Unlocking the Full Potential of Your UKG Software: Why Training is Key

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In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the need for advanced workforce management solutions has become more critical than ever before. UKG provides cutting-edge solutions for human capital management, workforce management, and payroll management, but with its vast capabilities, it is essential for businesses to invest in in-depth training to leverage its full potential and optimize their workforce management processes.

Here are some key reasons why in-depth training in UKG software is important for users:

Enhances Productivity and Efficiency
UKG software is designed to streamline workforce management processes and reduce the manual workload of HR departments. By providing in-depth training to users, businesses can ensure that their workforce is fully equipped to use the software’s advanced features and capabilities effectively. This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity and efficiency, as users will be able to perform their tasks quickly and accurately, without the need for constant supervision.

Ensures Compliance and Accuracy
UKG products come with built-in features that are designed to help businesses comply with various labor laws and regulations. However, to use these features effectively, users need to understand the intricacies of these regulations and how they apply to their specific business. In-depth training can help users understand these regulations and how to apply them within the software, ensuring compliance and accuracy in workforce management processes.

Provides Customization and Personalization
Both UKG Pro and UKG Dimensions are highly customizable and offer a range of personalization options, allowing businesses to tailor their workforce management processes to their specific needs. However, to take full advantage of these options, users must understand how to correctly configure the software’s settings and features. In-depth training can help users gain the knowledge and skills to customize the software to their business requirements.

Facilitates Continuous Learning
UKG provides frequent updates to ensure the software is constantly evolving to keep up with changing business needs and technologies. In-depth training can help users stay up-to-date with the latest software updates and features, enabling them to continuously improve their workforce management processes.

Improves User Satisfaction and Retention
In-depth training in UKG software can help users feel more confident and empowered in their roles, leading to increased job satisfaction. This, in turn, can lead to higher user retention rates, as users are more likely to stay with a company that invests in their professional development and provides them with the tools they need to succeed.

For these reasons and more, in-depth training in UKG software is essential for businesses looking to optimize their workforce management processes and stay ahead of the competition. By providing users with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the software’s advanced features, businesses can enhance productivity, ensure compliance and accuracy, customize and personalize their processes, facilitate continuous learning, and improve user satisfaction and retention.

Mosaic Consulting Group offers customized training options for businesses looking to fill knowledge gaps, advance their employees’ skill sets, and instill more confidence in their team. From job aides to webinars to one-on-one sessions, we can design a training program that fits your needs and helps you meet your goals. Contact us today to learn more.

Unveiling the Mystery: Are UKG and UltiPro the Same?

If you’re a business owner or human resources professional, you may have come across the terms “UKG” and “UltiPro” in your quest for the perfect human capital management (HCM) solution. But what exactly are UKG and UltiPro, and are they the same thing? Let’s dive in and uncover the mystery.

UKG, which stands for Ultimate Kronos Group, is a leading global provider of HCM, workforce management, and human resources solutions. It offers a wide range of products and services designed to help organizations manage their workforce effectively, from payroll and benefits administration to time and attendance tracking, talent management, and more. UKG has a strong reputation for providing innovative and reliable solutions to businesses of all sizes and industries.

On the other hand, UltiPro is a cloud-based HCM platform developed by Ultimate Software, which is now part of UKG after a merger between Kronos and Ultimate Software in 2020. UltiPro is designed to streamline HR and payroll processes, improve employee experiences, and empower organizations with data-driven insights to make informed decisions. It offers a comprehensive suite of HR and payroll functionalities, including human resources management, payroll administration, talent management, employee self-service, and more.

So, are UKG and UltiPro the same thing? The answer is yes and no. UKG is the parent company that offers a wide range of workforce management and HCM solutions, while UltiPro is one of the flagship products within the UKG suite of offerings. Since the merger of Kronos and Ultimate Software, the UltiPro brand has been incorporated into the UKG umbrella, and UltiPro is now marketed as UKG Pro. However, it’s important to note that there may still be some references to UltiPro in the market, as the transition from the Ultimate Software branding to UKG Pro is ongoing.

