Ascentis HR uses web-based management programs to help automate complex HR processes. Ascentis’ other services included customizable payroll, time and attendance and recruiting modules. Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022, and will be discontinued.
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Calabrio ONE
Score 6.8 out of 10
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Calabrio One is a workforce optimization (WFO) platform for call centers, combining workforce management with call recording and analytics, from Calabrio headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.
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.
Calabrio has been great for our education environment. We have the ability to access live calls, recorded calls and evaluate based on the duration of calls. I would like to see the Reporting tab transformed and allow for more customizable reports. Overall, we have had success with Calabrio and we look forward to our partnership.
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!
Quality Management (call recordings, evaluations of said calls) is an area where Calabrio has done a particularly good job. It is a solid product and they continue to refine it.
Customer Service - since we purchased the product, customer service has always been spot on for Calabrio - they have worked hard to ensure their existing customers remain happy while continuing to evolve and bring on new customers.
Innovation - with their ear to the ground, so to speak, Calabrio forges ahead and does a great job of implementing features per customer requests and makes every effort to ensure the needs are taken care of either via API or upgrade feature.
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.
Calabrio's scheduling module has room for improvement. I recommend adding options that will allow you to quickly add or delete multiple exceptions for a group or an individual.
Calabrio should add an option the will automatically optimize existing breaks and lunches based on the schedule rules and updates to schedules since they were initially published.
I'd like to have a feature in Calabrio that will automatically approve or deny employees requests for vacation based on the staffing number and other staff rules that are set.
For shift bidding, I'd like to have the option to create several schedule types and have Calabrio create the best coverage based on the available staff and the existing forecast.
In my practice, I have found that some reports have stats that should be weighed but are presented as a standard average (arithmetic mean) instead.
I'd like to have granular reporting on staff shrinkage that has occurred in the past so that I can use that data for future staff planning.
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.
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.
It would've been a higher rating if they're able to partner up with other platforms like Liveperson chat support and have a better sense of urgency when it comes to resolving issues
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.
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.
Because, it took them time to coordinate back some updates for us when we had to report a few major issues. ie Volume data feed for our Email support/channel. I like the webinars, however to keep the community alive. I hope they improve the training modules too and how they training new WFM guys as part of their package
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.
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.
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.
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.
It was better and more reliable/resilient then both of the products stated above. It is in-house though while the competition was cloud-based. Both of the platforms mentioned above had more problems and more failed screens then Calabrio.
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.
Negative: I've had to create more workarounds and scheduling seems to be more time consuming. However, it has had a positive effect in that some processes have been improved because of the workarounds.
Positive: Our former WFM software was not upgraded regularly. We have planned upgrade(s) for Calabrio. I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements made with the newer version.
Positive: Calabrio's customer service has been a plus. I believe they listen to what their customers are saying, even when it may be painful, and seem to always be striving to improve their product, and maintain good customer service.
