cascade human resources & payroll software The.Net HR and HMRC Accredited Payroll Solution

Transcription

1 cascade human resources & payroll software The.Net HR and HMRC Accredited Payroll Solution

2 02 Cascade A truly unique approach to HR and Payroll management. Contents 3 Introduction 4 Philosophy 6 What is Cascade? 8 HR 10 Payroll 12 Workflow 14 Manager Self-Service 16 Recruitment 18 Training & Development 20 Timescales 22 Key Functionality 26 Product Architecture 27 Return on Investment 28 Implementation 29 Training, Support & Maintenance 30 Why did our clients choose Cascade?

3 Introduction Welcome to a new way of working. Cascade provides a dynamic, process driven solution for HR and Payroll professionals through an innovative and flexible browser interface 03 Cascade has been designed with the real world in mind. When developing features we have asked why each feature is required; why is it needed and what is the purpose? This has allowed Cascade to evolve into a solution which offers end to end functionality for all users, from employees to HR, and for all activities. Being able to write a report and then take action against the results of that report is one of the most powerful features in any HR system By sharing information effectively across the organisation, and including features which engage line managers, other departments and front line employees, Cascade becomes more than just another database. Cascade - creating one true source of intelligent workforce information for dynamic organisations.

4 Product Philosophy 04 Cascade Product Philosophy CHANGE is a fundamental principle at Cascade. Change is what drives organisations and people forward. Change brings new challenges, rewards, new customers and progress.

5 Cascade s HR and Payroll solutions are designed with change in mind. A solution that satisfies your needs today must be capable of change tomorrow in line with evolving requirements as well as offering new ideas and opportunities to inspire improvement. Product Philosophy 05 When you invest in Cascade, you are protecting your organisation with future flexibility - the ability to grow and adapt. Cascade embraces change as our products are continually being improved, enhanced and extended. WE LISTEN TO YOU Our change comes about from consulting with people like you: we listen to your needs, your desires, dreams - as well as your issues and challenges. By listening to you, we plan and design new capabilities that will take you up and over and around those new challenges. INCREASE YOUR PROFITABILITY Invest in Cascade and you will reap the reward of increased profitability. Efficiently managing processes, ensuring best practice is followed, dramatically reducing administration and improved communication cuts down on consumable costs and saves staff time. Reducing errors ensures staff spend their time doing and not correcting. These are all factors that will increase your profit each year.

6 What is Cascade? 06 Cascade What is Cascade? New tools for a new breed Cascade combines true.net, browser based HR with HMRC accredited Payroll giving you a fully integrated best of breed system. Combining innovation and cutting edge technology in a system that has been on the market for 5 years and is in use at more than 150 organisations means you get the very latest and best with a proven track record.

7 Cascade HRP is a whole family of HR and Payroll tools, designed to work together to bring measurable business benefits to you and your organisation. What is Cascarde? 07 Our modules include: HR Payroll Self Serve Workflow Training Recruitment Online Recruitment Online Timesheets Cascade represents a new breed of HR and Payroll systems. It offers the very latest HR management technology alongside a proven payroll solution all from a single supplier. Developed as a completely, 100%, browser based solution using Microsoft.net technology, our HR system offers the most flexible, user friendly, dynamic and proactive HR solution available today. Combined with our own, in house developed, HMRC accredited payroll which is fully integrated to HR, Cascade delivers the most modern, advanced, process led and reliable HRP solution on the market.

8 HR Cascade HR 08 Dynamic, proactive and thought provoking Cascade is a system that does in the real world. Key Features: Dashboard Workflow task list Comprehensive employee records System Designer Organisational Planner Organisational Charts Shift Management Posts Documents Authorisation routes Query Builder Graph Builder Reports

9 HR By considering the reasons why features are needed by HR Departments rather than just adding them without thought, Cascade have developed a solution which actually works in the real world. 09 Cascade s Core HR solution is a powerful, proactive and dynamic solution that offers a huge amount of standard functionality. As users log into the system they are presented with their user specific dashboard providing them with key information that is relevant to them on a daily basis. That may include team attendance, workflow tasks or even company wide information should they be allowed that level of access. We think that HR should include key features such as attendance and holiday management, Organisational Charts, Organisational Explorer and a whole host of other features. This means that even without optional modules Cascade HR provides a comprehensive and powerful management tool for any HR team. Comprehensive employee records are supported by our unique System Designer feature which ensures you record the data you want in the format you want it by allowing you to add unlimited new fields, configure existing fields and even create new screens and import data from Excel. By ensuring you record the data you need, how you need it, we guarantee the success of Workflow and Analysis features of the system as we ensure accuracy of data.

