November 2008 • Volume 6 • Issue 4
Newsletter for Sage Abra HRMS
What’s Inside
Page 2
Automating Benefits Enrollment Can Save Your Company Money continued
For Your Information: Trends
In Open Enrollment
Page 3
The Value Of An Integrated
HRMS
Page 4
Plan Ahead For Smooth
Year-End Processing
Did You Know
Sage Software offers free
Web seminars. Current offerings include:
•Sage Abra for Larger
Companies (250+ employees)
•Sage Abra for Smaller
Companies (under 250
employees)
•Sage Payroll PayCards
For the current Sage Abra
Webcast schedule or to
register Click here.
Automating Benefits Enrollment
Can Save Your Company Money
T
o remain competitive as the cost of
benefits continue to increase, employers must seek ways to offset the impact
of those increases. One way is to reduce the
administrative overhead involved in benefit administration through automation. The
annual open enrollment season is a great
time to analyze your processes and consider
a change.
A recent study by Aberdeen Group indicates that the automation of benefits enrollment is top among strategic actions employers are taking to lower the costs of benefits
enrollment and life-change submissions. By
speeding the process, minimizing manual
data entry, and reducing errors, employers
have the opportunity to measurably lower
costs.
The Aberdeen Group study pointed to
three main objectives companies look for in
an automated benefit management system:
• Installing an employee self-service portal
• Generating an online employee benefits
statement
• Integrating benefits management with the
company’s HRMS system
Sage Abra HRMS delivers on all three of
these benefits, giving you the tools to achieve
real savings. In this article we’ll take a closer
look at the tools and how you can put them
to work in your organization.
Employee Self-Service Portal
By putting control of routine HR and benefit-related issues directly in the hands of your
employees, you can save administrative overhead and reduce manual data entry tasks.
The Sage Abra ESS module allows employees to view and update their own HR and
payroll-related information anytime, anywhere via an intranet or Internet connection.
Changes made in the system are communicated to all relevant parties automatically.
Employees can update personal information and view benefit elections, absence transactions, payroll information, and more. They
can view their own W-2 and submit a new
W-4 form to change their federal withholding
elections. A digital signature feature keeps this
process secure and paperless.
Sage Abra ESS allows employees to view
benefit elections, premium costs, dependent
information, and insurance benefit information. Employees also can view and print
Continued on page 2
page 2 • * info Newsletter
Automating Benefits Enrollment Can Save Your Company Money
(continued from cover)
their paycheck stubs including full paycheck
details, payroll deductions, and tax withholding information.
Employee activities such as requests for
time off and W-4 form changes also are automated, resulting in faster approvals and less
paperwork.
Managers can access their direct and indirect reports’ emergency contacts, skills, events,
and certifications, as well as view and approve
requests for time off and employee compensation information.
Employee self-service solutions provide
additional benefits beyond convenience and
cost savings. By providing secure access to
personal information, and alerts to notify payroll and management when sensitive data has
been accessed, you are protecting the privacy
of both your company and your employees.
Your self-service portal can serve as the onestop information center for your employees.
Built-in customization tools allow your company to tailor the system to suit your needs.
For example, you can define URL links to
third-party Web sites, such as your health
insurance providers’ site, or post company
documents such as employee handbooks.
required, because Abra Benefits Enrollment
uses familiar Internet browser technology
and wizards to guide employees step-by-step
through each benefit election choice. These
wizards are easily customized to meet your
company’s specific needs. You can post company-specific plan documents for employees to review online, and include URL links
to provider Web sites to allow employees to
review detailed benefit-provider information.
Election Comparison functionality helps
employees make informed decisions by comparing current benefit elections with alternative benefit plans. Employees are prompted
to choose plans based on automatic eligibility
criteria. Employees can stop part way through
the process, save their progress, and return at
a later date. When selections are complete,
they can authorize their choices with digital
signatures.
You can easily manage the process, noting
which employees have yet to complete their
enrollment. Automatic e-mail reminders can
be sent to those who have not completed the
process, reminding them to do so. As a result,
less staff is required to manage the project,
and it’s completed more quickly and more
accurately.
