Payroll Export for Fabrication Shops — ADP, Gusto, QuickBooks

FabWise exports your approved pay period time records to your payroll provider in their expected format. Workers clock in and out throughout the week; the admin approves the period on Friday; the export file goes to ADP, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, or your custom CSV importer. Your payroll provider handles overtime classification, tax calculation, and compliance. FabWise handles the accurate time capture that makes their calculations correct.

The Payroll Integration Problem for Fab Shops

Most fabrication shops using modern payroll providers (ADP, Gusto, QuickBooks) still have a manual step in the middle: someone has to take raw time data — from time cards, spreadsheets, or a generic time tracking tool — and convert it into the format the payroll provider expects.

That conversion step introduces errors. Hours get transcribed wrong. Rounding rules get applied inconsistently. Overtime hours get miscounted. Workers get paid the wrong amount, or the payroll run has to be reversed and rerun — a process that costs administrative time and generates accounting corrections.

FabWise eliminates the manual conversion step. The export is generated from approved shift records, formatted to the payroll provider's spec, and ready to upload. No transcription, no format conversion, no manual overtime calculation.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, payroll errors cost U.S. employers billions annually in corrections, reprocessing, and associated administrative labor. For small fabrication shops, a single payroll correction can take two to four hours of admin time.

Supported Payroll Providers

FabWise exports are tested with the payroll providers most commonly used in fabrication shops:

ADP — FabWise exports a CSV compatible with ADP's time import format for RUN Powered by ADP and ADP Workforce Now. The export includes earnings codes, hours by type (regular, overtime, doubletime where applicable), and the employee identifiers your ADP account uses.

Gusto — Compatible with Gusto's time-off and hours import. FabWise exports hours per worker per period in the column format Gusto expects for manual time entry import.

QuickBooks Payroll — Compatible with QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) CSV import and QuickBooks Payroll direct import. The export includes regular and overtime hours per employee for the period.

Custom CSV — For shops using a regional payroll provider or a proprietary system, FabWise supports a configurable custom CSV export. The admin configures the column names, order, and any required formatting codes at setup. Subsequent exports use the saved format automatically.

The Approval Workflow Before Export

FabWise does not allow export of unapproved records. The workflow:

1. Throughout the week: Workers clock in and out from the kiosk or workstation. Supervisors review flagged records — missed breaks, corrections, unscheduled overtime — in real time.

2. Pay period close: The admin opens the pay period review screen. Every shift for the period is visible: regular time, overtime, meal break declarations, any supervisor corrections. Shifts that need review are flagged.

3. Approval: The admin approves the period after reviewing flagged records. Approval is a single action that locks the period — no further edits to approved records without a documented correction.

4. Export: The export button generates the provider-formatted file from the approved records. The file is downloaded immediately.

5. Upload: Admin uploads to the payroll provider's portal. The provider processes payroll from the file.

The typical time from period approval to export file download is under one minute. Upload to the payroll provider portal adds two to five minutes depending on provider. Total payroll processing time from review start to upload: under ten minutes for most shops.

What's in the Export File

The export includes, per worker, per pay period:

• Worker identifier (name, employee ID, or the field your provider uses)
• Regular hours (post-rounding, per your configured rounding rule)
• Overtime hours (hours above 40 for the week, or above your configured threshold)
• Doubletime hours (where applicable per your schedule configuration)
• Period start and end dates

The export reflects corrected values where a supervisor has attached a documented correction to a shift record. Original captures and corrections are preserved in FabWise's audit trail; the export uses the final approved values.

The file does not include pay rates, tax information, or worker personal data beyond the identifier your provider uses. Pay rates stay in your payroll provider's system. FabWise handles hours; your provider handles money.

Time Rounding — Consistent, Configurable, Automatic

Payroll systems expect time in rounded increments. Inconsistent rounding — some records rounded to 15 minutes, others to the nearest 6 minutes, others not rounded at all — produces payroll discrepancies that require manual correction.

FabWise applies a single, account-wide rounding rule configured at setup: 5, 6, 10, 15, or 30-minute intervals. Every clock-in and clock-out is rounded to that interval before the shift record is finalized. The rounding is consistent across all workers and all shifts.

The raw capture time is preserved on the shift record for reference. The rounded time appears in the export. Your payroll provider receives consistently rounded data.

Overtime Handling — FabWise Captures, Your Provider Classifies

FabWise tracks hours per worker per week. When a worker's hours exceed 40 for the week (or your configured threshold), FabWise flags the excess as overtime hours in the export. The export separates regular hours from overtime hours in the fields your payroll provider expects.

Your payroll provider handles overtime pay calculation, rate multipliers, and compliance with applicable labor law. FabWise does not calculate pay rates or apply overtime rate rules — that's the payroll provider's domain. The Department of Labor's FLSA overtime rules govern what your provider must calculate; FabWise gives them the hours they need to do it correctly.

For shops in states with daily overtime rules (California's 8-hour daily overtime is the most common), FabWise supports configurable overtime thresholds. The export reflects the threshold you configure; your provider applies the rate rules.

Audit Trail — Every Record Is Traceable

Every record in the export is traceable to its original capture. If a worker questions their hours, or a payroll auditor asks for documentation, FabWise provides:

• Original clock-in and clock-out times (before rounding)
• Rounded times (as exported)
• Any supervisor corrections: adjusted value, reason, corrector name, timestamp
• Meal break declaration (for each shift where applicable)
• Approval record: who approved the period, when

This audit trail is stored in FabWise and is not included in the export file (it's internal documentation, not payroll input). It answers the question "where did these hours come from?" for any record in any historical pay period.

Setup and Onboarding

Payroll export setup is part of FabWise's standard onboarding. The onboarding process:

1. Configure your worker list (names, employee IDs matching your payroll provider's records)
2. Select your payroll provider (or configure custom CSV columns)
3. Set your pay period type (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly)
4. Configure your rounding rule and overtime threshold
5. Run a test export against a sample pay period before going live

FabWise's onboarding team is a one-call-away resource for setup and any provider-specific formatting questions. The onboarding package includes same-day setup and a test run of the full workflow before the first live payroll.

For the full time capture workflow that feeds the export, see time tracking and kiosk time clock.