01
The award is applied approximately
Payroll configuration encodes someone's interpretation from years ago. Classifications drift, rates age, edge cases fall through — and the system keeps paying confidently.
Solutions / Payroll Governance
Catch payroll issues before they become payroll problems
Smartta runs shadow wage validation against encoded award rules before payroll export — catching underpayments, misapplied rates, and edge cases while they cost minutes to fix, and recording proof of every check.
122+ Modern Awards encoded · checked every cycle, every worker · evidence behind every check
The problem
Payroll errors begin before payroll — and surface long after
The pay run executes whatever it's given: the classification set three years ago, the rate table nobody re-checked, the award clause the configuration approximates. Errors don't announce themselves — they compound.
02
Underpayment compounds silently
Every cycle multiplies the exposure. With intentional underpayment now a criminal offence, "we didn't know" depends on proving you checked — every worker, every cycle.
03
Pay questions take days to answer
A dispute, an audit, or a Fair Work query means rebuilding the calculation by hand — rates, hours, penalties, rules — per employee, per period.
Shadow validation
A second, independent opinion on every pay line
Before the run, Smartta replays the pay period through its own encoded, expert-validated award rules and compares the result to what payroll is about to pay:
- Violations with the clause attached — expected 2.5×, paying 1.0×, $127.50 impact, award reference cited.
- Pass, flag, or gate before export — clean lines pass silently; discrepancies route for review with the fix; high-risk lines hold.
- Evidence written per check — which rule version, which inputs, what result — the "we checked" record that a good-faith position depends on.
Payroll Governance View
Pre-run
Roster-to-time variance
12 flagged
Unmapped pay input
3 high risk
Policy validation
Running
Evidence readiness
Strong
Compliance Dashboard
Run compliance checks against any Modern Award — before issues become liabilities
Smartta evaluates every timesheet entry against award conditions in real time. Span limits, break obligations, penalty triggers, weekly overtime thresholds — all checked, all traceable, all with clause-level citations.
Compliance Dashboard
MA000010 — Manufacturing Award
Tenant Timesheets
Scenarios / Paste JSON
▼ Scenario Templates
Compliant Standard Week
Mon–Fri, 8h/day with 30min lunch break. No compliance issues expected.
Non-Compliant Week
5 x 12h shifts, no breaks, Saturday included. Expect: break violations, weekly OT, span exceeded.
Rest Breach Scenario
Evening shift followed by early morning shift with only 8h gap. Expect: rest breach detection.
Casual Weekend Roster
Saturday + Sunday casual shifts, 3h each. Tests: casual loading, weekend penalties, min engagement.
Long Week with Weekly OT
Mon–Sat, escalating hours (8h to 12h). Expect: weekly OT after 38h, break violations on long days.
Mixed Employment Types
Full-time Mon–Fri + casual Sat/Sun. Tests: per-employee separation, different penalty structures.
▶ Entries JSON 6 entries
| # | Date | Day | Time | Hours | Break | Gap | Class | Type | Issues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03-29 | Mon | 09:00–17:30 | 8.0h | 30m | – | MA000010_C14 | FT | ok |
| 2 | 03-30 | Tue | 09:00–17:30 | 8.0h | 30m | 15.5h | MA000010_C14 | FT | ok |
| 3 | 03-31 | Wed | 08:00–18:30 | 10.0h | 30m | 14.5h | MA000010_C14 | FT | ok |
| 4 | 04-01 | Thu | 07:00–19:30 | 12.0h | 30m | 12.5h | MA000010_C14 | FT | span exceeded |
| 5 | 04-02 | Fri | 07:00–19:30 | 12.0h | 30m | 11.5h | MA000010_C14 | FT | span exceeded |
| 6 | 04-03 | Sat | 08:00–14:00 | 6.0h | — | 12.5h | MA000010_C14 | FT | break compliance weekly ot exceeded |
Compliance Engine
▶ Run Compliance Scan
from pasted JSON
4
Issues Found
0
High / Critical
3
Warnings
3
Clean Entries
▼ Issues 4
| Entry | Issue | Severity | Details | Clause |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry 4 | span exceeded | warning | 12.5h span exceeds 12h max | Clause 36.1 – Maximum Span |
| Entry 5 | span exceeded | warning | 12.5h span exceeds 12h max | Clause 36.1 – Maximum Span |
| Entry 6 | break compliance | warning | 6h without break (max 5h) | Clause 18, Clause 33 – Breaks |
| Entry 6 | weekly ot exceeded | info | 40h prior + this shift exceeds 38h weekly threshold | Clause 37 – Overtime |
Scanned 6 entries in 221ms | Award: MA000010 Manufacturing
What's at stake
An underpayment caught pre-run is a fix. Caught by the regulator, it's a finding.
The difference between those two outcomes is whether anything checked the pay line before it was paid — and whether you can prove it. With shadow validation running:
For payroll teams
Discrepancies arrive before export with the clause and the fix attached — not in next month's reconciliation.
For leaders
A standing answer to "are we paying people correctly?" — checked every cycle, not asserted.
For compliance & review
The full check history per worker, per period — the good-faith record, already assembled.
Payroll workflows
Want to see where payroll drift begins in your environment?
We can show how Smartta connects upstream workforce systems and surfaces pay risk before it reaches the payroll run.