10 Payroll 10 Cascade Payroll Cascade enabled me to calculate the true cost of employing a senior member of staff, including the usual payroll salary and bonus amounts, as well as actually quantifying the investment made in their recruitment, training and even benefits in kind.

11 Payroll Bringing payroll and personnel information together. 11 Key features: Inland Revenue accredited Definable & derivable pay elements SSP/SMP/SAP/SPP Student Loans AOE and Court Orders Pension Contribution (stakeholder and AVCs) Holiday Pay Time & Attendance Statutory Filing BACS Payment (Bacs IP) Integration with the majority of general ledgers In-built data restore points Flexible pay cycles (weekly, bi-weekly, lunar etc) Automatically updated from HR changes Online payslips Online P60s Peace of mind In the same way that the Cascade HR modules were developed by consulting with HR and personnel professionals, our Payroll module is backed up by a team of payroll experts who ensure that all legislative rules and rate changes are made in a timely and secure fashion. One true supplier Cascade's payroll module is controlled and maintained by exactly the same people as the HR modules - it is not simply somebody else's product rebadged and bolted on, so you are assured of complete integration and the common look and feel of Cascade. Single point of entry The single point of entry means no rekeying of data into the payroll system, and HR-led initiatives such as a global salary raise or individual bonuses can be easily implemented.

12 Workflow Cascade Workflow 12 Making sure the right things happen, at the right time, and in the right order. Not just once, but every single time. Key processes: New starters Leavers Sickness monitoring Recruitment Change of job Succession planning Training & Development planning Appraisals Disciplinary & Grievance Authority to Recruit

13 Workflow Making work flow in your organisation is fundamental to your success as a business. If work doesn t flow properly between departments and people then errors creep in and jobs simply aren t completed. Cascade introduces workflows, pro active workflows and authorisation routes to ensure best practice and guarantee no task is left incomplete. 13 Cascade had a simple goal when developing Workflow to make it easy to use so that our clients could use it themselves. However, our clients took what we developed and had many goals. Some of them simply wanted to manage holiday requests or training requests. Some wanted to send tasks to people when things happened. More recently HR departments have begun to think about pro active workflows which guide users through processes, delivering forms and instructions, screens and decisions to the right people at the right time. Whatever flow of work you need to manage; Cascade is flexible and intuitive and will provide the ideal workflow solution. Now imagine a process whereby the manager can click Authority to recruit request and then sit back as Cascade s Workflow tells the manager what to do. Request forms, online and within the system, are delivered as are instructions on what to do. When completed they automatically go to the right person to review and add comment or accept/reject. Cascade will even create authorized vacancies and, if required publish them online (see Recruitment and Online Recruitment in this brochure). This process is one example. All of the principles here can be applied to any given subject or process your HR team require. Imagine a manager needs to recruit a new member of staff. How do they go about it? Which form? Who do they ask? Who authorises the request? Who creates the vacancy? How does it get advertised?

14 Manager Self-Service Cascade Manager Self-Service 14 Line Manager capabilities are in-built into the Cascade system, giving anybody who has the responsibility for managing staff the ability to view the status across the whole team for: Holidays (including outstanding requests which need approving, rejecting or amending) Appraisals Absence By opening up this bigger picture to Line Managers, they are suddenly able to see the overall capacity of their team and make accurate judgements as to how to balance holiday requests without compromising the productivity of their team. Appraisals are also less likely to be repeatedly re-scheduled as Line Manager and Employee are given more notice and time to prepare. Key features: Fully web based Single console for all HR needs Familiar look and feel Profiles define access levels processes and information Flexible profiles depending on manager-employee relationship Line Managers and Employees work with the same common Cascade interface as the HR team, bringing a common language and framework to HR policies and procedures.

15 Manager Self-Service 15 Once information access profiles have been set for each employee by the HR team, they then have the capability to view and update their personal details, such as address, bank details, next of kin etc. Users simply log on via their browser and the simple to use interface guides them through the process step by step - no training is necessary and you'll find staff start to use Cascade as their touchstone with the HR team for ordinary requests. So, how many days holiday have I got left? Using Cascade, self-service holidays can be viewed and booked on-line with automatic progression through to the relevant authoriser (in most cases, the Line Manager). Employees can see the status of their holiday request at any time. Should a request still be pending, the system will automatically remind the authoriser via that their decision is required. We understand that some organisations would prefer employees not to be able to make changes to a live system, especially if there could be the potential for data to be entered incorrectly, and so different authorisation routes can be specified. The system also provides a full data trail audit showing which user has made changes, the time of change and who authorised them. I had no idea how out of date most of the 'In Case of Emergency' contact details were for my staff. As soon as the request was sent out for people to view and check their records, almost 85% of records were updated - mainly with new mobile numbers. Cascade makes an exercise like this very easy.