Online Benefits Administration
Moving benefits administration online significantly reduces the burden on your HR
staff, freeing them for more strategic tasks.
The Sage Abra Benefits Enrollment module
is a Web-based module that can appear on
the Sage Abra Employee Self Service module
menu if that module is installed, or it can run
as a stand-alone solution.
The core benefit definitions you have
established in the Sage Abra HR module
automatically flow into Sage Abra Benefits
Enrollment.
Once your benefit plans are set up, you
are ready to invite your employees to review
and select their plans online. Training is not
ZOOM IN
Sage Abra ESS allows employees to view time-off
balances online.
HR department, and Sage Abra has the
tools to streamline this function — saving
your company money while meeting the
needs of your staff. Call us with your questions about streamlining your company’s
benefit process. (( Tips & Tricks ))
An Integrated Approach
Trends In Open Enrollment
You can truly leverage the advantages of
technology when your systems work together
in an integrated fashion. Sage Abra HRMS
is a comprehensive human resource management solution delivering integrated functionality from initial recruiting efforts through
employee training and payroll processing.
The Sage Abra ESS and Benefits
Enrollment modules integrate with the Sage
Abra HR, Sage Abra Payroll, and Sage Abra
Attendance modules to provide an efficient,
single-source solution.
Benefits administration is an important
and necessary function of your company’s
Watson Wyatt, a benefit consulting
firm, has identified the following
trends prevalent during the 2008 open
enrollment season.
»» Financial incentives to maintain healthy
lifestyles.
»» Value-based prescription drug benefits
and a shift to co-insurance.
»» Greater access to on-site clinics, retail
clinics, and health coaches.
»» Health savings accounts linked to highdeductible health plans.
»» Full coverage or low co-payments for
preventive screenings and tests.
»» Greater use of new media, such as Web
sites, to communicate benefit information.
Sage Abra HRMS • page 3
The Value Of An Integrated HRMS
A
n integrated Human Resource
Management System can deliver efficiencies and cost savings across many HR
functions. In this article we will look at the
bottom-line value delivered by the integrated
Sage Abra HRMS solution.
Streamline Your Core
HR Administration
Prior to implementing an HRMS, most
small and mid-sized companies rely on
largely paper-based systems to manage basic
HR functions. Recruitment and hire information, payroll records, benefit plan elections, and training certifications for a single
employee could be stored in four or more different locations. This multi-location system is
inefficient, because a change to an employee’s
information needs to be replicated across the
variety of files and record-keeping tools. This
invites errors, as well as misplaced or outdated
information. Reporting and analysis from a
manual system is time consuming, difficult,
and prone to errors.
Sage Abra centralizes employee and payroll data, improving accuracy and efficiency.
The centralized system eliminates the need to
enter data in multiple places or search in several files for vital employee information. With
comprehensive and easily accessible information available for reports, inquiries, and analyses, your management team can make more
informed decisions about the workforce.
compliance is compromised.
Sage Abra will help you determine which
laws apply to your company and will help
you to track the details necessary to comply
with record keeping requirements. Regular
updates to Sage Abra ensure that you remain
in compliance with changing tax and employment laws.
Improve Your Bottom Line
Simplify Benefits Management
HR departments spend up to 30 percent of
their time on routine benefits administration
activities. Nothing generates more employee
questions and requests to HR than benefits.
Most employers offer multiple benefits such
as health, life, and disability insurance. This
requires multiple insurance carriers, often
offering several plans within each package.
Each individual plan must be set-up and
administered by HR, and each plan requires
an employee enrollment with transmission of
census data to the benefits carrier.
Sage Abra can automate each step of the
benefits management process, eliminating
paper-based processes, improving efficiency,
and accuracy, and greatly reducing routine
administration.
An efficient benefits management solution
like Sage Abra can lower the overall cost of
providing services to your employees while
helping address the fastest-growing source of
rising costs.
Recruiting New Hires
Ensure Compliance
No employer, no matter how small, is
exempt from the many laws and regulations
that govern the workforce. Non-compliance
can expose your company to stiff penalties
and the threat of employee lawsuits. Most of
these regulations require detailed record keeping and significant reporting efforts. Without
a powerful integrated HRMS, your ability to
remain in compliance and to document your
and qualifications. You can then create a requisition that defines the required qualifications and the system can automatically match
your requisition to qualified candidates from
within the database. Sage Abra also integrates
with major job boards like Monster.com to
facilitate the process.
