Our whole organization uses Ascentis for our HRIS, payroll, recruiting and LMS. This has helped streamline many of our internal processes as well as allow employees to have access to their timesheet, PTO, etc. when not in the office.
Pros
Ascentis is continuously making updates. They listen to the customer's needs and react accordingly.
The response time when needing customer support is very timely.
Cons
I sometimes struggle to locate help through their Communities. I'm fairly new, so it could be the way I'm entering my searches.
Likelihood to Recommend
Employee self service and it's functionality were a big factor in our decision to go with Ascentis. The Performance Management module doesn't mesh well with our current needs.
VU
Verified User
Director in Human Resources (Research company, 51-200 employees)
Ascentis supports our entire org for the purpose of HRIS and payroll.
Pros
Employee Self Service
Recruiting
Payroll
Cons
Optimize the recruiting module to have more streamline and efficient processes implemented.
Running reports to be more user friendly
Implement an HR Sandbox
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis seems to work well for our workforce size which is usually between 450-600. I am not sure if Ascentis would have the functionalities and capacity for much larger company sizes.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Human Resources (Human Resources company, 201-500 employees)
We use Ascentis across our whole organization. We use it for our HRIS system as well as our payroll service. It helps having everything in one place. Also, the support team is extremely helpful and always just a call away. I have used other HRIS/payroll companies that make it nearly impossible to get an answer right away!
Pros
Support
Training section
Payroll
Cons
More instructions on the web instead of having to call support.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis has been easy to learn since I just begun not too long ago. Support is always there to answer my questions. My other HRIS system I was used to using took over 2 years to fully understand.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Human Resources (Human Resources company, 51-200 employees)
Ascentis is being used across the whole organization. Almost every employee uses it for their timesheets. HR (my branch) uses it to keep track of potential employees that have applied to open requisitions. We use it quite a bit in HR.
Pros
Keeps track of new applicants and statuses as they go along the hiring process. This is great because it streamlines the on-boarding process for us.
Allows each employee to use the timekeeper so we can keep track of hours worked, etc.
Cons
It would be very helpful if Ascentis displayed the pay that employees receive so they know what to expect when payday comes.
It would also be good if the accrued PTO were visible to employees.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis is not a place employees can view their past timesheets or pay amounts. This would be a nice thing to be able to use for employees. Ascentis is great with the whole hiring process from posting requisitions all the way to hiring the applicant.
We use it as our HRIS and Payroll system. We also use NovaTime for timekeeping and we have the training module, however, we haven't launched it to all of our employees to date.
Pros
Ease of employee entry and changes.
Great record keeper with the ability to upload docs.
The look, feel and ease of use of ESS is awesome.
Cons
Running reports is easy but saving in different formats and on drives away from the Ascentis server is not easy.
Additional fields that can be modified.
Flags when things should be double-checked, for example, when rehiring employees we must remove all termination history.
Ascentis HR and Payroll is used throughout our organization.
Pros
The ESS system is great to have for our employees. This takes a lot of time off of HR and provides a pretty seamless experience for my employees when making changes to their address, benefits, viewing their paystub, W2 etc.
The new look and feel of the user TimeKeeper interface were much needed. Our system integrates with RFID card readers, which our employees love!
Originally we had several issues with our EDI feeds, and their team was willing to step in and help set up new feeds with as many vendors as possible. Although, this should have been working when originally set up when brought to the account managers attention (A. Lisecki - who is amazing) we got on the phone with all parties to find a resolution.
Cons
The customer service team is lacking tremendously. If you need assistance on a report or guidance in general, good luck. I will brag again on A. Lisecki
Because she really is the reason we keep Ascentis HR/Payroll. She has gone above and beyond anytime I needed help.
The reporting system is very cumbersome and usually provides inaccurate information. You can run the same report twice and it will give you different results. Of course, some reports are beneficial, but for the most part, it's hard to find the common HR reports quickly, such as your turnover rate, demographics, new hires etc. The system does have some of these templates built in, but there is usually a trick to getting them to work correctly.
All the workarounds! Because we have used the system for a few years now, we know our pain points and have had to find workarounds to minimize the impact. For instance, adjusting benefit dates to ensure they roll over to payroll properly, hire date changes for ESS. At the end of the year, HSA and 401k contributions are also tricky (approving for that year but not approving the new open enrollment selections too soon- based on payroll dates).
Open enrollment is a nightmare on the backend. Sadly, I always run a report before I submit the new information as I've had open enrollment details not push to our EDI carriers properly. At the time, I was glad I had the report otherwise my employees would have had to do open enrollment all over again.
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend the HR system over the Payroll system 10x over. The payroll system has many more glitches and workarounds; however, if you are like our organization you want an integrated product. If you are a smaller organization and have the time to reverify the report information, I would recommend the HR piece. The ESS system is a strong positive for us!
VU
Verified User
Director in Human Resources (Computer & Network Security company, 51-200 employees)
We use Ascentis HR for our entire organization of around 50 employees. We use it as our electronic HR file which holds employee elections such as benefits enrollment and waivers, w-4 elections, etc. We also store employee documents such as employment agreements, evaluations, and check-ins, or other documentation that is determined to be added to their file. Employees access their files through the Employee Self-service site which allows them to see pay stubs, request time off, update personal information, etc. Supervisors also have access to certain aspects of their direct reports file, such as approving time off and seeing past performance evaluations. This is also where we house internal documents (e.g. employee handbook, benefits information, etc.) so employees can refer there to find them.
Pros
As an employee, having access to my personnel file at any time is great. If there is an update to be made employees can make it themselves rather than fill out some update form, submit, and wait for it to get updated.
