The Good and the Bad!
We use Ascentis HR for our "system of record", ESS, open enrollment, etc. We are just starting to learn and use Performance Management, …
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What is Ascentis (discontinued)?
Ascentis HR uses web-based management programs to help automate complex HR processes. Ascentis’ other services included customizable payroll, time and attendance and recruiting modules. Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022, and will be discontinued.
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What is Ascentis (discontinued)?
Ascentis HR uses web-based management programs to help automate complex HR processes. Ascentis’ other services included customizable payroll, time and attendance and recruiting modules. Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022, and will be discontinued.
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ADP Workforce Now is a cloud-based HR platform for mid-sized businesses. It features customizable modules of various HR services that businesses can tailor to their specific needs, as well as regulatory monitoring and alerts to help businesses remain compliant.
What is Rippling?
Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. This enables users to manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single…
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What is Ascentis (discontinued)?
Ascentis was an a-la carte full suite workforce management (WFM) technology platform and human capital solutions. Ascentis WFM provided time and attendance solutions that provided clients with scheduling, compliance, complex calculations, and time collection options. The HCM suite, included a fully a-la carte solution.
Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022. The service will be discontinued.
Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022. The service will be discontinued.
Ascentis (discontinued) Screenshots
Ascentis (discontinued) Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Ascentis HR uses web-based management programs to help automate complex HR processes. Ascentis’ other services included customizable payroll, time and attendance and recruiting modules. Ascentis was acquired by UKG in March of 2022, and will be discontinued.
Reviewers rate Direct deposit files highest, with a score of 9.2.
The most common users of Ascentis (discontinued) are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews
(151-164 of 164)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
February 20, 2018
Ascentis HR is the way to go!
Ascentis HR is used across our entire organization. We complete activities from recruiting to onboarding to reviews and beyond. It centralizes all employment, pay, and review history and attachments. It's a great tool during open enrollment, and setting up the Benefits Wizard is a relatively simple process yielding great employee response.
- A central location for employee information, payroll, and benefits.
- User-friendly in terms of administration and employee use.
- Customer support is prompt and concise with their responses.
- The system tends to run a bit slow.
- There are an incredible amount of clicks or information required to review in reporting. Reporting is the least user-friendly piece of Ascentis HR.
- It would be nice to drag-drop photos or attachments into the system.
December 20, 2017
What Ascentis HR can do for you!
We use Ascentis HR to house important information such as important dates, our employee handbook, our wellness program, mission & values, and other forms, guides & quick links. We also use it to do our annual evaluations/performance reviews. There is a company directory for easy access to names, emails, phone numbers, and titles. In addition to that, it is a one stop shop to view our pay stubs, benefit package, PTO balance/availability. It is easy to update our personal information online and it also removes any middle man when you have a life change such as a new address. Our company also utilizes the timekeeper for some employees who are hourly to track their time on the clock. Ascentis HR is used by our entire organization. Some of the business problems that it addresses are having a collective place to get any/all information that you may need, instead of searching for the correct person to get one piece of the information you need.
- The best thing about Ascentis HR is the fact that everything is in one place, one website. You don't have to recall multiple websites, usernames and passwords, etc. It also does it in a relatively organized way.
- Another great thing about Ascentis HR is is time keeping capabilities. It includes a punch clock, timesheet, and weekly summary. As well as some other features that we don't utilize. You can easily flip between previous weeks and current week to review the time for each period, as well as do custom ranges.
- The dashboard is very customizable with it's different widgets that can be used as it pertains to your company. For example, we use TinyPulse and were able to add a feed to our dashboard of all the different cheers that are being sent across our organization.
- Sometimes things can be a little clunky/difficult to navigate. For example, to view all of your pay stubs, you have to click multiple times to get to the "history" and then you can view a specific pay stub. But you can only view the details one at a time, as it takes you to a new page each time you choose one.
- The performance and development could see improvement. It seems to take you to a different website because it changes so much. It has its own inner catalog that cannot be accessed primarily through "Ascentis" - you will always be redirected to the Performance and Development site and have to navigate through there. You also can't back to the main Ascentis page once you go to Performance and Development without the use of a back button or just launching a new browser window and starting over.