Recruiting new hires can be one of the
most complex processes many companies
face, with multiple stake holders to please and
volumes of paperwork to process.
Sage Abra can help streamline or eliminate administrative and paper-based processes, which results in more timely hires with
lower recruiting costs. With Sage Abra you
can maintain a comprehensive database of
applicant and current employee information
Sage Abra HRMS can positively impact
your bottom line through:
• Increased Productivity — The time and
effort saved through the reduction of
routine administration and elimination
of duplicate data entry.
• Direct Cost Savings — The savings
associated with the costs of printing,
mailing, and faxing, as well as avoiding
costly errors through increased accuracy.
• Improved Compliance — Avoiding fines,
penalties, and costly litigation.
• More Strategic Planning Opportunity —
Your human resources administrative staff
has more time to focus on what matters
most.
We would be happy to discuss in more
detail the efficiencies and bottom line return
on investment that Sage Abra can bring to
your organization. Please give us a call.
page 4 • * info Newsletter
In the Spotlight:
Plan Ahead For Smooth Year-End Processing
Y
ear end is a hectic time for most organizations, especially in the HR department. To help ensure your year-end processing tasks proceed smoothly, take the time to
start planning for those tasks now. Here are
some common sense tips to consider to help
ensure that when it’s time to close Sage Abra
HRMS for the year, you and your data are
well prepared.
Develop A Work Plan
Look For Updates
You should have a detailed, step-by-step
plan for year-end procedures. Communicate
to employees involved in the process what
their individual tasks will be and when they’ll
be called on to perform them. Take a close
look at the company vacation schedule to
ensure you are not caught shorthanded.
Tax Table Updates are typically available
from Sage Software by mid-December. If you
have an up-to-date maintenance contract, the
update will be sent to you automatically. If
your contract has lapsed, please give us a call
and we’ll help to get you up to date. We are
available to assist in any part of your year-end
processing — just give us a call.
Order Government Forms Now
Refresh Your Memory
Get a head start on the year-end process by
reading through the Sage Abra closing instructions now. You can search for year-end related
topics using the Online Users Guide, accessible from the Help Toolbar within Sage Abra. In
addition, the Sage Software SupportPlus Online
Web site (www.sagespecialized.com/support) is
updated frequently with the latest information
users need concerning year-end processing.
If this is your first time closing Sage Abra or
if you could use a refresher, you might consider
some training. You could take a Web-based
training class or we can provide one-on-one
training for you and your staff. Of course you
can always call on us to help you prepare for
and perform your year-end processing tasks.
Allocate The Time
The calendar seems to speed up as the end
of the year approaches, so don’t be caught
unprepared. Schedule the date(s) to perform
your year-end closing tasks on your calendar
and on the calendars of your payroll clerks
and HR personnel. Be certain to allow adequate time to complete year-end procedures
before the first payroll of the new year is due.
Order your W-2 and 1099 forms now to
ensure they’re here when you need them. Be
sure to order plenty of extras. Many times
a mistake is not discovered until you have
printed W-2s. It pays to order at least twice
the quantity that you expect to print. Be certain you buy a supported form or that you
can make any necessary form layout changes.
Request
More
Information
Contact
Information
ADSS Global
Double-Check Information
Whiteland Business Park
Take the time to enter all addresses, pay
increases, terminations, and W-4 changes into
Sage Abra HR and/or Payroll. You’ll need this
data current for tax reporting in January.
825 Springdale Drive
Exton, PA 19341
(484) 713-1000
Sunset Station
Remember To Back It Up
5975 Sunset Drive, Suite 505
You know the importance of performing
routine backups. Perhaps no other backup is as
critical as the final backup you perform before
your year-end closing procedures are started.
Backing up your Sage Abra data is simple so
don’t neglect this step. The backup you produce should be kept indefinitely. With Sage
Abra, this will mean relabeling that backup
file and saving it to another drive location or
onto a portable hard drive or CD.
Miami, FL 33143
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