Message from the President
CEO Tom Malone recaps some of our most recent company news and talks about our next client conference, which will be here soon. Read more…
Accero Introduces New Initiative to Identify and Share Customizations
Accero launches a new initiative designed to identify and share client-specific customizations that have wide appeal. What does this mean for you? More functionality, sooner. Read about it here…
Living Legacy: CUA 2009 Conference – SAVE THE DATE!
You won’t want to miss this year’s North American CUA conference, set for October 18-21 in San Antonio, Texas. A CUA conference is your single greatest opportunity to learn more about your Accero Cyborg solution, network with other users and learn what product enhancements are headed your way. This year is special, since we’ll be celebrating our 35th year in business. Plan to celebrate with us. But first, read more...
Accero.com: Extreme Makeover!
Accero’s website has been revamped and relaunched. It’s faster, better, cleaner, easier….the list goes on. Read more…
Market Trends: Accero and Software as a Service (SaaS)
Accero is proud to announce our newest offering: Accero On-Demand, a hosted, subscription-based service that provides customers with secure, anytime-anywhere access to the Accero Cyborg solutions. Read more…
Product: Accero Cyborg Self Service Serves All
Accero’s suite of self-service applications will empower your employees and provide amazing efficiencies for your payroll and HR staff. And now, the Accero Cyborg self service modules are better than ever. Read more…
Conversations: Erik Hudson Talks About Business Systems Audits
Erik discusses the ins and outs of a business systems audit. Learn how an audit can give you a strategic plan for meeting your organization’s needs today and in the years ahead. Read more…
Compliance/Legislative Update by Cindy Greenberg
Accero’s resident Regulatory Compliance expert, Cindy Greenberg, summarizes current legal changes and what it means to you. Read more…
Spotlight on Success: Arun District Council, United Kingdom
See how Arun District Council changed laborious and often redundant manual efforts and why it now enjoys across-the-board process efficiencies and service improvements. Read more…
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A Great Legacy Reborn… That’s the theme for this year’s North American CUA’s Users Group Conference, scheduled for San Antonio, Texas from Sunday, October 18, through Wednesday, October 21, 2009. And I can’t think of a mantra that’s more reflective of what’s been going on here at Accero since the first of the year.
In the first quarter, we rolled out our most ambitious, exciting software release in a decade and, at roughly the same time, introduced “Fast Forward,” which since has become our most popular user interface.
The changes didn’t stop there. In this issue of our newsletter, for example, we talk about a new initiative that will enable us to deliver proven, tested and practical features to you faster than ever.
And in our Market Trends column we discuss the efficiencies and benefits of the Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment model and feature (music, please) Accero On-Demand, our new SaaS alternative to traditional deployment and licensing. I’m especially proud of Accero On-Demand because, unlike other hosted HCM applications, it’s not some watered down, wimpy, lightweight solution. It’s robust and delivers full HCM functionality. I encourage you to check it out.
Another change noted in this issue is our Accero Cyborg Self Service offering. Self Service has been significantly enhanced to help customers gain tremendous process efficiencies. In addition, our PSO consultants are now prepared to perform a readiness assessment before you deploy Self Service, making sure your company is locked and loaded to take advantage of the many benefits available through our self service modules.
Along those same lines, Erik Hudson, Accero’s Manager of Professional Services Operations (PSO), answers questions in this newsletter about our Business Process systems audit – a new service that analyzes your Accero-Cyborg usage and recommends ways for you to extract even more value out of your HCM investment.
The changes continue, including our recently launched and revamped Web site, complete with a new look and feel worthy of the Cyborg legacy.
Yes, it’s been a busy year, from product launches to new services. But behind our many changes one constant remains; our total commitment to customer satisfaction – that commitment will never change. With that promise in mind, I look forward to seeing you in San Antonio!
Accero Introduces New Initiative to Identify and Share Customizations
Whenever we visit a customer site, we’re always impressed to see what customizations have been made to core Accero Cyborg products. A chief benefit of a customizable solution, of course, is that it allows customers to mold the application to fit unique needs or uses we may not have considered. Adaptations by hundreds of our customers have resulted in thousands of customizations. Now, it’s time to share the bounty. Recently, Accero embarked on a program to identify product customizations made by our PSO/consultant team and our customers that may have broad appeal.
