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
Read full review Keeping an accurate time off calendar, with specific buckets, is extremely important. It has helped my company grow without having to manage things in Excel. Also, implementing an annual review process by using CakeHR has been very clean and transparent with my employees. This also allows me to see year over year. In years past, we used Word or a Jotform which made it challenging to pull up years past.
Read full review 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 Employee self service - the apps and desktops GUIs are very intuitive. Leave management - this manages itself through the app and system, saves lots of admin. Customization - you can tailor the system more and more to suit your specific needs. Updates and Customer Service - the CakeHR team gave dedicated a lot of time to bring out weekly updates and systems improvements which shows they are dedicated to making this a great product - the fact that they were bought by Se recently is also testament to their ongoing mission. Read full review 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 Updating information in a central location that implements changes across whole system. Custom reporting and history Time off policies tracking and management 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.
Read full review 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.
Read full review My staff "actually" likes it! I can tell because they are actively in the program almost daily!
Read full review 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 Customer support is amazing. There are times I post a question and I don't get back to support. They will always follow-up with an email to make sure our questions are answered. I even had a call with Julianna who was wonderful and very personable. You definitely get a level us service that exceeds most companies. Keep up the good work CakeHR.
Read full review 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 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 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.
Read full review For core HR functionality, this is the only product we use. For ATS, we have experimented with BreezyHR. We've learned that CakeHR is adding an ATS module soon though.
Read full review 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. Read full review The system shows us all days off and overtime, so we can manage this and know everything is like agreed in the contract. A simple and affordable system with room to grow. Read full review ScreenShots