Bullhorn One · Middle Office
Middle Office
Field Guide
Everything you need to run pay, bill, and daily ops — one week at a time.
How to Use the
Middle Office Field Guide
The Middle Office Field Guide is an operational reference for Bullhorn administrators that explains how Middle Office bridges front-office staffing and middle-office payroll/billing by syncing data between the ATS and Bullhorn Time & Expense. It covers the standard weekly admin cadence — time entry, charge approvals, and invoice finalization — and is intended for Payroll Specialists, Billing Specialists, and Operations staff managing daily pay and bill workflows.
The guide is organized to mirror your weekly workflow and covers:
- Middle Office Resources
- Weekly Operations
- Before Your First Middle Office Monday
- Monday: Time Entry
- Tuesday: Time Approval
- Wednesday: Payroll
- Thursday: Invoicing
- Friday: Reporting & Reconciliation
- Daily Use Cases Cheat Sheet
- Middle Office Troubleshooting
- Navigation Cheat Sheet
Middle Office
Resources
The following resources are available to aid in your understanding and usage of Bullhorn Middle Office.
- Knowledge Base ArticlesAccess knowledge articles on any Middle Office topic through the Bullhorn Hub search bar, or through the left side Table of Contents navigation.
- Launch eLearningsDiscover our Middle Office eLearnings through Bullhorn Launch. The following Bullhorn One Essentials courses are recommended before participating in Instructor-Led Training:
- A Day in the Life: PayrollBullhorn One Essentials eLearning
- A Day in the Life: BillingBullhorn One Essentials eLearning
- A Day in the Life: OperationsBullhorn One Essentials eLearning
You must be logged into Bullhorn in order to access Launch eLearning links.
Standard Weekly
Operations Schedule
The following represents the standard weekly workflow for Middle Office operations. Your specific cut-off times will vary and tasks may even flex across multiple days. Always refer to your specific configuration.
| Day(s) | Key Tasks | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Time & Expense Entry | Time Administrator |
| Tue | Timesheet Approval | Time Administrator |
| Wed | Running Payroll: Prepare Payable Charges and Export Payable Charges | Payroll Specialist |
| Thu | Invoicing: Review Billable Charges and Create Invoices | Billing Specialist |
| Fri | Reporting & Reconciliation (Finish any lingering tasks) | Payroll Specialist & Billing Specialist |
Set your Systematic Accounting Period roll-forward time to match your payroll processing deadline (commonly Wednesday at noon). Everything entered before this cutoff stamps to the previous week. Late entries after the deadline stamp to the next accounting period and require an exception process.
Before Your First Monday
in Middle Office
What is Middle Office?
Bullhorn Middle Office connects front-office staffing activity (placements, candidates, and companies) with middle-office payroll, billing, and invoicing. It bridges the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Bullhorn Time & Expense (BTE) to ensure contractors get paid and clients get invoiced accurately.
Middle Office Data Flows
Middle Office Data Flows between ATS and BTE both ways.
- ATS → BTEBefore any time can be entered or processed, the Placement record in the ATS must successfully sync to BTE. The sync creates the "Assignment" record in BTE that employees and administrators use for time entry. Many payroll readiness failures can be traced back to a sync issue. Use the Placement Sync Criteria: ATS to BTE Checklist and the Critical Pay & Bill Data on the Placement Record article to ensure Placements are ready to sync from ATS to BTE.
- BTE → ATSAfter a Placement syncs to BTE and enters time, that data flows back to ATS from BTE. This process creates Payable and Billable Charges to support payroll and invoicing practices.
For information on monitoring and troubleshooting the sync between ATS and BTE, see Troubleshooting Middle Office Sync Issues.
Monday:
Time Entry
Time entry and chasing is kickstarted on Monday and generally wraps up around Wednesday, before running payroll.
- Time Entry MethodsBullhorn supports multiple time entry methods. Your environment may use one or more of the methods outlined in Time Capture Methods for Bullhorn One Customers.
- Adjusting TimeTime can be adjusted directly in BTE or Bullhorn One / ATS:
- Via BTEUpdate the timesheet in the Time Management Console (TMC) in BTE. This triggers a recalculation and updates the payable and billable charges automatically.
- Via Bullhorn One / ATSUsers with appropriate entitlements can edit timesheets directly in Bullhorn One. This syncs back to BTE and triggers a recalc.
If employees have not submitted their timesheets, administrators can send reminders for unsubmitted time directly from the BTE Unsubmitted Time Tab. This can be done as early as Monday for the prior pay period.
