Canadian Payroll Reporter

6 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 News September 2016 | CPR it is a good idea to assess your payroll solution every few years, especially as technology and tax laws evolve. Here are some key indicators to help determine if your current payroll technology is providing good value to your organization. • Has your company experi- enced change? Your payroll solution was perfect for your organization when you imple- mented it, but over the years companies experience events such as acquisitions, growth, contraction or new employee agreements. Over time, your solution might not be support- ing you as effectively because the organization has outgrown it, complexities have added new requirements, or the soft- ware reaches end-of-life and will no longer be supported. • Do you still have manual work-arounds? If you are tracking calculations or infor- mation using spreadsheets, chances are that a modern payroll solution can be con- figured to take care of those work-arounds for you. • Does your company strategy include any new initiatives? If your organizational goals include going green and reduc- ing paper or introducing work- flows to streamline internal processes, it is important to consider how the payroll team can use technology to help the company reach these targets. • Have employees' expectations changed? With the introduc- tion of mobile access, manager and employee expectations are changing. They want access anytime from anywhere to initiate and approve time-off requests and so much more. As a result, it is important to consider how your solution functions for your manager and employee end users. Once you have assessed your current payroll, if you find it is not meeting your needs, your next step should be to determine what your organization requires in a new solution. As you start your research, there are several key consider- ations to take into account to make sure you select the right solution. In looking at the software, it should be validated for: Features and benefits: Focus on what functionality each solu- tion offers that will make your processes more efficient. Configurability: Every busi- ness has unique needs. Make sure that potential solutions can be configured to fit your busi- ness. Your payroll should not have to conform to a one-size- fits-all solution. Compatibility: Payroll often needs to work well with other applications, such as your fi- nance solution. Make sure your selected solution can send your payroll GL information seam- lessly to your ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. Reporting: Make sure you can easily create in-depth reporting on historical payroll data. Ease of use: Make sure the user interface makes sense and you can see yourself and your stakeholders easily being able to learn and navigate within it. The vendor should be validated for: Reputation: How long has the vendor existed and for what are they best known? Not only should the software be a good fit, but you also need to know the vendor will be a good long-term partner. Support: When there are questions, what is the vendor's support system like? How will your organization be supported by the vendor's team from imple- mentation to ongoing support? Platform options: What is the best way for the software to be delivered for your team, on premise or in the cloud? Deter- mine the best place for your em- ployees' personal and confiden- tial information to be stored. Cost: Be familiar with the budget, not only for the cost of the solution, but for the people hours that will be invested in testing the new system and train- ing users, including employees and managers. Work with the vendor to identify where there will be cost savings and efficien- cies to help demonstrate that the initial investment will pay for it- self over time. Timing: Will the implemen- tation timeframes meet your or- ganizational rhythms? Knowing how soon the vendor can start your project and when your re- sources will be required are im- portant to understand. Making the decision to change your payroll technology alone is not enough. You also need to put together a plan for success. This will provide a clear path to achieve all the objectives and ef- ficiencies you expect out of your new payroll. The following tips will help to make sure that everything goes smoothly in your transition: Invest time in creating a clear list of requirements. Start by putting together a detailed list of all the areas in your pay- roll that you want to improve on. Uncover inefficiencies and put together your wish list for a new payroll solution. You can choose to have an in- depth request-for-proposal pro- cess or to provide vendors with the items you would like to see demonstrated. Either way, being specific about needs at the start is critical. Changing requirements during an implementation can be costly and you want to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Map out your current pro- cesses. Once you have deter- mined it is time to consider looking at new solutions, this is a great time to review your pro- cesses – from employee time collection to manager approval to payroll processing and finan- cial entries. The most effective process review should include all stake- holders: not just the payroll de- partment, but also HR, finance and IT, as well as feedback from managers and employees. Review all of your payroll input, output and access, including items such as: •Who inputs the employees into your system? •Who needs access to what, whom and when? •Who Inputs the time worked and time off and who approves it? •What reports do your man- agement and executive team require? Capture opportunities for im- provement as you review your current processes: •What tasks could be elimi- nated through automated workflows? •Are there paper processes that can be eliminated in the new solution? •Are there efficiencies that can be gained by working with HR to find an all-in-one people- management solution? •Can mobile devices improve access points? Create your path to success. Start by defining what success looks like for each stakeholder group. Ensure all stakehold- ers understand how the payroll change will impact them and the benefits. •Capture what success looks like for payroll, IT, finance and HR, as well as for managers and employees. This gets Consider features, compatibility, ease of use from TECHNOLOGY on page 1 continues on page 7 Credit: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

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