This is a classic win-win initiative; Accero gains access to code that has already been written, tested and deployed, and participating customers no longer have to take responsibility for documenting, managing and testing their customizations with each release of the Accero Cyborg product suite – Accero takes on that responsibility. And our customers at large gain access to new functionality faster, adding value to their investments in the Accero Cyborg platform.
Currently, we’ve identified close to 250 client-specific enhancements that, we believe, have broad appeal. From that list, our product management and development team have prioritized enhancements and a number have already been selected for inclusion in upcoming releases. Do you have customizations that may have broad appeal? If so, let us know – contact your account representative today!
A Living Legacy: CUA 2009 Conference
The 2009 CUA (Cyborg Users Association) conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas, this year, home to the River Walk, NBA Spurs, world-famous Alamo and some of the most amazing, delicious, culturally diverse food you’ll find anywhere. In the words of CUA President Doug Holland: “It’s been a big year for Accero Cyborg. San Antonio is such a great venue and this year’s conference agenda is full and exciting. I encourage you to come celebrate this 35-year milestone with Accero, your colleagues and your peers from other prestigious organizations throughout North America.”
If you’re a new Accero Cyborg user, the CUA conference provides a golden opportunity for you to kick start your skill set. Whether it’s using a Payroll application, understanding Position Administration or learning how to navigate our popular new user interface, Fast Forward, you’ll walk away a savvy user.
More advanced workshops are covered, too, and include sessions on Reporting Administration and Cognos Impromptu; Interaction between Benefits & Payroll and HR/Payroll Integration; How to Create a Workflow; EPR (Enhanced Payroll and Reporting) vs. 24 x 7; Year End Planning and many more useful, hands-on learning opportunites..
You can also participate in a variety of roundtable discussions. Our Usability Roundtable, for example, will give you a chance to tell us how you use our applications, as well as help us define new products, features or services.
But, it’s not all about the work. There’s plenty of play to be found in San Antonio as well. Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2008 survey gave the city very high marks, ranking it number one in affordability, top two for ethnic food and cheap eats, and top five for family vacations.
Networking. Tips and tricks. Fast Forward. Accero On-Demand. Self Service applications. Compliance issues, system integrations and planning for your upgrade. There’s so much to learn and so little time. So don’t wait too long. To take advantage of the best deals, make your reservations soon!
The 2009 Annual North American CUA’s Users Group Conference will be held at the Hotel Contessa on the River Walk, in San Antonio, Texas from Sunday, October 18, through Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Registration will begin Sunday, October 18, 2009, at 3:00 pm, followed by a Welcome Reception at 6:30 pm.
For the latest conference information, go to http://www.cyborgusers.org/index.asp or contact your CUA office by phone at 312-604-5015 or by email at cuahq@cyborgusers.org.
Accero is proud of our hot new look at www.accero.com. The new Accero web site more intuitive, has more relevant content, offers a better tab-based navigation….and its not bad looking if we do say so ourselves! The new Accero website is a powerful resource where you can find useful information about Accero’s products and services, find out about events Accero has planned, and even link to the customer resource center.
As always, if you have suggestions on improving our site, please send your ideas our way.
Click this link to visit our new site now: www.accero.com. Don’t forget to bookmark the site and add it to your favorites list! We’re sure you’ll be returning often.
Market Trends: Accero Software as a Service (SaaS)
Voila! You asked for it and now it’s here. Accero is extremely pleased to announce the launch of Accero On-Demand™, our new Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment model for the Accero Cyborg solution suite.
With Accero On-Demand, customers access a secure, hosted version of Accero Cyborg via the web (made possible in part by Accero’s new Fast Forward web user interface). Accero On-Demand is a subscription-based service; rather than buying a license up front, customers pay an affordable subscription fee, and Accero provides the software, hardware and secure infrastructure needed to support the Accero Cyborg solution suite. And since Accero hosts the solution and controls the environment, deployments are fast and reliable.
Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, noted recently in an industry report that SaaS continues to gain in popularity. According to Gartner, “Nearly 90 percent of organizations surveyed expect to maintain or grow their usage of SaaS citing cost-effectiveness and ease/speed of deployment as primary reasons for adoption.”
Hosted in Accero’s SAS-70 Type II certified hosting centers, Accero On-Demand delivers high-availability and high-performance computing that likely surpasses the performance and reliability of in-house computing resources.
