Professional Software with great value
Updated May 25, 2018

Professional Software with great value

Brian Borkovec | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Ascentis HR

Ascentis HR is our source database for employee information across the entire company. Primary use is for employee records, performance management and source of info to sync with various internal tools.

Pros

  • Ascentis seems to allow more customization than other HRIS software packages I have researched. It allows you to set up custom tabs, work flows for approvals and renaming of fields so the software can be fit to your business needs.
  • Employee self service is relatively straight-forward and easy for general users to figure out.
  • Has the ability to run reports on pretty much anything. We use to create lists and cross-check data on a regular basis.

Cons

  • User interface on back-end could really use some work. Unable to resize or tile windows to fit the user's preference.
  • On back-end, it is way too easy to delete or change something on accident. Has some quirks that you just need to know when entering information.
  • Very strange tendencies to allow customization of some things, but then not allow others. For example, recruiting software requires help from Ascentis support to delete an email template. UI for self service offers limited choice of fields for some tabs.
  • Employee self service and manager self service function is just okay. There is no way for managers to create data-driven widgets or access any data from the system.
  • Ascentis software allows us to organize large numbers of job candidates and helps us maintain a very lean HR department compared with industry standards.
  • Limitations on ability to gather and report data prevent an even greater ROI for this product.
We selected Ascentis because the features and price were a reasonable match for our business objectives at the time. What stood out about Ascentis was the ability to customize and integrate with our internal tools.

We are currently starting to evaluate other software and are becoming more aware of the limitations of Ascentis. That said, the price tag for additional functionality will be fairly high compared to Ascentis.
In general, Ascentis is very responsive to support questions. They have a quick turnaround time when calling or emailing about an issue. Reliability is good, though they have had some outages and issues (which is what I'd expect for pretty much any provider).

One thing that can be irritating is that some support issues are included in your annual membership and other issues require an upcharge - the cost isn't as much of an issue as the hassle of dealing with nickle/dime payments for simple requests.
We went through a long process of trying to integrate benefits management within Ascentis. The people we worked with were very knowledgeable about the product and took their time in dealing with our many requests. They were also very flexible in adjusting schedules to meet our needs. I never felt like we were bothering them and they had a great attitude through the whole process.
I think Ascentis is very good for smaller companies that want a lot of flexibility in their configuration. Some of the limitations may be cumbersome for larger organizations. Overall, it's a pretty good product but wouldn't be for everyone.

Ascentis (discontinued) Feature Ratings

5.4
Employee demographic data
7
Employment history
5
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
6
Organizational charting
4
Organization and location management
Not Rated
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
5
Not Rated
Pay calculation
Not Rated
Support for external payroll vendors
Not Rated
Benefit plan administration
Not Rated
Direct deposit files
Not Rated
Salary revision and increment management
Not Rated
Reimbursement management
Not Rated
Not Rated
Approval workflow
Not Rated
Balance details
Not Rated
Annual carry-forward and encashment
Not Rated
5.0
View and generate pay and benefit information
Not Rated
Update personal information
6
View job history
6
View company policy documentation
3
Employee recognition
Not Rated
5.0
Tracking of all physical assets
5
3.7
Report builder
6
Pre-built reports
4
Ability to combine HR data with external data
1
Integration with other HR capabilities ()
Not Rated
Not Rated
Performance plans
Not Rated
Performance improvement plans
Not Rated
Review status tracking
Not Rated
Review reminders
Not Rated
Multiple review frequency
Not Rated
Not Rated
Create succession plans/pools
Not Rated
Candidate ranking
Not Rated
Candidate search
Not Rated
Candidate development
Not Rated
5.0
New hire portal
6
Manager tracking tools
4
Not Rated
Corporate goal setting
Not Rated
Individual goal setting
Not Rated
Line-of sight-visibility
Not Rated
Performance tracking
Not Rated
4.9
Job Requisition Management
8
Company Website Posting
5
Publish to Social Media
5
Job Search Site Posting
3
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
4
Applicant Tracking
7
Notifications and Alerts
2

Using Ascentis HR

3 - On the back-end Human Resources and Finance/Payroll are the functions
that administer Asentis HR. All recruiting, on-boarding, employee
management organization and document maintenance is handled through this
system. Managers are also involved but have contact through the manager
self-service portal.
Uh... we don't have any in-house support. Ascentis support is contacted with any issues. HR manager handles any internal support that is needed and can make adjustments to the system as necessary.
  • Recruiting - we use Ascentis recruiting on a daily basis to manage all applicants and communicate with candidates. Allows us to send info to managers and import candidate info into other applications upon acceptance.
  • Employee management - keeping all employee info organized and placing that responsibility in the employees' hands is essential to our operations
  • Through the use of custom fields, we have an extensive organizational chart that is broken out into small teams. All data is maintained in Ascentis and a custom tool allows us to update the data.
  • Email lists are driven by Ascentis and pushed to many custom applications at the company. Employees and their supervisors can add or remove themselves from lists depending on need for certain information.
Nothing against Ascentis, but we have outgrown this system far faster than anticipated. Our company has nearly doubled in size from when we first implemented. It has been an excellent starter HRIS but we just need to add additional functionality.

Some of the features we are looking for is ability to pull data and build reports. Ascentis really lags in that category. Also looking to add additional functionality such as performance management and payroll - Ascentis offers these, but not in a fully integrated fashion that would really help.

Evaluating Ascentis HR and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Usability
When we were first looking for a system, Ascentis really stood out in terms of features for the price range. The ability to make custom tabs and use the data on the back end was also a huge factor.
Ascentis was a good system at the time we evaluated and I don't think we would have changed our decision. We feel it was a good fit for us given the size of our company and internal needs.

Ascentis HR Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Quick Initial Response
Need to explain problems multiple times
Yes - Some have been resolved, but they don't really let you know directly. You have to follow product updates and comb through their support communication to know what has changed.

Comments

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