It’s also worth mentioning that while UKG Pro (formerly known as UltiPro) is a popular and widely-used HCM solution, UKG offers other products and services as well, such as UKG Dimensions for workforce management and UKG Ready for small and medium-sized businesses. These products may have different features, functionalities, and pricing, so it’s essential to carefully evaluate your organization’s specific needs before making a decision.

In conclusion, while UKG and UltiPro are not exactly the same, they are closely related as UKG is the parent company and UltiPro is one of its flagship HCM products. If you’re considering implementing an HCM solution for your organization, it’s crucial to thoroughly research and understand the various products and services offered by UKG to choose the one that best fits your organization’s requirements. With the right HCM solution and the right consulting partner, you can streamline your HR and payroll processes, enhance employee experiences, and drive better business outcomes.

Have further questions? Reach out to us!

Why Optimizing Your UKG Software is Essential for Maximizing ROI

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UKG is a leading provider of human capital management (HCM) software solutions that help organizations manage their workforce efficiently. From timekeeping and scheduling to payroll and talent management, UKG software offers a comprehensive suite of tools to streamline HR processes and enhance employee productivity. However, simply implementing UKG software is not enough; optimizing it is equally crucial for clients to reap its full benefits.

In this blog post, we will delve into the importance of optimizing UKG software for clients and explore the key reasons why it should be a top priority for organizations.

  1. Maximizing ROI: Investing in UKG software is a significant financial commitment for organizations. To ensure that the investment pays off, it is essential to optimize the software for maximum return on investment (ROI). By customizing and fine-tuning UKG software to align with an organization’s specific requirements and processes, clients can extract the most value from the software. Optimizing UKG software can result in improved workforce management, enhanced employee engagement, increased compliance, and reduced administrative costs, ultimately leading to a higher ROI.
  2. Tailored Workforce Management: Every organization has unique workforce management needs based on its size, industry, and business goals. Optimizing UKG software allows clients to tailor the system to their specific workforce requirements. This includes configuring scheduling rules, time and attendance policies, leave management, and other features to match the organization’s policies and compliance requirements. A well-optimized UKG system ensures that the workforce is managed efficiently, with the right employees scheduled at the right time, leading to better productivity, employee satisfaction, and customer service.
  3. Enhanced Reporting and Analytics: UKG software offers robust reporting and analytics capabilities that provide insights into various aspects of workforce management and human resources. However, optimizing the software allows clients to fine-tune the reporting and analytics functionalities to align with their unique reporting needs. This can include customizing dashboards, creating personalized reports, and leveraging advanced analytics features. Optimized reporting and analytics enable organizations to gain meaningful insights into their workforce data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to drive performance improvements.
  4. Improved User Experience: Optimizing UKG software can enhance the overall user experience for both HR administrators and employees. Customizing the system to align with an organization’s branding, policies, and processes can make it more user-friendly and intuitive. This can result in improved adoption rates and higher employee engagement with the software. A well-optimized UKG system simplifies complex HR processes, reduces manual interventions, and automates routine tasks, making it easier for HR administrators to manage the workforce efficiently and for employees to access and use the system for their HR needs.
  5. Keeping Up with Software Updates: UKG regularly releases software updates with new features, enhancements, and bug fixes. Optimizing UKG software ensures that clients stay up-to-date with the latest software version, benefiting from the new functionalities and bug fixes. Optimized software also ensures that the system remains compliant with changing regulatory requirements and industry standards, reducing the risk of compliance violations and penalties.
  6. Scalability and Growth: Optimizing UKG software is crucial for organizations that are scaling up or growing rapidly. As organizations expand, their workforce management and human resources needs evolve, and the software must be optimized to accommodate changing requirements. Optimizing UKG software allows clients to scale the system to meet the needs of a growing workforce and adapt to changing business dynamics. This can include configuring the system for new locations, business units, or workforce types, and ensuring that the system is optimized for performance and efficiency even as the organization grows.

