How Dayforce WFM v6.44 has brought us into the 21st century!
Overall Satisfaction with Ceridian Dayforce
Dayforce WFM (one of the HCM modules) is being used across the whole organization. It is our primary workforce management (WFM) tool, encompassing time and attendance in all its aspects: hourly employees punch in using biometric clocks; salary non-exempt employees use the web-clock feature for recording their work time; all employees use the Time Away From Work (TAFW) feature to submit time off requests. It is also used by the HR/Payroll department for the processing of hours worked and paid time off. The Attendance Module has been especially helpful, as we have four different bargaining agreements, each with different rules and policies regarding attendance, absenteeism, and the various types of available premium pay. Not only have we been able to configure individual pay policies to reflect these requirements, but it has also enabled us to eliminate the use of old-fashioned paper calendars and spreadsheets for calculating available time off and the no-fault points system. It has increased the accuracy of our records as well as productivity of our HR representatives, leaving them with more time to better support their plant.
We also went through a complete RFP process last year, and we will be moving the rest of our payroll/HR/benefits to the Dayforce platform in 2019. By far, it had the most functionality and best configurability for a reasonable price.
We also went through a complete RFP process last year, and we will be moving the rest of our payroll/HR/benefits to the Dayforce platform in 2019. By far, it had the most functionality and best configurability for a reasonable price.
Pros
- The Time Off Request system is fantastic! It has done away with all the old paper submission forms and employee calendars. It also streamlines the process. It is submitted, reviewed, approved all in the system and then automatically updates the employees' timesheets and attendance calendars.
- The Attendance Module has reduced the amount of additional manual record keeping such as spreadsheets, and also given the supervisors a tool to see the accumulation of points in real-time, versus waiting for a weekly or monthly report to be completed and distributed.
- We have six different payrolls, each with varying pay period end dates and pay frequencies. Dayforce is able to handle the variety without any issues.
- I attended the new Dayforce FIT session for WFM at this year's Insights conference. It has greatly increased my ability to make configuration changes to my product without having to open as many support tickets as in the past, which also translates into big savings.
- I attended a different Dayforce FIT session at Insights 2019 for Payroll. It was a great in-depth overview of how the payroll module works, and greatly enhanced our readiness for implementation of the payroll module later this year.
Cons
- I would love it if Dayforce included an FMLA module. So much of the information needed for accurate tracking already exists right in the system. We are left with the decision to either continue our in-house manual process or to find a stand-alone software to assist us with the cumbersome administration.
- The TAFW module does not yet provide the ability to limit security access of non-exempt employees to be able to run reports for their own information.
- We are a union work environment, and as such have employees with multiple rates of pay for different jobs. Currently, premium pay such as "Team Lead" can only be calculated by the system when they work their primary job assignment. It does not automatically get picked up and included on the timesheet when the employee works an alternate job.
- The overall record-keeping time has been reduced by 50%. And in locations that are now fully automated, using both the Attendance and TAFW modules for both hourly and salary employees, the overall record-keeping time has decreased by 66%.
- The ability to create the custom reports that are used every week, and save us countless hours of manual work.
Ceridian Dayforce has provided us the reporting tools necessary to audit
and clean-up our database. In conjunction with
Having the ability to further
configure our pay policies in Dayforce, manual payroll entries have
been reduced by 67% and off-cycle paychecks to correct payroll errors has been reduced by 50%. Additionally, it provided us the ability to
fully automate payment of our separate vacation and
alternate job rates, reducing the
administration time by 100%. In return, this has greatly reduced the overall rate of grievances filed by union employees.
We currently only have the WFM module, so do not have the hands-on knowledge regarding the ease of use across all modules. We will be implementing Dayforce's full core-package later this year (2019).
- ADP TotalSource, Kronos Workforce Central, AsureForce Time & Labor Management, Ascentis Payroll and Vista
Prior to using Ceridian Dayforce WFM we were using Kronos as our main timekeeping system. It was not able to be configured with the amount of different pay policies that we need (due to multiple bargaining agreements), so there was much more manual work involved when processing payroll. That also led to more errors, more off-cycle manual checks, etc. Less errors and less manual checks has gone a long way in rebuilding the trust the employees have in our HR/Payroll department.
