The leave balances, transactions, payslips, or new employees did not upload / download / synchronise between the payroll application and Self Service website.

The connection links Payroll <> ESSSync <> Sage Connected Services <> Self Service website, and everything must be in place for this to be successful

​​Sage Self Services is a module that allows employees to apply for leave and view their leave balances and payslips online.

Restoring backups can result in information not synhronising. 

Communication on Sage Self Service is not instantaneous, and usually information is uploaded only once every 4 hours – unless manually restarted

How to manually Stop/Start Sage Connected Services?
 

• Right-click on Sage Connected Services icon under your hidden icons (bottom-right of your screen), select Exit
• Access Task Manager, and search for Sage Notification Service, and select 'End task', if the application is still running in the background
• Access the Start Menu, and search for 'Start Service' under the Sage Connected Services menu item
• This will restart the service and will upload all information in the ESSSync.vdb6 database (if in the correct location),  and should be done everytime if you have done any uploads, to speed up the process.
   

Troubleshooting steps:

1. Ensure the Validate Reference Numbers tick is not selected on the Leave Control screen:

• From the Main Menu
• Click on Leave
• Select Leave Days Control
• Validate Reference number must be not ticked

2. Ensure the anti-virus program and Windows Defender excludes the payroll system folder for active scanning, on both workstation and server.

• Right-click on Sage Connected Services icon, select 'Options' 
• Ensure SCS is on the latest version (confirm by checking the version installed if you are running the latest software)
• Check that Communication is enabled and test the connection to the Sage Connected Services website

3. Access the Control Panel > Programs and Features and confirm the versions for Sage Connected Services and Sage VIP Runtime and confirm that both are on the latest release.

• If required, uninstall and reinstall/repair both applications (scsinstall.exe and sagevipruntime.exe in the system folder) just to ensure we have the correct versions as in the payroll system folder
• If the incorrect versions are installed, send new versions can be requested from Sage Customer Support.
• During the installation of SageVIPRuntime, ensure to select the correct payroll folder
• Access REGEDIT to review and/or change the ESS Data Path back to the payroll system folder, if required
• To change the data path with REGEDIT:
  • Click on Start
  • Search for REGEDIT on the Start menu to access the Registry Editor
  • Go to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Connected Services       
  • Review the location in the Data column next to EssDataPath
  • Ensure the location is the same as the payroll system folder (System location on Support Help)

4. Ensure the 'Always Sync for this company' is ticked

• Access company
• Go to Sage Self Service > System setup
• Tick the tickbox next to 'Always SYNC for this company' is ticked
• See related article: Warning: "You are licensed for the Sage Self Service Module. The Data was last synced from a different location, please indicate the companies to be synced, by activating the: Always Sync for this Company flag on the Self Service Company Setup Screen"

5. Process followed by Leave Transactions posted:

• The transaction is posted in the cloud and approved
• The transaction is downloaded to the local DB (ESSSync.vdb6)
• Read transaction and employee GUID from local DB
• Search for the employee GUID as on the transaction, in the VPGUID file, to determine the employee number to be updated and the company number where the employee will be found.
• Update the transaction to the relevant employee in the VIP Company as determined in the previous step
• It is thus important to ensure the Mobile GUIDs (on IS Analysis Details), System GUIDs (in VPGUID file), ESSSync GUIDs and website GUIDs are the same.
• You can use ODBC to compare the Mobile GUID and VPGUID numbers.

6. Upload the company, administrator, consent, employees, payslips, and synchronise balances and transactions. (Sage Self Service menu option)

• Ensure the ESSSync.vdb6 file in the payroll system folder was modified and changed after uploads were done.
• The ESSSync file should not be associated with any program (do not open the vdb6 file with any other program)
• The payroll system folder, ESSSync.vdb6, and temporary file ESSSync.vdb6$434176.vdb4lck must be excluded from scanning by the anti-virus (on the server and workstation)
• Ensure that Windows Defender is not scanning the payroll system folder
• Ensure that the payroll shared directory on the server is not set to synchronize when offline a.k.a. Offline Caching (Right click on server folder > Properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing > Caching > Tick "No files or programs from the shared folder are available offline
• Ensure that no other synchronisation program is actively accessing the system folder (e.g. actively backing up any changes)
• Validate that the password on the Self Service Administrator password on the website and setup screen is the same
• If Stop Further Entry is on for Leave, deactivate otherwise the transactions will not post to the Leave Day screens
• Access SCS on the taskbar, then EXIT. Sage Notification Service (32 bit) stopped. Search for “Start Service” on the Start Menu, and click to start the service for SCS, to ensure the ESSSync.vdb6 data is uploaded to the site.
• To check errors related to the upload, access the Event Viewer (search for this on the Task Bar).
• Access Event Viewer > Applications and Services Logs > SageCSClient and check for any upload errors.
• Click on the "event log" at the time the client did the upload/sync, as this will give you some detail on the error.