Optimizing your UKG software is critical for maximizing the value of your investment and achieving efficient and effective workforce management. Ready to take the plunge into optimizing your system? Mosaic can help! Get in touch to discuss your unique needs.

How to Choose the Right UKG Implementation Partner for Your Organization

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Choosing the right UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) implementation partner can make or break the success of your HR system. An experienced implementation partner can help you ensure a smooth implementation, minimize disruption to your business, and ensure that your new HR system meets your organization’s needs. Here are some key factors to consider when choosing the best UKG implementation partner for your organization:

  1. Experience: The first thing to consider when choosing a UKG implementation partner is their experience. You want a partner that has experience working with organizations like yours and has successfully implemented UKG solutions. Ask potential partners for examples of their work and case studies of similar projects they have worked on.
  2. Technical Expertise: The implementation partner you choose should have a team of technical experts with a deep understanding of UKG software. They should be able to provide guidance on best practices for implementation, help you configure your system, and troubleshoot any technical issues that arise during the implementation process.
  3. Project Management Skills: A successful UKG implementation requires effective project management. Your implementation partner should have a project manager who can keep the project on track, manage timelines, and ensure that all stakeholders are informed and involved throughout the implementation process.
  4. Communication Skills: Clear communication is essential during any implementation project. Your implementation partner should have strong communication skills and be able to communicate effectively with all stakeholders, including your internal IT team and end-users. They should provide regular updates on the project’s progress and be responsive to any questions or concerns that arise.
  5. Training and Support: A successful implementation doesn’t end with go-live. Your implementation partner should provide comprehensive training and ongoing support to ensure that your team can effectively use and maintain the new system. They should offer training for administrators, managers, and end-users, as well as provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that your system continues to meet your organization’s needs.
  6. Cultural Fit: Finally, it’s important to choose an implementation partner that is a good cultural fit for your organization. They should understand your organization’s values, goals, and challenges and be able to work collaboratively with your internal team to achieve a successful implementation.

The success of your new HR system depends on your UKG implementation partner. By considering these key factors, you can choose a partner who understands your needs and has the expertise and resources to help you reach your end goals.

Want to learn more about how Mosaic can help with your implementation? Connect with us.

UKG Pro Open Enrollment Packages – Now Available

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With year end fast approaching, it’s time to begin proactively planning for your annual open enrollment process to ensure you are prepared for a smooth session.

Open enrollment can be difficult to navigate for seasoned HR professionals and employees alike. During this stressful time, frustrations are bound to arise related to new benefit options and rates, vendor communications, internal presentation and communication preparation, and enrollment setup and configuration within UKG Pro. Managing every detail required for a successful open enrollment period can quickly become overwhelming and takes critical time away from HR staff to answer employee questions or work on big picture projects.

The good news: it doesn’t have to be this way! Mosaic’s new Open Enrollment Support Package is designed to drastically reduce common open enrollment pain points and improve the employee experience during busy year end. Our team of talented experts are available and ready to help you tackle one of the most challenging projects of the year. We combine industry standards with UKG guides to offer best practice solutions during a demanding season in your organization.

When you partner with Mosaic to streamline your open enrollment process, your team will be provided with a dedicated resource to assist with benefit configuration and will have access to the entire Mosaic team of UKG Pro experts as needed.

From the start of our open enrollment partnership, we will ensure you are set up for success. Your consultant will start by evaluating your current procedures and gathering input on your specialized requirements. From there, we will take charge of the UKG Pro open enrollment session from initialization to close, taking time to go through comprehensive checklists to ensure setup and configuration are to your specifications.

We will then update benefit group codes and rates in UKG Pro based on the plan documents you have confirmed with your benefits vendors. Once setup checklists have been completed and vendor rates have been updated, we will work with you to test the session prior to go live for the annual enrollment process.

Human Resource professionals spend months preparing for Benefit Open Enrollment. Employee benefits are more important than ever as a competitive advantage in recruitment and a crucial piece of organizations’ retention strategy. OE is a season that makes a difference to your people!

