Likelihood to Recommend In working with Ascentis in payroll, the program makes my job so much easier. I am new to this position and the learning process has been so much easier with this product than those in the past. I appreciate the patience I am given when I call in for assistance as well.
Read full review UKG Ready is a great time keeping system, it is user friendly and employees that do use the application, do not have many complaints. Its the access and maneuvering around the application to get to where they need to go, or find what they are looking for or accessing the application that is the issue. Once they find the location on where they need to be in order to submit the request, it is quick and easy. We are finding that we are utilizing resources to sit with these employees even after providing in person or virtual training to help navigate to what they want to do.
Read full review Pros Easy to use software. I have had several new HR employees comment on how easy the system is to learn! Problem Solving- Ascentis is always problem solving! When we were in the process of selecting a new payroll company, we needed unemployment claims management assistance for our locations, something Ascentis did not currently offer. The sales rep went out of his way to find a unemployment claims management company that would work with Ascentis and us. That company has helped us keep an 80% win rate for our claims! User conference- Engage is an awesome way to learn more about the products Ascentis has available as well and meet up with the staff you work with every day! Read full review I find timesheets to be easy to use and provide good details for employees and employers. I love how customizable the dashboard is. This is a time saver for someone working in HR. The payroll process was easy to learn. The steps are simple to follow, and changes can be made to the pay statements with ease. Read full review Cons Updating the system so it is one platform and not two. Create changes to the benefit enrollment process and upgrade the system so hire dates do not need to be changed to trigger benefits for status changes. Focus updates on HR Admin, mobile application, ATS and transitioning to one platform. Larger areas of focus have been on the payroll portion of the system with a few updates to other areas. When something is broken, quicker turn time on fixing the issue. System needs updates to support AAP reporting. Read full review System is very complicated, which is a plus because it can handle almost any situation but difficult to learn There are often several ways to complete a task and it isn't always clear the most efficient route to follow Reporting can be clumsy to customize Read full review Likelihood to Renew This rating would be a 10 if it were not for some issues we have been having recently with the benefit carrier connections. The carrier connections are critical for us so how these issues are resolved will be key in our renewal decision.
Read full review We plan to renew our support and use of UKG Ready each year unless it becomes unavailable or the district seeks another vendor. As of now, there are no plans to changes vendors. The district staff is now familiar with using UKG. Another vendor will need to meet the same expectations we have come to enjoy with using UKG
Read full review Usability I'd give it a 7.5. If the modules were easier to access and not so buried (or placed in left field to find), I would give it a higher rating. As I said, as the potential to be great if ACCESS to other modules was easier.
Read full review For the average user they do not struggle. We do have a handful of users who struggle using their own smartphones, and of course, they struggle with any technology. However, we do not let this sway us from helping them learn. Managers have found the system easy to navigate once fully trained.
Read full review Reliability and Availability They normally give you notice when an update will affect the use of the system. Otherwise, when we have an error , we send a message to the support team. Sometimes someone will get right back with you and sometimes it takes a while.
Read full review The system seems very stable. Being hosted in the cloud, we are vulnerable to internet speeds and busy times. The system has been down a couple times over the 3 months we have been live, but Kronos resolved the issues very quickly. To have access from a desktop, tablet, time clock, or phone app is one of the best features....users have almost NO REASON they can't clock in.
Read full review Performance Yes, this pages do load pretty good but there are times when things are slow and I believe that's because they are sometimes trying to do updates.
Read full review We were always told that Kronos was the best, but there are reports that we got out of ADP and other payroll providers that we cannot get out of Kronos. One example is a report of Productive/Non-productive hours by department. We also need the dollar amount associated with the hours. This is information that is required on our cost report and we were told that that report is unavailable. It is very frustrating when I can't get what I need.
Read full review Support Rating Support is attentive and quick to answer the call and get the answer for you. If they for any reason cannot answer right then, they are back to you within a day and always seem to have a sense of urgency. You truly get the impression that they are aiming to make you happy.
