Item: Ascentis (discontinued)
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Ascentis HR and Ascentis Payroll, paired with Timekeeper. It is mainly used by me to record employee information and do payroll. In 2018, we integrated Ascentis HR and Timekeeper, so it is now used by all employees for timekeeping. We just recently launched ESS through Ascentis HR, so employees are learning how to log in and access their personal information. I still have a lot of training to do with the department heads to teach them how to use it for ESS and Timekeeper. Right now, I do it all.

Pros and Cons

I like the flexibility in Ascentis HR. I can create custom tabs for things that are specifically relevant to my company. It's helping me digitalize a previously paper-based company.
Ascentis HR and ESS have given my employees the option to finally go paperless with pay stubs. Employees like the option to access their pay stubs at any time. I appreciate not wasting costly check paper and time to stuff checks when employees throw their stubs right in the trash. We have had direct deposit for a long time, but didn't have a way to go paperless.
The ability to pull custom reports in Ascentis HR is very nice. I can get the information I really want and can get it in Excel format so I can manipulate the information.

Everyone wants to know if there is an app for ESS. As far as I know, there isn't. They can type in the website on their cell phones, but an app would be greatly appreciated and convenient.
Especially after using Ascentis HR, I feel the report capabilities in Ascentis Payroll are very weak. One report I have to get Ascentis' help on every year is the number of hours an employee worked for the year. It's not something I can pull on my own, and when I am assisted, it's broken down into regular pay, or, holiday, etc. It would be nice to just be able to easily pull how many hours they worked in total, on my own. I also feel like a lot of the reports in Payroll should be able to be exported into excel. A lot of them are print only.

Return on Investment

I'm not sure what the ROI is specifically, but overall I'm happy with the changes we've made. There's still more to learn and master. It's making it easier to access information without having to look for the hard copies. I think eventually it will save time, but since a lot of it is still new to us, I don't know how much time it has saved.

Other Software Used

Microsoft Access

Support Rating

I usually get decent help when I call. Our representatives have bounced all over the place, so I honestly don't even know who our rep is at this point. I needed some help this past year on some ACA questions and the first person told me they would research and get back to me. It took her a week and all she said was it looked fine. I spoke to a different person and she was more helpful and got me an answer in a day. I've had ongoing problems in Timekeeper. My initial trainer was awesome. He could answer everything, design anything. Then, when the implementation period was over, I was cut off from him with no notice. I now have to call the helpline and everyone I've talked to is much less knowledgeable than him. I've gotten responses like, "I don't think that can be done," and it's something the original trainer had already programmed. Frustrating.

Exceptional Examples of Ascentis (discontinued) Support

When implementing Ascentis HR, I received great support with linking HR to Payroll (which we already had established). The girls I worked with were very sweet, answered all questions, communicated through e-mail to make sure everything was taken care of. That part of the transition was very smooth.

Likelihood to Recommend

Ascentis has been good for our growing company. We bring on seasonal people during harvest, and I'm easily able to track those peoples' time cards separately from ours and pull reports to send to the staffing agencies we use. Employees are able to punch the time clock from computers or even their phones if allowed. Our sister company uses field workers and after looking at our system, felt it was too complex for what they needed. They literally wanted something like an "on the clock", or "off the clock" button. The company has to be pretty tech savvy to be able to use these products, especially Ascentis HR.

Ascentis products are good for a growing business

Overall Satisfaction with Ascentis