How to Create Salary Components and Salary Groups in CrmLeaf
All editions, and part of the nine-step Payroll & HR edition onboarding checklist. Requires the Payroll add-on module to be enabled for your account by an Administrator.
Availability: All editions, and part of the nine-step Payroll & HR edition onboarding checklist. Requires the Payroll add-on module to be enabled for your account by an Administrator.
Overview
Salary components are the building blocks of a payslip: the earnings, deductions, variable items and statutory items that make up an employee's pay. Salary groups collect components into a reusable structure that can be assigned to many employees at once. Together they are step seven of the Payroll & HR onboarding checklist and a prerequisite for assigning any employee salary.
How It Works
You define components once, group them into salary groups, then assign a group to employees. When payroll runs, CrmLeaf evaluates the components in each employee's structure against the period's attendance, leave and overtime data to produce the payslip.
Create components → Group into salary groups → Assign to employees → Generate payslips → Report
- Components can be fixed or variable. Variable components carry a value that can differ per period.
- Statutory items such as Provident Fund, Employees' State Insurance, Professional Tax and tax deducted at source are handled as statutory components.
- Salary groups make onboarding faster and keep structures consistent across a department or grade.
- Component definitions drive the payslip layout and the payroll reports produced per statutory type.
Who Can Use This Feature?
Administrator
- Create, edit and delete salary components.
- Mark components as earnings, deductions, variable or statutory as your structure requires.
- Create salary groups and maintain the components inside them.
This functionality is available only to Administrators.
Prerequisites
- The Payroll add-on module enabled for your account and your role.
- Payroll global and period settings configured.
- An agreed salary structure for your organisation, reviewed by your finance or compliance advisor.
- Departments and designations created, if you intend to align salary groups to them.
For Administrators
Step 1: Open the salary components screen
What to do: Review the components that already exist in your account before creating new ones, to avoid duplicates.
What to verify: You are on the account-level component list, not an employee's salary record.
Step 2: Add an earning component
What to do: Select Add and create the component. Give it a clear name, set it as an earning, and define how its amount is determined. Complete every mandatory field, then select Save.
What to verify: The component appears in the list and is available for selection in a salary group.
Step 3: Add deduction and variable components
What to do: Repeat the process for deductions and for variable components whose value changes each period, such as a performance-based payment.
What to verify: Deductions are configured to reduce net pay and variable components can be given a per-period value.
Step 4: Add the statutory components you are liable for
What to do: Create the statutory items that apply in your country of operation, then configure them as described in the statutory components article.
What to verify: Each statutory component matches the rate and threshold confirmed by your compliance advisor.
Step 5: Create a salary group
What to do: Create a salary group and add the components that make up that structure. Use a naming convention that identifies the grade, department or country the group is for. Select Save.
What to verify: The group contains every component the payslip should show, including statutory deductions.
Step 6: Test the structure on one employee
What to do: Assign the group to a single employee and generate payroll for that employee only, so you can check the arithmetic before rolling the structure out.
What to verify: Gross, deductions and net pay are what you expect for that employee.
Field and Option Reference
| Field / Option | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Component name | The label shown on the payslip and in payroll reports. | Yes |
| Component behaviour | Whether the component adds to earnings or is deducted from pay. | Yes |
| Variable component | Marks a component whose value is entered per payroll period rather than fixed in the structure. | No |
| Statutory item | Identifies the component as a statutory item such as Provident Fund, Employees' State Insurance, Professional Tax or tax deducted at source, so it appears in the matching statutory report. | No |
| Salary group | A named set of components that can be assigned to many employees. | No |
Expected Result
Your salary components are saved and available in Salary Components, and at least one salary group can be assigned to employees in Employee Salary.
Service Organisation Context
Service organisations often build salary groups around delivery grades — analyst, consultant, senior consultant, engagement lead — because that is how a firm structures and staffs its work. A variable component suits a delivery-linked incentive, since its value is entered for each payroll period rather than fixed in the structure. Components describe pay, not project cost: CrmLeaf stores no employee cost rate per hour for project costing, so a salary structure cannot be read as the cost of an engagement. The same components and groups serve manufacturing, construction and general administrative payroll unchanged.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- Payroll is a paid add-on module. Confirm it is included in your plan.
- CrmLeaf does not ship a fixed set of component names. Name components to match your own salary structure and payslip terminology.
- Statutory contribution rates, wage thresholds and filing deadlines are set by the relevant government authorities and change over time. Confirm every rate, threshold and deadline with a qualified compliance advisor before a live payroll run.
- Editing a component changes how future payroll is calculated. Review the effect on generated payslips before releasing them.
Common Scenarios
Example: separate groups for two countries. An organisation employing staff in India and the United Arab Emirates builds one salary group containing Provident Fund and Employees' State Insurance components, and a second group without them, because the statutory items differ between the two jurisdictions.
Example: a monthly incentive. A sales incentive that changes every month is created as a variable component, so the value is entered for each payroll period instead of being fixed in the structure.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| A component does not appear on a payslip | The component is not part of the employee's assigned salary structure | Add the component to the salary group or the employee's salary record, then generate payroll again. |
| A variable component shows no value | No value was entered for that employee for the period | Enter the period value before generating payslips. |
| A statutory report is empty | No component is identified as that statutory type | Configure the statutory component and reassign the affected salary structures. |
| The salary components screen is not available | The Payroll module is not enabled for your role | Ask your Administrator to enable the module for your role. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does CrmLeaf provide default salary components?
Component definitions are yours to create so that they match your salary structure. Build the components your payslip requires.
Can one employee have components outside the salary group?
A salary group provides the standard structure. Individual salary records are maintained in Employee Salary, which is where employee-specific amounts and increments are handled.
What is a variable component used for?
For amounts that change per payroll period, such as an incentive or a one-off allowance, rather than a fixed monthly figure.
Can I delete a component that has been used on a payslip?
Treat components used in a completed payroll period as historical records. Confirm the effect on your payroll history with your Administrator before deleting anything.
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