Planning early and enlisting expert support are critical to ensuring a smooth and streamlined open enrollment process. We are here to make you successful!

Our Open Enrollment Support packages are limited, so act fast by contacting us today to learn more about how we can work together to tackle open enrollment with minimal stress and increased team productivity.

Adapting Your Open Enrollment to Today’s Workforce

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So much has changed in the year 2020 that even yearly business processes, like Open Enrollment, have to adapt to meet our team’s needs. With employees working remotely one of the biggest, and often overlooked, changes that companies need to consider is updating (or sometimes creating) their internal communication strategy to fit their workforce. Open Enrollment highlights a challenge that many companies are faced with today, how do you effectively communicate with an entire team who no longer reports to one central location? The short answer to this question is: proactively.

Watch the recording of our webinar covering this topic in more detail:

Click here to download the slides used during this presentation
Click here to read our blog – UKG Pro Open Enrollment: Simplified.

Communicating During Open Enrollment:

Keeping your team well informed on what their options are for Open Enrollment and when your sessions are open is crucial, and although this year it may need to look a little different it does not have to be any less effective.

Start your process by identifying your team and making sure you are all prepared for a smooth UKG Pro Open Enrollment. There are certain aspects of Open Enrollment configuration that are vital and should not be overlooked, see our blogs on Open Enrollment: Simplified and Best Practices for Effectively Managing Open Enrollment for more information around UKG Pro Core Open Enrollment.

Once your team decides on when you will hold your open enrollment session(s) it is time to schedule a presentation to communicate with your broader audience. This presentation is your opportunity to communicate everything open enrollment with your employees, so make sure that your open enrollment team recognizes how important it is. Start by identifying who will be the presenter, and then make sure the whole team supports them in their efforts to deliver a concise and relevant presentation that covers the appropriate content.

When scheduling when your team will deliver the presentation to your whole team, we recommend scheduling multiple presentations at varying times and on different days. Doing this will consider anyone who may be on vacation time or on a different shift. Try to schedule these presentations far in advance and get them on people’s calendars early, but remember, once you put something on a corporate calendar try as hard as you can not to move it. Rescheduling meetings can give the impression that your team is not prepared, even if that’s not the case.

Although the presentation you are preparing is extremely important, there are more supporting documents you should consider preparing to ensure your employees have everything they need to successfully complete their open enrollment sessions. These documents include:

  1. An invitation: A formal invitation letting your team know when the information sessions will be held for open enrollment. The invitations should be clear and include important information such as open enrollment dates as well as who to contact should they have any questions.
  2. Reminders: Remind your team of when the information sessions will take place, make sure they know that they can choose which one to attend and remind them of the type of information you will be going over. Use your existing communication tools to remind your team about this often, use #slack, e-mail, intranet pages and company huddles or meetings to remind your team to make sure every employee knows what to expect.
  3. A Presentation: The actual slides that your presenter will use are important, avoid the temptation of filling each slide with information, that will detract from the actual presentation. Instead, use the slides to communicate important points. Your presentation should begin and end with who your team can contact if they run in to any issues or have any questions about their sessions.
  4. “Benefits at a Glance” Document: This document should review your employee’s benefits and their different options in a concise way. At Mosaic, this document is also used during orientation, it’s a great way for employees to see all the benefits provided by your company in one central location. We also recommend modeling costs of common medical needs across your plans for an example; if you can show your employees what they would pay if they have a baby or break a leg, they will be able to make the best decisions for them and their families.
  5. An FAQ Document: An Frequently Asked Questions document is a great way to stay proactive. Your Open Enrollment team has probably been involved in this process before, ask them to think back to previous years, what questions do they have to answer every year? What information are employees always looking for? Use that data and put together a document to answer their questions before they even ask them!
  6. Follow-up: It is still important to follow-up with your team after your presentations. Make sure your follow-up includes a recording of your presentation as well as the slides you used during your presentation. Your follow-up should be before your open enrollment sessions close, so that your employees have time to review their options and make their elections.
  7. Office Hours: Finally, you should consider holding open office hours, communicate with your team when you are available to answer their questions and keep a line open for them to contact you during that time. This will make sure your team feels supported during this process and although they cannot come by your office to ask questions, they will still have a way to communicate with you in case they need any assistance.