16 Recruitment 16 Cascade Recruitment Cascade helps to cut the cost of recruitment, as well as giving applicants the best possible first impression of our company.

17 Recruitment Cascade s recruitment solution is provided at two optional levels. At recruiter level Cascade provides a back office recruitment system which can operate without the optional Online E Recruitment module if required. The Online E Recruitment module provides a full recruitment website that is fully integrated to back office Recruitment. 17 Online Recruitment is designed to give full control of recruitment to HR and subsequently it allows the HR department to design and build web pages and links with absolutely no technical knowledge needed. Add content, upload images, insert links and even create new pages through a simple to use interface that any MS Word user can master. Vacancies, created in the back office Recruitment module, are uploaded automatically and specific online application forms, with questions dependent on the vacancy type, competencies associated with the given post and other criteria, are automatically created. Any applicants that complete the form are downloaded instantly to the back office Recruitment module where they can be reviewed, processed and accepted or rejected. Key features such as talent pool, CV searching and CV parsing ensure that you can analyse and identify both the best applicant for the job and the best job for the applicant easily and efficiently. Any successful candidates can be copied to HR with a single click.

18 Training & Development 18 Cascade Training & Development Staff development is an important part of attracting and retaining the right people to help you achieve your organisational objectives.

19 Training & Development 19 Today's training function is more complex than booking places on courses, and Cascade reflects the need to take each employee and assess their individual training and development requirements, as well as looking at organisation-wide skills gaps. Once again, Cascade has been designed to cut down on administration, whilst providing open channels of communication with the workforce. Cascade even enables you to accurately measure the return which your investment on training is delivering, in the shape of on-going workplace evaluation to see just how training has changed the individual s ability to carry out their role and motivated people to put their newfound skills into practice. Key features: Individual staff training and development plans Role based competencies within a flexible framework Skills gap analysis to determine training needs Succession planning Administration and publication of standard and ad-hoc training courses CPD point monitoring Budgeting by budget holder, discipline and course type On-line course evaluations and follow-up assessments Workflow processes to manage the booking of resources and staff Delegate management of tasks e.g. hotel booking for external courses, using definable workflow processes

20 Timesheets 20 Cascade Timesheets In the quest for accuracy and return on investment more and more organisations are tracking employee time.

21 Timesheets The ability for either employees to complete and submit timesheets through their Self Serve access or for Line or Area Managers to be able to edit hours through Group Timesheets offers an opportunity for your organisation to gain efficiencies through minimizing costs and maximizing employee time. 21 Self Serve Timesheets offers a simple to use but flexible and powerful solution for collecting hours directly from employees. Through their Employee Self Serve access, where employees request holidays, view their own details etc, an employee can now add their hours each day including additional work. Holidays and other attendance categories are automatically added. Once completed the timesheet is submitted and typically goes through an authorisation process, which is user definable. Group Timesheets offer the facility for Managers or Area Managers to access one or multiple locations and edit/add hours per day across all of the employees at relevant locations in bulk. Through an easy to use interface a Manager can now review, update and submit timesheets for multiple employees on a single screen in a very short amount of time. Both approaches to gathering employee times offer the facility to monitor hours without huge amounts of paperwork and double entry of data. Timesheet data can be shared seamlessly with the Cascade Payroll module through our sophisticated Payroll Integration Interface which allows timesheet data to be reviewed by Payroll or HR prior to its inclusion in payroll.

22 Key Functionality 22 Cascade Key Functionality

23 Key Functionality At Cascade we believe in key modules for the major areas of HR and Payroll management and the inclusion of all key functionality for those areas as standard. This means that our modules are extremely feature rich and offer a wide range of benefits to our clients beyond the more obvious functionality associated with any given module. 23 Cascade s HR module comes with our unique System Designer module included as standard. System Designer ensures you always record data how you want it to be recorded by allowing any employee or applicant record screen to be edited or added to with unlimited fields, renaming of fields and screens, changes to field types and a whole range of powerful features. It even allows you to import data from MS Excel straight into a blank table and it will design the fields and populate them automatically. Our design methodology at Cascade is that all functionality should be designed and written by us. Therefore we don t use any third party plug ins which means we support all of our systems ourselves. This is no less true with reporting and analysis. Cascade includes a powerful set of analysis tools which allow you to do much more than just report on data. Before you begin to use the reporting tools they are already helping you get the best from Cascade. As you login you will be presented with your unique user Dashboard. The Dashboard allows each user, either self configured or set by HR, to view the information that is important to them each day through graphs, lists and tables. It is updated automatically and where relevant can be drilled down. Attendance, training, payroll, recruitment and workflow data is presented to you as you need it removing the need for many reports you may manually run. Additionally reports are integrated to Workflow. This means that instead of running a report, for example, to see who has Bradford Factor scores of a certain level and then manually taking action, Cascade will monitor the criteria you set and start the process automatically, informing you at the outset what has happened (Workflows are fully user definable).

