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Frontline is clearly at the front of the class
Updated January 18, 2023

Frontline is clearly at the front of the class

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

Overall Satisfaction with Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) is used by all of our teacher staff, classroom instructional assistants, nurses, and some contractual employees that are partnered one-on-one with special education students. Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) is excellent in finding qualified substitutes via multiple avenues where substitutes can job shop (internet), jobulator (push notifications to subs phone), and make phone calls.
  • Intuitive/easy-to-use screens
  • Reporting capabilities
  • Customer service is excellent
  • Reporting--reports created by Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) cannot be modified by our system admins
  • Teacher/IA absence fulfillment
  • Ability to limit subs to only see/accept jobs they are qualified for
  • Integration with our ERP system
  • Runs without much administrative management once configured
  • Easy to see job history and who was contacted to fill jobs
  • Only requires 1 HR administrative assistant approximately 45% of their time to manage roughly 300 substitutes
Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) was clearly above eSchoolPlus and all other substitute fulfillment systems. Our previous software, Subfinder, was purchased by Frontline several years after we migrated to Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop). Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) was worlds above it and much easier to use.

Do you think Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) again?

Yes

Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) is only one module of the Frontline suite of products we use. Integration between them is good but could be better. Frontline Absence Management (formerly Aesop) is very robust and has handled 95% of the things we throw at it, even though we are K-12, we have an obscure setup at times. We've had to use an API to replace a limitation of the reporting process on one of our exports. Their documentation of the system (including APIs) is excellent.

Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) Feature Ratings

8.0
Employee demographic data
Not Rated
Employment history
Not Rated
Job profiles and administration
8
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
Not Rated
Organization and location management
Not Rated
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
Not Rated
Payroll Management ()
Not Rated
9.3
Approval workflow
8
Balance details
10
Annual carry-forward and encashment
10
10.0
View and generate pay and benefit information
Not Rated
Update personal information
Not Rated
View job history
10
View company policy documentation
Not Rated
Employee recognition
Not Rated
Asset Management ()
Not Rated
9.0
Report builder
Not Rated
Pre-built reports
9
Ability to combine HR data with external data
Not Rated
Integration with other HR capabilities ()
Not Rated
7.0
Performance plans
7
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
Not Rated
New hire portal
Not Rated
Manager tracking tools
Not Rated
Not Rated
Corporate goal setting
Not Rated
Individual goal setting
Not Rated
Line-of sight-visibility
Not Rated
Performance tracking
Not Rated
Not Rated
Job Requisition Management
Not Rated
Company Website Posting
Not Rated
Publish to Social Media
Not Rated
Job Search Site Posting
Not Rated
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
Not Rated
Applicant Tracking
Not Rated
Notifications and Alerts
Not Rated

Using Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

2011 - Teachers, classroom assistants, nurses, substitutes
2 - 1 Systems Analyst + 1 HR Associate support Absence Management (AM) in our organization. Most of the interaction we have with AM is when data doesn't flow from our ERP system into AM. School Administrators seem to have no major issues using it. Teachers/classroom assistants/substitutes require little to no training to do their jobs.
  • Teachers/Classroom Assistants enter sick days
  • Teachers/Classroom Assistants check leave balances
  • Administrators managing absences
  • Transferring absences to our Timekeeping system
  • Sending absences to our Payroll system
  • Multiple imports from other systems to reduce data entry
  • Mobile app use by more employee groups
  • Improved reporting for managers
Long time customer with Frontline Absence Management. Product support has been excellent, integrations easy to work with, & suite of products mesh together well.

Evaluating Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) and Competitors

Yes - Absence Management (AESOP) replaced Subfinder. Aesop was much more modern in appearance & more intuitive for end users. Hosted application also made it easier on our IT staff.
  • Product Features
Our previous substitute management software (Subfinder) was cumbersome to use & implement. Absence Management offered a clean, modern, easy to use front end for our classroom staff.
Would look harder for applications that are MORE directly integrated with our other timekeeping/HR/Payroll software.

Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) Implementation

Our Frontline implementer was an expert in the field & knew the product in & out. We had very little issues going live.
  • Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - We did not use change management for our implementation. Frontline sent a product specialist to walk us through setup & go live. We converted over the summer with minimal issues.
  • Getting information pushed out to end users on the change
  • Going from separate log in credentials to SSO

Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) Training

  • In-Person Training
Our Implementer/Trainer was a product line expert. He (Connor) walked us through every step with confidence and explained everything in detail. Frontline provided written documentation, cut-n-paste emails to staff, and a test environment for us to play in. We were able to test unique scenarios without actually sending emails, notifications, alerts to staff. This was very useful.

Configuring Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

We feel it is very functional out of the box. Absence Management offers almost every feature we could need.
Simply follow Frontline's direction on the best possible setup. You'll be setting yourself up for failure if you try making any system conform to our practices. To get the most out of a software, go with its strengths.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - the product does not support adding custom code
Have all lists, tables, etc. from your current process exported to a .csv so they can direct import into Absence Management.

Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) Support

Chat personnel is excellent. Fairly fast response time (depending on time of day). Nice touch that you are emailed the chat transcript so you can save it if the situation happens again. 90% of the time I can get my issue resolved by a chat & not have to wait to open a support ticket.
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
None
I don't think so. I believe our support level is standard. We have not had a time when we couldn't get support on the same day as our question/issue.
Just today I connected with chat support & they provided me with several things to try to get a troubled user back working again. They investigated on their side & attempted logging in after making updates to prove the changes would work for my user. Support is always excellent.

Using Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

Easy to use for end users to pick up on without lots of training. Substitutes find it simple to get jobs. Not the newest back end for IT, but if end users are happy, that means less calls for IT.
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
  • Entering an absence (as end user) is easy
  • Substitutes find it easy to attain jobs
  • Some exports are difficult to setup & limited in options
  • Leave balance uploads are not reflected immediately....they need some overnight process to run to be visible to the employees.
Yes, but I don't use it

Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) Reliability

Our district has approximately 300 substitutes & 1,800 employees. Size has never been an issue with Absence Management. There are other districts much larger using Absence Management with no problems.
There have been several times the system was unavailable. When there has been an issue, Frontline HAS NOT notified us....which has been disappointing.
No issues reported by end users of slow or not loading pages.

Integrating Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

Pretty easy to integrate with. We've only had 1 interface that we had to write an API to do ourselves.
  • UKG Ready
  • PowerSchool BusinessPlus
We have numerous interfaces with Absence Management. Employees/Substitutes in, absences out, leave balances in, accounting codes in, etc. Not overly difficult. Frontline outlines all data file imports/exports.
  • Not at this time
We do not have any new integrations planned with Absence Management at this time.
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
None.
Outline what you are attempting to import/export & give yourself time for Frontline's integrations group to do their magic. Their integrations group have been very easy to work with if "you have all your ducks in a row". We have files exporting to their SFTP server & then download from there.

Relationship with Frontline Education

Frontline was fully engaged with our sale / purchase. The end product was as promised.
Contacting customer support is easy and answers are fairly quick.
I was not involved in sales, only integrations.
They were very straight forward and honest with deadlines / results.

Upgrading Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)

  • Improved modern styling
  • Not sure of any future upgrades
  • Probably back end or new functionality