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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Paylocity
Score 8.3 out of 10
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Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.
Ascentis is more integrated and Paylocity is easier to use as it has the advantage of creating customized reports when needed. Paylocity downloads all tax returns and with Ascentis i have to request them, download and rename all the files. Paylocity's quarterlys are done in 2 …
We selected Ascentis over Paylocity because we were frustrated with a lack of support from Paylocity and because we could have additional functionalities like recruiting and LMS in our HRIS at the same price we were paying for Paylocity.
ADP is mostly likely the status quo for HRIS systems, their CS and 24/7 support is incomparable to other systems, including Ascentis. There are often manual corrections needed, negative changes to user view, and other very odd things that happen with Ascentis that I have …
We selected Ascentis because the features and price were a reasonable match for our business objectives at the time. What stood out about Ascentis was the ability to customize and integrate with our internal tools.
We are currently starting to evaluate other software and are …
Much more simplistic to navigate and makes overall more common sense. The reporting functions as well as data analyst tools are much more user friendly. Training time to navigate the software and have it accomplish tasks at hand take very little time and their make team much …
As good or better than any of the above, overall. Every HRIS system has strengths and weaknesses. Paylocity does some things better than others, but overall it is a great platform.
UKG and Paylocity were fairly similar, but we thought the user experience seemed simpler with Paylocity. Paycom did not have as great of customer service and was much more expensive.
We used QuickBooks Time, and migrated from that to Paylocity Time & Labor. We attempted to use Ascentis, but after 4 weeks of back and forth, we made little progress, despite a rigorous set of Demo's were we tried to make sure they could deliver what we needed in time tracking. …
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.
Paylocity has a very user-friendly interface and is easy to navigate. The new payroll system is well-designed and efficient. Creating the batches is an easy, straightforward process. I also love that the system guides you through the steps of generating the pre-process payroll register, running the audit, and submitting payroll and prompts you if there are any steps left to complete. The employee onboarding packets are well-designed and have a nice, simple layout as well. However, the issues mentioned in the previous question have created complications for employees when completing these packets. Our main concerns are the technical difficulties employees experience when attempting to complete the withholding forms task, HR not being able to verify employee direct deposit information during onboarding, and no longer being able to make edits to the PERC task. If these issues were resolved, completing the Paylocity onboarding packets would be a very streamlined, easy process.
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!
The layout makes the system user friendly, especially if you have used other platforms
The amount of information stored in Paylocity is amazing
I love the community tab with the birthday and anniversary announcements and have began using it for our employee appreciation announcements. I think this has been well received.
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.
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.
We most likely will because we are learning how to use it better all the time. It does integrate with our Advanced Benefits. But the customer service is not responsive when needing help. It almost always requires several contacts to get anywhere, and the contacts can be several days apart. Once you actually get to TALK to someone, things are usually resolved fairly quickly, but their email system is not efficient. I get half answers and they close the ticket! But once I can get to someone, it is almost always great service. Very hard to get someone though.
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.
To begin with, Paylocity provides easy instructions, lots of training tools, and an excellent support team. The data entry is easy to use, and the reporting is outstanding. The report function allows options to fit nearly all of our needs. The search engine makes it easy to navigate through the software.
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.
I can always call the direct number and there is a representative always available to answer questions. I can also email the service desk for Paylocity or my representative and they are pretty quick to respond if we are having issues
Reports load within seconds. The ease of finding information in the system is very nice. If for some reason you cannot get the info you need, you can either look it up in the help section or if time is of the essence, you may call the help desk and speak with a Paylocity representative immediately. You are never left alone. You never get a voicemail. You always get a live representative who can help you at that moment
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.
I really appreciate that we are assigned a support manager. That person is very familiar with our set up, our needs and our history. However, I've spoken to others on the support team and have had very positive interactions and get the help needed.
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.
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well. My in-person training was conducted y one of our employees who was involved in the initial set-up and training of all employees. She was excellent.
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.
The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
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.
We were handed off to multiple implementation people, some quit, one went on leave, one left suddenly, one was transfered to a diff dept...all causing a significant amount of disruption for our team. Many had conflicting info on how to properly set things up...hence a complete mess was left for us to figure out
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.
We chose Paylocity over ADP, Paycom and Kronos because it offered a better balance of functionality, user experience, and customer support tailored to our organizational needs. Paylocity’s platform felt more modern and intuitive, especially for our employees and managers who use it daily for time tracking, communication, and document acknowledgements. The engagement tools—like Community, Impressions, and Surveys—were more robust and better integrated into the core HR functions, helping us foster a stronger company culture. Additionally, Paylocity provided more flexibility in reporting and a more responsive implementation and support team, which made the transition smoother and more collaborative.
Our main function for Paylocity is payroll, data insights for employee working hours and onboarding. This has been a very reliable source for us for these functions. Payroll has been extremely easy to do using Paylocity. The onboarding process is very simple for new hires and makes the process run smooth. It is easy to find the information you are looking for while on Paylocity.
They are thorough, care about quality and success, take the time needed to implement properly, answer questions, build data feeds. A professional, caring, very skilled team there.
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.
