What is Finch?

Background

Finch is a unified API that syncs payroll data into you. Instead of payroll admins having to manually send payroll information to you, and sending back updates to deductions, Finch manages the flow of data.

• Three main products Finch uses to power this data flow:

  • Organization

  • Payroll

  • Deductions

• Finch is the data connector. Your company manages what data is pulled and what data is sent back into payroll.

Process

• Admin goes through Finch Connect to establish link

  • if more than just entering credentials, instructions will show in right pop-out

• Connection will sync initial data, then on the scheduled cadence moving forward

  • Finch dashboard shows the ongoing status

• Updates from payroll are synced into Finch on a regular cadence, that are then used by you

• Updates to enrollments/deductions are pushed from you to Finch, then into the payroll platform

Types of Connections

Automated:

• Data is pulled from payroll into Finch every 24 hours, deductions are updated every 12 hours

• Connection should be established and synced within 24 hours

Assisted:

• Some payroll providers either do not have APIs or we do not support yet, so our Assisted connections bridge that gap

  • connection status should update in 1 business day from Pending

  • Organization/Payroll data is synced every 7 days

  • Deductions take 2 business days to update

• Usually requires the creation of an accountant account

  • Our team monitors automatically, can take a few days to be created

  • Use the dashboard/webhooks to monitor status updates (webhooks would be for engineering to monitor)

Overall timeline:

1. Connection is made

   1. if Assisted, 1 business day to confirm set up

2. Initial Sync

   1. Happens right after the connection is confirmed

   2. Assisted - up to 14 day SLA (not business days, and usually sooner)

3. Send enrollments for new benefits

   1. Make sure step 2 is done prior to this

   2. Assisted - 2 business day SLA

4. See benefits in payroll

   1. can be monitored by your engineering team when enrollment job is complete

Finch Dashboard

• Connection tab - live connections

• Connection page - per connection

  • Authentication progress

  • connection status

    • Connected: data syncing

    • Pending: setup in process

    • Error - No Accountant Setup: no external user made in payroll to support the data syncing. Requires update from customer to resolve.

    • Error - Permissions: external user made in payroll is missing required permission to data needed to sync. Requires update from customer to resolve.

• Integrations tab - configure which payroll providers customers will see

Best Practices

How to get help

1. Check internal resources

2. Ask the Finch Project lead to clarify

3. Reach out to support

   1. On Slack, tag @FinchSupport or use 🎫 (without this, our support team is not notified)

   2. Email developers@tryfinch.com

   3. When creating a ticket, please include the following when possible:

      1. Issue:

         1. Details about the issue, urgency, and what you would like Finch to solve.

      2. Connection Details (if applicable):

         1. Connection ID or Company ID

         2. Customer Name

      3. Additional Information that would be helpful if available/applicable:

         1. Individual ID/Payment ID

         2. Job ID

         3. Request ID (API requests related issues)

         4. Session ID (Finch Connect related issues)

         5. Effective dates of enrollment requests

         6. Screenshots

Note: We can join customer calls on a case by case basis, but prior coordination and context is required.

Permissions Best Practices

• Have payroll admin connect with plenty of time for configuration period prior to first intended pay run

  • clearly communicate timeframe expectations from first sync and deduction updates moving forward

• Use Finch dashboard as source of truth for connection status

• Ensure admin at employer has admin rights

• Follow all pieces of the instructions when setting up accounts. Stress the importance and consequences of missing permissions to admins so they pay careful attention and don't miss any steps, especially for the more specific providers

  • e.g. UKG Ready, UKG Pro:

    • API-based provider for organization and payroll. Requires 2 users for some use cases.

    • 1) Service User (read) AND 2) external admin for deductions (write)

Pre-Launch Checklist

Step by step guide for confirming a new customer is ready to launch live with Finch enabled:

1. Connection status on Finch Dashboard

   1. check with SLAs depending on type of connection

2. Admin Permissions

   1. refer to Authentication Guides, especially for new providers

   2. leverage connection status, if error reach out to employer

3. Field support for required fields is validated for the provider in the Field Support or Providers and Fields spreadsheet

4. Effective dates are set to be prior to the first pay date

Client Communication

These prompts are to help you think through how you want to communicate and plan for using Finch internally and externally.

Pre-sales:

1. Where in the sales process is Finch being positioned?

2. What expectations are set for timing and requirements for using the Finch integration?

Post-sales:

1. Who will use the Finch Dashboard to resolve connection issues?

2. How are new and existing customers onboarded to Finch?

3. How are expectations set for timing of data syncs?

4. How do clients know the cutoff for deduction updates prior to running payroll?

Collateral

1. What materials explain how employer data is handled?

2. What customer-facing assets are needed to promote and support the Finch integration?

3. What internal resources do you have to reference how Finch has been implemented (i.e. how your company interacts with Finch)?

Common Questions:

• Is this connection ready and syncing?

  • Check the Finch Dashboard for the connection status and last synced date

  • Use the jobs endpoint to monitor statuses

• When can we start sending in updates for enrollments and benefits?

  • Benefits requests should not be sent until:

    • Connection status shows as connected on Finch Dashboard

      • for Assisted connections, the accountant account must be set up

    • Initial data sync is complete

      • this can be seen from the Last Sync column on the Finch Dashboard

• What do customers need to do to set up with Finch?

  • Go through Finch Connect, follow set up instructions

• How does iSolved work with Finch?

  • Finch provides instructions to set up an external user in the iSolved account. This is the equivalent of adding a bookkeeper or accountant, but requires an iSolved representative to create the user for Finch to use.

• Why aren't the deductions showing in payroll?

  • Confirm when the changes were made, was it prior to payroll being processed and the update time SLA (i.e. should have a cut off at least 2 days prior to payroll being run for deductions to show)

  • Check the effective date - Finch will add deductions based on the effective date set by your engineering team. If that is in the future, the effective date will prevent the deduction from showing on payroll.

• X data looks different than expected

  • does Finch have the right access to payroll? If data is missing from our user, we will not be able to pull for your team to access

  • If numbers do not match, reach out to Finch support

Resources to Reference:

Finch Points of Contact:

Finch Support - day to day help (see Get Support article below) support team to help troubleshoot

Get Support - includes methods for reaching support, fields to include in requests, and support hours

Provider Network - reference guide for provider sync times (and which providers are Automated/Assisted connections)

Authentication Guides - documents per payroll provider for what is needed to set up with Finch

Help Center

API Reference

Recommended Next Steps:

1. Designate Finch Lead

   1. Confirm internally how issues will be clarified with this person

2. Refresh internal resources

3. Fill out Providers and Fields spreadsheet to reference internally

4. Discuss the Client Communication prompts to clarify process/best practices

5. Establish pre-launch checklist