Optimum Solutions HRIS (discontinued) vs. Paycor

Optimum Solutions works very well for all our payroll needs. We run payrolls weekly, semi-monthly, monthly and yearly. The end of year process is lined out very well and webinars are available to go over any new regulations required. We haven't utilized the HR part of the software as much on the iSeries but are planning on changing that once we get converted to the Windows version later this year. The main reason for this is the HR part of the software on the iSeries is separate from payroll.

Incentivized

It's really great for us. Our payroll administrator retired and we decided to absorb that function within HR. Paycor takes care of the taxes and much of the extra details she had done previously allowing that transition to be possible. The software is easy to use and my managers have taken on more with timesheet review. If a company has really complex differentials it might not be ready for them, yet. We have one that I have to do manually but I'm hopeful they will be able to add it in soon!

Incentivized

• The setup of Optimum HRIS was intense as the software comes as a basic shell and everything is personalized to our organization. All earnings codes, leave time, employee types, job codes, taxes, etc. are set up for each company. While this was almost overwhelming at the beginning, we have so much control over the set up and better grasp of the inner workings of the system.
• Tax updates come quickly and are easily applied. This is especially welcome at year end.
• The built-in reporting is robust and offers a lot of options, but the ability to dig in to the database using SQL and Excel allows for very powerful reports that are infinitely personalized.

• Scheduling for management is well organized and easily visualized to ensure proper coverage while avoiding overtime or being over staffed.
• Scheduling for the employees is user friendly. Employees can easily request and view their time off. They can also view their schedule along with their team's at any time.
• Payroll is very streamlined. With scheduling and payroll in the same system, everything can be quickly verified for accuracy. All time sheets are kept within the system and then easily processed for payroll.

Incentivized

• When exporting reports to Excel I found the formatting to be difficult to work with and having to reformat the reports can be a nightmare. My company's IT department created its own business tools to make the reporting format more user friendly.

Incentivized

• Customer Service is atrocious. We've had 6 Customer Success Managers in less than 3 years-hard to develop any type of rhythm in addressing and solving problems. They also utilize a ticketing system to report issues, but there is little to no communication of when tickets are actually resolved and what the resolution was-requires a ton of prodding from the client to get answers to emails.
• Integration with third party platforms (benefits for example) is also lacking. Issues are prevalent and take excessive time to resolve.

Incentivized

The product is really good overall. The customer service is not the best and the benefits administration is kind of painful. However, the good outweighs the bad. We might get a different benefit admin system that can be integrated into Paycor. My controller doesn't want to switch anything for a [long] time.

Incentivized

Unfortunately, Paycor has a major system issue that in my opinion needs to totally be reconfigured. The benefit module is not accurate and does not work correctly. The EDI feeds do not work and took over a year to be implemented and still were not accurate

Incentivized

I feel like Paycor is always up and running! If they are planning downtime, they communicate it clearly. Every once in a while, I get something that says the system isn't working but it is usually back up within the hour. I typically find by the time that the employees complain about it, that it is resolved within the system.

Incentivized

For the most part, everything moves super fast. There are a few sections (Expense Management) that sometimes take a bit to load correctly. Or if they are interesting, it takes a minute to talk to each other! But reports are quickly downloaded and available! Even data heavy reports run fairly fast!

Incentivized

I feel like support will transfer you back and forth between departments and put you on hold forever. I believe it is very difficult to see the status of an open ticket. During my experience, it feels like the client has to push all communication and request updates from support regularly.

Incentivized

The online trainings are super helpful. They have user guides that you can read through, interactive training that will walk you through it as well as plain web based ones. I've actually never had an in-person training but all of the information you need can be found online. They also will do individual support training if you are struggling with a certain area.

Incentivized

Implementation of any new software is going to be challenging, especially if you are maintaining an existing program concurrently. When it is time for dual-processing (both old and new software) prior to going live, be prepared to be stressed. But trust the process and it will be over soon.

Incentivized

We evaluated some payroll services but found the ongoing cost greater than the initial cost of purchasing our own software and keeping the payroll process in house. Other payroll software was generally more expensive and we are satisfied with Optimum Solutions. I would say the main reason we stayed with Optimum Solutions, converting from their iSeries version to their Windows version, was because of their outstanding staff and support.

Incentivized

Paylocity was cumbersome and not very intuitive. I was constantly on the phone with them trying to figure out how to do something. I once called back 4 different times( because I didn’t believe the answer they gave me was how to do what I was asking), explained my problem the exact same way and got 4 different answers. So, I lost trust in the product and started looking for a product I could rely on.

Incentivized

I gave it a 10 because we only use it across one organization. However, it has allowed us to break it into multiple departments and layers of management. It is also easy for us to utilize across different locations but still under one master company. They have always provided us support when we decide to change something on an organizational level

Incentivized

• More accurate payroll processing
• More accurate tax payments and reporting

• ACA - Great. It took us approximately two hours to complete, compared to the 40+ Hours it took us in previous years.
• Timesheet maintenance- this takes more time than it did previously.
• Reporting - Confusing and Difficult. Very little customization and has forced us to rely less on reports.
• Performance- Supervisors are spending 20% less time on performance reviews due to the easy of answering the questions.

Incentivized