Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Business Case - Payroll System Executive Summary Our organization, LAW Solutions, offers consulting services for everyday problems faced by developing HR departments. As we have been using ADP for payroll, we have found a multitude of problems that stand in the way of effectively delivering our product to our employees, and efficiently utilizing these systems as managers. Some of the problems we have faced are configuration from system to system, employee complaints that the current platform is not easy to use, frequent technical issues with the system, inadequate customer service and overcharge. Having just come off our best businessyear to date, with a substantially higher net income than the year prior, we have found that we can take some funds away from the bottom line to find, purchase, adopt, and adapt to a new payroll system to better our organization. This business case explains the process we followed to conclude that our best alternative for payroll is SAMUPS, as well as the following steps for its implementation. After performing the needs analysis (Annex 1) and defining the Project scope statement, we followed an exhaustive Vendor Review Plan, in which the finalists were SAMUPS, Namely and Workday. This business case concludes that SAMUPS is the best system for LAW Solutions. It is a cloud-based system, specific to payroll, which includes an AI bot that supports employee experience. SAMUPS also has the ability to show employees their total paycheck which includes their pay, healthcare deductions, social security, medicare, work comp, and other benefits. Our organization believes in strategic simplicity. Having a well-designed, easy to use, unanimously accepted system in place bolsters that belief. Having total benefits of $200,000.00 and costs of $136,000.00, the 3 year ROI investment for SAMPS implementation is 47%. Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Our Organization Our organization, LAW Solutions, targets public, private, and nonprofit organizations alike ranging from startup phase to medium-sized tap into their internal resources to combine their talent and resources finding uniquely dynamic solutions with our guidance. As we have organically grown from a few dozen employees since conception in 2010, to now having around 500 hundred located at our corporate headquarters in Manhattan; and other regionally contracted employees servicing our other geographic markets; our own HR department has found itself in a rut. We currently function on the ADP Payroll platform and have for many years. Throughout our time using this platform, we have found a lot of success. However, new objectives need to be met, obstacles need to be overcome, and staying ahead of the competition is a necessity. Changes need to be made to our current system to address problems standing in our way. Some of the problems we have faced are: Configuration from system to system. For example, if there is a new hire we have to wait three days to input them into the system. Also, if an employee is moving from hourly to salaried sometimes the input isn’t registered and a repeat entry must be done. Consequences of this accuracy could be that employees will end up being back-paid to their start date. Also, many employees complain that the system is not a friendly interface for employees. Employees have a hard time submitting their time off requests because they do not understand the system and policies surrounding the current system. Technical issues with the system happen far too frequently. Customer service is another problem because frequently there is no direct customer service many times you are speaking with AI. Overcharge is another problem, many times ADP charges the company for their mistake. It has become apparent that in order to continue the successful trends exemplified in the past, we must now employ a new system to aid our growing needs. We need a system that will help solve the problem and also fulfill our payroll needs. Having just come off our best business-year to date, with a substantially higher net income than the year prior, we have found that we can take some funds away from the bottom line to find, purchase, adopt, and adapt to a new payroll system to better our organization We have been using an automated ticketing system for HR policy-based questions that our employees have. The questions are then distributed to our relatively small HR team. We have noticed in recent years and steady increase of policy questions relating to payroll. Be it discrepancies with inaccurate payments, inquiries surrounding taxes, deductions, and any other paystub specifics, or even missed payments. One of our main organizational issues from an HR perspective is allocation of time. Since we only have a limited amount of staff assisting with our HR functional areas, their time needs to be dedicated to only high priority items. Making this transition from our HR team using the majority of their working hours completing simple, tedious, transactional HR activities into Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 devoting more efforts towards the innovative, progressive transformational HR activities is one of our ultimate goals. Since payroll employees gain a plethora of knowledge very quickly, the potential of seeking a better opportunity either within or external to the organization is likely. Therefore, it is vital for the implementation of a solution to motivate payroll employees to find more ways to get involved around the organization. The solution we find must make life easier for our HR team. A proper solution will be all encompassing to not only be a more user-friendly interface, but also satisfy the litany of demands we must correct. Review of current system (ADP) Automatic Data Processing is one of the largest payroll outsourcing providers. Cloud computing operating model. Key Features - Run payrolls and files taxes - Pay employees by check, direct