“Many on-demand vendor products are condensed, scaled-down versions that limit customers to a narrow set of configuration parameters,” said Tom Malone, Accero CEO. “Accero On-Demand delivers broad configurability and full HCM functionality to meet our customer’s most complex requirements while at the same time freeing up their in-house IT resources from such time-consuming chores as managing upgrades and monitoring third-party maintenance agreements, as well as and purchasing and managing hardware.”
Accero On-Demand subscribers manage day-to-day and periodic duties exactly the same as if Accero Cyborg solutions were deployed locally. HR teams can easily manage the full hire-to-retire lifecycle of their global workforce. And key tasks can be distributed to a decentralized team, with each team member getting secure access to specific features, functions and data. Plus, Accero technical and support resources assume responsibility for, and perform all tasks related to, deploying, running and managing the software within the hosting environment.
Accero On-Demand provides many benefits, including:
- Affordability – no upfront license payments, no hardware to purchase and manage
- Full functionality – the same feature set found in the on-premise version of Accero Cyborg
- Scalability – Accero Cyborg can easily scale to meet the requirements of growing enterprises
- Performance – Accero’s advanced architecture supports high volume transaction processing
- Security – physical separation between client data sets; no intermingled data
- Rapid deployment – reduces costs associated with long on-premise deployment cycles
- Access to latest functionality – customers leverage new features as they become available
- Deployment flexibility – migrate to on-premise in the future if desired
Additionally, Accero has also announced Accero On-Demand PLUS™, a variety of services designed to enhance the core SaaS solution and help you to optimize your HCM investments. Services range from tax preparation and filing to year-end processing to position administration and open enrollment management. These services are available on an ad-hoc basis or as part of their standard subscription service agreement.
To find out how SaaS and Accero On-Demand can benefit your organization, contact your Accero Account Executive today or visit www.accero.com/acceroondemand.
Product: Accero Cyborg Self Service Serves All
Introducing Accero Cyborg Self Service! It’s enhanced. It’s robust. And it’s yours to use whenever you need it--24x7x365. Your employees and managers will love this new level of convenience and information. And because all Self Service interactions are conducted in real-time, employees, managers and HR staff are more confident knowing they have access to the most reliable, up-to-date information. Empowering an employee to update his or her key information fosters trust and develops loyalty. And offering self-serve access to this information makes your organization more efficient.
Accero Cyborg Self Service includes an easy to learn Web-based interface that’s backed up by clear, simple instructions on every page. Most overview pages include a details button for additional information. Company handbooks and procedure manuals can be embedded as HTML or PDF files or as links for quick look-up; you decide how you want to make that information available to employees. Links to other pages enable your users to move around the system quickly.
Employee Self Service (ESS) reduces the burden on HR administrators while empowering employees. With ESS, your employees can go online and:
- View or maintain full legal and mailing address
- View or maintain personal contact information
- View or maintain family member information
- View or maintain Emergency contact details
- View or maintain direct deposit account
- View or maintain reimbursement account
- Request time off
- View Time off balances
- View Pay information current and history
- View Annual Statements current and history
Manager Self Service (MSS) empowers front-line managers to retain control over the staffing decisions they make—with online access to key data. Leveraging our MSS module, managers can:
- Approve or deny staff time off requests
- View staff time off balances
- Approve or deny staff skill set changes
- View staff personal and contact information as needed
- View staff work data , like Position, Hire date, Last and Next review date, Wage and Salary
- View Applicant for position reporting to them
Benefits Self Service (BSS) helps streamline your critical Benefit plan process, saving employees and HR administrators both valuable time and resources. With BSS, your employees can:
- Enroll and track their progress has employees select between benefit choices.
- View helpful information and news about this year’s open enrollment
- Learn how to prepare for enrollment
- View a summary of plan choices and their cost
- Make benefit plan elections from home
- View current and next year’s benefits enrollment
- Revise plans enrollment and dependent assignments (Life Changes)
- Select beneficiaries and allocate benefits
- Select family members to be covered by plans
- View balances for the current year’s flexible spending accounts
If you’re not sure how to prepare for a self service implementation, don’t worry. Our PSO team can perform a readiness assessment to ensure you maximize your investment.
Contact your Account Executive for more information about your Accero Cyborg Self Service options or visit www.accero.com/selfservice.
