One debate that causes consternation is the ownership of payroll. The discussion, as we have seen on our own Advanced Business Solutions (ABS) LinkedIn page, is both contested and heated (see a selection of responses, below).

Some executives believe that the HR team, who are required to communicate people issues on a daily basis, should own payroll. HR is a policy-heavy area and close interlinking with payroll can help the organisation to deal with auditing and governance concerns.

Others believe payroll is all about numbers and so should be owned by finance specialists. Payroll is the biggest expense for most organisations and the finance department must understand where money is being allocated.

But there is, however, broad agreement that payroll is a function in its own right. Many areas of the business must address payroll concerns. And this consensus, regardless of reporting lines, provides a useful means to address concerns around payroll ownership.

Regardless of where you feel payroll should sit within an organisation, the key element is to ensure that payroll does not operate in isolation. Payroll systems need to be integrated across the enterprise and interlinked with other software systems.

There are various benefits from adopting an integrated approach. First, information held in one system is automatically reflected across the organisation and staff will not need to spend time manually re-entering information. Such interlinking reduces duplication and, more importantly, slashes the potential for multiple data entry errors.

Second, close integration with finance systems can provide a boost for organisational efficiency. Cross-departmental linking means staff costs are accurately reported as soon as payroll processing takes place.

Finally, bringing together enterprise systems means that employees can benefit from a comprehensive view of IT and data. Your software provider should be able to cover all human and finance management needs, while also providing the subtle configuration to meet your specific business requirements.

As such, the answer to the initial question is perhaps more straightforward than you might expect – payroll can happily sit across an organisation as long as it is brought together through an integrated IT system.

Samples of the HR Vs finance payroll debate on ABS’ LinkedIn page:

- “Payroll sits as a satellite to both finance and HR and deserves much more respect than it does from its HR colleagues.”

- “There is no such beast as good communication between HR, finance and payroll. They all are only trying to protect their own empires. This is why it is so important to get the positioning correct.”

- “In my experience, payroll has been under HR and I think that’s where it belongs. HR and payroll are better integrated on decisions that impact how employees are paid. We have a close relationship with finance and they monitor what hits the general ledger. We’ve had no problems with segregation of duties between HR and payroll.”

- “From my experience payroll has always been under finance, if only to keep the separation of the HR and payroll functions. Many parts of payroll such as the cost centres and expense codes are assigned by finance and it helps to keep the payroll function closely aligned with other finance functions.”

- “It should sit with finance. The most successful organisations I have worked with has payroll as a part of finance.”

Where should payroll sit within an organisation? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Although the UK economy continues to teeter tentatively towards recovery, inflation is rising and interest rates are set to increase sooner rather than later. Consumers have little money to spend and organisations, particularly those in the public sector, must continue to watch how cash is apportioned.

Secondly, high profile companies – like Microsoft and Sony (see further reading, below) – have warned of a growing skills gap and an impending crisis in expertise. That situation is expected to deteriorate in 2011; graduates have to fight hard for a limited number of vacancies and companies have to fight even harder to attract, and retain, high quality talent.

The final concerns come down to costs, both in terms of economic and labour-based constraints. Research from consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers (see further reading) suggests the cost of replacing a competent member of staff equates to approximately a year of that person’s salary

Finding the right person – from external advertising, dealing with recruitment agencies, interviewing candidates and negotiating salaries – is often a time-intensive and costly process. Even when a decision is made, there can be no guarantee that the person selected will represent a good fit for your business as many appointments are made on ‘gut feeling’.

At a time when many organisations are looking to cut costs and maximise value, HR departments are increasingly being tasked with identifying smarter ways to hire top quality talent as effectively and as cheaply as possible.

Help comes in the form of human capital management (HCM) technologies, which can help organisations to develop a more cost effective and successful recruitment strategy. These systems boost automation and improve reporting functionality to enable HR departments to analyse the costs and success of its different recruitment methods and ultimately, recruit as successfully and cost-effectively as possible.

HCM systems can also assist HR professionals to identify a preferred list of external agencies and negotiate better rates based on the success of the candidates they put forward. When it comes to internal assessment, detailed reporting techniques can be used to assess worker performance against broader company objectives’, helping the organisation to assess the suitability of specific employees. The results of enhanced automation are swifter access to accurate and real-time information and, ultimately, smarter recruitment.

Times are tough but that should not mean you scrimp and save on HCM software. The intelligent approach to recruitment will improve efficiency and provide a strong return on investment.

Further reading

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12192047

 http://www.develop-online.net/news/36722/Industry-report-will-reveal-massive-skills-gap-says-SCE-UK-boss

 http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/News-Releases/Failure-to-retain-competent-employees-costing-UK-businesses-42bn-a-year-f27.aspx

Take the intelligent approach to recruitment is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

With public sector organisations receiving ‘the toughest settlement in living memory’ and many in the private sector battling to survive there have, inevitably, been casualties.

