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WNY Athletics News Desk Handbook
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Start with News Desk 7 min Access and staff roles 8 min Read your statement 6 min

Writing and publishing

Write and edit a post 12 min Format stories with Markdown 8 min Use the media library 7 min Review, schedule, and publish 12 min Plan coverage with the calendar 10 min Social, broadcasts, and podcasts 10 min

Scores and data feeds

Connect High School Sports 11 min Run the scoreboard and score feeds 13 min Publish standings 9 min Run the AI recap pipeline 12 min Review photo submissions 6 min

Administration

Manage staff, personas, and tags 11 min Customize post types 10 min Set up advertisers and campaigns 9 min Manage payroll and statements 12 min Settings and troubleshooting 14 min

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Help center Administration
Administration 12 min read

Manage payroll and statements

Turn approved assignments into an auditable newsroom ledger, record payments, and correct mistakes without losing the history.

Who can manage
Admin or payroll-manager editor
Payables begin
When a post is published
Staff view
My Statements

How payroll works

Payroll is a ledger. Publishing a post creates one payable for each active human assignment whose resolved rate is greater than zero. Personas are excluded. Re-publishing the same post does not create a duplicate payable for the same assignment.

A payment is a real disbursement record. News Desk allocates it to the oldest open payables for that staff username first. Any leftover becomes unallocated credit and reduces the balance owed on future work.

Set rates

  1. Set post-type defaults

    Settings → Post types stores the primary and secondary rate for each content type.

  2. Use secondary rates deliberately

    A default of $0.00 means secondary assignments for that type do not create payables.

  3. Add staff overrides in Payroll

    An override can apply to a specific post type and primary/secondary slot or to any slot.

  4. Review the effective result before a new pay period

    A person-specific slot override beats the type default. Keep an external approval record for every special rate.

Review payables

  1. Match the payable to the post

    Check username, post title, role, primary/secondary slot, type, kind, and amount.

  2. Adjust before paying when possible

    If the approved amount is wrong, correct the payable while the ledger is still open and add clear notes.

  3. Use a kill fee only after rejection

    The system refuses a kill-fee payable on a published post.

  • Publish payable — created automatically from an eligible human assignment at publication.
  • Kill fee — may be created manually only for a Rejected post.
  • Open — some or all of the amount remains unpaid.
  • Settled — allocations cover the full amount.
  • Voided — the obligation was canceled with a required reason; released payment credit is reapplied where possible.

Record and correct payments

  1. Select the staff username

    Payments and their allocations must belong to the same person.

  2. Enter paid date, amount, method, and memo

    Supported method labels include check, ACH, Zelle, PayPal, and other. Put a traceable check/reference number in the memo when policy allows.

  3. Review the automatic allocation

    The payment applies oldest open work first. Unused amount remains as credit.

  4. Reallocate only when the business record requires it

    Manual reallocation replaces that payment’s allocation set. The sum cannot exceed the payment or any payable’s remaining capacity.

  5. Void mistakes with a reason

    Voiding a payable or correcting allocations preserves an audit trail. Do not delete financial history to make a report look cleaner.

Statements and reports

Every staff member can read My Statements for their own username. A payroll manager can select any staff member and date range. The statement includes work, payments, opening/closing balance, and year-to-date non-voided payable total.

  • Outstanding — current balances across staff.
  • Spend — totals by period and post type.
  • Annual — staff totals for a selected year.
  • CSV download — spreadsheet-safe text output for reconciliation and archival.

Pay-period closeout

  • All published work in the period has the correct active human assignments.
  • Zero-dollar types and intentional unpaid secondary roles are understood.
  • Open payables match the approved rate sheet and any overrides.
  • Kill fees and adjustments have notes and approval evidence.
  • Recorded payments match bank/check records and staff usernames.
  • Outstanding and spend reports reconcile to the expected period totals.
  • Each staff statement has the correct closing balance before reports are distributed.

Frequently asked questions

Read your statement What staff see on My Statements. Write and edit a post Make assignments correct before publication.
Why did publishing create no payable?

Check that the assignment is an active human user, the resolved rate is above $0.00, and the assignment was active at publish time.

Why was a payment not fully allocated?

The staff member did not have enough open payable balance. The remainder stays as unallocated credit.

Can an ordinary editor open Payroll?

Only if an admin checks Payroll manager on that editor’s Staff row.

Does a republished story pay twice?

No. The payable hook is idempotent for the same post and assignment.

Do personas appear on statements?

No. Personas are excluded from payroll.