With these assets prepared you will not only be able to keep your open enrollment project team on the same page but also ensure your entire team is prepared to complete their elections and have a smooth open enrollment experience.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

A Strategic Focus On Payroll

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A Strategic Focus on Payroll

Let’s be honest, the expectation of payroll is that it can be nothing but perfect; every.single.time. Every person expects payroll to be on time and accurate. Often, the perception of the impact of payroll stops there, and we believe that is a missed opportunity.

Payroll can influence and impact a company at every level. For a payee something as simple as speed of pay can impact their entire experience within a company and their families. Implementing methods to give employees more control over that speed, like pay on demand, can have a huge impact on their personal lives. On the other hand, a CEO should consider the cost of getting payroll out the door, as well as how it helps retain and recruit top talent. Leveraging technology, optimization and new strategies can help elevate payroll professionals to the point where they become agents of change, dedicated to their team’s experience and completely aligned with their organization’s strategy and health.

Watch the video recording of our webinar on this topic below:

Click here to download the slides used during our presentation

As simple as paying people on time and accurately sounds, payroll is actually quite complex. People depend on their pay and one negative experience with an employee’s paycheck is difficult to recover from. An error can carry a perception that the organization is disorganized and doesn’t care.

With all this in mind, it is surprising that many organizations still perceive payroll as a back-office or “overhead team” who needs to simply get people paid on time and accurately.

Payroll in and of itself is more than just hours times rate of pay or a per pay period amount. Employers are tax collectors for the state, federal and local governments. Every time one of these agencies (and there are hundreds) makes a change there is a downstream impact on an organization’s team. Many employees don’t even realize that moving, even one street over, can have an effect on their paychecks. Let’s factor in benefits and deductions to pay such as garnishments, philanthropic contributions and commuting expenses! Is it before tax after tax and where do all these deduction monies go?  Who is sending them and when?  Payroll has so many moving pieces that extend well beyond gross to net calculations.

These activities are all heavily scrutinized and require a body of talent focused on accuracy, compliance, risk and most importantly delivering a perfect employee experience by simply… processing pay PERFECTLY EVERY TIME.

Attention and significant importance must be put on payroll within every organization. Payroll is not a set it and forget it function, it must evolve just as any other business activity to ensure your organization remains risk adverse and supports the organization’s overall business strategies. While processing payroll perfectly and timely is key; having a payroll strategy is a differentiator, ensuring you are optimizing your payroll procedure and systems, retaining your talent and influencing organizational success.

Click here to view our payroll optimization case study. Where Mosaic experts helped our client align their payroll processes to the company’s overarching strategy.

How can I start implementing a payroll strategy?

Start by asking simple questions. Look for ways to reduce complexity and increase efficiency. Pay groups and pay frequencies are often areas that once they are established are overlooked; and these can have a significant impact on an organization’s bottom line and drivers to greater efficiency. As you think about things like pay groups and pay frequencies consider other things that are unique to your organization. Are there any old processes that need to be revisited?

You can also consider and leverage technology and services that are available to optimize your payroll. In UKG Pro, for example, you could consider:

