APS vs. Oracle PeopleSoft HCM

APS Payroll is an easy to use payroll system, and integrates well with some things such as the APS Hire feature, which handles onboarding, and the eSelfServe timeclock feature. It exports well to Quickbooks, but is only ok with NetSuite. (It works but is a completely manual process and takes a lot of setup.) Our tax registration and filing has been fine and we're always apprised of any tax discrepancies such as small Unemployment overages/underages when filed compared to what was withheld.

Incentivized

Oracle PeopleSoft HCM is great for onboarding new hires. The process, including some newer direct entry features, has been streamlined and made more intuitive. However, there is a steep learning curve for those who are completely unfamiliar with enterprise systems as a whole. In my experience, Oracle PeopleSoft HCM's updates have historically failed to improve the intuitiveness of navigation and features even through a move to a SaaS configuration in the cloud. This makes it hard to train new HR staff because there may be five different ways to accomplish the same thing and none of them are intuitive enough to just "figure out". This has been a bone of contention for me for all Oracle products for my entire 20+ year career, and it has never been fully addressed.

Incentivized

• It's fast and intuitive. Our previous contractors were ADP and Paychex and neither were intuitive. Our payroll runs have less errors now than with previous vendors. Payroll prep time is down from 5 hours with ADP to 2 hours with APS for the HR Manager.
• The limiters are great. I'm always afraid of that error that no one caught. Let's assume that you add a $200 limiter to overtime. Any time that a staff member is about to receive more than $200 in overtime for that pay period, a red flag goes up for the HR manager to double check.
• We have 3 programs in public schools that block certain ports. APS has a 2nd feature using GPS so that staff can only check in for their shift while they are in the designated GPS range. Great for someone who has to report to a remote location. Just add the GPS coordinates and they can't check until they get to the project.

• Oracle PeopleSoft HCM is one of the best product and has helped implement the complex Business functionalities in the Higher Education business in a very streamlined process.
• Oracle PeopleSoft HCM helped in moving from 34 different legacy system to one centralized system which helps immensely in maintaining the data and reporting purpose.
• Oracle PeopleSoft HCM also helps immensely in data analytics and trend analysis which helps immensely in preparing for the resourcing and planning for the peak season in advance and be better prepared to handle the quarterly on annual activities.

Incentivized

• Reporting - We have six different business units and the reporting is separate for all three. Most reporting I do requires information from all business units so am running six reports and then copying and pasting to get the report I need.
• Multi-state taxes - We have a number of employees who live in New York and work in New Jersey. APS OnLine is designed to accommodate one state withholding so ability to have "worked in" state and "lived in" state taxes withheld went away. This was a shortfall.
• The Carrier connection setup took much longer than expected. After a year, we are still having some issues with some items transferring over to the GL.
• The CA overtime calculation does not calculate after 8 hours per day, only on the 40 per week so we override each week.
• Reporting - when running Benefit reports, it recognizes employees who formerly carried the plan but may have dropped it. To get around this, we have to delete off the employee's record so the history is not readily available.

Incentivized

• We have issues with students using Time & Labor for multiple jobs, where time is incorrectly calculated, including negative balances where none exist.
• The application is complex and some areas, especially Time & Labor, are very difficult to troubleshoot. The overall level of complexity has increased over the years.
• We also use Campus Solutions and had to split apart HCM and CS, significantly increasing our maintenance overhead and creating inter-system issues that aren't always resolvable.
• Campus Solutions has developed a solution for managing preferred names and gender identity that is missing/ incompatible with the HCM product.

Incentivized

I have been using the system for over a year now and feel more comfortable with the functionality of it. I have just recently implemented the benefit administration portion.

Incentivized

PeopleSoft HCM has provided a very flexible platform for our HR needs. The ability to add customizations to handle some of our unique business processes have been critical in the longevity of our PS HCM use. We've been able to handle a wide variety of business processes for multiple subsidiaries due to the ability to customize when needed.

Incentivized

The APS Payroll software is very easy to use, and it is easy to train new employees on it. The APS Payroll support team is very helpful and response time is quick. It is easy to enter/change employee information, adjust salaries and benefits, etc. New features have also been added that makes it even better, such as being able to set up your own income/deduction items.

Incentivized

Oracle HCM has been around for more thab a decade and is a preferred package to use for Human capital management.Ease with which upgrades happen and how updates are pushed has come thru a long way of improvement and research over the years.Oracle has moved toward cloud based architecture which will help in its customers keep at par with current industry trends.

Incentivized

I haven't had any outages

Incentivized

I give this rating because we have had no issues in the area of the product's overall availability. In my opinion the resources are there when we need them and the features serve the purpose they are set to do. I feel things have gone really well as far as the availability of the product.