CONVERSATIONS: Erik Hudson Talks About Business Systems Audits
What is your role at Accero?
I am the Manager of Accero’s Professional Services Operations (PSO).
What is your background?
Prior to joining Accero in November of 2008, my career has largely revolved around software and technology, and I’ve played active roles on both sides of the HCM business. I served as Director of Payroll for several large companies in the technology industry, and I’ve worked as an HCM Project Manager and Functional Team Lead for several consulting organizations. So I have a strong understanding of day to day business processes and operational requirements, and I know how to help customers deploy software on time and on budget.
What kind of customer engagements are you involved in?
I am involved in multiple aspects of customer engagements, including sales support, the creation of project statements of work, and project management for both small and large scale projects. But my job is essentially focused on developing a trusted partnership between Accero’s PSO organization and our customers.
In support of our goal to build trusted partnerships, I am currently working on our business systems audit offerings. We recognize that many of our customers are under-utilizing their Accero Cyborg systems today, so my goal is to help customers get the most value from the Accero Cyborg solution.
What is as the role of a PSO consultant?
Perhaps the single most important part of what I try to do is develop a partnership of trust with the client. In building that relationship, it is important that the client accepts and trusts our knowledge and experience. As consultants, we seek to understand each client’s goals and drivers for both their current and future needs. Ideally, I want clients to see our PSO consultants as an extension of themselves and not as a separate entity. And we want them to feel comfortable coming to us anytime.
What audit services does Accero provide?
We provide a wide range of opportunities for our customer base, from vision workshops (project planning, new functionality analysis, business process roadmaps to future strategic business needs, etc.) to comprehensive functional and technical business system reviews and audits.
Could you walk us through a typical audit?
Sure. There are four basic phases to a typical systems audit.
- Discovery Call. After we have been introduced by the Account Executive, we engage the client in a conference call. During the call we learn where they are with their current business practices within the application and get a sense of any upcoming challenges they anticipate or goals they might be trying to realize. Since the purpose of the audit is to help the customer discover underutilized aspects of the solution and/or better business process to take advantage of the solution’s strengths, this call gives us a good sense of the most appropriate services to offer them.
- Creation of Statement of Work. We then create a realistic statement of work based on what we have heard, we make suggestions on what we think would be the most beneficial for their strategic business needs.
- Staff Assignment. After that, I work with our resource team to assign the appropriate consultants to the project.
- Client Interviews and Project Plan Development. Our consultants then complete their interviews with the client and do all follow-up work as required. Sometimes we create project plans in partnership with the client, at other times we produce a detailed report of findings, depending on the assignment. Throughout the entire process, we keep the client actively engaged.
Those are pretty much the basic audit steps.
Okay, so what does it mean to a client?
At the end of the audit process, the client has discovered where and how they are underutilizing their HCM solution and has identified better business processes that will enable them to maximize their Accero Cyborg implementation.
After all work has been completed we re-engage the client to present them with our findings, (usually through a detailed conference call). At that point, we also bring the Account Executive back into the process so he or she can work with the client to identify the next strategic steps and define how Accero can help.
What benefits can a customer expect to receive from a business services audit?
The biggest benefit is that our involvement gives the customer anexternal, knowledgeable set of eyes to come in and look at things objectively. A business process systems audit gives you a complete picture of how you’re utilizing your Accero Cyborg applications today. Recommendations can run the gamut from streamlining your organizational structure and day-to-day business processes to deploying a new module.
Ultimately, what you’ll discover with an Accero business systems audit is a clear path to more efficient and strategic application use that can meet shifting business goals and requirements. An audit delivers recommendations that will save you both time and money and can enable your organization to remain competitive with its HCM application for years to come.
How do clients schedule an audit?
If you’re interested in a business systems audit, contact your sales rep today and they will engage the services group to help you.
Compliance/Legislative Update
By Cindy Greenberg
The below briefly describes recent regulatory updates. Where appropriate, bulletins and updates may be available for downloading at the Accero Resource Center.