24 Key Functionality 24 When you eventually come to write reports yourself Cascade s Query Builder makes it as easy as it can possibly be. We realised that users knew where fields were because of their location in records so selecting a field for a report in Cascade uses the same look and feel as finding one in a record. This makes reporting as easy as it could possibly be. Double clicking a field adds it instantly and once added, simple drop downs allow criteria such as date ranges and even ranges using plain English (between 7 days ago and today for example) to be added for each field.

25 Key Functionality Running the query presents an online report, within the HR interface, which can be sorted and graphed with single clicks of your mouse. At this stage the data can be further filtered and sorted or exported to Excel. The most powerful feature in Cascade s reporting suite is the facility to run a report and take action on the information within it. For example, this means that a report could be created and with a single click of the mouse you can take action on the employees within it. This might be to them, write to them or many other tasks including start a process. Cascade recognises that many reports and the subsequent actions may need to be automated. It is therefore possible to set the report as a filter on the workflow which checks for matches every day. Should a match be found to the report s criteria, the workflow begins automatically. This approach actually reduces the need to use reports as many operational activities become automated vastly reducing administration and eliminating errors and omissions. Add to this Cascade s powerful Office Reports solution which allows users to take queries and turn them into well presented, informative reports with cover pages, groups and pivot tables and Cascade s users benefit from immensely powerful reporting tools that are easy to use and above all, innovative. Cascade offers a wide range of powerful features such as: Organisational Charting Organisational Explorer My Face (employee personal space) Dashboard Skills & Competency matching Document management Policies and procedures Staff Surveys Outlook diary integration Active Directory Single Sign on Attendance planners 25

26 Product Architecture 26 Cascade Product Architecture Cascade is built on a sound and robust technical platform, utilising industry standard database, Microsoft SQL server coupled with a pure web based presentation architecture, again using industry standards for security and delivery. HR and payroll are mission critical nowadays and nothing but the very best is acceptable. Cascade is robust, secure, scaleable and reliable. Please request our latest technical requirements specification for further details.

27 Return on Investment If something doesn't save you time, and doesn't save you money, why do it? Return on Investment 27 Building a business case for a new HR and payroll system can be tricky. In some organisations, client-facing teams tend to find it easier to get the budget for IT investment, whilst systems which directly benefit the employees become more and more outdated. Cascade is pleased to work with clients to develop a business case and return on investment plan, suitable for review by the Board or Senior Management. Our solution really does make a difference to the bottom line in more ways than we can list here, but here are just a few benefits which our clients experience from day one: Less admin time, freeing up Managers to manage Issues such as holiday booking, absence certification are resolved quickly Skills gaps are highlighted and addressed more quickly, improving productivity Staff morale improves as people feel cared for and listened to Fewer errors and therefore less 'firefighting' Clearer communication of policies and procedures Accurate accounting of costs of training and recruitment Eradicates duplication of data between multiple systems

28 Implementation 28 Cascade Implementation Key to a successful implementation of any new HR /Payroll system is the quality of the suppliers' supporting services to help you get from A to B. Cascade provides a comprehensive spread of support and implementation services covering; Expert advice Project management Data migration HR consultancy services Training and coaching Implementation assistance Set-up advice Screen design and configuration Report and query writing and publishing Go-live support Hand-holding Our consulting process is in-built to everything we do, and right from the start our relationship is geared to creating a shared plan with you which involves the correct level of supporting services, to ensure a smooth, successful yet costeffective project. Each client is individual and we ensure the package of support we prescribe is right just for you.