- There can be a bit of a delay getting all of the widgets to load on the dashboard. It doesn't stop business or anything, and it's usually only a couple seconds, but it's long enough that there has to be a spinning timer for a second or so.
December 19, 2017
Great product for mid-sized organizations
Ascentis HR/HR Office is used primarily by myself and another member of HR to maintain employment history, time off, and contact information. We use the .asp version, which provides a secure/compliant environment for personal information. We can also upload employee files (reviews and other documentation), as necessary. We've also implemented self service, allowing all employees to update their information and manage/request their paid time off.
- The self-service tool is very helpful in that it allows employees to update their information.
- The PTO request tool built into the self-service module allows users to check their PTO balance, real-time, as well as project the amount of time they'll accrue by the time they actually need to take it. The employee can see all of their requests in one place to also verify the accuracy of the log and alert HR and their supervisor if there is an adjustment.
- PTO request tool also allows for a 2-tiered hierarchy of approval -- the supervisor approves it first, but final approval is always submitted to the COO before it's definite.
- We looked at a less expensive system, but HR Office was superior in that it allows us to look at PTO accruals based on a given date. We initially submitted formulas that indicate accrual rates based on employees' hours worked per week, and changes in that accrual at various anniversaries. Those calculations kick in automatically when we generate PTO balances on the fly, also deducting any time that has been scheduled off during that same period.
- HR Office allows us to create some custom fields. We have to get staff to complete certain forms every year that required their driver's license and doctor/phone number, so we added those fields and merge the data into a new form so the employee doesn't have to scrounge for that information each time to complete the form.
- HR Office is feature-rich, but with tools that we haven't taken advantage of, primarily due to our size and how we contract payroll. The system allows for reporting, has payroll and recruiting modules you can add on, and benefits management.
- When we add a new employee, we have a form for creating their job history, but when we set up the user for the PTO accrual, we always get a popup, indicating the user isn't working 40 hours (part of our PTO requirement). We have to exit the employee module and go into the compensation module to indicate that the employee works 40 hours/week. It's not intuitive and would be nice if that could be added from the initial employee setup and populate the compensation section.
- I'd like to be able to customize the fields within the PTO request form. We have to remind people to include certain information in the open text field for general comments.
- It's slow to load the landing page when we first log in.
- I can't stand the way the reports requires you to modify the report and save it before you can view it to see if you have what you need. I'd love to see a way to view it and THEN save it. In order to clean out previously generated reports, I have to click through multiple criteria screens to see what went into the report.
July 14, 2016
How does Ascentis stack up to other HRIS?
Ascentis is being used across the whole organization. Primarily by HR but all managers have MSS access and all employees have ESS access. It has been an excellent solution for managing benefits companywide. We are an international employer so time zone differences as well as geographical challenges drive the need for a global solution.
- Recruiting/Onboarding - We typically hire candidates site unseen and send them overseas to work. Ascentis allows us to capture information on the candidates from the recruiting phase all the way through the onboarding phase of the hiring process.
- Extremely Customizable HRIS - The ability to customize and add tabs to the HR side of Ascentis provides endless opportunities to capture any and all data that needs to be tracked and/or reported on for employees.
- The Benefits enrollment, open enrollment and carrier connect features of the system have streamlined the Benefits Administration process in my organization to a point where it requires very little time and attention. Once the benefits are set up through Setup Manager and tied to the benefit provider through Carrier Connect, there is very little maintenance or attention required.
- The organizational structure of Ascentis and segregated nature of the system and system support can be confusing. For example, if I need assistance with onboarding an employee it is not often clear who I should contact for assistance. The company seems to be divided by Ascentis HR, Ascentis Payroll, Ascentis TimeKeeping, and Ascentis Recruiting, It would be nice to have one point of contact for customer support for the entire Ascentis system rather than having multiple points of contact that are often changing.
