PDS Vista vs. Workday Human Capital Management

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PDS Vista
Score 6.2 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Vista® is a human resource, benefits, payroll, recruiting, and self-service software. Functional elements include recruitment, staffing, position and training management, compliance, and performance and compensation.N/A
Workday HCM
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Workday Human Capital Management is built as a cloud-based system with global consistency in user experience. Workday HCM is part of a broader system with other Workday products.
$100
per year per user
Pricing
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PDS VistaWorkday HCM
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsLicense pricing is based on the number of full and part-time active employees within bands (e.g. 751-1,000). SaaS pricing is based on PEPM.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.7
18 Ratings
2% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.7
91 Ratings
2% below category average
Employee demographic data9.017 Ratings8.077 Ratings
Employment history9.018 Ratings7.486 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.014 Ratings7.288 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.012 Ratings7.984 Ratings
Organizational charting7.013 Ratings8.383 Ratings
Organization and location management7.016 Ratings7.981 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.011 Ratings6.956 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
18 Ratings
0% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.7
76 Ratings
4% below category average
Pay calculation8.216 Ratings7.465 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.39 Ratings7.553 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.216 Ratings7.060 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.217 Ratings7.466 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.213 Ratings8.063 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.25 Ratings8.439 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.215 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.2
13 Ratings
2% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.0
70 Ratings
1% below category average
Approval workflow8.27 Ratings8.369 Ratings
Balance details8.213 Ratings8.269 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.212 Ratings7.456 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.1
17 Ratings
13% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.8
90 Ratings
4% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.216 Ratings8.279 Ratings
Update personal information7.314 Ratings8.188 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.38 Ratings7.169 Ratings
Employee recognition7.25 Ratings7.455 Ratings
View job history5.84 Ratings8.379 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
7 Ratings
6% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
6.8
23 Ratings
13% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.37 Ratings6.823 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
16 Ratings
5% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.7
76 Ratings
1% above category average
Report builder8.014 Ratings8.172 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.016 Ratings7.974 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data8.013 Ratings7.262 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
1 Ratings
9% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.1
54 Ratings
1% above category average
New hire portal7.31 Ratings8.250 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.050 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
5.8
2 Ratings
34% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.7
57 Ratings
6% below category average
Corporate goal setting5.52 Ratings8.047 Ratings
Individual goal setting5.52 Ratings8.056 Ratings
Performance tracking6.42 Ratings7.855 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.149 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
4 Ratings
8% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.2
60 Ratings
3% above category average
Performance plans7.32 Ratings8.259 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.31 Ratings7.951 Ratings
Review status tracking7.32 Ratings8.255 Ratings
Review reminders7.23 Ratings8.555 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.32 Ratings8.449 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
3.6
1 Ratings
75% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.0
37 Ratings
12% below category average
Create succession plans/pools3.61 Ratings7.732 Ratings
Candidate ranking3.61 Ratings6.633 Ratings
Candidate search3.61 Ratings7.335 Ratings
Candidate development3.61 Ratings6.634 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
2.5
3 Ratings
102% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.0
44 Ratings
3% above category average
Job Requisition Management3.13 Ratings8.242 Ratings
Company Website Posting3.13 Ratings8.435 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention1.92 Ratings7.035 Ratings
Applicant Tracking2.33 Ratings7.736 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts2.02 Ratings8.440 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings8.131 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings8.436 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 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
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(23 ratings)
8.7
(103 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(7 ratings)
9.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(2 ratings)
7.0
(13 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
6.6
(8 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(3 ratings)
8.0
(22 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(6 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.0
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(1 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
PDS VistaWorkday Human Capital Management
Likelihood to Recommend
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
As Vista HRMS is fully customizable to suit your needs, a company should determine if they have a current employee who can do the work themselves otherwise they will need to consider the additional cost of asking PDS to do the customizations for them. There are additional modules that we aren't currently making use of, but each company should learn about the functionality of each of them as some may be more beneficial than others. When gathering your questions, ask all potential users of the system what they would want to see in an HRMS. We did so before selecting Vista HRMS and we got pages and pages of questions and comments and made sure that each item was addressed beforehand and was something that we would be able to incorporate into the system. You have the option of taking the system in house or being a hosted client. Make sure you figure out what resources your IT department has available. If you have a dedicated administrator who will do all the upgrades and enhancements great, otherwise you may need PDS to help out and having PDS host may be a better option
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Workday
Workday human capital management is well suited for organizations to manage their employee records. It is also well suited for managing the employee's salary details, also the details of past salary changes, promotions, etc. It has options to keep track of employees' goals for the year, where they can keep track of their progress, and also managers can view the progress or share feedback. This is very helpful for tracking career progress and providing feedback. Other options, like training assigned to employees, can also be seen in Workday; users will get alerts by email for any new assignments or due assignments, etc.