29 Training Training Support & Maintenance We would recommend that the HR and Payroll team undertake Cascade training courses to enable you to make the most of your investment in Cascade. Teams leave the courses empowered by their understanding of Cascade, and feeling confident and enthusiastic about using the system to carry out their tasks and create reports. Training courses are designed to reflect how your organisation will be using Cascade, and where specific tasks are delegated to certain team members, we can organise a special in-depth course on a certain module, such as Training, or Recruitment, or Payroll. Training can take place at your offices, or off-site to suit your needs and the location of your team(s). For newcomers to your team, we can offer a one-off training session to bring them up to speed with the system and help them share the common language of Cascade. Investing in a new HR and payroll software solution can be daunting, but Cascade is committed to delivering outstanding support to all clients and anybody who uses Cascade. At our Head Office in West Yorkshire, we have a support team who is dedicated to resolving customer queries, which may range from simple how do I do this? queries, through to more complex configuration or operational assistance, through to assistance with writing query reports, to full on technical IT support. All support calls are logged and our systems help us monitor and escalate against SLA's (Service Level Agreements) to ensure timely responses, excellent communication and fast resolutions. We have remote support and diagnostics giving very fast issue identification and resolution. As well as the help-desk you are allocated a dedicated account manager who will contact you throughout the year to ensure everything is running smoothly. We also have an active user-group which meets several times a year, giving you the opportunity to learn about forthcoming features and modules we are developing. You are invited to influence our future product features and development plans, and you get a unique opportunity to network with fellow HR professionals. Our comprehensive support and maintenance service INCLUDES FREE UPGRADES to new releases of the products you have purchased. Any new features we introduce to each product are available to you at no extra costs. New features and good ideas come from people like you, i.e. our satisfied users. We have found that the people who use our system, day-in, day-out, have the very best ideas, and we welcome your feedback. 29

30 Why did our clients choose Cascade? 30 Why did our clients choose Cascade? Cascade is used by a wide range of organisations that span virtually every industry and sector. Our clients range from 50 10,000 employees. Our clients share similar HR and Payroll management needs but usually have specific challenges as well. Cascade has been designed to meet and exceed the day to day needs that all of our clients face but also provide intelligent and innovative solutions to those challenges which often, when managed correctly, offer the highest value to HR departments and the businesses and organisations that they support. Hotel Chocolat are a large retail organisation specialising in high quality chocolates and chocolate related products. Lynn Setchell, of Hotel Chocolat told us: "We looked at a number of alternatives but finally chose Cascade because we believed that Cascade s system was the most comprehensive solution for our needs, and we could see that there was a clear evolution to the way it has developed over the years, giving us confidence that it is strongly fit for purpose. We also particularly like the fact that it is an online solution which for a multi-site organisation such as ours is ideal. Finally I also believed from speaking to Cascade's employees that we would have a good working relationship. As a business we always look for flexibility and similar values, which have been consistent during the short time we have been talking."

31 Why did our clients choose Cascade? But Hotel Chocolat are not alone in having strong and defined reasons for selecting Cascade. National Express, the rail operator, implemented the Cascade HR System in Ben Gregory from National Express said "Cascade demonstrated experience and professionalism throughout the selection process but we were particularly impressed by their understanding of the business impacts and risks faced in a project of this nature" he continued "both Cascade's pre sales team and their project team have given us great confidence that they could deliver what we were looking for, something that was essential in our decision process!". With 150 clients Cascade boasts hundreds of HR and Payroll professionals as users and thousands of employee s accessing the system via Self Service. This is no less true in the Housing Sector where Cascade has a particularly large presence and excellent reputation. Time Leather, Head of IT at Radian Housing, explains why; A vital aspect of the pre sales process was developing an understanding between Cascade and Radian to ensure that both parties fully understood the capabilities of the Cascade system and the detailed requirements of Radian. Tim said Cascade demonstrated a can do attitude when discussing and understanding our requirements at operational and technical levels whilst also introducing new ideas to us which has allowed us to identify solutions that weren't in our original specification, Tim continued, This was possible because we were able to build an excellent working relationship with Cascade before even becoming a customer. Here at Cascade we put customers, and users, first not just when developing our systems and in support but also when helping our prospective new clients choose a system. On our website you will find many more case studies and client comments, lists of clients and also comments from clients confirming why they continue to use Cascade as well as why they selected Cascade. Please visit for more information. 31

32 We hope that you would like to find out more about the Cascade approach to making HR and payroll systems intuitive and effective. Visit our website at where you will be able to see the product in more detail, or call one of our team on to arrange an initial consultation to discuss the possibilities of how Cascade can support your organisational development objectives. cascade human resources & payroll software Cascade HR Ltd New Pudsey Court, 101A-103 Bradford Road, Pudsey, Leeds LS28 6AT T: F: E: Cascade HR Ltd 2009 Microsoft and Excel are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.