  • Activating employee self-service and workflows: They are a great way to improve accuracy, efficiency and streamline your environment. Some examples include enabling, adding or changing direct deposits or tax changes.
  • Manager self-service: Is a great way to speed up job changes and pay changes, reducing the need for calculating retroactive payments.
  • Job aids: Depending on what automation you already have established, now might be a good time to create job aids to help new employees that come on board get familiar with your environment.
  • UKG Pro Mobile: Can be another way of giving employees immediate access to their information right from their smartphone virtually anywhere!
  • Automation: Are your payroll deductions being automatically sent to the appropriate vendors or agencies? For example: Retirement plans and garnishments. With Automation, not only do you reduce the risk of timely deposits, you also remove any human omissions, errors and manual effort.
  • GL file optimization: Is your GL File automated? Does it require a lot of manual manipulation? We’ve published a full blog on GL File Optimization that could help you get started.
  • Consider instant pay: Pay on demand, or instant pay, is when an employee can access part of their earned salary on demand. This emerging service, which in many cases has no cost to the organization, is helping companies improve their employee experience. Contact us to learn more.
  • Custom BI Reporting: Mosaic offers custom reports including the Mosaic Payroll Dashboard. This dashboard it allows the strategic payroll team to serve up information to management and executive teams that showcase things like: exceptions to pay, a dynamic earnings trend chart, pay period activity with detailed drill down capabilities, PTO balances, pre-check statistics and payroll process progress monitoring, just to name a few. This type of information is often discussed at the leadership level, but not often served up proactively by payroll. This information can really make a difference and allows for more informed decision making.

Feel free to contact us today with any questions about our services.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

What is Contingency Payroll?

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What is Contingency Payroll:

  • Contingency payroll is a term used to describe backup payroll processing support typically used in emergency situations. At Mosaic, we offer contingency payroll services to UKG Pro clients. Clients who seek contingency payroll services typically fall in one of two categories:
    • Event Preparedness: Clients will seek out contingency payroll service as a proactive support model to mitigate risks associated with unplanned events such as a natural disaster or unexpected staffing changes, which may affect their ability to complete their payroll seamlessly.
    • Short Term Backup: Clients who have a short term need for someone to manage their payroll, often referred to as short term staff augmentation. A short term need like this could be brought on by many different business situations, for example, planned leaves of absences or merger and acquisition activities including divestitures.

How would contingency payroll work within my company?

  • Payroll Shadowing:
    • The first step is to shadow how your company processes payroll. The shadowing should take place from the beginning of the process (after your employee’s time has been approved) and should end with the creation of a GL file. Payroll shadowing can be conducted on site at a client’s offices or virtually leveraging video conference technology and screen sharing.
  • Incorporate Best Practice & Efficiencies:
    • During the shadowing process, your contingency payroll provider should learn your organization’s current way of processing payroll while looking for ways to incorporate best practices and efficiencies through automation.
  • Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) & Payroll Processing Checklist
    • The output from the payroll shadowing is a comprehensive operating procedure which details your organization’s payroll processing from start to finish in narrative form. The SOPs are leveraged to process your organization’s payroll during regularly scheduled shadowing’s or when an emergent need is enacted. The SOP’s are reviewed and updated as changes in your organization’s process occurs.
      • For example, for Mosaic Contingency Payroll clients, the Mosaic team will perform a minimum of four payroll shadows or independent processing. During the scheduled shadows, the team follows the client’s SOPs, ensuring any edits or updates are made. Scheduled shadowing’s are critical to the success of Contingent Payroll Service because they ensure the team remains current on the organization’s payroll and the SOPs remain accurate. Mosaic clients often take advantage of the quarter scheduled independent processing for their in-house payroll team to schedule time off, complete training, or use their time for other projects.
    • In addition to the SOPs a comprehensive payroll checklist is created specific to the steps, tasks or processes which must be completed to ensure a payroll process is completed accurately and consistently.

Why should I consider contingency payroll?

  • Peace of mind: knowing that your company is covered at the drop of a hat, regardless of the situation. With contingency payroll services you know there is a safety net and your most essential employee needs will be met.
  • Payroll Best Practice and Process Improvement: our UKG Pro subject matter experts leverage best practice and industry standards to make recommendations about your current way of processing and incorporate them into your future payroll processing.
  • Documented Payroll Process: following your current state shadowing, best practice and process improvements are incorporated resulting in the output of your organization’s documented payroll process. This ensures your organization’s needs are met, your payroll operations are streamlined and during periods of scheduled or emergent situations your end to end payroll process can be picked up and processed virtually.

