Ascentis works for mid-sized manufacturing HR needs
January 11, 2021

Ascentis works for mid-sized manufacturing HR needs

Carrie Mennis, SHRM SCP | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Ascentis

Ascentis is used for recruiting, applicant tracking, onboarding, HRIS, timekeeping, payroll, talent management, and learning management. It is used by every employee in the organization. Ascentis addresses the business problem of HR as a service, flow to minimize errors, compliance, and accuracy in payroll.
  • Product flow, robust system--linked to all-in-one HR network
  • Customer service availability is good, although slow at the beginning of the year
  • Reporting improvements with online-based option recently
  • Recruiting--poor applicant experience ratings
  • Reporting option too robust--needs simplification in HRIS
  • Support often needs to forward my questions to a specialist--consider directing more easily to a specialist so I don't have to wait (option for "do you need a specialist?")
  • Diminished need for staffing in HR department
  • Compliance management in onboarding
  • Still working through learning management; possible ROI there, but not fully realized
Pros of Ascentis:
  • Much more robust
  • Compliance more thorough
  • Minimizes duplicate entries in piecemeal systems
Cons of Ascentis/Pros of Bamboo HR:
  • Visually pleasing design of product
  • Employee experience is easier/more aesthetically pleasing
  • Simplicity to design, simplicity to use
  • Cost is much cheaper
As mentioned earlier, I did not select Ascentis but have recommended contract continuation and expansion due to ROI and savings in the HR department. This will continue as I grow my expertise and expand my department.
Very good service once you get connected with the person who is qualified to help you. Consider thinking about a better way to minimize client's time waiting to find that right person.

Do you think Ascentis (discontinued) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Ascentis (discontinued)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Ascentis (discontinued) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Ascentis (discontinued) go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Ascentis (discontinued) again?

Yes

As mentioned earlier, if you step into using Ascentis without an understanding of how everything flows, you will be lost. It is not simple. It is not intuitive. I was able to figure everything out, but to really feel like I knew what was going on took around two full years and many mistakes made with lessons learned.
I am a part of an HR peer group in my region. I have "shown off" the Ascentis system a couple of times and most of my peers are jealous at the robust options in Ascentis--the minimization of duplicate entries in particular. This system has saved our company from having to add a full-time staff member because it works so well.

Ascentis was very difficult for me to use at first. I came from a similar sized company of 118 people, which used Bamboo HR for HRIS and recruiting and outsourced timekeeping and payroll to other, less robust platforms. The company had just purchased Ascentis a few months earlier and the owner/decision maker for the purchase had left before the system was fully established. This caused me a large amount of pain and it took a while for me to be sold on the product. I was convinced for months that we had over-bought for our company needs. Once I was able to fully integrate all the pieces of the system, I was overjoyed with it. Perhaps when you have a client going through this type of turnover issue in HR, it might be good to have a team member specifically assigned to contact them weekly. I appreciate the online forum and training options, but because of the background of the role and how many people I was expected to hire at the time, I really had to learn by making mistakes on the fly. It was a struggle getting started for me.

Ascentis (discontinued) Feature Ratings

Employee demographic data
6
Job profiles and administration
6
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
9
Organizational charting
3
Organization and location management
9
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
7
Pay calculation
10
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment
7
Benefit plan administration
8
Direct deposit files
10
Salary revision and increment management
9
Approval workflow
9
Balance details
7
Annual carry-forward and encashment
8
View and generate pay and benefit information
9
Update personal information
8
View job history
7
View company policy documentation
3
Employee recognition
8
Report builder
2
Pre-built reports
7
Ability to combine HR data with external data
Not Rated
Performance plans
7
Performance improvement plans
8
Review status tracking
7
Review reminders
8
Multiple review frequency
5
New hire portal
9
Manager tracking tools
7
Individual goal setting
8
Job Requisition Management
9
Company Website Posting
6
Publish to Social Media
7
Job Search Site Posting
9
Applicant Tracking
10
Notifications and Alerts
7