PDS Vista vs. UKG Pro

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PDS Vista
Score 5.0 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
UKG Pro
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
UKG delivers cloud-based HCM solutions including UKG Pro that help businesses simplify payroll computations, accelerate talent acquisition, manage time and attendance, and support proactive, strategic talent management on a global level.N/A
Pricing
PDS VistaUKG Pro
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PDS VistaUKG Pro
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
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 VistaUKG Pro
Considered Both Products
PDS Vista
Chose PDS Vista
Vista was by far the most flexible solution we evaulated.
UKG Pro

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
PDS VistaUKG Pro
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
UKG Pro
8.3
803 Ratings
6% above category average
Employee demographic data9.017 Ratings8.7731 Ratings
Employment history9.018 Ratings8.7762 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.014 Ratings8.6733 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.012 Ratings8.3721 Ratings
Organizational charting7.013 Ratings7.7643 Ratings
Organization and location management7.016 Ratings8.2656 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.011 Ratings8.1517 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
18 Ratings
0% below category average
UKG Pro
8.6
746 Ratings
7% above category average
Pay calculation8.216 Ratings9.0709 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.39 Ratings8.2336 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.216 Ratings8.1643 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.217 Ratings9.3702 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.213 Ratings8.8573 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.25 Ratings8.057 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.8231 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
UKG Pro
8.4
563 Ratings
4% above category average
Approval workflow8.27 Ratings8.8504 Ratings
Balance details8.213 Ratings8.4529 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.212 Ratings8.1434 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
UKG Pro
8.5
798 Ratings
5% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.216 Ratings8.8769 Ratings
Update personal information7.314 Ratings8.9776 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.38 Ratings8.5564 Ratings
Employee recognition7.25 Ratings7.4287 Ratings
View job history5.84 Ratings8.9759 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
7 Ratings
6% below category average
UKG Pro
8.5
189 Ratings
9% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.37 Ratings8.5189 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
16 Ratings
5% above category average
UKG Pro
7.7
734 Ratings
1% above category average
Report builder8.014 Ratings7.7714 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.016 Ratings7.9724 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data8.013 Ratings7.5495 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
1 Ratings
9% below category average
UKG Pro
8.6
557 Ratings
7% above category average
New hire portal7.31 Ratings8.6554 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.6444 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
UKG Pro
7.9
377 Ratings
3% below category average
Corporate goal setting5.52 Ratings8.1293 Ratings
Individual goal setting5.52 Ratings7.7359 Ratings
Performance tracking6.42 Ratings7.8333 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.9251 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
4 Ratings
8% below category average
UKG Pro
8.1
465 Ratings
2% above category average
Performance plans7.32 Ratings7.8415 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.31 Ratings7.7326 Ratings
Review status tracking7.32 Ratings8.3436 Ratings
Review reminders7.23 Ratings8.3397 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.32 Ratings8.3337 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
3.6
1 Ratings
75% below category average
UKG Pro
8.4
187 Ratings
6% above category average
Create succession plans/pools3.61 Ratings8.5155 Ratings
Candidate ranking3.61 Ratings8.3164 Ratings
Candidate search3.61 Ratings8.4163 Ratings
Candidate development3.61 Ratings8.5152 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
2.5
3 Ratings
102% below category average
UKG Pro
8.5
456 Ratings
9% above category average
Job Requisition Management3.13 Ratings8.8434 Ratings
Company Website Posting3.13 Ratings9.1422 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention1.92 Ratings7.1323 Ratings
Applicant Tracking2.33 Ratings8.6421 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts2.02 Ratings8.4388 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings8.7333 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings8.8390 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PDS VistaUKG Pro
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 VistaUKG Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(23 ratings)
8.3
(928 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(7 ratings)
8.9
(194 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(2 ratings)
8.5
(188 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
10.0
(74 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.4
(331 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(3 ratings)
6.6
(492 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(87 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(202 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(1 ratings)
9.9
(86 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(76 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(65 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(93 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(55 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(48 ratings)
User Testimonials
PDS VistaUKG Pro
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
UKG
UKG did well when we had issues with employees working for both agencies. We called the Rapid Response Team, and they fixed those issues on their back end. Another example is with the Amended W-2 form; they gave us instructions to do it ourselves, but it was not working, and need to make phone calls to get help.
