CASE STUDY - TIME & LABOR MANAGEMENT - PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

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1 CASE STUDY - TIME & LABOR MANAGEMENT - PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Improving Human Productivity Through Software as a Service

2 Property Management and Maintenance Organization Cleans Up Payroll Process to Build Increased Productivity and Profitability The Beginning Based in Florida, PayMaster, Inc. is an independently owned and operated payroll service bureau, committed to providing the highest level of service at the most affordable prices. The organization currently processes payroll in 38 states and territories of the United States for over 1,000 clients. Since 1995, PayMaster has been focused on enhancing its clients productivity and profitability. So when a potential client s requirements stretched the capabilities of PayMaster s existing time and labor management application, PayMaster immediately began searching for another provider. Our previous application just didn t have the advanced functionality that this organization was looking for, explained Romeo Chicco, President and CEO at PayMaster. PayMaster was looking for a time and labor management application that was as robust and technologically advanced as its payroll. We were looking for an application that was flexible enough to handle the complicated pay rules and custom features that our potential client was seeking, said Chicco. There was only one application that was able to meet all the required criteria of this prospect, which led us to a partnership with that application s provider; SaaShr.com. Along Comes Seacrest Services, Inc. Two days after partnering with SaaShr.com, PayMaster began implementing its first client, Seacrest Services, Inc., on their newly aligned time and labor management application, branded as WebClock Enterprise. Seacrest Services has been providing quality management and maintenance services to Community Associations since It is Seacrest Services mission to be the premier provider of Community Association management maintenance services in south Florida. We were the organization that was actually pushing PayMaster to get a more advanced time and labor management application, said Louis Uretsky, Account Supervisor at Seacrest Services. I was formerly the Payroll Administrator and Manager, so every pay period it was my responsibility to produce payroll, and provide labor tracking and financial management analyses for the CFO. Seacrest Services was previously using an application from a public organization that had a guaranteed price for the time of the contract. Once we were told they wouldn t continue to honor that price after the two year contract was up, I looked at that as an opportunity to push upper management to start looking for another option, explained Uretsky. I was trying to get us away from that application for a while because there were so many issues that came up. End-user Profile Company Seacrest Services, Inc. Industry Property Management and Maintenance Headquarters West Palm Beach, FL Problem Unauthorized overtime and timeconsuming manual edits, resulting in a high error rate when processing payroll. Our previous application just didn t have the advanced functionality that this organization was looking for. There was only one application that was able to meet all the required criteria of this prospect, which led us to a partnership with that application s provider; SaaShr.com. 2 of 6

3 Seacrest Services Challenges Seacrest Services incurred problems in the following areas with its previous time and labor management application: Unauthorized Overtime Hourly employees arriving early and leaving late are a common occurrence within Seacrest Services organization. We have a specific start and end time in place for our employees, unless overtime is authorized, said Uretsky. However, we had a lot of the landscaping staff coming in around 6:30 a.m. when they weren t supposed to be there until 7:00 a.m. Instead of punching out at 3:30 p.m. when they were scheduled to, some employees would remain in the warehouse until 4:00 p.m. Being that a majority of these extra hours were unauthorized, Seacrest Services found itself going over its allocated budget. Manual Time Entry Edits To prevent the occurrence of misallocated funds in payroll due to unauthorized overtime and inaccurate client billing due to incorrect job locations, Uretsky found himself having to manually edit each punch. Our previous application didn t allow for mass editing. So, to ensure each employee was punched into the proper location and the punches reflected the correct times, I had to go into the system and alter each employee s timesheet one at a time, stated Uretsky. I found myself editing 300 punches each day, which took me two and a half hours. This meant Uretsky was spending 12.5 hours per week editing 1,500 punches. Being a property management organization, we have numerous locations where employees could be working, explained Uretsky. This information always has to be documented to ensure that it isn t costing us more to manage the property than we are getting paid to do so. The application Seacrest Services was using did not allow the organization to easily assign an employee to a certain location. So Uretsky had to spend extra time ensuring employees were assigned to the correct locations, making additional edits when necessary. Numerous manual edits of time entries opened us up to a lot of errors. This is one occurrence I didn t want, because when it comes to people s paychecks, there should never be an error, stated Uretsky. The Solution PayMaster was one of five payroll providers that Seacrest Services evaluated. There were a few factors that influenced our decision to go with PayMaster. Cost was definitely a part, but the main reason is the application PayMaster offered far outdid the other providers. The overall package was more bang for the buck, said Uretsky. Other organizations charged additional costs for each module used, while PayMaster offered the whole package for one set price. The other thing I loved about PayMaster was that Romeo, like myself, has a background in accounting. So, from an accounting standpoint, he showed us each aspect of the application we needed, and how to implement it versus sales people from the other providers who were just trying to make a sale, added Uretsky. Even though I was the only person calculating payroll, the application was still easily manageable. WebClock Enterprise enabled me to shave the process associated with editing timesheets down to 30 minutes per day. The truth is, there aren t many applications out there with the ability to mass edit like this, added Uretsky. We moved forward with assigning each employee to a crew within the application, so the process for editing locations was practically eliminated as well. Now, we can institute one job location for the entire crew and the application will automatically relay that to each employee s timesheet within that specific crew. Romeo Chicco, CPA PayMaster Romeo Chicco, CPA, founded PayMaster in 1995 and has grown it to over 1,000 clients in 38 states. He attributes being one of South Florida s largest service bureaus to his company s personal service, cutting edge payroll technology, and reasonable prices. Romeo is an active member of the American Payroll Association (APA) as well as a Charter Member of the Independent Payroll Providers Association (IPPA). I found myself editing 300 punches each day, which took me two and a half hours. 3 of 6