- I attending the Ascentis User Conference in 2013 during which we were told that Ascentis HR would be transitioning to a new platform in early 2014. Since that conference, I have received no communication from Ascentis as to the status of the transition and we are still on the Remote Desktop platform.
- During the User Conference 2013 there was no one from Ascentis that was familiar with the Onboarding side of Ascentis. I got the impression that we were one of very few customers utilizing the onboarding feature and the Ascentis staff was not aware of the features and were unable to answer any questions. In fact, I felt like I was answering their questions rather than them answering mine.
- Would love to see the system be more flexible for international use. The system does not allow international contact information to be entered and does not allow for selection of any country locations other than US and Canada. We have had to work around these limitations.
- The Attendance tracking is somewhat limited in that it does not allow for a policy which awards PTO in lump sums at multiple intervals throughout the year. It allows a policy where a flat amount is awarded once a year or where the PTO is accrued on a regular basis only.
November 11, 2015
Ascentis is Stupendous!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We currently use the Ascentis HR, Payroll and Time modules. We only use them within our HR/Payroll department. We have the HR module linked with our benefits companies which streamlines the process tremendously. It narrows down the amount of data entry required for benefits processing such as enrollment, changes to benefits, terminations, address changes etc. It also stores wage and employment information. As well we can enter OSHA required information which makes the mandatory OSHA reporting as easy as a click of a button. This eliminates the need to sift throuh files and paperwork until we find the information we need. We simply look up the employee and almost everything we need is right there. The necessary inforation then feeds directly into our payroll module which helps prevent mistakes due to data entry. We also use the time system which feeds into payroll. This also helps us track vacation balances and allows us to automatically send out reports to supervisors eliminating a lot of inquiries.
- Streamlining benefits administration - Ascentis creates a one-stop-shop. Simply enter your employee's information into Ascentis and they communicate with the benefits companies. No need to duplicate data entry.
- Reporting module - the reporting module in HR is fantastic. Very easy to use and create reports on the fly.
- The Payroll product is also very nice. We don't have a lot of issues like we had with previous providers.
- Customer Service is quick and knowledgable.
- The Time module could improve greatly. That is the one area that frustrates me the most. The system lags horribly on busy days . They could also add some more customizable features such as the abiliy to manipulate shift differentials/shift rules a bit more to the customer's liking.
May 27, 2015
Ascentis Review
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Ascentis was used as our benefit administration as well of personnel information repository. The Self Service site was used by the entire company and the Employee Manager portion was used by Human Resources.
Prior to implementing Ascentis benefit enrollments were done on paper forms and the enrollments then had to be manually entered into each vendor site. The implementation saved considerable time and reduced errors.
Prior to implementing Ascentis benefit enrollments were done on paper forms and the enrollments then had to be manually entered into each vendor site. The implementation saved considerable time and reduced errors.
- The Ascentis reporting capabilities are fantastic, not only do they have hundreds of canned reports the ad-hoc functionality is extremely easy to use.
- I was impressed by the customization I was able to do in the system and also push out to the Employee Self Service Site.
- As the only full administrator of the system I easily managed the changes that need to be made, such as benefit rate changes and mass salary changes.
- The interface to outside payroll systems was cumbersome, we were using ADP PayExpert and had alot of issues.
- When new job codes, locations, etc. were added to the system I had to remember to go in to the Payroll setup to link them to PayExpert so they would be picked up on the change file. It would have been nice if this happened automatically.
April 08, 2015
Ascentis - The most cost effective, robust, and fully customization software on the market.
MultiLingual Solutions utilized Ascentis to streamline the process from recruiting, hiring, and paying an employee. It was also used for benefit administration. The system was being used by the organization as a whole. The business problem the software addressed was the time consuming manual process for all the various functions that the system was being used. It took away the need for spreadsheets and not only reduced man hours to manage these processes manual but also saved time by not having to complete double entries and reduced errors.
- Benefit Administration - The system fully automated the benefit elections at on-boarding and open enrollment. The carrier connections made life so much easier as it eliminated the need to access multiple benefit carriers to do simple tasks.
