TrustRadius Insights for PDS Vista are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Vista HRMS has received positive feedback from users in several key areas. Many users have found the system to be flexible and capable, allowing for customization of fields, procedures, wizards, and reports to meet their specific business processes. Numerous reviewers have praised the user-friendly and intuitive nature of Vista HRMS, noting that employees require minimal training or documentation to navigate the system effectively. Users also appreciate the excellent customer service provided by PDS, the company behind Vista HRMS, with prompt responses to questions and problems. Additionally, several users highlight the seamless interface between Vista HRMS and their accounting software, making it easy to update the general ledger accurately. Overall, users express satisfaction with Vista HRMS as an all-in-one solution for their HR, benefits, and payroll needs.
We use PDS Vista for both our payroll and HRMS system. We use it for recruiting and onboarding, in addition to benefits and time keeping.
Pros
Customizations
Cons
Onboarding
Recruiting
File Management
Automations/Workflows
Technical Issues
Likelihood to Recommend
I don't believe that PDS Vista has progressed enough to keep up with the needs of most businesses. Particularly those who wish to use a singular system as opposed to a piecemealed database.
VU
Verified User
Professional in Human Resources (501-1000 employees)
We are implementing Vista HRMS across the entire Perkins organization. It addresses the business problems of having disconnected HR and payroll systems and no time and attendance system. It also enables workflow, self-service, and better reporting.
Pros
Seems intuitive, well organized
Mostly configurable--just a few customizations required
Reporting structure is well defined and ready for reporting
Cons
Vista Time system is a different product, but it's integrated. Sold as "one system"
Not yet fully accessible for Screen Reader users so we are working with PDS on a solution
Likelihood to Recommend
We have not gone live yet, but the product seems solid. It has alot of features for the price (features like self-service, mobile, reporting, and core HR/Payroll). Our biggest challenges have come in the implementation. We are a fairly large non-profit, so the level of effort and complexity for our implementation may have been underestimated. The PDS "team" has been primarily one implementation resource who is very knowledgeable, but they work almost exclusively off site and in a different time-zone. And, they are not full-time on our project, so there are some gaps we need to work around. This has presented some challenges in communication between our team and theirs. Also, PDS is hosting the application for us which should alleviate most of the technical work, but the setup was a bit complex. This is my perspective, and these challenges may not exist for smaller companies just looking to put in core HR and Payroll.
VU
Verified User
Vice-President in Information Technology (501-1000 employees)
It is used across the whole organization. It provides more detail to our users for payroll and benefits. It also allows us to use the data and integrate other data from other systems to report out information and tie in employment and demographic information. It allows our admins to spend less time manually updating data as well.
Pros
Security - flexibility to a wide variety of types of users.
Expansion - When acquisitions happen it was quick to add a company.
User Exp - Users find it easy to navigate and find what they need.
Cons
Job History - Too many areas that dates populate.
ATS - There is a lack of flexibility for applicants when applying for multiple jobs.
Searching - The functionality is a little limited, would be nice to type in any information on a person and search.
Likelihood to Recommend
Vista has been great for our business as we expand and have to add in other company information but yet still be able to provide the tailored experience for the new company. I previously worked in ADP and Paylocity, having the ability to get in on the back end and make changes is a big plus.
Vista is the HRMS we currently use to produce our bi-weekly net payroll and W-2s. Everyone in the company has access to review individual payroll information. Payroll has enhanced reporting and interface capabilities that produce post processing journal entry interfaces, documentation to support account balances in our general ledger and all data necessary to stay compliant with federal and state agencies.
Pros
Vista allows us to have different "Distribution" areas within each FEIN. These distribution types sort and subtotal by type and then provide a grand total for the FEIN. We can organize more efficiently and have subtotals by distribution available to management in a very timely manner.
Navigating through Vista is extremely intuitive. You don't have to memorize screen names, labels or numbers to find information.
The standard report process quickly and can be save in excel for sorting and analysis.
Cons
Due to our established SOX requirements, we do a lot of screen prints. There are many screens that have a printer icon facilitate this process. There are instances in which we need to drill down and require a screen print from a different level, the printer icon is there, but it prints without the employee's name or number which is not adequate.
There are times we would prefer to key specific information rather than choose a validated item from a drop down screen.
We have multiple FEINs, companies, districts and distributions. There are a few areas/screens where it is difficult to see exactly what company, etc you are working on in the table set ups. We have gotten in the habit of triple checking the company.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for any size organization. It has employee self-service capabilities that will allow an employee to view payroll details, W2s, change their individual addresses, change direct deposit information and make W-4 elections.
We use it for payroll and human resources within a department of 3. We use it for all of our HR and Payroll needs. It allows all functions of HR to be stored within the system. Has a vast tracking system for all employee information.
Pros
User-friendly and easy to learn.
Reporting options through Crystal Reporting.
The best support team when something is not right, especially if they are aware that you are currently running payroll.
Cons
If you manually input a transaction into the payroll entry screen once payroll is run you can no longer see that transaction. It would be nice to be able to see a history of all transactions per employee.
Future changes cannot be made on the HR side during the payroll processing time frame or the changes will occur during the current payroll. For example, if someone is getting a wage increase it cannot be future dated because payroll will pick it up even though it is future dated.
Likelihood to Recommend
We like having the control of processing payroll on site, this is new for us. The system is efficient and user-friendly. We did not have an HRIS system before and did everything manually through spreadsheets. This system has brought our department to a new level of professionalism.
