In many environments we want to impose an order to key operations in the payroll. When this is done, we can delegate the operation to a less experienced person and still be assured that the job gets done correctly. The Payroll provides a flexible Run Control mechanism. The steps we want run are defined for a Department in the order we want them run. This can include steps that are not done on the computer. The series does not have to include every programmed step, only the key ones for control. Other payroll functions can be added at will.
When a function that is set up for Run Control is run, it looks for an entry in the Run Control series. If it finds one it updates the Status and notes the date. When a function is set up to be controlled, it first checks the series to see if it is appropriate for it to run. The function must be in the series or the control is ignored. All preceding steps must be completed before the controlled function will run. In some cases a function will only be allowed to be run once in a control series. The design of the Run Control support is such that it could drive a fully prompted payroll run.