Research, well-defined plan and stakeholder inclusion help transition
Because payroll plays such a critical role, it can be easy to justify keeping your existing solution even when it means managing work-arounds, manual processes and maintaining external spreadsheets.
In spite of this, to provide the best possible experience for employees and to make a more strategic impact in your organization, 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 experienced change? Your payroll solution was perfect for your organization when you implemented it, but over the years companies experience events such as acquisitions, growth, contraction or new employee agreements. Over time, your solution might not be supporting you as effectively because the organization has outgrown it, complexities have added new requirements, or the software reaches end-of-life and will no longer be supported.
• Do you still have manual work-arounds? If you are tracking calculations or information using spreadsheets, chances are that a modern payroll solution can be configured 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 reducing paper or introducing workflows 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 introduction 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 considerations 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 solution offers that will make your processes more efficient.
Configurability: Every business has unique needs. Make sure that potential solutions can be configured to fit your business. 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 finance solution. Make sure your selected solution can send your payroll GL information seamlessly 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 implementation 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? Determine the best place for your employees’ personal and confidential 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 training users, including employees and managers. Work with the vendor to identify where there will be cost savings and efficiencies to help demonstrate that the initial investment will pay for itself over time.
Timing: Will the implementation timeframes meet your organizational rhythms? Knowing how soon the vendor can start your project and when your resources will be required are important 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 efficiencies 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 payroll 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 process 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 processes. Once you have determined it is time to consider looking at new solutions, this is a great time to review your processes – from employee time collection to manager approval to payroll processing and financial entries.
The most effective process review should include all stakeholders: not just the payroll department, 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 management and executive team require?
Capture opportunities for improvement as you review your current processes:
•What tasks could be eliminated 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 stakeholders 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
everyone invested in the success of the project.
•Plan for change management, organize information sessions and share updates on the project regularly so everyone feels in the know.
•Create a training plan so your team knows how to use their new tools and to ensure they get the most out of the new solution.
Have a well-defined project plan. Taking the time to create a project plan will establish the foundation for your new payroll technology and will keep your implementation on track, on budget and allow for appropriate resource planning.
•Take into consideration when an implementation of a new payroll best works for your organization. When adding payroll implementation testing and training to the regular day-to-day duties, determine if you will require extra help during that time or if you will need to ask in advance for overtime approval. And take into account statutory holidays, special events, vacations or planned leaves.
•Share responsibilities by creating a list of tasks, due dates, and who or what team is responsible for the deliverables. This useful tool will keep everyone on task.
Great communication is essential. This applies not only between the project leads and the vendor, but also with all department heads, managers and employees. Even if they are not involved in the actual project yet, giving them lead time to prepare for the change will allow them to embrace it and be sure they have answers to all their questions before the new solution goes live.
Payroll is about more than just processing a pay run. It is an investment in people. The success of a new payroll technology implementation relies on how well an organization positions its people to help achieve the goals set out for the new solution. The efficiencies and processes that will help employees work smarter not harder can only become a reality if they understand how their participation will contribute to a better workplace.
