Before running a payroll in SAP HCM Payroll for SAP S/4HANA, you need to perform certain activities.
These include:
Generate Payroll Periods: Payroll periods are essential as they define the frequency of payroll runs.
They could be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc., depending on the organization's policies.
Create Control Records: Control records in SAP HCM Payroll are used to control the payroll status of an employee or a group of employees. They ensure that no changes can be made to master data or time data affecting the payroll past or present during a payroll run1.
Creating organizational units and assigning cost centers to positions are not directly related to the configuration needed before running a payroll. They are more related to the organizational structure and cost accounting respectively.
References =
https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/get-started-with-sap-hcm-payroll/running-payroll_e1629f8b-5236-4a8

In the SAP HCM Payroll for SAP S/4HANA, the function PIT (Process Input Table) uses parameters to define its behavior. The PIT function is used to process all wage types in the input table (IT) using a specific personnel calculation rule, in this case, Z123. The parameters 'GEN' and 'NOAB' are used in the PIT function to accomplish this. 'GEN' stands for Generic access of personnel calculation rule (process any wage type).
'NOAB' stands for Employee subgroup grouping personnel calculation from table employee group/employee subgroup (T503) without payroll type (Process for any EE sub-group groupings). Therefore, the correct configuration to process all wage types in the input table (IT) using personnel calculation rule Z123 and considering the employee subgroup grouping for the personnel calculation rule is 'PIT Z123 GEN NOAB'.
References = 1, 2
https://community.sap.com/t5/enterprise-resource-planning-blogs-by-members/understanding-processing-classes
https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/ff854a903cbf4c10910a5825d787693f/253ec2531bb9b

The retroactive accounting depth of SAP payroll is the earliest date from which the payroll results can be recalculated due to changes in master or time data.
The retroactive accounting depth is determined by the following settings:
The "Earliest personal retroactive accounting date" stored in the Payroll Status infotype (0003) for the personnel number. This is the most specific setting that applies to an individual employee. It can be changed manually in the infotype or automatically by the system when certain changes are made.
The "Earliest retroactive accounting period" in the Payroll control record. This is the common setting that applies to all employees assigned to a payroll area. It can be changed in the payroll control record or by using the report RPUCTD00.
The hiring date stored for the personnel number. This is the absolute limit that cannot be exceeded by the other settings. The payroll results cannot be recalculated before the employee's hiring date.
The system uses the latest of these three settings as the retroactive accounting depth for each personnel number. For example, if the personal retroactive accounting date is 01.01.2024, the payroll control record date is 01.02.2024, and the hiring date is 01.03.2024, then the retroactive accounting depth is
01.03.2024. References =
Retroactive Accounting | SAP Help Portal
Retroactive Accounting functionality in HCM payroll PART-I | SAP Community Retroactive Payroll Processing | SAP Help Portal