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What Rules Control

Rules tell UpSheets how to convert imported timesheet rows into Xero timesheet lines. A rule can:
  • Match specific days or public holidays.
  • Apply to a time range, hour range, shift, day, week, or assessment period.
  • Use a multiple or rate per unit.
  • Create ordinary time, overtime, allowance, or break removal lines.
  • Use priority when more than one rule could apply.

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Base Rule

Each Smart Formula includes a base rule. The base rule is required and gives UpSheets the default pay item shape for the formula. The base rule uses Rate per unit. The rate can be left blank and set later when assigning the formula to employees.

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Ordinary Time

Use Ordinary Time rules for normal hours, penalties, and time-of-day rates. Ordinary time rules can be based on:
  • Days: For example, Monday to Friday or weekends.
  • Time periods: For example, 08:00 to 18:00.
  • Hour periods: For example, the first 7.6 hours of a shift.
  • Public holidays: When holidays are enabled in Smart Formula settings.

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Overtime

Use overtime rules when hours should move to a different pay item after a threshold.
  • Overtime (Daily): Applies when a shift or day passes a daily hour threshold.
  • Overtime (Weekly): Applies when the employee passes a weekly or assessment-period threshold.
The organisation’s Start Day / Period settings control how weekly and multi-week thresholds are assessed. Employee-level overrides can be enabled in Smart Formula Settings.

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Allowances

Allowance rules create allowance lines alongside the calculated timesheet lines. The editor supports:
  • Allowance (Time based): Hour, shift, day, and week allowances.
  • Allowance (Other): Broken or split shift, minimum engagement, top up, and manual allowances.
Allowances can be applied automatically during validation, or made manual so they are available to add after validation. See Assign Smart Formulas to Employees for automatic allowance controls. For RDO setups, use an ordinary time rule with the Accrue Leave modifier. See Rostered Days Off (RDO) for examples.

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Break Removal

Use Break Removal rules when breaks should be deducted automatically based on hours worked. Break removal supports:
  • Shift break: Deducts from individual shifts.
  • Day break: Deducts from the total hours worked in a day.
If your import file already contains break rows, configure Break Types in Smart Formula Settings instead. See Breaks for more detail.

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Days and Public Holidays

Rules can apply to selected weekdays. Public holiday rules can also be used when holidays are enabled. To use public holidays:
  1. Enable holidays in Smart Formula Settings.
  2. Set up the organisation’s holiday calendar.
  3. Assign the correct calendar to employees if more than one calendar is used.
See Public Holidays for the calendar setup.

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Periods and Modifiers

Rules can be based on time periods or hour ranges.
  • Time period: A start and end time, such as 08:00 to 18:00.
  • Hour range: A worked-hour range, such as 0 to 7.6 hours.
  • Minimum and maximum modifiers: Used when a rule should apply only to part of a shift or a limited number of hours.
  • Start or end period modifiers: Used when the whole shift should use a rate because the shift starts or ends in a particular period.
These settings are useful for penalties, overtime, minimum engagement, and rules where an entire shift changes rate because of a start or finish time.

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Rate Types

Rules can use:
  • Multiple: Applies a multiplier in Xero. This is recommended for most ordinary and overtime rules.
  • Rate per unit: Applies a fixed rate. If the value is left blank, it can be entered during assignment or updated later for the employee.
Some pay item settings are applied when UpSheets first creates a pay item in Xero. If a pay item with the same name already exists in Xero, update that pay item directly in Xero or rename the rule so UpSheets creates a new pay item. Award Library multiple lines include the multiple in the name (for example OT x1.5). Do not rename a line onto an existing Xero pay item name when the multiple or other non-updatable settings differ — save and publish are blocked until you keep a unique name (such as the xN suffix).

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Priority

Priority is used when two rules apply to the same line at the same time. A lower priority number wins over a higher number. In most setups, the default priority works. Set a specific priority when you need one rule to win over another for the same employee, day, and period. For ordinary time windows, a higher-priority period that sits inside a lower-priority period takes the overlapping hours. The lower-priority rule still applies outside that overlap. When two overlapping time windows share the same priority, the earliest start time wins and the overlap is not split.

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Test Rules Before Assigning

After editing rules, use Simulate Smart Formulas before publishing and assigning the formula to employees.