deposit - Run payroll by phone , web or mobile app. - Track employees hours worked - Manage time-off request - Integrate with payroll - Employee benefits Employees - Have the ability to request time off, input OT, check pay stubs Managers - Have the ability to approve time off, check employee time off Project Purpose and Scope After conducting a needs analysis (Annex 1) the project purpose and scope were defined as follows: Project purpose Implement a system that: ● Is cloud-based ● Is easy to use ● Includes an AI Bot for customer service and also the possibility to contact a human for difficult questions ● Can cater large number of employees’ payroll ● Ensures the safety of data ● Is able to calculate benefits, taxes and dependencies of employees Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 ● Can integrate the payroll data into realtime workers' compensation billing ● Can tie directly into electronic time and attendance and make sure the company complies with federal, state, and local wage and hour requirements. ● Accurately records time and attendance, work schedule, hours worked, units of pay, deductions and leave of absences ● Ensures the exact amount of wages, salaries and bonuses ● Is compatible with Windows and Mac ● Has dashboards for salary grade analysis, pay and benefits information, as well as affirmative action tracking ● Has custom fields and custom screen options Project scope statement ● The new payroll system will be able to: ■ Ensure the exact amount of wages, salaries and bonuses ■ Cater large number of employees’ payroll ■ Ensure the safety of data ■ Provide easy access to pay, benefit information and salary grade analysis in dashboards ■ Calculate benefits, taxes and dependencies of employees ■ Integrate the payroll data into realtime workers' compensation billing ■ Accurately record time and attendance, work schedule, hours worked, units of pay, deductions and leave of absences ■ Tie directly into electronic time and attendance and make sure the company complies with federal, state, and local wage and hour requirements. ■ Includes an AI Bot for customer service and also the possibility to contact a human for difficult questions ■ Provide compatibility with Windows and Mac ● The project will be completed by July, 2020. ● The payroll system will run on mobile devices and computers (Windows and Mac), and it will support up to 50,000 users simultaneously. ● The process of implementing the system will include three sessions of prototyping and validation with final users and monthly work meeting with the team. Exclusions The development of this project does not include: ● Items not mentioned in the scope ● Elements other than a payroll system If further developments are needed, additional resources (time and funding) will be necessary. Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Solution definition To best address our laundry list of issues, we have surveyed vendors about their products and conducted our own research so we understand what is out there and, perhaps, what could be our perfect fit. Ultimately, through our efforts we have come to find based on our current issues, organizational needs, product requirements, and budget a decision to go with. This solution, known as SAMUPS, not only will satisfy our desire to resolve current, everyday headaches, but will grant our management with far more data capturing capabilities than ADP does. This will be useful for our Human Capital Analytics division to pull data to holistically get a screenshot of where we stand or potentially paint a future portrait of where we are heading. On top of that, management will finally have the ability to complete the necessary tasks in a timely manner thanks to the assistance of the AI bot. Utilizing this product and partnering with the vendor to bring on a professional consultant to train our managers, then trickling down to our employees will be an effective route for implementation. Important features of the solution Thinking about our solution and the application of it to our business strategy, some features are required that our previous payroll system did not have. For example, SAMUPS must be able to integrate the payroll data into realtime workers' compensation billing so workers' compensation payments are adjusted in real time based on employee headcounts. This avoids having an annual audit as the insurance payments are based on real time information similar to what is done with benefit arrangements. Role-Based Requirements Role Requirements Practitioner l ● Enter new payroll records to the system ● Verify timekeeping records to ensure compliance ● Make changes in pay and tax status Payroll Practitioner (intermediate) ll ● All Practitioner l requirements ● Calculate wage and overtime payments deductions ● Record and calculate payroll ● Process requests for paycheck advances ● Process terminations for employees Payroll (junior) and Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Payroll Administrator ● All Payroll Practitioners l and ll requirements ● Process payroll ● If needed, identify all unpaid employees and coordinate manual payments ● Process garnishments and levies ● Filing tax and voluntary deduction reports Supervisors ● Audit timecards Timekeepers ● Create and configure employee profile, timecard profile, ID and password ● View and validate all timecards across the organization. ● View and adjust status of records, leave balances, leave audits, leave requests, and additional pay requests for employees. ● Pull un-validated and un-certified timecard reports ● Correct timesheets to resolve leave errors ● Submit leave audits to the Payroll Office for review and modification to the NFC database, to ensure that webTA and NFC have the same balances. ● Print Leave Analysis Reports and Time and Attendance Reports Employees ● Self-service via chatbot, to reduce administrative processes and employee questions about payroll and taxes Vendor Review Plan Once the needs analysis was finalized and the final requirements were defined, we followed seven steps to select the final vendor : 1. First, we defined the vendor requirements, including the features the organization is looking for in a vendor as well as the certifications needed to comply with all regulations. When we began looking for a vendor that could satisfy our needs one of the first things we considered was how the product was offered and maintained. Since our organization doesn’t have a massive IT department we needed to be sure our vendor had support for their solution, as well as consultants or product champions who could help us with Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 integration and learning. We also knew a cloud solution would best accommodate our limitations being a growing organization. 