Dayforce Feature Ratings
Using Ceridian Dayforce
500 - Hourly employees: biometric clock
Salary non-exempt: web clock and TAFW
Salary exempt: TAFW and to review timesheets for direct reports
HR/Payroll Staff: web clock, TAFW, attendance module, scheduling, timesheets, reporting
Salary non-exempt: web clock and TAFW
Salary exempt: TAFW and to review timesheets for direct reports
HR/Payroll Staff: web clock, TAFW, attendance module, scheduling, timesheets, reporting
1 -
- A good aptitude for learning computer software
- A comprehensive knowledge of state and federal payroll regulations
- Adequate data entry skills
- A basic understanding of SQL and SAP
- Attendance Module for tracking attendance and no-fault points system
- The ability to configure complicated pay policies and practices
- The real-time access to employee data for line management
- We customized one of the rate fields to house the hourly employees' vacation rates (different from their base rate)
- The ability to develop and use customized rotation schedules, even if only applied to one employee
- I am currently in the process of finding a way to use the application for FMLA tracking
Evaluating Ceridian Dayforce HCM and Competitors
Yes - We are replacing the following Ceridian legacy products: Ceridian HR/Payroll Latitude, Signature Self-Service, and Ceridian Solutions / Business Intelligence. We are replacing them because Ceridian notified us in April 2018 that their legacy products would be retired at the end of 2019.
- Price
- Product Features
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
We chose the Dayforce HCM platform after completing an extensive RFP process to compare the Dayforce platform with other vendors. Dayforce won hands-down on pricing, configurability, and their dedication to partnering with their customers to continue to develop and improve the Dayforce platform.
I am not sure we would change anything. We made sure to approach the RFP process in a professional way - to ensure we weren't swayed by the many different "bells and whistles" that come with much of the vendor platforms out there. We asked to see the guts - each vendor had to prove their platform would be able to handle our very complex payroll. Knowing what we need and make sure a vendor could deliver on their promises seems the best way to go no matter what.
Ceridian Dayforce HCM Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Difficult to get immediate help |
No - We did not wish to have the added expense.
Yes - I have reported bugs more than once. The resolution time/result varies, depending on if it is a glitch that is effecting a currently module and effecting all customers, or if it is due to incorrectly configured items at the company level. In some instances, it may also be something the system is not yet capable of, so it goes to R&D.
Generally, I save all tickets that were not able to be resolved in a separate folder. Once a year, I go through them and ask for updated feedback as to the platform's ability to handle that particular item. Many times, just over the course of one year, something that was not yet available a year ago can now be configured. They truly listen to their customers, and ask for their feedback and ideas concerning the platform.
Using Ceridian Dayforce HCM
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Adding additional pay; ie. paid time off, retro pay, bonuses, etc.
- Once set up, Shift Rotations automatically populate the timesheets for all employees assigned to a Shift Rotation. Changes are very simple for the supervisor to make right in the application in Schedules. If company policy allows, shift trading is also an available feature which is easy for the employees to learn to use.
- The TAFW feature cuts the paper process requesting/approving/recording paid and unpaid time off into one easy step.
- It takes some time to learn how to correctly configure the software on your own, but classes are available and have proven to be a very valuable resource. Well worth the time and effort.
- We still have a couple of items that the system is not able to handle (on Timesheets) - so we still have manual work-arounds for them. (i.e. when an employee works an alternate job on a paid holiday).
Yes - We currently only use the mobile interface for employees to request time off from work. It works very well, no issues to date. It has an easy to understand user interface. We have a mostly blue-collar workforce, many of whom do not have computers at home. The mobile app has made it much easier for them to feel connected.
Ceridian Dayforce HCM Reliability
Relationship with Ceridian
Ceridian develops and implements platform updates/new features twice a year. We have been using Dayforce WFM for 5 years, and will be moving our payroll and Core HR and Benefits to Dayforce in the next few months. It never ceases to amaze me at the progress Dayforce has made in just 5 years - how the ability to configure the software just how we need it (and to keep up with union bargaining agreement changes) continues to increase exponentially year after year. Inevitably, if I have something that can't yet be done and goes to R&D, it becomes a standard feature within 1-2 years.
Since we are already a Dayforce WFM customer, we don't need the standard WFM items that are included in the SOW. In exchange for the 'hours' that covers by the Ceridian implementation team, we were able to negotiate including a few projects that we had shelved last year due to billable cost. They will now be included as part of next year's implementation. Also, their standard for bringing over history for current customers was only 3 years - we were able to negotiate 7 years' worth of history that will be brought over from our legacy product.
I don't think there are any secrets. I found our account representative to be forthright with us during the entire evaluation/sales period. No hidden agendas. No hidden costs. My best advice is to know what you need, why you need it, and be willing to think outside the box.
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