Brassring, formerly from IBM and part of the Kenexa Talent Acquisition Suite, and now sold by Infinite Computer Solutions, is an enterprise grade ATS and onboarding solution. It allows companies to find the right talent, track and manage candidates, and use candidate data to spot trends within the applicant pool.
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PeopleFluent
Score 7.9 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
PeopleFluent includes modules for recruiting, performance management, compensation, learning, succession, and vendor management, as well as workforce planning and diversity. These modules can be purchased separately or bundled, and integrate with other HR systems.
N/A
Pricing
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
Brassring
PeopleFluent
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
Brassring
PeopleFluent
Free Trial
No
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
Brassring
PeopleFluent
Features
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
Brassring
PeopleFluent
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
7.0
5 Ratings
15% below category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data
6.02 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Employment history
5.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration
6.53 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Organization and location management
8.52 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
9.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
9.6
5 Ratings
16% above category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
-
Ratings
Approval workflow
9.05 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Balance details
10.05 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment
9.93 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
6.8
3 Ratings
19% below category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
-
Ratings
Update personal information
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
View company policy documentation
6.12 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
View job history
7.52 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
8.1
4 Ratings
7% above category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
-
Ratings
Report builder
7.33 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Pre-built reports
8.94 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data
7.92 Ratings
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
8.0
1 Ratings
0% above category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
8.0
11 Ratings
9% above category average
New hire portal
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.07 Ratings
Manager tracking tools
9.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
9.011 Ratings
Compliance tracking and reporting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
8.08 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
7.0
1 Ratings
12% below category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
6.5
11 Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans
7.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.07 Ratings
Plan weighting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
4.06 Ratings
Manager note taking
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.04 Ratings
Performance improvement plans
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.05 Ratings
Review status tracking
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.07 Ratings
Rater nomination workflow
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.05 Ratings
Review reminders
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.05 Ratings
Workflow restrictions
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
5.06 Ratings
Multiple review frequency
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.07 Ratings
Reporting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.08 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
10.0
1 Ratings
25% above category average
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
6.3
8 Ratings
9% below category average
Candidate search
10.01 Ratings
00 Ratings
6.08 Ratings
Create succession plans/pools
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.05 Ratings
Candidate ranking
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
6.05 Ratings
Candidate development
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
6.06 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
-
Ratings
Brassring
7.5
11 Ratings
6% below category average
PeopleFluent
9.5
8 Ratings
27% above category average
Job Requisition Management
00 Ratings
7.711 Ratings
10.06 Ratings
Company Website Posting
00 Ratings
7.410 Ratings
10.06 Ratings
Publish to Social Media
00 Ratings
7.710 Ratings
10.03 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting
00 Ratings
7.711 Ratings
10.05 Ratings
Customized Application Form
00 Ratings
7.111 Ratings
10.06 Ratings
Resume Management
00 Ratings
7.410 Ratings
9.05 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
00 Ratings
7.110 Ratings
6.05 Ratings
Candidate Search
00 Ratings
8.310 Ratings
9.05 Ratings
Applicant Tracking
00 Ratings
8.310 Ratings
10.06 Ratings
Collaboration
00 Ratings
7.18 Ratings
10.04 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation
00 Ratings
7.46 Ratings
10.03 Ratings
Email Templates
00 Ratings
7.710 Ratings
10.05 Ratings
User Permissions
00 Ratings
7.49 Ratings
9.06 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts
00 Ratings
7.710 Ratings
9.06 Ratings
Reporting
00 Ratings
7.110 Ratings
10.05 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
-
Ratings
Brassring
-
Ratings
PeopleFluent
8.2
11 Ratings
12% above category average
Corporate goal setting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
9.07 Ratings
Subordinate goal setting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
9.06 Ratings
Individual goal setting
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
9.09 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.09 Ratings
Performance tracking
00 Ratings
00 Ratings
7.09 Ratings
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline is well suited for an organization such as a school district where teachers sometimes need to put in for a substitute at the last minute or especially early in the morning. The system also helps with substitutes in picking up the jobs when a teacher puts in an absence.
