# Running the Platform Glossary

> 37 terms from the Workforce book's Running the Platform part, each defined in a line and linked to the chapter that explains it.

- **Account change hold:** a hold on a newly changed deposit or funding account, near a check date or on a first deposit, released only after out-of-band verification; the run pays held destinations by a fallback ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#how-to-build-it)).
- **Alternate procedure (Rev. Proc. 2004-53):** by agreement, the successor in an acquisition furnishes one W-2 per acquired employee that includes the predecessor's wages and withholding, and both employers file Schedule D (Form 941) ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#rev-proc-2004-53-standard-and-alternate-procedures)).
- **Assisted connection:** a unified API connection in which the vendor operates a third-party administrator account in the employer's payroll system, refreshing data weekly and entering writes by hand within days ([Unified HR & Payroll APIs](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/unified-hr-apis#automated-and-assisted-connections)).
- **Automated connection:** a unified API connection authorized by OAuth, credentials or an API token that syncs on a schedule (Finch: every 24 hours) and submits writes directly ([Unified HR & Payroll APIs](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/unified-hr-apis#automated-and-assisted-connections)).
- **Business email compromise (BEC):** a scam that compromises or spoofs email and other communications to trick a business into an unauthorized transfer or disclosure; in payroll, a request to change an employee's bank account or to send W-2s ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#direct-deposit-change-fraud-and-business-email-compromise)).
- **Calculation snapshot:** the complete, hashed input document a pay statement's calculation read (assignments, rates, hours, elections, year-to-date, rule versions), stored so the statement can be replayed exactly ([Payroll Platform Architecture](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-architecture#the-pay-run-engine)).
- **Client retention:** the share of a period's beginning clients still clients at its end; differs from revenue retention, which counts dollars ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#how-the-companies-report)).
- **Complementary user entity control (CUEC):** a control a service organization's SOC 1 report assumes the client operates, such as approving payroll registers, reviewing changes and user access, and verifying tax deposits ([Controls, Audits & SOC 1](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/controls-audits-and-soc1#complementary-user-entity-controls)).
- **Correction rate:** correction, void and reversal statements as a share of all statements in a period, split by cause ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#operational-metrics)).
- **Crosswalk (migration):** the table mapping a previous provider's employee IDs and codes to the new system's records, kept as data beyond the migration ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#data-mapping)).
- **Deduction write-back:** a change to a payroll deduction (a 401(k) deferral, a premium) sent into the employer's payroll system by a recordkeeper or benefits platform through an API, effective for the pay period it reaches before the close ([Unified HR & Payroll APIs](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/unified-hr-apis#deduction-write-back)).
- **Embedded payroll:** a payroll provider's engine, money movement and tax filing sold as APIs and UI components to a software platform that offers payroll to its own customers under its own brand ([Embedded Payroll](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/embedded-payroll)).
- **Ghost employee:** a worker on the payroll who doesn't work for the employer, invented or a former employee never terminated, whose pay goes to someone else ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#ghost-employees-and-time-theft)).
- **Historical payroll:** a previous provider's payroll loaded per check date as a paid run with no money movement, so year-to-date, quarter totals and Schedule B come from rows ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#how-to-build-it)).
- **Insurance cost ratio (ICR):** TriNet's ratio of insurance costs to insurance service revenues ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#how-the-companies-report)).
- **Master file review:** a periodic confirmation by managers of every active worker on the payroll, the control that finds ghost employees ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#ghost-employees-and-time-theft)).
- **On-time pay rate:** the share of expected payments available to workers by the check date; reported as provider-attributable (excluding employer and worker-data causes) and worker-experienced (all causes) ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#operational-metrics)).
- **Onboard status:** an embedded payroll partner's per-company readiness, such as Check's `completed`, `needs_attention` and `blocking`, by requirement category ([Embedded Payroll](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/embedded-payroll#onboarding-as-a-state-machine)).
