Ascentis is a Gift to HR Professionals Everywhere!
April 16, 2018

Ascentis is a Gift to HR Professionals Everywhere!

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Ascentis HR

We are using Ascentis across the organization. We started with the basic HR and Payroll system and have been focused on building additional modules (which were all included with our package) for Recruitment and Performance Management. The business problems it addressed were :

1. Self service to employee info
2. Benefits enrollment
3. Central "intranet" for employees to read info
4. Lack of organized reviews and goal tracking
5. Recruitment centralization
  • Implementation - You work one on one with a specialist to help build and customize each module. They are patient, supportive, and very helpful.
  • Customization - There were few (if any) things I asked for that couldn't be customized. They really do work with you to make the system work for you.
  • Support - If/when an issue arises, you are met with immediate response and rectification. Their dedication to customer service is great.
  • Remote Desktop - Logging in via remote desktop can be a bit cumbersome. I understand they are working towards a web-based application which I can't wait to see.
  • Electronic data transfer - One of the reasons we wanted to use Ascentis was to take advantage of automatic transition to our benefits carriers. We are 6 months in and still having issues. For example, the feed that goes to our COBRA provider every Friday keeps going over in an encrypted manner in which our provider cannot accept. Despite many communications between them, they resolve one week and go back to the same encryption the following week. As a result, I have to double check the things that should be "automatic".
  • Brought us from paper open enrollment for benefits to online self-service (time and cost saving).
  • Eliminated dependency on HR to update employee info. Self-service very helpful when you are a small department.
  • Created platform for us to implement an easy-to-use consistent Performance Management system.
Unlike the others, Ascentis was built as an HR solutions platform--not an extension of a payroll company looking to expand into HR. The payroll side is well-represented with founders who are ex-ADP employees, but by being focused on HR as a whole, this puts the emphasis on building what the client needs. It's not off the shelf as many of the others I researched.
Overall, I've found the customer service provided for each module to be very helpful. The only area keeping me from rating a 10 would be the EDI (electronic transmission of files). I still do not have a level of confidence it is working properly just yet. However, upon raising this issue to my Acct. Mgr., it is being addressed.
Our first Open Enrollment (Oct 2017). Because we were changing from 24 to 26 pay periods in Jan 2018, we had to build a whole new set of benefit options to ensure the proper amounts were deducted come January 1st. It was labor-intensive and confusing. Our implementation specialist went way above and beyond. He helped us do things even they never did before. Many nights, we were on the phone with him up to 11pm trying to get everything ready. During the Open Enrollment meetings, there was a glitch on their end. Again, our implementation specialist worked quickly behind the scenes to fix everything so users could continue without a hitch.
Well-suited: Providing a one-stop solution for your administrative business needs. You have it all in one package and the ability to build as you see fit.
Less well-suited: If you are looking for fancy bells and whistles, you may be disappointed. The system is easy to navigate, but not flashy with graphics, etc.

Ascentis (discontinued) Feature Ratings

Employee demographic data
9
Employment history
9
Job profiles and administration
9
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
10
Organizational charting
10
Organization and location management
10
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
9
Pay calculation
10
Support for external payroll vendors
9
Benefit plan administration
9
Direct deposit files
10
Salary revision and increment management
9
Reimbursement management
Not Rated
Approval workflow
9
Balance details
7
Annual carry-forward and encashment
8
View and generate pay and benefit information
9
Update personal information
9
View job history
9
View company policy documentation
9
Employee recognition
Not Rated
Tracking of all physical assets
Not Rated
Report builder
9
Pre-built reports
9
Ability to combine HR data with external data
Not Rated
Performance plans
9
Performance improvement plans
Not Rated
Review status tracking
8
Review reminders
8
Multiple review frequency
8
Create succession plans/pools
Not Rated
Candidate ranking
Not Rated
Candidate search
Not Rated
Candidate development
Not Rated
New hire portal
9
Manager tracking tools
9
Corporate goal setting
9
Individual goal setting
9
Line-of sight-visibility
10
Performance tracking
9
Job Requisition Management
9
Company Website Posting
7
Publish to Social Media
7
Job Search Site Posting
7
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
7
Applicant Tracking
7
Notifications and Alerts
7

Using Ascentis HR

2 - Human Resources and Payroll
1 - I am a department of one (and Payroll is external to me), so I need to be the in-house expert on the system.

Evaluating Ascentis HR and Competitors

Yes - We previously used CheckPoint HR. It was the software in use when I joined the organization. Not only was there little flexibility to customize, but they nickle-and-dimed us for every extra. We signed up for an additional premium service (ACA reporting) and ended up doing all the work on our end. Once switching to Ascentis, running those reports this year were a breeze. Also, we were encountering issues with CheckPoint's payroll processing.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Flexibility. There were certain needs we had with benefits administration and employee self service that they could easily do for us that the others could not.
I don't think I'd do anything differently. I could say maybe look at a few more, but it was easy to compare Ascentis to the others simply by asking what things they could do and hearing them tell us what they couldn't. With Ascentis, they had a solution for nearly every ask we made.

Ascentis HR Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Yes--both times it was a known issue and they were already working on a solution.

Using Ascentis HR

The system is intuitive and user friendly. My only concern is when it is time to create benefit plans for end of year open enrollment, I will need a refresher on all the great things I learned. The beauty of this is that they maintain a video library so you can walk through the steps as a refresher and then contact customer support with any specific questions. They truly give you the tools to make it easy.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Creating widgets and customizing content in the self-service module
  • Calculating pay increases
  • New hire/onboarding
  • Running reports (easiest system I've ever used)
  • Creating and giving employees a view of their total compensation (salary plus benefits)
  • Setting up electronic data transfer to carriers
Yes - The mobile interface is limited in its capacity for me (at the moment). I can do time off requests and performance management but have not yet explored other areas.