Read full review If I was only rating support itself that would be a 10. Every support case I have entered has been addressed efficiently and with the desired result. On the implementation and transition to support there were multiple issues that those doing the implementation or transition could not answer or workflows and various settings left undone only to be discovered later. We implemented 3 different modules and the expertise we got for each one varied widely.
Read full review In-Person Training First, to clarify our "in-person" training was done mainly through Web-X meetings and conference calls. It was the closest thing we got to as far as an "in-person" training for this software. However, for the large majority of it, this type of training worked out well. We were able to share our screens and the trainer was able to share his/her screen. We could follow along with what we were doing in our database in real time and see how different functions worked and how manipulating our information could produce different results. It was also nice in that it provided for real-time results if something hadn't been coded correctly or we were having issues as to why something wasn't working the way we thought it should be. However, it did have some downsides in that we often had to rely on a conference phone and that made it difficult to hear people on both sides. Also, sometimes the trainers had internet difficulties when working from home and that caused issues with the WebX meetings.
Read full review Our in-person training was a hybrid. Live online training with an instructor. They were very knowledgeable of the product & the area they were training on. I asked several specific questions and if they didn't know the answer immediately they followed up after class.
Read full review Online Training Ascentis HR has a number of online training videos to watch on a number of different topics. I gave it a lower rating because there is not much interactivity with the videos and it seems to cater to really only one or two learning styles. Plus, one has to be pretty motivated to go to a separate area to access the videos and then pull up a specific one to watch it and then learn. From my experience, people know that they are there, many just don't take the time and effort to go find them and actually watch them - especially since the username and password are different from their normal username and password.
Read full review Pretty good online training, you have many how to options and can watch them several times. It can be hard at times to dig through the amount of data online but can usually find what you are looking for. Also you can download documentation for setting up the profiles and policies.
Read full review Implementation Rating It was very easy to implement, but the customization pieces should really be fleshed out in order to determine the full need of an organization at the time of implementation. I believe if a little more time was spent on the requirements, the recruiting module would not have to be customized again at a cost at a later date.
Read full review Make sure the people who are doing the build have extensive knowledge on employment law and asking the right questions. I would bet that the people who helped with our builds did not read any of our employment contracts or ordinances; and when I asked questions about how other companies handled certain basic dictates from federal employment laws, they didn't have any idea what FMLA, FLSA, etc were.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Ascentis has far better customer service and the implementation experience was also better. The ability to do a lot of customization is also easier with Ascentis as it's smaller organization. The payroll has positive and negatives compared to ADP but the accuracy is the same in both. Ascentis just started their community site which doesn't have a lot of traffic but hopefully can become more like ADP's community site, which was extremely helpful to me as an administrator.
Read full review UKG is great for reporting and for having a pleasant UI. I find that
Paylocity has a lot more innovation, but sometimes its reach exceeds its grasp when it comes to implementation of those features. ADP is bog standard, and it works pretty well, but there's little interest in looking good, which matters a lot when it comes to the wide variety of users the systems need to handle.
Read full review Scalability Large acquisition would be very complicated, seems more appropriate for companies under 100
Read full review Thus far we are able to add as many users as necessary, implement 3 different bargaining units, 5 different types of user groups. Very flexible.
Read full review Return on Investment HR DPT. is much more effective, as we can assess any employee information no matter where we are, etc. This helps to provide information immediately when requested! Employees have access to Ascentis, and therefore to their timecard, open enrollment, etc., from anywhere at any time! Time, PTO requests, employee goals, and evaluations can be approved from anywhere at any time! Recruiting can be accessed any where at any time, and this helps with hiring, internal communication, etc. Read full review Ability to manage all HR activities within one platform Built in Workflows make approval process seamless UKG Ready offers a solid solution and ROI on our investment Easy to navigate Time & Attendance into Payroll, making processing seamless Great customer service offering several methods to contact UKG for support, fast to reply and offer a solution to the issue Read full review ScreenShots Ascentis (discontinued) Screenshots