Dayforce Powerpay allows small businesses to pay and manage employees. It is used to simplify and automate payroll processes with automatic payroll calculations and remittances to the CRA and RQ, and streamlines payroll with connected time and attendance tracking to help ensure people are paid accurately.
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Intuit Online Payroll (discontinued)
Score 8.1 out of 10
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Intuit Online Payroll was a small business payroll option available as a standalone SaaS solution, that Intuit announced it was discontinuing in favor of Quickbooks Online Payroll, available via Quickbooks.
With Powerpay you are not 'wondering' if your input will have the desired effect on an employee's pay cheque. You can actually see what the employee will be paid, what their tax burden is for the month! Not many payroll companies offer this feature. It's terrific to process payroll and know that the employee will receive the correct remuneration. No 'retro payments' to keep track of
I believe the ideal scenario is when you are already using the Intuit family of products and the payroll bolts on to your existing QuickBooks infrastructure. Payroll software products have been around a long time, and this is a very competitive niche. Most of the companies do a good job of filing taxes promptly, reporting W-2 items properly, providing good reports, etc. Where you might really get some extra efficiency and benefit is the fact that the payroll is woven into the accounting system, creating one seamless enterprise solution. Also, where it might be less appropriate is in a really simple use case such as a one person company where there aren't complex fringe benefits to deal with. In that scenario, you can set up the ACH debits directly with the state agency and the IRS and possibly file your own 941, 940, W-2/W-3 and state equivalent forms. Of course, if you're willing to do this and are good with details, you can save yourself some money.
Integration with QuickBooks Desktop. This is the key strength of IP... it is a complete, native integration and let's you maintain all employee records and time keeping in QuickBooks
Job Costing. Another key differentiation -- some payroll outsources say they do true job costing (by work or item code). Don't believe them. If its' not integrated with your accounting system, you will not get "TRUE" job costing. You can get costs ASSIGNED to jobs (which may be fine), but you won't get item level detail in QuickBooks from anyone but Intuit.
Variety of Payment options. Use Direct Deposit or manual checks... or whatever you want. Since its in QB, you can make payments any way you want.
Cash Flow. This is both good and bad, but IP will not take taxes out of your bank account until they are due. That's different than some other providers that want assurance that you have the tax payments available at the moment you push "SUBMIT."
My biggest issue is that they do continue to raise their prices on a regular basis and it makes people feel stuck when there are so many clients already using the system.
They do not support roaming employees, so employees that cross over into various tax jurisdictions in one pay period pose a challenge for calculating taxes and pay.
The setup can be a bit daunting still if you are not familiar with the system or the various taxes and requirements for reporting.
Powerpay exceeds my expectations: it's easy to use and does not 'eat' my time by wondering what the end result will be. I can see what each employee's pay statement will look like before I submit the payroll for processing. Monthly processing fees are not exorbitant and the service from support it top notch, quick and awesome when you need it! What's not to like? It's a terrific company to have on your side!
Powerpay is easy to use and is a logical online system. Nothing is overly complicating. Doing payroll is not overly complicated and this system is user friendly and easy to understand and use. And if you get stuck, there is a great support system to help you navigate and understand what you need to do.
I would rate it a 0. It gets worse and worse all the time. It seems like every time I go into IOP to run a payroll for one of my clients, I have one more problem.
I have never experienced application errors or unplanned outages. I do know that I could phone Dayforce Powerpay and give them hours and other deductions and they would do the payroll and I could either have them deliver the completed payroll by courier (there are small extra charges for this) or I could download the completed payroll on pay day. I have also been able to complete payroll our payroll at home instead of at the office. Dayforce is very accessible by phone or online.
Pages online load in seconds. Click and it's instantly there! I have never had pages not loading properly or taking time to load. Payroll reports also downloads quickly. We do not interface Dayforce Powerpay with anything else
Generally, Ceridian Powerpay support is strong, with the edge given to the telephone staff, which is prompt and always helpful. When I have had to reach out via telephone, I am greeted quickly and provided with a quick resolution to my issue. The email support leaves a bit to be desired, though, as my experience with change requests result in long waits for confirmation and completion, with some instances not even being given a resolution to an issue without requiring additional follow-up. I shouldn’t have to stay on top of the support in addition to providing the details needed, and it should just get done.
The customer support personnel have always walked me through the steps they need to take to assist me. Never rushed through anything. Always exceptionally thorough, answering all my questions and even sharing my screen visually (I have control, not them). It actually helps me to resolve future issues and questions, if they should arise.
I have used Powerpay before (at a previous employer) but a few years had elapsed. I had a quick online training session (less that 30 minutes) to recover basic knowledge and I was away. I still from time to time have to do something that i am not quite sure of and pick up the phone! Every one that works at Ceridian - now Dayforce - have been able to answer my question and tell me where to go in the program, click on what and do what I need to do. The support is out-of-this-world good!
I initiated the implementation. I answered all the questions I was asked, prepared the documentation and sent it off and it was done! Quickly, efficiently and done well!
Wagepoint has made errors in the past. ADP has terrible customer service. QuickBooks Online is convenient however the Dayforce Powerpay pricing is better for larger payrolls. Payworks has no "run as is" option
It's a payroll software with decent customer support readily available and direct integration with my accounting tools. This made it a prime fit for me, and made payment and tax reporting relatively simple, and errors readily correctable. It does not have time tracking, and I still believe that this software is overpriced, but it's the best fit for me right now.
Pretty standard contract terms. Unit pricing is about 30% less than the previous provider - service is about 150% better with Dayforce Powerpay that with the previous provider! We are billed twice per month as we do payroll twice per month.
We have a small staff of less than 20 employees. We moved our payroll from a previous provided because of terrible and expensive service. Dayforce is much, much easier to use and costs about 30% less than the previous provider. Dayforce Powerpay also seem to have people that speaks clearly and are efficient in everything they do so that less time is wasted by phone calls that has you on hold for 3 hours!
They are all professional, knowledgeable, very pleasant to interact with and extremely helpful. They consistently take customer services to a higher level. Great people to deal with!
The return on investment has been substantial for our company. Having a payroll system that calculates everything for you, processes important documents, and only takes minimal time and effort allows us to focus more time on running the business and generating revenue.
Instead of having a user spend half a day (or potentially a full day) processing payroll, it only takes a couple hours (obviously depending on how many employees need to be processed).
Positive: Less of a learning curve to train payroll accountants, as they are already familiar with using Intuit. Also, in general there are a larger pool of candidates who know this system than many of the other "niche" lesser known payroll products.
Positive: More options to choose from depending on the level of service needed. For example, there is a Full Service offering if needed. This might apply to an organization that doesn't have the resources available or an internal person who has the time/bandwidth to handle the entire company's payroll. Thus, it is possible to cherry pick the level of service needed depending on the type of company/situation.
Positive: Good audit trail. This can be extremely important and cost efficient when a business is going through an external audit by an outside CPA firm and the payroll accounting function is undergoing testing (ie. less time required by the external auditor would likely lower their bill for their services).