Taking the benefits of contingency payroll one step further, some clients consider completely outsourcing their payroll processes. This outsourced payroll offering is also known as Managed Payroll. There are many benefits to managed payroll and can include:

  • Peace of mind: Contingency payroll ensures you are covered in case of an emergency but by completely outsourcing your payroll you ensure experts will manage your process and it will be done correctly, every time
  • Strategic focus: Managed payroll also removes the day to day tactical duties off your team and allows them to focus on strategic business initiatives
  • Compliance: With managed payroll you don’t have to worry about new/updated rules and regulations for compliance, payroll law changes frequently, but your managed payroll team will ensure your payroll is compliant and up to date
  • Best practices: The payroll experts managing your process will implement best practice and continued process improvements
  • Avoiding mistakes: With managed payroll you can count on experts to follow your processes consistently
  • Enhanced security and reduced fraud: Managed payroll ensures segregation of duties which removes the risk associated manual manipulation after time files have been approved
  • Staffing changes: After any unexpected team changes, or a reduction in force, you may not want to backfill a position, outsourcing may be the way to go

Note: UKG Pro was formerly UltiPro.

Automated Integrations with UKG Pro: Everything in One Place

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Value of Automation

Regardless of your industry, automation can help you grow, innovate and succeed. It is a great tool and asset that is constantly improving the way we do business. If you have any process or procedure that can be automated, it is very important that you consider it. Gained time and resources are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of automation. This blog will specifically focus on automation when it comes to UKG Pro HCM and how integrating secondary applications to UKG Pro can benefit you and your team.

What Applications can be Integrated in to UKG Pro?

The applications and business use cases are endless. Some common applications we see integrated with UKG Pro are ancillary HCM applications, Active Directory, Identity and Provisioning Systems, and Learning Management Systems. The sky is the limit. As long as there is a relationship between UKG Pro and the secondary system, an automated integration should be considered.

UKG Pro is the perfect system of record for employee data. A system of record is the ultimate truth. Meaning, it is a great place to have all important employee data and files centralized, so you know that when you are checking UKG Pro, you are checking the place with the most up to date information.

If you currently use systems outside of UKG Pro to manage things like recruiting and onboarding, travel management, learning management, etc., implementing an automated integration can help reduce manual labor, freeing your team to be empowered to focus on innovation and business growth. Automation can also reduce human error and eliminate the potential for fraud. Reducing how many times people interact with data ensures the cleanliness and the integrity of that data.

What Tools do I Have to Integrate and Automate Within UKG Pro?

You have options when it comes to integrating with UKG Pro. You can use different type of integrations and different tools and methods to complete those. We held a webinar on this exact topic, specifically focusing on UKG Pro API capabilities. The video below is a recording of that webinar. In it we review UKG Pro’s capabilities of extracting and importing data as well as different options and use cases for each:

Click here to download the slides so you can follow along.

Important Definitions Regarding Automated Integrations with UKG Pro:

  • API: Technically an API is a set of procedures allowing the creation of applications that remotely access the data and/or features of an application. Think of an API as a door, that allows you to retrieve specific data from the application.
  • API End Point: An API End Point is a URL used in programming that accepts API requests. If an API is door, the API End Point is the door’s address, it guides you to get there. These End Points allow software to request information from an application to be used in a secondary one.
  • Middleware: Middleware is software that acts as a bridge between 2 or more applications. Middleware can bee seen as the middle-ground between two applications that are being integrated, it is where they both speak the same language.
  • Single Direction: Data flowing in single direction
  • Bi-Directional: Data flowing in two directions from an application

Mosaic Consulting Group can help you and your team get the most out of UKG Pro. Contact us today to learn more.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

5 Keys To Unlocking Year End

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It’s that time of year again – time to prep for year end. Year End can be a hectic time for you and your team but UKG Pro has the tools you need to stay on track and make this the smoothest year end yet. In the past, we’ve covered The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End and we’ve also presented you with tips on how to Simplify Your Year End. This year, we are going to dive in to the 5 Keys to Unlocking Year End.