Incentivized

Very quick

Incentivized

This is highly dependent on the server setup you implement. You need to make sure you've included enough hardware to support your users. Not enough power will quickly rear its ugly head. If you've got the correct setup, the product will operate quickly and provide a good user experience. Oracle is slowed down by certain realtime interfaces to other systems, but this can be addressed by your technical team relatively easily.

Incentivized

I had to learn APS on my own, and the support team held my hand. They are still there when I have an occasional question. Anytime I need support, I can call my rep or send an email and help is on the way, without failure. The support team is awesome

Incentivized

Overall support has been positive and Oracle has gladly sent out representatives to meet with our teams in person. Despite sometimes sow and inadequate fixes, their willingness to try and meet face to face helps give them a better name in our organization. Sometimes their people do not understand unique needs of the industry, and it can be a challenge to explain that one size does not fit all. Finding the appropriate IT support for our unique requests has been hit and miss.

Incentivized

Even if it wasn't in-person on location, we felt like we had our trainer in the room with us.

Incentivized

In my opinion, training in Oracle PeopleSoft HCM is arduous at best. In my experience, there are numerous issues with creating training environments and that makes practice in a sandbox costly. I prefer asynchronous simulated environment training for this reason, but that costs even more due to the development and testing time needed to create that training. eLearning is always there with only the need to keep it up-to-date.

Incentivized

We had great webinars.

Incentivized

It was a great training tool and provided all of the necessary information we needed to implement the sites for our clients. We were provided with a great deal of resources in regards to Oracle CRM. We didn't have any issues with the training at all. The only thing I would say would that there could be more FAQ's for users to read through

Incentivized

It would have been helpful to understand the phases of the implementation up front so I could have prepared differently for enrollments, billing, and transfer of information to payroll. At the end of the day, I'm happy with the selection and the system and anticipate I will like it better as we go along. We have done a number of other system implementations in the past few years, and this has been pretty painless, however, I've had a few surprises.

Incentivized

When we implement Oracle and Taleo to different clients it typically goes pretty smoothly. When we do system upgrades we usually test the main issues the clients are having just to make sure there are not outstanding issues or errors. I don't have any examples where implementation went poorly. It typically goes well and clients are pleased with the final result. The only complaint would be the time it takes to implement

Incentivized

We had used ADP for years and had always struggled with their customer service. With over 20 locations (20+ W2s, quarterly filings, etc) we had a lot of questions. We would have to call and sit on hold for long periods of time to talk to someone who couldn't always answer our questions. Then we would get different answers from different people or have to re-explain our issue. It was a major time suck for my employees and they dreaded having to call all of the time. For us - the final straws for us to switch providers were: +Numerous year end filings with incorrect names and addresses (they couldn't keep our 20+ locations separate even though our paperwork was completed correctly) +Incorrect SUI rates for several locations that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in overpayments which was a lot of money for small hotels. We had sent in numerous requests for them to fix this but it never happened +Lack of care - even though we were having all of these issues, nobody would work with us to get them all resolved and make sure to remedy the situation. We had to seek out a manager to get them resolved but even after this, we still had more issues. Overall - DON'T stick with ADP or even think about switching to them. They might be able to slash prices but their poor customer service and lack of care will cost you in the end. It's not worth it. APS does everything ADP had the capability of but we don't have the errors or headaches we did before. I am really looking forward to this year end!

Incentivized

Oracle PeopleSoft HCM is not as good as SuccessFactors HCM. The look and feel of Oracle PeopleSoft HCM is still 'old school'. Cloud solutions can do more. SuccessFactors offers a great talent management, performance measurement, and employee development, while Oracle PeopleSoft HCM's core is employee records, benefits, and payroll.

Incentivized

I've never had a problem with the system nor in finding the right information.

Incentivized

In my opinion I rate this high because we have had no issues in this area and so that is why I give it such a high rating. There is no issue with the product's overall scalability. In my opinion this has been a positive from my team and client's view.

Incentivized

• We were able to transition quickly and continue to successfully hire and onboard new hires for several Clubs that opened within weeks of moving to APS.
• We do struggle a bit with the ease of reporting simply because our locations are all under separate EIN and that can make it difficult to easily combine data queried under custom reports, so the volume of reporting that I might wish to be able to push through weekly in order to help address 'real time' trends is not always available.
• The lack of effective dating for position and wage changes does mean that HR and available APS data is not 'real time' accurate and that HR does need to return to the system to update changes well after-the-fact, which is not ideal.

Incentivized

• As a long time PeopleSoft user, my institution has found great advantages of being involved in the HCM realm such as first-hand information, a complete suite of solutions as well as regular updates to stay up with federal and state regulations.
• Ease of use of development, customization, maintenance and usage perspectives can lead to a better management of financial resources, that minimizes expenditure while providing all necessary resources.
• Opportunities to provide better customer service and meet organizational policies have to lead to a positive outlook on the tool and its features.

Incentivized