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Pros
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Vista HRMS is very flexible, it does everything we need for HR, benefits and payroll. It’s user-friendly and intuitive to use, when we roll out new self-service items our employees have no problems and require minimal training or documentation.
  • PDS has excellent customer service and support. We get answers to the majority of our questions and problems quickly, within the day that we call. More complex issues that may require PDS’ technical support are usually addressed within a few days. We were upgrading our production servers to Windows 2012 over a weekend and a key person in our organization was on leave. When we checked with PDS to see what cost would be involved if we needed their help, they said it was included in our regular maintenance, no extra cost.
  • The PDS User’s Conference is an excellent learning opportunity for training on everything Vista does, including using Crystal Reports for custom reporting. You also get to meet and talk to the executive and development staff and have direct input into the future product development.
Read full review
Workday
  • Groups employees in management hierarchies and creates Org Charts that are easy to navigate and allow for visualizing management chains regardless of employee locations
  • Intuitive and easy to use. The Workday search functionality works very much like Google; one can search for anything that they have access to in the database and drill down into the various details. All information is connected through hyperlinks and users can easily keep digging into the details for as far as their security access would take them.
  • Tasks such as to do, review or approve items are sent to the user's Workday Inbox, very much resembling email. Notifications about outstanding "to do" items are also sent to each the user's work email address on a daily basis.
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Cons
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Typical of any system built for the unknown requirements of hundreds or thousands of customers with varying needs, PDS sometimes doesn't fit our processes precisely out of the box. However, this con is far outweighed by the ability to configure and customize the system.
  • The most significant pet peeve of our users is the necessity for so many clicks to navigate between different areas or the system or to review applicants. These items are being addressed based on feedback from the user community in an upcoming release.
Read full review
Workday
  • The web interface is awful
  • Terrible, terrible, UI. No modern features like auto-save. I can't count the times I have lost work.
  • Their UX team (if it even exists) must be aliens, because I can't see how humans would have come up with the UI conventions they have.
  • Who creates a website application where you can't open stuff in multiple browser windows and tabs easily?
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
I feel so invested in Vista HRMS that I don't really want to try other options. I know we as an organization are not using this product to it's full potential and that is just due to us lacking the resources to be able to invest the time into breaking it apart and making it work to the best ability for us. The system works great as is, but there are a lot of implementations we can put into place to help us out even more. For example, we would love to start using Workflow to create more efficiencies. I personally have a very good relationship with our hosted vendor who supports Vista HRMS and can help me with any issues and concerns, this is a big part of the reason that I would renew with this product and continue to be an advocate for Vista HRMS.
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Workday
It is work to make one system the source of truth for our data, but now that it is done, there is less work involved in staying on this path. This means for us that maintaining and/or implementing new modules like performance, finance, talent, etc. is simple. It's a no-brainer
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Usability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
The interface is intuitive, even if it does require some extra clicks to get to where you are going. The screens are consistently designed and formatted. There is a logical flow and organization to the application layout and menuing systems.
