The payroll launch checklist
What to settle before your first mobile money payroll run, including the parts nobody warns you about.
6 minute read · no sign-up needed
Decide who may approve, before payday
The question that matters is not how to send money, it is who is allowed to. Roles decide whether someone can start a run at all. In the dashboard, the person pressing the button confirms with their own PIN. Over the API, a payout carries a signature naming the human behind it.
Set this up while nothing is urgent. The worst time to discover that only one person can approve payroll is the morning they are on a plane.
Fund the wallet before the run, not during it
A batch draws from your balance. Fund it the day before, with a margin for fees, and check the balance against the run total before you submit.
A run that fails halfway because the balance ran out is recoverable, but it is an unpleasant way to spend a payday.
Clean the list once, carefully
Most failed payouts are a wrong number, not a broken rail. Before the first run, verify every number against the person, not against your records.
Numbers change. Make updating a number part of whatever process handles a change of address, or you will rediscover this every few months.
- One number per person, verified with them directly
- Name on the account matching the person you think you are paying
- A note of who checked, and when
Reconcile the run, failures included
A run keeps its own record: what was sent, what it cost, what succeeded, and what came back. A failed payout returns the money and its fee to your balance, and names the person it was for.
Reconcile from that record rather than from your own spreadsheet. If the two disagree, the record is the one the money actually followed.
Try it on the sandbox
Test keys work from the first minute and never touch real money, real gateways, or your live webhooks. You can build the whole thing before anyone verifies anything.