There is a link between our payroll system and Ascentis HR which almost seamlessly connects the two. If an employee updates their direct deposit information our payroll software knows. As administrators, we have to approve any changes, but the employee initiates. So, when the direct deposit comes back as undelivered due to the wrong account, the only person there is to blame is the employee themselves who put in the wrong information.
The payroll simulator is a great planning tool. It helps employees to get an idea of what the impact of different changes would have on their net check. Examples include: receiving a raise, changing your retirement election percentages, changing from a traditional 401k to a Roth, changing your exemptions, etc.
There is a fair amount of learning and set-up when getting the system but once it's set up it's easy to run and maintain.
Cons
For administrators, the Employee Manager application can be a little difficult to use at times. Trying to find where a field is, or what particular field is that needs updated (there are a couple different attachment areas with different purposes, but not initially clear what's what)
For administrators, the report running functionality is pretty good but it can be a bit clunky, and the export doesn't always come across in a useable format. Sometimes it's is a clunky text file, others in excel CSV file that's hard to format. There are several 'wizard' steps to go through to run reports and lots of options as you walk through the steps. It means you can really customize your report, but it also means that it can take you many many tries and time to get the report you are wanting. The good thing is though you can save your wizard settings if you will be rerunning the report.
For administrators, we have to access the management functions through a remote desktop. Sometimes that connection is slow or has issues. Also, it adds an added step when trying to upload documents to employee files, download report exports, or you just want to open a web browser to look something up while you are in there (there are very few pages you can navigate to). It would be nice if the application was web-based without opening a remote desktop.
Likelihood to Recommend
I think Ascentis HR is well suited for most aspects of employee activities. Everything from the employee file and elections to employment information and payroll support. We run our annual open enrollment through Ascentis HR and, while it's not perfect, it is still a great way to complete the process. We have eliminated almost all paper documents when it comes to employees and I couldn't be more pleased about that!
VU
Verified User
C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting (Management Consulting company, 11-50 employees)
We currently use Ascentis for all HR related transactions such as recruitment, onboarding, benefits, ACA compliance, and reporting. It is mainly used by HR and recruitment. It addresses all business problems across HR and recruitment.
Pros
The Ascentis Recruitment ATS is really good. It is web based and it is easy to work with.
The Employee Self Service is also a good feature that is offered by Ascentis. It is easy to access and very user-friendly.
The onboarding feature is an excellent resource to have. It streamlines the onboarding process and it makes it easy for new hires to complete their paperwork ahead of time and it helps with keeping the completion of forms paperless.
Cons
The biggest drawback for me is the HRIS side of the house. It is not web based making it very difficult to access it over the web at any time from any where. The whole HRIS side needs to be completely redone so better easy and functionality. Make it web based and a lot easier to use. I really did not fully understand how the HRIS side of the house worked before purchasing a three year agreement with Ascentis. If I had known that the HRIS side was desktop based, I probably would not have signed up with Ascentis.
Reports in the HRIS could be greatly improved. It Is not easy to pull reports from the system. There are so many steps you have to complete in order to get the report needed.
The benefits setup wizard through the Ascentis HRIS is very difficult and a tedious process. There are a gain lots of steps to take in order for a benefit to be placed properly.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis allows you to handle a lot of different HR transactions which is really nice to have but some areas are better than others. I highly recommend the ATS Recruitment side of the house. The HRIS side needs to be completely improved.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Human Resources (Information Technology and Services company, 51-200 employees)
We implemented Ascentis HR in November of 2017 and currently use it across the organization as our HRIS and ATS systems. Our entire organization uses the Employee Self Service Portal, Performance Management, Timekeeping and Recruiting. Our HR department utilizes it for Recruiting and all other programs. Our Payroll department stayed with ADP when we made the transition to Ascentis.
Pros
Recruiting-Posting positions and pulling job descriptions from the JD library is easy to do
Onboarding- this is a one-stop shop for onboarding! I love that the applicant can sign all new hire paperwork through the system before they are hired
Employee Self Service Portal-love the widgets!
Cons
Implementation- when going through each phase of implementation, we felt like the implementation rep would run us through their program and immediately toss us over to support, whether we were ready or not.
Training- We needed MUCH more training than we received during implementation. This was a HUGE disappointment to us.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis has some good points but overall we have been VERY disappointed with this HRIS. We were sold something that doesn't look like the product we received. The customer support has been VERY slow to respond and the excuse was always the same "well, it's ACA season so..." We have been disappointed in the implementation process as well. Most of the implementation was done by us, a 2 person HR team, which took up HOURS of time.
VU
Verified User
Representative in Human Resources (Information Technology and Services company, 501-1000 employees)
Ascentis HR is being used as part of our total HRIS. As a relatively new user, in addition to HR, we're implementing recruiting, onboarding, performance, and a learning management system. Having everything under one umbrella solves the problem of having multiple systems to manage people.
Pros
Ascentis HR is easy to use.
In addition to standard reports, Ascentis HR allows you to create special/custom reports.
Customer support is very attentive to responding to new user questions.
Cons
Using many features of Ascentis (performance, LMS, recruiting, onboarding), the HR portion has a separate log in from the employee self-service portal. I would like a single sign-in feature.
I would like to see my employees be able to access company documents relative to HR such as an employee handbook.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ascentis would be well suited for organizations looking to capture and store HR records. Get rid of the paper!
Ascentis HR would not be for small companies with few employees. The initial data entry and set up is time consuming.
VU
Verified User
Director in Human Resources (Research company, 51-200 employees)