- On-boarding - The system allowed the organization to utilize and change processes to meet the need of the organization by providing additional documents during the on-boarding process to only the employees who were required to complete them.
- HRIS - The HRIS system was so easy to use and allowed the organization to almost eliminate the need for hard copy employee files
- Reporting - the report writer system was fantastic. It allowed me to develop custom reports that were necessary in my day to day functions. It also allowed me the flexibility to run the reports quickly when requested by management.
- Recruitment - when setting up the recruiting module some information was not clearly defined which required the organization to pay Ascentis to fix the issues within the module. If it was clearly articulated by Ascentis that they could complete the customization at the time of implementation it would not have cost the organization a fairly significant amount of money to fix the issue 2 years later.
February 23, 2015
Reveiw of Ascentis
Ascentis is being used by our whole organization, for the employee's complete life cycle. We are using the applicant tracking system, onboarding, employees self service, payroll, time and attendance, benefits (carrier connect), and termination and archiving. We are not using the COBRA function, as this is being handled by one of our carriers. It addresses all issues connected with employee information tracking, reporting, payroll, and benefits administration, as well as recruitment for our internal job opportunities.
- The Employee Self Service tool through Ascentis is very clean and uncluttered compared to our previous system. Our employees seem to appreciate the streamlined nature of handling their time and paycheck transactions through ESS.
- Carrier connect feeds the benefits information to the carriers electronically, so that I do not need to enter data into each carrier's website for new hires, adds, terms and Open Enrollment.
- For the most part, there is a seamlessness and flow through the modules, so that your candidates can apply, be hired, then on boarded, and the information will flow directly into HR and payroll.
- We were told during the sales process that our current performance management tool could be customized and implemented within the system. When we followed up after purchasing the products, we were told that our tool could not be implemented the way we had understood.
- Some of the information gathered during the application process (such as education) does not flow into Ascentis HR, and very little information flows to Novatime. Our payroll administrator is responsible for populating many of the fields, but many fields also remain blank, since they are redundant with Ascentis HR.
- We previously had Benetrac for our benefits administration and carrier connect. Benetrac was full service, meaning that I supplied the information, and Benetrac built our system based on our benefits structure. Ascentis is not like this at all. Implementation meant that my payroll administrator and I spent countless hours entering data and building the structure of our system. For example, with benefits, I was shown how to enter the information for each benefit, then allowed to proceed on my own. The info I entered was never checked for accuracy. I am now encountering endless problems with benefit effective dates and employee start dates as a result of not knowing what I did not know. My Ascentis support team is extremely patient as we try to unwind my errors, but the credibility I am losing with my employees who bring the errors to my attention is beyond infuriating.
We implemented Ascentis Payroll to be used by our department, with Employee Self-Service capabilities for all employees. 99% of the employees (1,000+ employees) had direct deposit, so we were virtually paperless for payroll checks. Employee reimbursements were paid via payroll as well. We interfaced HRIS and Time from in-house SAP. We received unsolicited, positive comments from employees complimenting the new system after our conversion in 2010. Ascentis Payroll solved our prior issues with a payroll vendor that was not customer service oriented and their system was not keeping up with our payroll and employee needs.
- Customer Service is #1. The consistent: turn-around time, accuracy, and abilities of the client representatives is impressive.
- Ascentis listens to their customers' needs. One of our requests during implementation was rolled out to all clients around the time we went live. Another change we wanted to ESS was implemented overnight for a customer-wide roll-out. Their User Conference in 2013 was most worth-while.
- The Ascentis Payroll System increased the efficiency of our department. We also increased the satisfaction of our employees and IT Department!
- The Ascentis Third Party Check system streamlined garnishment deduction accuracy, reporting and payments. (This was one of our RFP points that only Ascentis could accommodate in the fashion desired.)
- System Import/Export capabilities are very strong and user-friendly. Able to quickly turn-around bonus payrolls, incentive payrolls, adjustment checks for grossing up gift cards, Third Party Sick entries, etc.