2. Then, the evaluation criteria was developed to weigh our requirements against its value and priority. 3. We carried out a thorough investigation to identify vendor candidates, understand the available options and compile a list of possible vendors. We sent to each vendor a Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposals (RFP). 4. We made a first round of vendor evaluations using the evaluation model built in step 2 and defined the most promising options. The finalists were SAMUPS, Namely and Workday. 5. We made a second round of vendor evaluations that consisted of an initial meeting with each potential vendor to discuss stated requirements and ensure a common understanding. The key areas that were examined in this step were the financial stability of the vendor, the length of time in business, recommendations from similar organizations, and the trustworthiness of the organization. Then, we conducted a risk analysis to determine whether the vendor is stable enough to be considered for a contract. With that input we requested the best vendors to provide a demo and schedule site visits to their offices. 6. After the demos and the site visits, we selected SAMUPS. 7. Finally, we completed contracting with vendor: we defined relevant information to be included in the contract, such as objectives, deliverables, timeframes, and budgets. This table summarizes the results of the process: ADP (Current System) SAMUPS Namely Workday Mobile friendly Yes Yes Yes Yes Live Support No Yes Yes Yes Language Support No Yes No No AI Bot No Yes No No Final Paper Payroll Price Structured HRIS Fall 2019 No Yes No Yes Review new system (SAMUPS) Key Features - Cloud based system - AI bot specific to Payroll, can address the most basic payroll policy questions Employee - Ability to check your statements (salary, hourly pay, work hours, OT, income, see the tax breakdown, are pre-tax deductions - benefit elections, retirement accounts, commuter accounts, other deductions). - Use AI bot to ask questions/report issues and help check if more money is owed (EE claims they worked OT but weren’t paid for it, bot can check if the OT hours were documented and if it doesn’t find the problem, will involve manager to rectify the complaint.) Manager - Approve time off, edit statements/adjust future statements (OT), manage payroll team (add new hires/employees joining that manager’s team, delete employees moving out of org/out of that manager’s team). - Pull data from payroll system to run reports (Example: need to be more strict with employees taking too much OT, run a report to see how much OT everyone's taking, if certain EE’s are taking more than others, if there are any trends identify them and propose solutions). Why is SAMUPS the best system for LAW Solutions SAMUPS is a cloud-based system, specific to payroll. What makes SAMUPS different is it has a personalized AI bot that can help with our payroll needs. For example, if we want to know “How many personal days do I have left?”, instead of having to click to multiple screens,SAMUPS will tell the direct answer. Compared to other payroll systems, SAMUPS main goal is employee experience. We want to adopt a system that helps employees with their questions without a long wait time. Because of this, we are expanding the languages included in the system. Many payroll systems are only in English. Being aware that employees come from diverse backgrounds, we are expanding our language capabilities, so that employees can take full advantage of the system. Another key function is SAMUPS disability-friendly capabilities. Many payroll systems do not have a feature that caters to people who may have a disability. We have included an accessibility guide to have those employees who have a disability. Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 The AI bot is capable of addressing simple employee inquiries mainly relating to policies already set in place. In most cases, the AI bot can address direct answers, while more complex questions will need to be escalated to the ‘ticketing system’ to get an actual human to address the question - another feature of the AI bot. For example, if an hourly employee has worked a certain overtime that isn’t explicitly listed as a policy of the organization and they weren’t paid for it; or perhaps a new compensation is being created for their type of overtime (let’s call it Lobster Differentiation); this would be raised to the ticketing system and to an HR professional that can work through to find a solution that the AI bot couldn’t. Having a functioning, user-friendly, engaging platform for payroll will allow employees to better understand their paycheck, benefits, and total compensation. Employees should be able to make deductions and deposit changes inside the HRIS, the same program they use for PTO, benefits, and coworker contact info. In SAMUPS we will allow an administrator to analyze pay discrepancies to avoid not only employee ill will but potential equal pay and discrimination lawsuits. SAMUPS has the ability to show employees their total paycheck which includes their pay, healthcare deductions, Social Security, Medicare, work comp, and other