Watch the recording of our webinar on this topic here:

Click here to download the slides used during the webinar

Key One – Make sure your system is set up for 2019.

It may seem counterintuitive but first, look back, not forward. Make sure your UKG Pro system is set up for the current year. Year End is your last chance to make sure that everything is set up properly.  First, review every location that had payroll in 2019 for an active tax ID – federal, state, local, and unemployment.

Next, ensure all employees have a valid Social Security numberby running a BI query with employee name, number, and Social Security number. Things to monitor:

  1. Social Security numbers do NOT start with a “9”.Taxpayer IDs can start with “9”, but they are not valid SSN numbers for employment.
  2. Social Security numbers will not have sequential zeroes in one section.Of the three sections in a social security number: three digits / two digits / four digits there are no cards where one of those sections is all zeroes.

The next step is to run a report out of BI to check W4s for the year. Check for:

  • Blocked: In UKG Pro, blocked means that an employee marked “Exempt” on the W4 form, and no income tax is being withheld, but their wages are still being reported to the IRS. In this case, the employee will need to submit a new W4 form by February 15, 2020 in order to keep this exemption.
  • Exempt: an employee marked as exempt in this report is earning wages not being reported to the IRS, and taxes are not being withheld. The only employees eligible for this are employees on certain types of work visas.
  • Finally, check employees with Lock In Letters. This is a letter from the IRS that requires you to set the employee’s withholding in a specific way. Review these and ensure they are still in effect.

The last thing to check in this key is is primary location assignment. This is especially important if you implemented UKG Pro this year, or you had an acquisition and brought in openingbBalances for the year. This is something that can be missed and, if you didn’t process any payroll for the employee in 2019, it would not be caught. Until you tried to print W2s, that is.

Key Two – Plan for All the Printing

If you are planning on printing your forms in-house, you must order supplies in advance. These forms are dated, so be sure to order enough forms to print one for every employee who did not opt out of a printed form (including terminations), plus extra for overflow pages, paper jams, and running out of toner (we recommend around +10%).

Key Three – Validate Everything

Your tax reconciliations should be performed after every payroll. For Year End, you will need to rerun them for each quarter and for the quarter to date. Note  any corrections that need to be made (i.e. moving wages from one state to another). The most important thing to look for are FICA taxes that are incorrect and do not offset on the next check.

Next, you must validate your year end tables and run the W2 summary. Compare the W2 summary to the Wage Summary report – these numbers should match, as they pull from the same tables, so if they don’t, there is a problem.

Use the Payroll Balancing Worksheet to doublecheck your numbers. You can find this in the customer support portal of your UKG Pro Instance.

Key Four – Prepare for 2020.

At the opening of your first payroll of 2020, UKG Pro will update some settings automatically — tax rates, annual limits for things like 401(k) and FSA contributions — But there are still a few things to review to ensure the first payroll of 2020 runs smoothly.

First, update the 2020company holidays table. Include any bank holidays that will impact your payroll calendar. Why?  You cannot run payroll on a bank holiday, so putting those in the system will allow UKG Pro to automatically adjust your payroll calendar for 2020 by moving any paydays on holidays to the day before or after.

Next, extend your pay calendar for 2020. This needs to be done before you can open that first 2020 payroll.

At this point, we recommend publishing an internal payroll calendar. Click here to download an example calendar. This is a 2020 calendar with important payroll dates on it, for example, the last day to make changes, the day the time is extracted from the timekeeping system, and the day payroll is posted.

Year End is a good time to clean up your deduction and earning codes. If you have codes you aren’t using, mark them inactive and if you have codes that you know aren’t set up right, or are missing, take this time to fix them or add them to make 2020 as smooth as possible.

Key Five – Relax – you’ve got this.

Lastly, take a deep breath and know that you can do this! Year End can seem daunting, but you have plenty of time. If you get stuck or confused, contact Mosaic today! We are happy to help you make Year End a non-event.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.