- **Parallel run:** a pay period computed on both the old and new payroll system and compared worker by worker before go-live, with differences classified and a go rule set in advance ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#parallel-runs)).
- **Payroll blocker:** a named condition that stops a company from running payroll, such as a missing bank verification, missing state tax setup or an open recovery case ([Embedded Payroll](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/embedded-payroll#onboarding-as-a-state-machine)).
- **Payroll diversion:** redirecting an employee's direct deposit to an account a criminal controls, through a phished login or an impersonated request ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#direct-deposit-change-fraud-and-business-email-compromise)).
- **Platform (embedded payroll):** the software company that embeds a payroll partner, owns the customer relationship and the inputs, and carries the losses its contract assigns ([Embedded Payroll](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/embedded-payroll#partner-liability-and-risk)).
- **Reopen deadline:** on Check, the time until which an approved payroll can return to draft: the later of 11am ET on the approval deadline day or one hour after approval, capped at the approval deadline ([Embedded Payroll](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/embedded-payroll#the-payroll-state-machine)).
- **Replay (payroll):** recomputing a paid statement from its stored snapshot and comparing to the cent, which proves the engine read nothing outside its inputs ([Payroll Platform Architecture](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-architecture#the-pay-run-engine)).
- **Revenues per WSEE per month:** Insperity's gross billings per worksite employee per month less payroll costs per worksite employee per month ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#revenue-per-worker-per-month)).
- **Rule version:** a published edition of a rule set (rates, taxability, limits, engine code), recorded on every calculation that read it; a correction is a new version ([Payroll Platform Architecture](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-architecture#versioned-rules)).
- **Schedule D (Form 941):** the IRS schedule that explains differences between Forms 941 and W-2 caused by acquisitions, statutory mergers and consolidations; filed under the alternate procedure, not the standard ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#rev-proc-2004-53-standard-and-alternate-procedures)).
- **Separations rate (JOLTS):** separations from the payroll in a month divided by employment, times 100; split into quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#hr-metrics-employers-buy-software-for)).
- **SOC 1:** an examination of controls at a service organization relevant to its user entities' internal control over financial reporting, used by those entities' auditors ([Controls, Audits & SOC 1](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/controls-audits-and-soc1#what-a-payroll-soc-1-covers)).
- **Standard procedure (Rev. Proc. 2004-53):** each employer in an acquisition reports and furnishes W-2s for the wages it paid; no Schedule D ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#rev-proc-2004-53-standard-and-alternate-procedures)).
- **Subservice organization:** a vendor of a service organization (a bank, a tax engine, a host) whose controls matter to the service organization's SOC 1 objectives ([Controls, Audits & SOC 1](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/controls-audits-and-soc1#complementary-user-entity-controls)).
- **Tax notice rate:** agency notices received per 1,000 employer-quarters, split by cause ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#operational-metrics)).
- **Time to hire:** days between two hiring endpoints the platform states (application or requisition to accepted offer or start); no official definition ([Payroll & HR Metrics](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/workforce-metrics#hr-metrics-employers-buy-software-for)).
- **Unified HR and payroll API:** one API over many employers' payroll and HRIS systems, normalizing their data into common models and, for some products, writing deductions back ([Unified HR & Payroll APIs](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/unified-hr-apis)).
- **Variance review:** comparing a payroll register with prior runs by total and by worker, with thresholds that force an explanation before approval ([Controls, Audits & SOC 1](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/controls-audits-and-soc1#worked-numbers-a-variance-review)).
- **W-2 phishing:** a spoofed email, usually appearing to come from an executive, asking payroll or HR for every employee's W-2; the IRS asks victims to report to `dataloss@irs.gov` ([Payroll Fraud & Security](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/payroll-fraud-and-security#w-2-phishing)).
- **Year-to-date load:** the batch of a previous provider's or predecessor's history loaded before a new system's first live payroll, reconciled to the source's registers and returns ([Changing Providers Mid-Year](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workforce/changing-providers#year-to-date-loading-and-quarter-boundaries)).

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