- There were some minor "nice to haves" that Ascentis could incorporate into their system for users. Most of these suggestions are being included in their upcoming release of Ascentis Payroll. (So minor, I can't even remember what we suggested.)
- We ran into only one unique multiple garnishment scenario that required us manually review the one employee. (Very minor, compared to prior vendor system calculations.)
January 23, 2015
Ascentis for Small to Medium sized companies
We are currently using Ascentis as our HRIS system. The HR department uses this on a daily basis. We also share our information with our Benefits Coordinator, which happens to be an outside company. The systems manages all benefits as well as acting as a traditional HRIS.
- The system is great for customization. You can change and add custom pages and track items that your company needs
- The reporting system is very robust- it has many set reports and also allows for a customization wizard where you can run a report on anything you have in the system, including notes.
- The Communication Wizard makes internal communications much easier and allows for tracking.
- There are not many downsides to Ascentis, but I do wish it would connect to outside systems a little easier. We have found workarounds, but it is not ideal.
January 23, 2015
Ascentis is a solid small business solution
Ascentis HR Office is used by the HR Department to track and log employee data. It is primarily used to track the contact information, salary and paid time off used by each employee of the organization.
- Ascentis allows for easy to print reports.
- It is easy to update and make changes.
- It requires very little interaction on the back end from the IT side.
- Backups could be easier / automated.
January 20, 2015
Ascentis HR review-- Not my first choice.
We use ascentis for our HRIS in the HR department across all locations in the US. We use it as a means to keep track of employee information and we also have the system feed to our benefit and payroll systems. We have automatic files that feed to these systems. We also keep track of salaried employee vacation through Ascentis, which is connected to our intranet.
- Automatic file feed-- we set these up to automatically feed to our benefit system. This has worked particularly well, as we were able to increase the frequency when we were rapidly hiring. This allowed employees to set up a benefit account more quickly and sign up for benefits in a more timely manner.
- Keeps track of the date and person that made the last change in Asecntis. It doesn't say which field, but it has the date and person that made the last change on the given employee information tab.
- Keeps the history of compensation and job history well.
- The product is accessed through a remote desktop. This makes the product extremely slow. So slow sometimes, that the reaction time lags so much that it isn't worth it to make any changes in the system.
- The bonus and performance modules are not conducive for a successful performance management campaign. There are so many unique situations in our organzation, that these modules can't keep up with all of the intricacies.
- The support staff has given misguided advice. Perhaps they need to be trained better?
- We have two different company names, so in the system, we have to select the correct company name in order to view that company's information. It makes it difficult for running reports for the entire organization because you have to run one report in one company code and then select the other company code to run an identical report and then combine the two reports in order to run a report for the entire organization.
January 24, 2014
AscentisHR - A Good Fit for Small Companies
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use the solution at my job for tracking Human Resource information. We also use Self Service which allows our employees to access and change information online.
- There are custom tabs which are reportable and contain 12 fields each.
- The Self Service feature is very user friendly and customizable.
- You can track history on employment status and job status.
- The system does not have the ability to link positions to departments, divisions or supervisors. Therefore you must link each employee to their organization categories one at a time.
- The benefit information reporting is very cumbersome. The Self Service benefit enrollment works very well for the employee but is difficult to analyze the captured information for submitting to carriers.
- There are no specific areas focused on succession planning or training programs.
January 24, 2014
Great system for efficiency
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Ascentis was used for recruiting, employee records, payroll and timekeeping. It was used on the administrator side by human resources and payroll. The users of the system ranged from applicants, both internal and external, employees for timekeeping and payroll and managers for all portions. This system was put into place in order to sync human resources and payroll functions for a more streamlined process for all. It was very beneficial by having one location to store all necessary data in these areas.
- Creating synergy amongst departments
- Applicant Tracking system was very robust
- Customer support was quick to respond and easy to reach even after implementation
- Data flowed well from module to module
- Many opportunities for adding to the product after implementation
- Changes made to system were done so in a timely manner
- Applicant tracking module could use the ability to "mass print" resumes and applications
- HRIS portion has small windows and text boxes that can tend to cut of text
- More ability to track leaves