rule. Options include:
    • First Shift Location
    • Last Shift Location
    • Employee Default Location
    • Selected Default Location
  6. Choose whether generated timesheets should be Approved or Submitted.
  7. Choose whether to only fill gaps that start and end on the same day.
  8. Preview the generated timesheets by going to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Travel Time Generator > Preview Travel Timesheets.

This creates a Travel Time Generator: Preview tab.

  1. Review the preview sheet.
  2. To create the timesheets in Pay Cat, go to Extensions > Pay Cat Toolbox > Time and Attendance > Timesheets - Post Import > Travel Time Generator > Post Travel Timesheets.

 

Note:

The generator avoids duplicates where a matching generated travel time line already exists. It does not replace existing timesheets.

 

 

 

 Note:

 If you get an error saying that no business is selected, return to step 2 and select the Pay Cat business again.

Note:

Before running a large employee update, make a copy of the spreadsheet or duplicate the generated data tab.

Note:

 If Pay Cat Toolbox is missing from the Extensions menu, refresh the Google Sheets™ and wait for the extension to load.

 


Last Updated: 20 August 2026