Kenexa is is well suited for any organization that has more than 3000 employees globally. I would not recommend this to startups or a growing organization with less than 3000 employees. But once you cross this number, Kenexa becomes useful and is a brilliant tool for global operations - recruiting. I would recommend this tool to any organization that has offices in many countries/geographies as well.
PeopleFluent has eliminated the use of paper reviews. It is also eliminated the use of scanning, emailing or interoffice mail. It is a great tool for communication and I highly recommend it. However, in some ways, the product can be improved. Some processes are tied to each other and could function in tandem. For example, while completing the self-review, the employee has to capture multi-raters. If self-review is submitted without listing multi-rater names then multi-rater review has to be captured separately on paper. In my opinion, these two processes can be different. Multi-raters should be added/removed/modified after submitting self-review.
Kenexa allows Boolean key word search within a particular requisition so it makes sifting through a high number of applicants manageable and effective
Kenexa can be tailored to meet individual business needs. During the time we’ve had Kenexa here I’ve used it in support of a few different business segments and for each the way the system was used to “position” candidate statuses have varied based on the individual need of the business. One example is when interviewing a high volume of applicants internationally, we were able to send qualified applicants through to the “event manager” and it would enable the candidate to select his/her interview date/time based on previously submitted options inputted by our Kenexa users.
Kenexa allows one to customize and score questions for each open requisition that applicants complete as they apply. The system then sorts applicants according to the score of candidate answers allowing for easy sorting of top qualified candidates.
It was very easy to go through resumes, choose the people you wanted to interview and set up the interviews.
It is great at keeping track of people that have come through hiring process in the past so you do not waste time on those that have already been declined or are sent in by multiple vendors.
The handling of time sheets and expense reports is very easy to manage.
Teachers cannot cancel their own absence. We have to ask the office staff to do so. This is irritating when an absence must be canceled (Due to a canceled professional development, for example).
Sometimes absences go unfilled. It would be great if AESOP could have a roster of qualified substitutes to cover absences.
You cannot assign your absence to a particular substitute if you know he or she is available and a good fit for your absence.
BrassRing's application system for candidates is prone to freezing and crashing in the middle of the application causing potential candidates to lose all progress. I filled out the application myself and witnessed these issues first hand, on top of several complaints I received via phone and email from candidates attempting to apply via the BrassRing service. Also, the Parsing system within the application is not capable of pulling any meaningful information out of text documents.
Each user must be added to each job in order for that job, and the candidates in it, to show up in relevant searches. This becomes a problem when a new team member joins the account and needs access to all of the previous openings just so that they can find candidates already in the system. The account I was working on involved literally hundreds of new openings a month, meaning that any movement of personnel on or off the account would mean having to update potentially thousands of old positions just to allow them to be able to mine the ATS for candidates. I don't see any particular reason why someone with access to the system should have to be given access to each individual job. If a particular position needs to be kept confidential for whatever reason then that individual position should be able to be set to only show to authorized recruiters. The rest of the positions should automatically be searchable by anyone with appropriate access to the ATS to allow for basic level candidate mining and movement.
The interface is a little confusing. I'm not sure if it's something that can be fixed in implementations, or if it's inherent to PeopleFluent, but there are almost too many tabs asking for too much information. A lot of it can be repetitive as well.
Changing your password/resetting your password seems to be nightmarish. It requires an organization ID as well as security questions, and forces you to reset your password far too often. I really dislike that feature.
Honestly, PeopleFluent itself looks pretty outdated. I feel as though the entire application really needs a facelift to be more current.
Long time customer with Frontline Absence Management. Product support has been excellent, integrations easy to work with, & suite of products mesh together well.