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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
UKG
  • UKG has an amazing support team to reach out to if assistance is needed
  • All add-ons of UKG Pro integrate seamlessly making it a powerful software program
  • UKG Pro is very configurable to meet the specific needs of companies
  • It is easy to use and navigate
  • The mobile app is loved by all employees and provides on-demand access
  • The Ultimate Community is amazing!! On-demand information on all products and how they are used. Connect with other companies that use UKG Pro and learn from each other.
  • The Learning Centre is also amazing!! Learning right at your fingertips anytime, anywhere.
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
UKG
  • As UKG is aware, the support for customers needs some improvement. As the recent changes to the staffing/support hierarchy take effect, I hope to see some relief to the current frustrations.
  • As the UKG Pro products evolve, they need to become more integrated and less segmented. Having to purchase multiple products that then need to coordinate for processing leads to issues.
  • As users, we have a lot of options for self-service and customization, but some simple fixes still require assistance from UKG support. Give us the power to help ourselves whenever possible.
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
UKG
We are overall happy with UltiPro and it works well for our organization and we have plans to expand our usage of it even more so we will definitely be continuing with the product. We are thinking of adding the functionality for training and recruiting as well, which is an add-on product
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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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UKG
Mobile App: Really easy to use and its nice to have an HR software that actually has an mobile application to be able to enter time and to take care of everything with. Web App: The system is relatively easy to use with maybe a little training at the beginning if you have used another system. But the site is really easy to use and a lot better having everything under one roof
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Reliability and Availability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
UKG
I've found Ultipro to be completely reliable. Outages are typically planned to occur on weekends and only once did I have connections issues connecting Citrix to the server where our environment was housed, but within the hour connection was restored. I think that's a pretty good track record, considering I've used the suite daily for over three years. Especially when processing payroll--say the internet goes down in the middle of you performing a task... Ultipro is able to recognize that a connection error occurred and quickly restores the process that was running, avoiding lost productivity.
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Performance
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
UKG
Normally UKG Pro loads quickly. We had been having major issues with reports running in a timely manner but recently they broke out our virtual server to another instance where is wasn't sharing resources and that seems to have helped reporting run more efficiently.
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
UKG
Support is quick to respond and helpful when you don't understand how to use or implement their response. They are great at following up and checking in as well as escalating cases when they are more urgent and need more attention.
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In-Person Training
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
UKG
I've been to a few in-person (hands on) training sessions and it is very similar to the online classes. You have the same reference material to look back on after the training. So regardless of in person training or online you really get the same thing.
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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
UKG
Most of the online training was very generic (to be expected) but we had specific requirements for configuration that could have been better addressed with more individual sessions earlier on from our project team. However, we did finally begin booking training sessions with our implementation team which were recorded, and so provided additional information for how to correctly configure and test the system.
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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
UKG
Make sure you have all of your tax account information with all the states you are registered in available and that you are knowledgeable about the filing status, frequency, etc. We had some unique challenges with our state unemployment tax set up that I was not aware of and needed to be addressed prior to going live. Working with the state unemployment office can be a challenge.
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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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UKG
My experience with HRIS systems is limited to UKG Pro. It is the only HRIS I have worked with. I have worked with other systems that perform the tasks of some of its models and have found that when used with the various modules the overall experience with UKG is great. The ability to have all of the modules on the same platform makes the integration between UKG Pro and the modules great!
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Scalability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
UKG
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.
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UKG
  • We have increased our HR activities to 85% through UKG. OSHA and Leave need to be pulled in
  • Reduced from a 1000 pieces of pay statements to @ 10 per pay roll through Direct deposit and cash pay cards.
  • Onboarding signoffs have improved audit records for signed job descriptions, i-9 forms, hand book sign off and policy sign off
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ScreenShots

UKG Pro Screenshots

Screenshot of UKG Pro People CenterScreenshot of UKG Pro PayrollScreenshot of UKG Pro Mobile AppScreenshot of UKG Pro RecruitingScreenshot of UKG Pro Employee Voice