See Time Entry Use Cases for more information.
Tuesday:
Time Approval
After time is submitted, it goes through an Approval Process before generating payable and billable charges:
- 1Employee submits timesheet in BTEEmployee
- 2Timesheet routes to approverHiring manager or client contact
- 3Approver reviews and approves (or disputes) in BTEApprover
- 4Timesheet syncs back to Bullhorn OneSystem — splits into a Pay Workflow and a Billing / Invoicing Workflow
If approvers have not approved submitted timesheets, administrators can send Timesheet Approval Reminders in Bullhorn One.
See Time Approval Use Cases for more information.
Wednesday:
Running Payroll
Payable Charges represent amounts owed to contractors and employees. They are created automatically when timesheets are approved and synced from BTE to Bullhorn One. Payable charges move through statuses until they are exported to your Payroll System. Use the following resources to understand and use this system:
Before completing your final reconciliation against the payroll provider, use the Reconciliation Dashboard in BTE to confirm the data is clean on the Bullhorn side first. Any mismatch between BTE and the ATS Pay & Bill module should be resolved before payroll is finalized.
See Use Cases for Running Payroll for more information.
Thursday:
Invoicing
Invoice Terms and Billing Profiles impact how your Invoices look and who they are sent to. These should be set up when the Client/Company is added to Bullhorn. See Critical Pay & Bill Data on the Company Record for more information on this process.
Billable charges represent amounts owed by your clients. They are created automatically from approved timesheets, parallel to payable charges. Billable charges move through statuses until they are added to invoices and sent to clients. Use the following resources to understand and use this system:
When an invoice needs to be corrected after finalization, use the Crediting & Reinstating Invoices process.
See Invoicing Use Cases for more information.
Friday: Reporting
& Reconciliation
At the end of every payroll and billing cycle, verify:
- Gross pay in Bullhorn One matches gross pay in payroll system
- All timesheets for the period are in Approved status
- No open items in the Bullhorn One Issues list
- Invoices finalized = billable charges invoiced for the period
- Invoice total in Bullhorn One matches AR system
Use Bullhorn One Reporting & Reconciliation Best Practices, Middle Office Bullhorn Reporting, and BTE Standard Reports to customize your reporting and reconciliation workflow.
Daily Use Case
Cheat Sheet
Middle Office
Troubleshooting
When something goes wrong, use this systematic approach before escalating to support:
| # | Action | How |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Check the Pay & Bill Issues List | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Issues. Search for your error in Pay & Bill Related Issues. |
| 2 | Use Placement Viewer | In BTE, search the Placement ID to review sync status and field mapping |
| 3 | Verify Placement Fields | Cross-check all fields in the Placement Sync Criteria: ATS to BTE |
| 4 | Check Earn Codes | Confirm earn codes in Bullhorn One match exactly to Adjustment Codes in BTE |
| 5 | Audit & Reconcile | Use Bullhorn Reporting (Transaction Master Detail, Invoice Register, Pay Export Batch) to tick-and-tie |
| 6 | Contact Support | Open a case via the Bullhorn Hub with: Placement ID, error text, screenshots, and steps already tried |
See Troubleshooting for more resources related to specific tools and errors. See Additional Use Cases: When Things Change for use case examples.
Navigation
Cheat Sheet
The following table outlines common tasks and their locations for quick reference.
| Task | Navigation Path |
|---|---|
| View Timesheets | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Timesheets |
| View Payable Charges | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Payable Charges |
| View Billable Charges | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Billable Charges |
| View Invoices | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Invoices |
| View Issues | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Issues |
| Tax Rules | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Tax Rules |
| Surcharges | ATS Menu > Pay & Bill > Surcharges |
| Canvas Reports | ATS Menu > Admin > Canvas |
| Pay & Bill Settings | ATS Menu > Admin > Pay & Bill Settings |
| Placement Viewer | BTE > Maintenance > Administration > Placement Viewer |
| Recon Dashboard | BTE > Maintenance > Administration > Reconciliation Dashboard |
- 01 Cover
- 02 How to use
- 03 Resources
- 04 Weekly operations
- 05 Before your first Monday
- 06 Monday · Time entry
- 07 Tuesday · Approval
- 08 Wednesday · Payroll
- 09 Thursday · Invoicing
- 10 Friday · Reporting
- 11 Daily use case cheat sheet
- 12 Middle Office Troubleshooting
- 13 Navigation cheat sheet