benefits. (Many states like California have specific requirements for issuing electronic or printed checks). This solution goes above expectations for what our current system has been lacking to do. WIthout providing a full-range of capabilities, our old system (ADP) has become out-dated. Our organization believes in strategic simplicity. Having a welldesigned, easy to use, unanimously accepted system in place bolsters that belief. When it comes to a topic like payroll, one of the most, if not the most, widely used system by employees, it is imperative to improve the experience for employees and managers alike. Project Team Structure The solution strategy team and project team have been created to ensure the project and solution nest themselves into the organization in the most non-invasive, natural possible ways. Educating employees on the change and features of the AI chatbot will need to become a top priority to ensure a smooth transition. The project team will be comprised of a number of different professionals from our organization that all add value and necessary insights to bring this project to fruition. A brief breakdown of who will be involved in the project team is included in the table below: Project Team Members Department Quantity Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 IT 5 Project Manager 3 Payroll Specialist 2 HR Business Partner/Adviser 2 Vendor Consultant 2 HRIS administrator 3 Change management champion 1 Training 3 Legal Counsel 2 Procurement or Finance Manager 2 LMS domain expert 2 Subject Matter Expert 1 The solution strategy team has been working diligently for a few months now as we have built this solution proposal. Some of the main focuses have been aimed at employee ease of use and accurate delivery coupled with in-depth training sessions, some optional for employees, some mandatory for managers Testing Strategy The objectives of the testing strategy are: ● Ensure that payroll will be 100% accurate. ● Ensure that the payroll system meets all the business requirements determined to be in scope as well as technical requirements. To achieve those objectives we will conduct parallel testing following these steps: 1. First parallel testing ● Select payroll cycle ● Export all the payroll information from the legacy payroll system for the selected payroll cycle, including taxes and benefits ● Enter the information into the new payroll system ● Run payroll using both systems for three weeks Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 ● Compare the results from both systems line by line 2. Categorizing Discrepancies ● Find discrepancies ● Categorize discrepancies according to the cause of discrepancy. ○ Entry errors ○ Errors resulting from the old system ○ Explainable or acceptable differences (such as rounding errors) ○ Errors in rule creation ○ Unexplainable errors 3. Correct the discrepancies or the causes of the discrepancies 4. Second parallel testing ● Run payroll using both systems for three weeks ● Compare the results from both systems line by line ● If the results are the same, there is no need to run a third parallel testing. If discrepancies are identified, repeat steps 2 and 3 Cost/benefit projections - 3 year investment Benefits Revenue enhancement Direct Amount Indirect New revenue/sales $ Better decision making Staff reductions $ 100,000.00 100,000.00 Increased satisfaction of key stakeholders Improvement potential Improve regulatory compliance Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Cost Reduction Canceled vendor contracts $ 5,000.00 Saved staff time Reduced cycle times Benefits Total $ 200,000.00 Costs Implementation costs Software $ 5,000.00 Severance pay out $ 50,000.00 UX Designers $ 2,000.00 Contract employees $ 60,000.00 Service agreements $ 4,000.00 System upgrades $ 10,000.00 Customization $ 5,000.00 Costs Total $ 136,000.00 Benefits Costs $ 64,000.00 - 3 year ROI ROI = (Benefits - Cost) / Cost ROI = (200,000 - 136,000) /136,000 = 0.47 ROI = 47% Hi-Level Project Plan for Implementation Phase Activities Confirm project objectives Launch Confirm team structure Confirm workflows Jan Feb March April May Jun Jul Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Project onboarding Kick-off meeting Review of employee data, tax history, reporting and security Analysis Tax banking and general ledger analysis Data assessment conversion Secure data transfer and conversion Configure solution Complete data mapping Configuratio and initial data loads n Execute organizational readiness plan Conduct parallel testing Sandbox review Resolve testing issues Refine configuration End user training Go-live Go-live support Project Risks - Going over budget Data loss during migration Issued with integration Inaccurate payroll Trainings and adaptation to the system (payroll) Effectively manage change Implementation / planning Final Paper Payroll - Data security Legal requirement Availability of clean, reliable HR data for conversion Under-estimating project complexity Differentiation strategy (AI Bot) Time of integration HRIS Fall 2019 Final Paper Payroll HRIS Fall 2019 Annex 1: Needs Analysis The new Payroll system should meet the following needs: ● Easy to use ● Easy access to pay and benefit information in dashboards ● Role-based requirements ● Employee Self Service Option ● Friendly Interface for employees and managers ● Cater large number of employees’ payroll ● Integrate the payroll data into realtime workers' compensation billing ● Accurately record time and attendance, work schedule, hours worked, units of pay, deductions and leave of absences ● Ensure the exact amount of wages, salaries and bonuses ● Customer service that includes AI Bot and also the possibility to contact a human for difficult questions ● Compatible with Windows and Mac ● Salary Grade Analysis ● Benefits information ● Custom fields or custom screen options ● Affirmative action tracking ● The system needs to be flexible, with the ability to meet the changing needs of HR.
