Ascentis (discontinued) vs. SilkRoad Recruiting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Ascentis (discontinued)
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
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.N/A
SilkRoad Recruiting
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
SilkRoad offers OpenHire, a recruiting and ATS system. It offers recruiting access through social media channels, data security, and EEO compliance for mid-sized to large businesses. It is a component of SilkRoad’s Lifesuite product line.N/A
Pricing
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
7.1
150 Ratings
10% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data6.7137 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history7.3140 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration6.9128 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.6.7126 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting5.290 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management8.0109 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.8102 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
7.8
125 Ratings
3% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Pay calculation7.1115 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors6.162 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.328 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration6.7108 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.2100 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.692 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.851 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
7.8
105 Ratings
3% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Approval workflow8.099 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details7.099 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.484 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
7.0
153 Ratings
15% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information7.8138 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.6151 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation5.4110 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition6.061 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.3108 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
5.8
33 Ratings
29% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets5.833 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
6.4
147 Ratings
17% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Report builder7.0144 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.5142 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data4.673 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
5.1
98 Ratings
44% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
New hire portal5.398 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools4.976 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
7.2
57 Ratings
12% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting6.743 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.653 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility7.138 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking7.250 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
6.0
63 Ratings
28% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Performance plans5.659 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans5.650 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking5.857 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders6.555 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.650 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
5.9
27 Ratings
29% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools6.421 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking6.421 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search5.027 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development5.823 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Ascentis (discontinued)
5.5
89 Ratings
34% below category average
SilkRoad Recruiting
6.8
14 Ratings
16% below category average
Job Requisition Management5.585 Ratings7.214 Ratings
Company Website Posting5.279 Ratings8.714 Ratings
Publish to Social Media5.759 Ratings7.812 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting5.871 Ratings7.813 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention5.657 Ratings7.213 Ratings
Applicant Tracking5.783 Ratings8.014 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts5.369 Ratings4.714 Ratings
Customized Application Form00 Ratings5.212 Ratings
Resume Management00 Ratings7.014 Ratings
Candidate Search00 Ratings8.714 Ratings
Collaboration00 Ratings8.014 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation00 Ratings7.310 Ratings
Email Templates00 Ratings5.714 Ratings
User Permissions00 Ratings3.714 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings4.714 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Recruit CRM
Recruit CRM
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
Vibe HCM
Vibe HCM
Score 4.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Likelihood to Recommend
7.2
(164 ratings)
6.2
(30 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.3
(12 ratings)
5.0
(12 ratings)
Usability
7.6
(44 ratings)
6.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
6.7
(5 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
7.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(150 ratings)
5.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
3.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
6.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Ascentis (discontinued)SilkRoad Recruiting
Likelihood to Recommend
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
I think OpenHire is best for a small company (max about 2500 employees). The more employees you have the more HR people you should have and this can get expensive. I know most larger companies are using more advanced systems as well (Workday). During the selection process be sure to determine how many OpenHire users you would need. Ask whether your managers will be willing to work in the system as well or whether HR would have to own the entire process. If you are EEOC compliant, make sure you ask about diversity posting, APP tracking of applicants, and reporting needs. If you require an onboarding tool, SilkRoad offers RedCarpet. I found it to be very complex and hiring managers refused to use it. If you require an onboarding tool, definitely look into it. The demo may look great but there were a lot of implementation steps done to make it work and it just didn't fit our company culture. So make sure it fits yours.
Read full review
Pros
Discontinued Products
  • 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
SilkRoad
  • The ease of use when it comes to create requisitions from a hiring managers side of things is definitely a positive. It's very much user intuitive and the specifications can be completely customized as to what a company would like to appear within said requisition.
  • Candidate correspondence is an absolute breeze as you can custom load templates into the system that can be edited at any time through an administrator in your company instead of having to go through a technical support team on the other side of things.
  • Overall, it's a pretty no muss no fuss system to use as there's not a great layer of complication about it and like most things, spaced practice and consistent exposure to it tend to iron out those rough edges. From an administration standpoint, adding in locations and hiring managers is incredibly simplistic along with reporting functionality.
  • Candidate folders have come a long way in the system and are much more user friendly at this point than when I began using the system some four years ago. It's very easy to shift candidate profiles between folders and edit on the fly.
Read full review
Cons
Discontinued Products
  • 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
SilkRoad
  • OpenHire's user roles can create issues depending on how your company's hiring process flows. For example, at one company, the hiring managers were extremely involved in screening candidates yet the system seems very geared towards use of centralized recruiters who distribute candidates. The lack of ability to customize roles and security to match our managers' needs created additional burden on HR as well as frustration from hiring managers.
  • I experienced several problems uploading documents to accompany a candidate's offer. There was a limit on the number, size and type of attachments that could be included, and there was no alternative (as vetted with OpenHire) besides sending a separate correspondence to the candidate. I found this to appear unprofessional to the candidate as well as creating an extra step in the process for HR/recruiting.
  • The requisition process had a few issues which created inefficiencies in the process. Firstly, for times when you need to post a role confidentially outside of your standard process, there was no way to designate the req as 'confidential'. Instead, you had to use the 'executive' status which created issues (ie: inaccurate data in reporting). Secondly, OpenHire was unable to upload the company directory of emails in the requisition approver fields so rather than being able to select from a drop-down or using a 'smart' field, you had to type each approver's email out manually thus increasing the potential for error and delay in the process.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
It was a great solution for the company in all aspects, especially the cost. The company was not in a position to afford a solution such as Oracle PeopleSoft. The only reason we did not renew OpenHire was we got acquired by a much larger organization and started utilizing the tools that the parent company had available
Read full review
Usability
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
It's not a bad system to use, there just seems to be so much click through to get one task achieved. Once you know all the little routes and pieces it gets easier.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Performance
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
The support for Silkroad is awful. I know they are working on it and it seems to be slightly better but it's still not great. I have had multiple cases I have never heard from them on, others I have had to follow-up multiple times and one that took a year
Read full review
In-Person Training
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Discontinued Products
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
SilkRoad
NeoGov is a more simple system but just being able to require specific documents has been a huge time saver for us. Other elements in NeoGov aren't as robust but still it saves me a lot of time compared to OpenHire.
Read full review
Scalability
Discontinued Products
Large acquisition would be very complicated, seems more appropriate for companies under 100
Read full review
SilkRoad
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Discontinued Products
  • 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
SilkRoad
  • The cost was very high
  • It made managers more involved in the process
  • It got managers involved earlier than they had been in the past
  • It forced managers to stay involved in their recruiting and not just wait for HR to hire someone
Read full review
ScreenShots

Ascentis (discontinued) Screenshots

Screenshot of Access all of your details including, paychecks, personal file, timeclock, etc via our mobile app.Screenshot of Punch-in and punch-out on the go.Screenshot of Centralized location for everything related to a user or admin.Screenshot of Every employee has access to their personal information in one location.Screenshot of Pre-built reporting along with Ad Hoc reporting gives you the ability to understand your business as a whole.Screenshot of Benefit enrollment made easy for your employees.