Troubleshooting

1. Overview & Business Value#

This comprehensive operational guide details the architecture, business workflows, configuration parameters, and execution steps for Troubleshooting within SmartERP.

This guide provides troubleshooting solutions for common HR and payroll operational issues.

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2. Prerequisites & Security Access Groups#

• Required Modules: hr, hr_payroll, hr_holidays, smarterp_ethiopian_payroll
• Security Groups:
  • Officer: Manage all employees (Technical ID: hr.group_hr_user)
  • Payroll Officer (Technical ID: hr_payroll.group_hr_payroll_user)
  • HR Administrator (Technical ID: hr.group_hr_manager)
• Master Data Dependencies: Company departments, job positions, salary structures, 7-tier Ethiopian income tax brackets, POESSA/PSSPA pension rates, and employee contracts.

3. Step-by-Step Configuration & Execution#

Step 1: Navigating to the Module Interface#

1. Log into your SmartERP instance at https://smarterp.et/odoo.
2. Open the main App Switcher (grid icon in the top-left corner).
3. Select the Employees app icon.
4. From the top navigation bar, open Human Resources → Employees / Contracts / Attendance / Time Off / Payroll.

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Step 2: Creating and Parameterizing Records#

1. Click the New button in the top-left control panel.
2. Complete the mandatory fields in the record form:
   • Employee Name (Mandatory): Legal employee name matching national identity card or passport
   • Department & Job Position (Mandatory): Assigned administrative unit and official role title
   • Contract / Salary Structure (Mandatory): Active employment contract defining basic salary and statutory allowances
   • Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) (Mandatory): Mandatory 10-digit MOR tax identifier for payroll declaration
3. Configure optional operational parameters and localized tags as required:
   • Pension Scheme Number (Optional): POESSA private or PSSPA public pension account number
   • Bank Account Details (Optional): Commercial bank account number for direct net pay credit transfers
   • Work Mobile & Email (Optional): Internal enterprise communication coordinates
4. Click the Save icon in the control bar to commit the record.

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Step 3: Validating and Processing Transactions#

• State Transitions: Execute operational state progression (Draft → Pending Review → Verified → Approved / Running → Closed).
• Ledger & System Impact: Payroll batch confirmation automatically generates composite salary expense, pension payable, and tax withholding journal entries in the General Ledger.
• Audit Verification: Automated recording of author ID, timestamp, and immutable revision history.

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Problem: Biometric punches not syncing to attendance#

• Symptom: Employee punches on the physical terminal do not appear in SmartERP attendance.
• Cause: Terminal IP changed, network firewall blocking port 4370, or biometric user ID not mapped to employee profile.
• Fix: Open Attendance → Configuration → Biometric Devices, verify the IP address, and press Test Connection. Check that the employee's Biometric Device ID matches the badge ID on the physical machine.

Problem: Employment income tax shows slight variance from MOR manual table#

• Symptom: Monthly PAYE tax differs by a few cents from manual tax tables.
• Cause: Non-taxable allowances calculated on gross rather than basic salary, or decimal rounding precision in salary rule expressions.
• Fix: Ensure the PAYE_TAX rule uses standard deduction constants: (taxable * rate) - constant. Verify currency rounding is set to 0.01 ETB.

Problem: Cannot confirm leave request - insufficient balance#

• Symptom: System blocks leave request with Insufficient leave balance available.
• Cause: Annual leave regular allocation was not executed for the employee, or employee is still within probationary period.
• Fix: Open Time Off → Allocations, check active balance, or run the annual regular allocation wizard for the employee.

4. Advanced Configuration Points#

• Automated Actions & Scheduled Tasks (Crons):
  • HR: Compute scheduled leave accruals (hr_holidays.ir_cron_leave_accruals): Runs bi-weekly to accrue annual leave balances per Ethiopian labor law
  • Payroll: Auto-generate monthly payslip batches (hr_payroll.ir_cron_generate_payslips): Runs on the 25th of each calendar month
  • Attendance: Validate biometric clock-in logs (hr_attendance.ir_cron_sync_attendance): Runs hourly to sync biometric terminal events
• Custom Print Templates & Reports:
  • Official Ethiopian Monthly Payslip
  • POESSA / PSSPA Statutory Pension Contribution Schedule
  • MOR Employment Income Tax (PAYE) Monthly Summary
  • Employee Service & Severance Certificate
• Multi-Company Rules: Record-level security isolation under Company 1 (Ashewa Technology Solutions S.C.), preventing cross-company ledger leakage across parent and subsidiary legal entities.

5. Comprehensive Troubleshooting Matrix#

Next#

• Technical architecture: HR technical architecture.
• Data model: Data model.