I am confident that the Kenexa product will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our business in an ever changing work environment. The affiliation with IBM also plays a factor as we have a long standing successful relationship with IBM products. We will be looking to integrate other Kenexa products in the near future to streamline our HR processes.
PeopleFluent continues to develop an already high quality product and works to continually improve the user experience. The different modules integrate well, and the administrative functions are easy to understand and perform resulting in less time spent with KTLO functions. They provide world class customer service and work hard to keep you engaged as a customer.
While we have had minor issues logging in as our organization has its own login page, the site and its application are very easy to use. So long as members of a group log in through the appropriate page, navigating and using this site is quite easy. With the transition from Aesop to Frontline, the page also seems to have worked through any glitches found with the previous page and its app.
I feel like I am pretty decent with computers and systems. It was fairly easy to use it after about a week or two . But I have seen people struggle with it as well as some people not use it at all. It can be slow at times and not work at times. But Its a fine system.
PeopleFluent seems to have all the functionality one would need, but it can be a bit overwhelming. Depending on the client implementation, it can be downright confusing and not intuitive. My 6 rating comes from the fact that it seems like the system can be configured to actually be confusing and not make sense. I think a VMS should be set up not to allow a customer to configure it in such a way as to not really work, or to allow users to circumvent steps. I also really don't like the "organization key" that needs to be entered every time you log in. Why is a login and password good enough for 99% of the systems out there, but PeopleFluent requires an extra field?
Internal support is provided by EDU Staff based out of Grand Rapids. Whenever I have had an issue they are very responsive to my needs. For instance, there may be conflicts in the amount of money that was listed for the contract. There may be questions about the length of an assignment such as 1/2 day, full day, or early dismissal. The school will sometimes enter the wrong information. Very good IT support, but sometimes you are on hold for 5 to 10 minutes because they do not have enough workers in their Call Center
It is a very basic system. It may be OK for entry level positions only. The practice of removing CVs while the recruitment process is ON is disturbing and there is no one to explain or to inform why it is being done. Even a routine mail is not sent to the client/consultant. I am surprised how this system is continuing without too many complaints.
I would rate this ATS system a 9 as there's some room for improvement as mentioned prior. I really love the design and its functionality buttons and the way I can integrate it with other systems. I would really love to see a more detailed reporting metrics long with super candidate filters when searching profiles.
Our Implementer/Trainer was a product line expert. He (Connor) walked us through every step with confidence and explained everything in detail. Frontline provided written documentation, cut-n-paste emails to staff, and a test environment for us to play in. We were able to test unique scenarios without actually sending emails, notifications, alerts to staff. This was very useful.
Frontline seems to be the industry standard for this software in the education industry. I am not familiar with any competitors or what was evaluated prior to implementing Frontline. For it to be the industry standard, I would assume that its cost is fair in relation to competitors and that the onboarding process is simple.
SF ATS was not available at the time and Taleo was thought to be too expensive. In retrospect, given the amount of customization and leveraging of other vendor technology for things like analytics I suspect any cost advantage we realized evaporated
Its great, its very versatile and stacks up very well against the competition. In terms of usability and ease of use, anyone can quickly learn how to use PeopleFluent. Again, the faults against the system would be when a client who is running the tool customizes it to their liking. Not to mention it's a very popular tool that i have had the pleasure of working in twice now with two different organizations.
Our district has approximately 300 substitutes & 1,800 employees. Size has never been an issue with Absence Management. There are other districts much larger using Absence Management with no problems
It's given staff direct access to inputting their absences and secure coverage quicker, whereas before they had to make a call to a person. That person had to secure coverage for the entire district at different levels. Sometimes that person was absent or unable to provide coverage.
I do believe that goal setting and the workflow of following up, going through the process yearly is as good as you make it. If you set good goals, or help your team make good goals then the experience can go well. Otherwise it's just another thing that an employee is doing to make their manager happy.
I am not sure the cost of the product, but if it is really expensive I am not sure that we are getting fully what we should be for what the product offers. Make sure you are using what is offered.