General Information

This information is specific to the Standard Employee Data Import (SEDI) files. Six separate import files allow specific information to be imported:

• Employee General Data Import

• Employee General Data with Benefits Administration

• Recurring Earnings & Deductions Import

• Direct Deposit Import

• Custom Fields Import

• Time Off Accrual Import

Only a comma delimited, .csv file with a file name of less than 256 characters, and a file size no larger than 15MB in size is allowed.

For the Employee General Information, Recurring Earnings & Deductions, Direct Deposit, and Time Off Accrual Imports, an asterisk (*) can be placed in the first position of any non-required field to delete the data in that field. If the asterisk is placed in any other position, it is considered an invalid character. The files must adhere exactly to the file specifications to import correctly.  

All SEDI files can process in a flexible import file layout. Columns in this file can be in any order and non-required columns can be left off entirely. The first row of the file must contain a header line identifying the column names the user would like to import. All column names must adhere to the column name provided in the specification sheet for that file type.

For the template of fields which can be included in each file along with their correct header values, refer to the template link in the overview for each file.

The following general rules apply to SEDI file types:

• The files are imported separately from the People Import function. When an uploaded file has a status of Ready to Process, it is on the Paychex server and ready to import.

• An Errors and Warnings Report generates each time an import is run to list any employee data rows not imported because mandatory information was missing, and fields not imported for existing employees because the data was invalid.

• The Errors and Warnings icondisplays when a file has a status of Completed with Warnings, Completed with Errors, or Failed. Clickto view a list of errors and warnings for the selected SEDI file.

• All records process in a file. All errors and warnings display when processing of the file is complete.

  • If the SEDI file import is completed with errors, warnings, or both, a Completed with Warnings, Completed with Errors, or Failed message displays. You can access the Import Error and Warnings Report for review.

  • If the SEDI file import process succeeds without errors or warnings, a Completed message displays.