Optimum Solutions, Inc. was a software development company providing Payroll, Human Resources, and Time & Attendance software for both the IBM iSeries (AS/400) and Microsoft Windows platforms or in the cloud. In October 2019 they were acquired by Kronos, Inc (now UKG after merging with Ultimate Software). Former Optimum products are now supported by Kronos / UKG, and are no longer sold available for sale.
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Paylocity
Score 7.9 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.
We moved to Paylocity from Optimum Solutions HRIS. We loved the personalized customer service we got with Optimum. That has been the biggest thing we've missed. While Paylocity has a good customer service set up, it's not personalized. I rarely, if ever, get ahold of our …
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.
Recordkeeping, filing reports, paying taxes, and having one location for everything is amazing. From recruiting to onboarding, we still need to make changes so we have less paperwork to manage, such as permission to run background checks and drug testing. We will work on this, but when you are busy, it is easy to put this off.
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.
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.
It requires me to use either Chrome or Edge so I can use Paylocity. It doesn't support Firefox, which is the browser I was using prior to being forced to switch to Edge so I can use the software and sign my contract.
Time entries are not auto saved. This happened once or twice to me in the past year when I was submitting my time entries and a sudden power outage happened, I was halfway and basically, I needed to start from scratch since it does not have auto save.
Mobile app is still buggy. It happened to be 3 times that it didn't reliably let me clock in that I had to do it on my work computer - so I had to give it up and use the web version.
The system is easy to use. I love the knowledge base system offered, I can answer many of my questions by looking here first before calling in. If i do have to call in to the help desk, everyone seems to be super knowledgably about the Paylocity Product and if they are unable to assist, which rarely happens, they will escalate my call to the next level of assistance
I gave Paylocity an 8 because it's easy to use once you learn it, and it saves a lot of time by keeping payroll, time tracking, and HR in one place. It has a lot of useful features, but some reports and settings can be confusing, and it takes time to learn everything. Overall, it works well and makes our job easier.
Over the last 3 years, we've only had one major service issue that rendered Airbase unusable for us for about 24 hours. That said, they navigated the SVB bank crisis very well and made sure funds were available during that time.
We had some minor hiccups throughout the year but they have all been fixable. Paylocity integrates well with our 401k provider, Principal, and our benefits, OneDigital. It makes it simple to house everything and have it all connected. It doesn't slow anything down to have Principal integrated. It makes it more efficient
I have contacted support on several occasions, mostly for assistance with voiding a check and running an off-cycle payroll. The account managers and support team were all very knowledgeable and helpful. They provided great insight and clarity in answering my questions and helping me navigate these processes. I learn something new and helpful each time I speak with them! On a separate note, we have reported technical issues regarding several Paylocity onboarding tasks since this past year. We have reached out several times regarding these issues, but are still waiting for a resolution. It seems sometimes that technical concerns are reported, with no proper solution or follow-up.
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.
It was virtually, click orange button in top right corner, click run report, hit submit. The training was minimal at best. I did not know what I was doing, so I just wrote down the steps, so when they steps failed I had no idea what to do, where I was in the process, What the terms mean or where to find them. When I had questions it was always the same answers, no understanding for WHAT I was doing when I hit the orange button.
Implementation was a bit bumpy and Paylocity team not always available for next steps and/or questions. I feel like Paylocity could have done a better job in their fact finding as far as what we were currently doing, our payroll policies and needs, etc. so that we would have run into less issues as we moved forward.
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.
Paylocity is SO far ahead of Paycor, it's not even funny. Just from the implementation standpoint alone, Paycor was an absolute nightmare. Paylocity had some struggles, but that goes along with any implementation. The experience with Paylocity was LIGHTYEARS ahead of our experience with Paycor, and the system itself is so, so much better.
We have gone from a medium sized company to a larger company with no issues whatsoever with Paylocity being able to keep up or do what we need it to do for the size of our needs. In fact, it does more than we even use at this juncture
Some are knowledgable others not as much and sometimes instead of helping you fix the issue will just give you some directions and expect you to try to figure it out yourself. Also, when your Account Manager needs to escliate the issue to another group, it can take a long time for them to get to your issue and there's no commuication.
The time savings alone is worth the cost. I went from having to spend 3 - 4 full business days on payroll to about 1.
Being able to look all employee data up in one place is a lifesaver and time saver - even outside of the office if I need to access information quickly it is all just a sign in away.
It has saved significant time and reduced confusion related to onboarding. Everyone is able to see what stage an employee is at, I do not need to worry about employees potentially working for us illegally thanks to eVerify, and I am always assured that all required documentation for regulatory purposes has been obtained prior to employment beginning.