However, while many have fallen, others have not only survived, but thrived in these challenging times. Why could this be?

It’s hard to argue against the idea that businesses that are more streamlined, efficient and cost-effective are more likely to survive. Just as government is making its quest to rid itself of waste and inefficiency, many private sector organisations have already put themselves under the microscope to see how – and if – their processes work.

The private organisations that are surviving are typically those that have identified inefficiencies and have implemented solutions to remedy these inefficient practices. For instance, instead of using valuable financial and human resources to carry out mundane admin tasks from consolidating numerous spreadsheets through to printing and posting payslips, such tasks are increasingly being automated.

Secure document management systems are some of the investments organisations have been making in 2010 to streamline their finance and HR processes, cut costs and free-up much needed document storage space. These systems are also providing vital back-up should the worst happen. With the economy still proving challenging, a disaster such as Buncefield or Boscastle could prove devastating for organisations that are not adequately prepared.

And IT solutions are not only being used to improve efficiencies. 2010 has seen continued investment into business intelligence solutions, which are providing forward thinking organisations with essential organisation-wide insight, helping them to craft their business strategies for the future.

While nobody is under the impression that 2011 is the end of the hard times, as many organisations are proving, having effective IT solutions in place are giving organisations a fighting chance of survival, with some even thriving. With 2011 promising to be another tough year – for the public sector in particular – perhaps public sector organisations need to take a leaf out of the private sector’s book and put its own processes under the proverbial microscope.

Tightening our belts to keep on fighting is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Replacing good people is never going to be easy. Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that the cost of replacing a competent member of staff equates to approximately a year of that person’s salary.

Another key recruitment issue is that the selection process is not an exact science. HR professionals are required to jump through a series of administrative loopholes, running a series of interviews, sorting out contracts and inevitably picking someone that they think provides the best fit.

And as we all know from our interaction with new employees, there is no such thing as a perfect fit; organisations simply have to hope that the person selected through the timely and costly recruitment process proves an asset to the team. Recruitment is, therefore, a bit of a ‘finger in the air’ process.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. While any new employee is likely to come with a degree of risk, organisations can make use of specialist software to help ensure that the transition to fully-fledged team player is as painless as possible.

The right human capital management (HCM) software can provide a valuable asset to any recruitment strategy. From identifying a gap in the workforce and sifting through the candidates’ applications through to awarding the contract, HCM software can help generate significant efficiency and cost savings during the recruitment process whilst increasing the chance of recruiting the right type of person.

Look for automated HCM technology that will help you to match potential employees against established criteria. Integrated HCM reporting tools will also highlight the recruitment methods that have been most successful and at what cost. Such tools will also enable you to track the success of costly recruitment agencies, creating a preferred supplier list of worthy partners.

Finally, look to automate as much as possible to free-up the HR team’s time. Automating response letters and other recruitment correspondence can help slash administration costs. Meanwhile, electronic recruitment forms which can be automatically uploaded to the HCM system, will help save both time and expense.

Attempting to find the right person is never going to be easy. But it doesn’t have to be a struggle. And with the right software in place, you will have a good head start and the intelligence needed to do the best job possible as you attempt to identify that perfect needle in that rather large haystack!

Using software for smarter recruitment is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Of course, people can have any number of valid reasons for not being able to make it into the office, from illness and injury to family crises and annual leave. But even the valid excuses need to be tracked and monitored to ensure regulatory compliance and adequate levels of productivity.

The key to tracking the whereabouts of an organisation’s people is time and attendance (T&A) software, which provides an accurate recording of an employee’s time and movement. At its best, rather than just making people feel spied upon, T&A software aids employee engagement.

As a starting point, you’ll need to make sure that your T&A software records the HR basics, such as working hours, flexi-time, absence and lateness. Such an approach will allow your organisation to create an accurate and real-time record of staff movement. T&A accuracy can also be maintained through flexi-time reporting and functionality that manages leave, time in-lieu and holiday entitlement.

T&A software can also provide a tighter grip on HR administration and instant access to timely information, enabling improved decision making whilst helping supervisors to quickly identify potential T&A issues.

The need for additional T&A functionality is dependent on organisational demands. Functionality-rich T&A software can identify job costings, for example, showing how much particular employees or contractors financially contribute to the business.

By opting for a solution that allows the business to track and trace employees’ movements throughout the organisation’s offices, T&A technology can also be used to aid security

Overall, your system should be easy to configure, compliant-ready and integrated with other key HR and payroll areas to produce a holistic approach to human capital management.

Staff also tend to respond positively to having time and attendance controls in place as it ensures a level playing field. After all, when staff appear to ‘get away with’ poor time keeping and repeated absence, it can breed discontentment within a team, potentially leading to disengagement and disruption.