4 The application also enabled us to eliminate edits due to unauthorized overtime. This was because of the ability the application has to automatically restrict employees punches before or after certain times, said Uretsky. Running reports on labor costs and costs associated with managing properties are an important part of Seacrest Services business. Uretsky compiled this information in reports to submit to the CFO to demonstrate that each department and job location stayed within budget. The reports proved useful for forecasting costs in existing locations as well as potential new locations. With the information we obtained in terms of associated costs and time from reports for existing projects, we are now able to bid on new project contracts more accurately than our competition. We can determine exactly what it takes to manage specific types of locations to a T, stated Uretsky. Furthermore, I ve saved about two hours a day running these reports. Other organizations charged additional costs for each module used, while PayMaster offered the whole package for one set price. Additional Benefits Seacrest Services has acquired benefits in a number of additional areas. Reduced Error Rate I was having a conversation with someone the other day who told me that he allows for a 1 percent error rate on payroll. When I told my boss that, we both laughed because we are accountants and when it comes to calculating payroll, accuracy needs to be 100 percent, said Uretsky. Prior to using WebClock Enterprise, Seacrest Services was identifying 150 to 200 errors in payroll for the year. The number of errors we were catching was unacceptable, but now we ve cut the number of errors for the year down to 12. Lowered Payroll Costs: According to Nucleus Research, organizations over pay employees by an average of 1.2 percent without the use of an automated time and labor management application. Even though Seacrest Services previously had an automated application, WebClock Enterprise was still able to greatly reduce costs associated with payroll through the restriction of overtime and the amount of time saved processing payroll. The application enables us to cut payroll costs by 20 to 30 percent, stated Uretsky. We spent a total of 12 to 14 hours calculating each aspect of payroll. We were able to cut down that time by more than half, so now processing payroll and running our necessary reports takes us less than six hours. Uretsky attributed some of these savings to the ease in which the application can be used. Ease of Use: When Louis first came on as a client, I sent over a startup manual and provided him with 30 minutes of training. The next thing I knew he was off and running, said Chicco. The software is logically designed and structured so if you re not familiar with it, you can easily learn on your own. In my opinion, if you use the application for one or two payroll cycles, you should have it down, stated Uretsky. The hours it saves is remarkable, and everything is just easier. The application enables us to cut payroll costs by 20 to 30 percent. We spent a total of 12 to 14 hours calculating each aspect of payroll. We were able to cut down that time by more than half, so now processing payroll and running our necessary reports takes us less than six hours. 4 of 6

5 A Happy Ending Since taking PayMaster on as its provider, Seacrest Services has opened up an additional location. I got a call from Seacrest Services, telling me they ordered a biometric data collection terminal and requested we set up this additional location for them. They were up and running in about an hour or two as a result of being able to manage most of the configuration and employee enrollment online from within the time and labor management application. There was almost nothing they had to do on their part, said Chicco. PayMaster has seen an increase in sales and acquisition of additional clients. Of all the clients we have presented a personal demonstration of the application to, 100 percent of them requested to implement as soon as possible. Not to mention, these were brand new clients. We didn t even have them as payroll clients at that time, stated Chicco. PayMaster was also able to increase its average employee count of time and labor management clients. Our average employee count on the application exceeds 100, while on our previous application the average was much lower. This increase is in large part due to the expanded functionality we can now offer. Most of our larger clients simply didn t want to implement our prior application, explained Chicco. Since partnering with SaaShr.com, PayMaster has not lost one client using the newly acquired application. In fact, we ve actually started targeting more of these larger organizations because they usually have more complex needs. With WebClock Enterprise, we know we can provide a time and labor management application that will turn each one of these complexities into an automated process, stated Chicco. The application has made us more competitive in the market place due to our ability to provide features that other application providers simply can t match. Of all the clients we have presented a personal demonstration of the application to, 100 percent of them requested to implement as soon as possible. The application has made us more competitive in the market place due to our ability to provide features that other application providers simply can t match. For more information: Visit Call toll free International callers of WebApps, Inc. a.k.a. SaaS.com

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