Currently, it's being used in the HR department with the intention to deliver it across the organization shortly - opportunity to leverage operational factors such as analytics, leave accrual, emergency contacts, recruitment etc.
Pros
We can evolve reports to produce metrics that fit the specific needs of the organization. A user can define and create what they need, or contact PDS for assistance. Our ideas don't seem to be impossible - confident that the system can drill into any metric we can think of.
Customer support from PDS is fantastic. They respond to our inquiries quickly and professionally.
All-in-one package -- this is helpful with planning how to deploy modules without breaking the bank.
Cons
Visually, it can improve. It may not be as "cool" as other systems on the market, but the functionality makes up for that tenfold.
Upgrades do not always go smoothly on our end but there are diverse factors involved here. We also resolve the issues quickly with PDS.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for providing a dashboard for your employees where analytics are presented and you can drill down into particular details; when you require workflow to occur (i.e. to manage leave accrual) for recruitment and succession planning; goal setting and performance reviews; etc. If you need a tool that looks "cool" and is not so dependent on your skills to develop the system, you may not feel this system is right for you.
We use Vista for all HR and PR processing and record keeping. We have about 50 managers with access to see employee information but most of the managers have read only access. Hope to enhance the use of the system in the coming years. Right now we have a few users in the accounting PR department and a few users in the HR department which I manage.
Pros
Good at record retention and ease of historical data for recall and report writing. We use the entire employee benefits processing function and it works very well.
Good flexibility for payroll processing and special pay runs and bonus calculations.
Cons
It's pretty stressful to get hit with multiple releases at the end of the calendar year when we are already stressed about getting our year end processes completed. One suggestion might be to rank the error warnings in some way that gives them a severity rating, or maybe something that tells you this is a recurring warning that you might have already reviewed at the last release, and this time around you can ignore it again rather than investigate it.
Employee self-service is easy to use. We have challenges getting security to work properly for people who don't use the system on a regular basis. We are going to try giving our employees cards to write their log on and password on it.
Likelihood to Recommend
I think it is well suited for most any HR or PR application. The trick is to get the right orientation and training up front and then after implementation. We failed to set up several things properly and we are still playing catch up but that is most likely our own fault. Making sure companies have a realistic understanding of the resource commitment is critical. A comprehensive HRIS package is every bit as complicated as most MRP packages, but most IT managers and C-Suite executives will not agree that the resources dedicated to the success of the HRIS package may rival that of a good MRP package.
We use PDS’ Vista HRMS application for HR, benefits, and payroll for ourselves (the Lee County Clerk of Courts) and also Lee County government, airport and court administration employees. Additionally, we track benefits for retirees and twelve other agencies that utilize the county’s benefit plans. All total, there are approximately 5,000 active employees and enrollees. The clerk of courts maintains the application and develops any custom programs.
Pros
Vista HRMS is very flexible, it does everything we need for HR, benefits and payroll. It’s user-friendly and intuitive to use, when we roll out new self-service items our employees have no problems and require minimal training or documentation.
PDS has excellent customer service and support. We get answers to the majority of our questions and problems quickly, within the day that we call. More complex issues that may require PDS’ technical support are usually addressed within a few days. We were upgrading our production servers to Windows 2012 over a weekend and a key person in our organization was on leave. When we checked with PDS to see what cost would be involved if we needed their help, they said it was included in our regular maintenance, no extra cost.
The PDS User’s Conference is an excellent learning opportunity for training on everything Vista does, including using Crystal Reports for custom reporting. You also get to meet and talk to the executive and development staff and have direct input into the future product development.
Cons
The time entry features historically weren’t robust enough for our needs so we went with a separate application. We haven’t evaluated Vista’s current improvements so it may be better now. We do use the leave accrual processing in Vista though and it works perfectly.
Sometimes we have trouble reporting on our old historical data. PDS has improved their history and reporting on it, we need to review our data. We would like to have PDS add employer benefit costs to history though.
Likelihood to Recommend
Self-service provides immediate access for employees
Open enrollment is so easy, our HR staff love it
Fully integrated HR, benefits and payroll information means less errors and saves time
Vista HRMS is used across our entire organization for HR data, benefits enrollment and payroll processing.
Pros
We have total control of our data. It's awesome having it in a single database! Custom reports through Crystal are easy to create, and to post on Vista for others to access.
Based upon their security level, managers can have access to data about their subordinates, without having to request this info from HR or Payroll
Annual Open Enrollment for benefits is completely on-line and easy for everyone to complete.
Payroll processing is easy to review and complete.
We have a large workforce in warehouse jobs where they receive auto increases based upon the time they are in their job. Vista HRMS easily tracks this, processes the auto increases on the correct dates and sends out an e-mail to HR and the manager when the increase was processed.
Cons
We do not utilize the performance appraisal process in Vista because our process requires our employees to have individual goals that are tracked and measured in addition to the traditional competencies.
We have a very involved bonus calculation process which Vista is not able to support
We currently use another product for Time and Attendance because we've been with that system well before Vista added it to their functionality.
Likelihood to Recommend
The best feature of Vista HRMS, in my opinion, is the integration of data into a single database. You can easily generate reports and create metrics to compare or analyze anything that we chose to track within the system. We track everything from certification/education, drug tests, I-9 information, to position history and salary increase history.