US National Payroll Week
Sept. 4 - 11, 2009
National Payroll Week, established in 1996 by the American Payroll Association, provides a focal point to build awareness of how processes are changing and becoming more cost-effective and efficient. The week celebrates the hard work by America's 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. For more information, visit http://www.americanpayroll.org
Canada National Payroll Week
Sept. 14 - 18, 2009
Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) was founded by the in 1995 and celebrates its 15th year. It is the Association’s largest annual public relations initiative, recognizing the accomplishments of payroll professionals, the payroll community and the CPA. More information is available online at: http://www.npw-snp.ca/
Internal Revenue Service Clarifies Military Differential Pay
Differential pay that employers pay employees who leave their jobs to go on active military duty is subject to withholding, but not FICA or FUTA taxes. Additional information is available online at http://www.irs.gov/govt/fslg/article/0,,id=206630,00.html
Maine Withholding
Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the Maine’s four income tax brackets will be replaced with a flat income tax of 6.5 percent, plus a 0.35 percent surcharge on income of more than $250,000, for a top rate of 6.85 percent. The enacted language of LD 1495 can be viewed at: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/chapters/PUBLIC382.asp
NJ Withholding
New withholding tables are released by the state for taxpayers with gross income of more than $400,000. The rate changes are prorated for 2009 and must be applied by employers no later than Oct. 1, 2009. To review the states notice go to http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/noticeratechange1009.pdf
Wisconsin Withholding
Effective for taxable years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2009, the top individual income tax rate increases to 7.75 percent from 6.75 percent. The new rates, including changes to the alternate methods, will be found in the "Wisconsin Employer's Withholding Tax Guide," Publication W-166, for payroll periods beginning on or after October 1, 2009. An initial copy will be available on the department's website at http://www.revenue.wi.gov/pubs/pb166.pdf in late July 2009.
2010 State Unemployment Wage base
The following states have announced unemployment wage base changes in 2010:
Florida - $8,500
Vermont - $10,000
Indiana - $9,500
Washington - $36,800
Michigan - 2009 Federal Unemployment Tax Credit
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) issued a UIA fact sheet # 126 June 2009 explaining the likelihood that the State will be unable to repay its federal loans by Nov. 10, 2009. Michigan employers are expected to pay federal unemployment tax (FUTA) for the 2009 tax year at a 0.3% higher tax rate ($21 per employee).
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will issue a formal announcement on FUTA credit reduction states in November. Any additional FUTA tax will be due when employers file Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return, in January 2010. To review the states fact sheet go to http://www.michigan.gov/uia/0,1607,7-118-26899---,00.html
Other States FUTA loans
The DOL lists updated states with federal government loans: Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
Indiana and South Carolina employers will be subject to a 0.3% FUTA tax increase on their 2010 Form 940 if their states do not repay the federal loan by Nov. 10, 2010. Updated information is available on the DOL website at: http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/budget.asp
The Company: Arun District Council, United Kingdom
The Industry: Government
The Challenge: Arun originally deployed Cyborg products in 1989. For many years, the solution was mostly used by the Payroll Department. The HR department employed only a few Cyborg modules, which meant key HR data was stored in multiple places or, in some cases, only on paper. These HR silos of information resulted in limited reporting capability and made it difficult for Arun District Council to meet all statutory reporting requirements. Their Cyborg HR/Payroll implementation at the time was dramatically under-utilized and needlessly required laborious and often redundant manual effort.
The Solution:In late 2007, Arun District Council undertook a comprehensive review of their HR and Payroll processes and procedures, working closely with their Accero consultant. The result gave them a blueprint for an efficient single system, which they implemented the following year. Arun District Council’s new solution included the addition of four Accero HR modules: Position Administration, Recruitment, Training, and Hourly Absence Management (HAM). They also installed Accero’s Business Intelligence Tool and made improvements to the core Payroll Module, as well as to their training process.
The Results: Since undergoing their HR/Payroll system audit, updating their use of existing modules, adding new modules and training end-users on the system’s capabilities, Arun District Council has enjoyed across-the-board process efficiencies and service improvements. In just one example, emails, letters, and contracts are now produced through an automated process, saving valuable staff time.
Client Comments: “Where before we had to work with bits of paper and multiple databases we now store all of this information in a single, integrated Accero system. This represents a huge improvement in how we operate. For example, we no longer have to rely on IT to run reports for us. We simply run a report request through Cognos and, since all the data comes from our Accero system, the report is accurate and complete.” Jane Lawrence, Project Manager, Arun District Council.
Are you a Success Story? If so, we’d like to feature you in an upcoming newsletter. Please email us at customersuccess@accero.com.