And so, with the right T&A technologies in place, the organisation is ensuring that its most valuable and costly asset – its people – are being effectively monitored without being too ‘big brother’.

Perhaps clock-watching is a good thing after all!

Automating corporate clock-watching is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Take this year as a starting point. The projected amount of digital information created in 2010 will be 1.2 million zettabytes which is equivalent to a full-length episode of TV series “24″ running continuously for 125 million years, according to research from IDC and EMC (see further reading, below).

Such figures are amusing but almost impossible to fully comprehend. And without the means to track, trace and interpret information, the results of such an information explosion for your business could be tremendous.

Gartner’s report concludes that, with the proliferation of mobile devices, collaborative technologies and social media, the quantity and variety of digital data will continue to grow. While managing this information is a challenge, it also presents a remarkable opportunity.

By putting the right foundations in place for managing and analysing your data, your organisation will be more able to make data-driven decisions moving forward.

Business intelligence, for example, can pull together an organisation’s data to provide a single version of the truth, allowing executives to make timely decisions based upon a consistent view of data from across the organisation.

Other corporate performance management tools, such as forecasting and planning software, also help organisations to work smarter whilst aiding decision making. With forecasting and planning, for instance, organisations can plan and model scenarios before making data-driven decisions.

The fast pace of IT development means that the number of data sources is only likely to increase and so it’s key to leverage this data for the benefit of the organisation. Ultimately, successful analytics is about creating an effective partnership between IT and the business; make sure you have the right tools in place to make this happen.

Further reading:
http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/press-releases/gartners-2010-hype-cycle-special-report-evaluates-maturity-1-800-technologies

http://www.securityweek.com/content/emc-digital-universe-data-growth-study-projects-nearly-45-fold-annual-data-growth-2020

Enabling data-driven decisions is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

1)     People Management

People Management is the official magazine of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people.  Two blogs are run from its website – the Editors’ blog, in which People Management journalists comment on the latest HR news and developments, and the Specialists’ blog, where top HR commentators offer their observations on the business world.

2)     Personnel Today

 The ‘editors’ blog’ of this leading industry publication is a great source of information about everything going on in the world of human resources. Packed full of news and views, this blog is a must-read.

3)     HR Headmistress 

A personal blog from the MD of Milton Keynes-based consulting firm Russell HR.  Regularly updated, the blog provides an interesting perspective, proclaiming its existence is an opportunity to let off steam about employment law, HR, politicians, plumbers, the importance of shoes and all the really major issues of the day!

4)     HR Magazine

This blog from the much-respected magazine HR Magazine aims to put HR into a business perspective. Blog postings cover a wide range of topics, from flexible working to employment law.

5)     HR Zone

HR Zone is a popular site which allows everyone to submit blog postings and get their thoughts on HR topics or issues of their chests. All you need to do is log-in and start blogging!

Top of the blogs….part two is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

The review will be concluded by 30 September and will be chaired by Paul Johnson, a senior associate at Frontier Economics and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The review will consider:

• the earnings threshold above which automatic enrolment applies
• minimum contribution levels before auto-enrolment is triggered
• the age bands for auto-enrolment
• whether all firms should have to auto-enroll
• whether postponement of auto-enrolment should be relaxed
• whether the private pension marked can sustain the up to 9m additional pension savers

Whist the Government committed to auto-enrolment in the Emergency Budget, it is sensible to initiate a review that will report quickly on some of the more contentious and complex elements of the scheme. Employers can then begin their planning in earnest from the autumn as this a huge project given that only a third of the workforce have current workplace pension provision.

Kate Upcraft
Payroll writer and lecturer
ISIS Support Services Ltd
kateupcraft@btconnect.com

Review of NEST announced is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Their first task will be an immediate review of all regulations in the pipeline for implementation which have been inherited from the previous Government. The cost of implementing this amounts to £5bn annually before April 2011 and £19.1bn per annum thereafter, as identified by the Better Regulation Executive that sits within the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) remit (it will be interesting to see what will get the chop – for example additional paternity leave and pay will be costly for business but both parties are committed to extending ‘shared parenting’).

A one in, one out approach to new regulations – Labour were allegedly doing this anyway

What would you do away with in the payroll and HR arena? My vote would be for student loans to be collected through direct debit in the first instance and only payroll as a last resort (they do this for the last 23 months of the loan anyway) and a proper scrutiny of all the paper enquiries that government departments still send to employers when they already have the data in the public domain. Come on, you share our data with the world when you don’t mean to perhaps you could share it to help us instead!?

Kate Upcraft
Payroll writer and lecturer
ISIS Support Services Ltd
kateupcraft@btconnect.com

Will the Cable plan unravel? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment