HR and payroll software

In most small and mid-sized businesses the payroll run is rebuilt in a spreadsheet almost from scratch every month: copy last month, adjust absences, subtract advances, then upload a file to the Wage Protection System. Every step is a chance to err, and payroll errors are the most expensive kind.

HR and payroll software is a system that brings the employee file, attendance, leave and advances into one payroll run approved before disbursement, producing the Wage Protection System file and the accounting entry from it. Fahim delivers this system over WhatsApp: the employee requests leave by message, the manager approves by message, and the owner asks about payroll cost from a phone. It suits small and mid-sized Saudi businesses with 5 to hundreds of employees that want accurate payroll without a full HR department.

What belongs inside the system

• Employee file — contract, basic salary, allowances, residency dates and documents, with alerts before they expire.
• Attendance and leave — leave balances, absence and overtime feeding the payroll run directly.
• Advances and deductions — on a repayment schedule deducted automatically until cleared.
• The payroll run — calculated from those inputs, approved before disbursement, and producing payslips.
• Wage Protection System file — generated from the run, ready to upload rather than assembled by hand.
• End-of-service — calculated from length of service and salary per the labour law's basis.
• The accounting entry — payroll expense posts to accounting automatically, with no double entry.

What Fahim adds

Day-to-day requests move through WhatsApp instead of paper: an employee requests leave or an advance by message, the approval reaches the manager as a message, and it is recorded once approved — with permissions kept tight, since each person sees only what concerns them and payroll is among the most sensitive data you hold.

Moeen warns you ahead of time: residencies nearing expiry, contracts due for renewal, a payroll run approaching.

Who this system is for

• A trading or services business whose owner runs payroll alone or with one accountant.
• A contracting company or factory with a large workforce whose attendance and overtime change every month.
• A chain of branches with staff on shifts, where each branch manager needs to approve leave for their own team only.
• An office or clinic with a small number of employees that wants a correct payroll run without an HR department.

What they share is that payroll is run by the effort of one or two people, and that a single error in a deduction or in the upload file costs more in time and trust than it does in money.

A working day with the system

For example: a maintenance company with 35 employees and two branches. This is how a day late in the month runs:

• Morning: an employee sends “I want 3 days' leave from Sunday”. The system checks their balance and sends the request to their branch manager, who replies “approved”, and the leave is recorded.
• 10 a.m.: another employee requests an advance of SAR 2,000. The manager approves it on a 4-month repayment schedule deducted from payroll automatically.
• Noon: the accountant asks “what is this month's total payroll after deductions?” and receives the number broken down by allowances, absence and advances.
• Afternoon: Moeen alerts the owner: 2 residencies expire within 30 days, and one contract needs renewal.
• Month end: the run is approved with a single message, and the payslips, the Wage Protection System file and the accounting entry are created together.

The numbers are hypothetical, but the path is the same: no spreadsheet built from scratch, and no step that relies on memory.

How it works, step by step

1. Employee files: contract, salary, allowances, documents and their dates, entered once.
2. Attendance and requests: leave, absence, overtime and advances recorded as they happen from WhatsApp.
3. Calculating the run: the system gathers the inputs and produces a draft run for review.
4. Approval: whoever holds the permission approves, and the payslips, the upload file and the accounting entry are created.
5. Archiving: every approved run is kept as its own version, to be referred back to on any query or audit.

What regulation requires and how it is covered

The Wage Protection System through the Mudad platform applies to private-sector establishments in Saudi Arabia and requires a monthly wage file in a set format; the system builds it from the approved run itself. The Labour Law sets the basis for calculating end-of-service benefits, and the system calculates them from length of service and salary on that basis. Registering employees with the General Organization for Social Insurance is part of the employee file so there is a single reference. Employee data — identity, salary, documents — is personal data under the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), which is why access to it is limited by permissions and logged. The business's own sales fall under e-invoicing per the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) since 4 December 2021, with 15% VAT, and that is part of the same system rather than another program.

Compared with spreadsheets and disconnected systems

• Spreadsheets: the run is rebuilt every month from last month's copy and relies on the builder's memory for absences and advances.
• Standalone payroll software: calculates correctly but knows nothing of attendance or accounting, so numbers are entered twice.
• Desktop HR software: comprehensive, but employee requests stay on paper or in messages outside it until someone keys them in.
• A system that runs from WhatsApp: request, approval and recording in the same channel, with the run, the entry and the upload file from one source.

What Moeen adds

Moeen is the personal assistant included in the Moeen and Fahim plans. It sends a morning summary of pending leave requests and documents nearing expiry, reminds you of the payroll date before it arrives, and prepares the salary certificate or the reminder message to an employee for you to review before sending. It asks your permission before any action.

Permissions come in 5 roles: general manager, sales manager, accountant, warehouse supervisor and employee. So the employee sees only their payslip and leave balance, the accountant builds the run, and final approval belongs to whoever you designate. Alongside Moeen, 4 AI agents work on sales, finance, purchasing and market, and the finance agent is the one that flags the effect of the run on cash.

Plans and trial

The Essential plan at SAR 75 per user per month gives you the full system from the browser, with HR and payroll as part of it. The Moeen plan at SAR 375 adds WhatsApp and the personal assistant. The Fahim plan at SAR 935 adds AI that modifies the system on request: you ask by message for a new allowance or a different overtime rule for one branch, and it is applied within minutes. Larger companies have the Enterprise plan on request. Prices exclude 15% VAT, the first month is free, and with the Golden Guarantee you get a full refund within 30 days. Start from the free trial page.

Implementation plan

1. Setup: load employees from a file or from their contracts, with salaries, allowances and document dates.
2. A parallel run: the first run is built in the system alongside the current spreadsheet and the two results are compared.
3. Approving from the system: from the following month the run is approved in the system and its file uploaded.
4. Requests from WhatsApp: the leave and advances channel is opened to employees once the run is stable.

The free month is usually enough for the first two steps, so you decide having compared a real run with your current one.

Read next

• A guide to the Wage Protection System
• Employee roles and permissions
• Plans and pricing