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Workday
Workday's on a great path in terms of user experience. Their goals is to deliver a use experience that doesn't require training or instruction, like Amazon on the consumer side for example. That's hard to do when you're talking about complex business processes and important and sensitive employee information, but they're doing it well
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Reliability and Availability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
Workday
In 2014, Workday has changed the update process. There will be two updates a year; the updates will be delivered to customers typically in a 24 hour window during these two weekends a year. They also keep the Community up-to-date about any planned outages, etc. There is weekly scheduled downtime on Friday night.
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Performance
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
Workday
From my perspective, the system runs like a well oiled machine and I have not had any issues with customers complaining about speed. If a report is taking long to run, the report can run in the background and you can go about your business. For larger enterprises, there is additional space and machines to process the application in what Workday refers to it as Extended Configuration Tenant
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Support Rating
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
PDS has excellent customer service and support. We get answers to the
majority of our questions and problems quickly, within the day that we
call. More complex issues that may require PDS’ technical support are
usually addressed within a few days
Read full review
Workday
Workday is still learning about the needs of higher education. I have seen rapid improvement in support and knowledge over the last year so am confident this will continue to improve. Overall however, I have found the Support Team to be extremely responsive and Workday offers the advantage of having support across several timezones so that we never wait more than a few hours for a response.
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In-Person Training
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
Workday
Some training is offered online. Cost is per-person. This also gets quite expensive. Training doesn’t follow a logical path A to B. Starts in middle. When you try to do it afterwards at your desk, difficult.
• Training scenarios are not very real
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Online Training
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
The resources and online tools that PDS provide are extremely thorough and helpful in our training and learning.
Read full review
Workday
I have done for report writing and mass imports (EIBs). They give materials and you run through examples, i.e. you don’t just watch them do tasks, so that is helpful. Training is expensive – a single reporting writing class is $600 per person for virtual training
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Implementation Rating
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
Ask lots of questions, ensure you fully understand the functionality (particularly history records) and train, train, train the users for correct and complete utilization of the system.
Read full review
Workday
It was implemented before my joining the company. At my last company, we used Workday professional services.

Based upon my experience at my last company, I would rate the implementation experience an 8/10. There are different ways to set things up and we had different people telling us different things. It set us back a couple of times.

Regarding configuration advice, we could set things up where every manager has supervisory organizations, or have it financially based i.e. aligned to cost center/department. We chose the individual manager path and I think we should have chosen a department route. Going down the individual manager path, to maintain the information, we have to inactivate a supervisory org whenever a manager changes/leaves.
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Alternatives Considered
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
I've used Peoplesoft HCM in the past. The products have some similarities, but they are marketed to different sized companies, so it's a bit of apples to oranges. Peoplesoft was very complex and challenging to manage and support. Vista HRMS should require fewer technical resources and still provide robust features for HR and Payroll. We selected Vista HRMS because it met the majority of our requirements and was priced to enable us to purchase and implement it within our budget. Also, it's an integrated system (although not truly one system when you count Vista Time) which is an improvement over our current state.
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Workday
Unfortunately, I do not recall the brands of the other human capital management software programs or tools I used at my current company or workplaces prior. I do think that is a testament to Workday with its strong branding and compelling features. I was not part of the selection process of Workday but have enjoyed my experience.
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Scalability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
Workday
Workday has released Financials and is continuing to develop it's Human Capital Management footprint with the addition of Workday Recruiting. I think customers will find that is easy to add on additional functionality in the system. Workday does make it easy for customers to make changes without relying on IT resources. The Business Process framework is a visual tool that allows functional resources to make changes and see the flow of the transaction
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Return on Investment
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Positive impact would definitely be self-service for both employees and managers to view and update selected data.
  • Through some analytics our managers are able to track turnover for their site/department by many criteria (length of service, reason, etc) and can view a number of other analytical reports such as headcount and demographics which help them to make informed decisions about their department.
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Workday
  • Positive ROI, we were one of the first organizations that went with Workday HCM, and we received numerous discounts. Cloud systems are the way to go and we feel the system is stable for our growing work force.
  • The user conferences have been helpful to network and learn more deepness in the modules and functionality.
  • Right off the bat, our implementation costs were lower than budgeted and we had less 'billing' surprises.
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