UltiPro

Pros

I like the ease of use of the tool. It's user friendly and there's so much you can do in the software. UltiPro is always finding new ways of making their tool better and I love that part.

Cons

What do I like least about this is that there's not an assigned payroll specialist to a company.. Even if the option is to pay extra per year to have one. If we have a payroll person who needs help or they resign and we are left payroll person-less, it would be nice to have a designated person to assist... Only other thing I didn't like the most is that the Performance Management module isn't as customizable as I'd like... would love the option to make all items editable and the option to remove/hide certain drop downs, etc..

Pros

The level of customization and the ability to create our own fields is highly valued. This is also an easy system to train new Admins on, and has a crisp and clean appearance.

Cons

There are some improvements needed within UltiPro, especially in Time Management. There are things that we would like improved, but the nice thing about Ultimate Software is you can submit an Idea for an improvement and vote on other ideas. Ultimate takes these Ideas seriously, and rolls out improvements quarterly.

Pros

Please ignore the "Pros" and "Cons" headers. This review was written as a whole. My company transferred from PayChex to UltiPro in mid-2018. To be fair to UltiPro, the undersigned was not present for any kind of sales pitch, and is not familiar with any of the promises that were made by the UltiPro reps to our company executives. The decision to make the transition was executed without the knowledge or input of the undersigned, who handles approximately 220 employees in a fast-paced, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, high-turnover retail operation. Most of our employees are hourly entry-level retail staff.

The transition was extremely painful, and we received very poor support from the UltiPro transition team, all the while trying to run the regular, already-demanding day-to-day business of our 24/7 organization. Their “support” consisted of providing us with a number of empty spreadsheets, and expecting us to extract an excruciating amount of employee data from PayChex and enter it into their spreadsheet in their alien format.

Again, the undersigned was not present for any sales pitch. I would strongly advise any company considering a transition of this kind to insist that UltiPro shoulder the burden of the transition i.e. give them full and complete access to any information retained by your previous payroll/HR provider, and insist that they and their team transfer the data. Confidentiality of information, while always a concern, should not be an issue – UltiPro is going to have the same information retained by your current payroll provider regardless of who transfers the data.

Even in a perfect world, where UltiPro shouldered the burden as described above, some additional work is bound to fall upon your shoulders. In my case, a perfect example was the implementation of a more automated paid-time-off (PTO) accrual system and accompanying PTO request/tracking system. Our company had always done this manually, meaning that the undersigned would have to calculate each qualifying employee’s vacation and/or sick leave time and submit it to UltiPro.

Calculation and submission of this information to UltiPro through their spreadsheet was a considerable but gladly-accepted chore, given the expected benefit of an automated PTO system. A spreadsheet was completed and submitted to UltiPro for implementation into their system. Several months later, while preparing to go “live”, UltiPro informed the undersigned that they would need updated PTO totals. I always love to spend hour upon hour repeating tedious, mind-numbing work. But we’re not done yet:

After going live & receiving numerous calls from frustrated employees complaining that they were receiving errors whenever they attempted to request vacation time, the undersigned discovered that most of the PTO balances submitted to the UltiPro transition team in the spreadsheets had not accurately transferred into the UltiPro “TIME” module. Almost all of my employees had a balance of zero. The UltiPro transition team’s assurance that they would manually compare the spreadsheet with the balances and make the appropriate corrections went unfulfilled, whether due to technical or human error, and one of the undersigned’s co-workers was tasked with checking each of the balances one-by-one.

Cons

Another major disappointment with UltiPro is the number of different modules. There is the UltiPro CORE module. There is the UltiPro TIME module. There is the UltiPro TIME OFF AND ALLOWANCE module. There is the UltiPro BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Module. There is the UltiPro CUSTOMER SUCCESS PORTAL, which not only requires a separate login and password, but UltiPro recommends you use the Internet Explorer browser when utilizing it, while recommending the Google Chrome browser for the others. The separate modules leave plenty to be desired in the transfer of information between them i.e. a change to any one piece of employee data may be require multiple entries – one for each module. Multiple modules also mean multiple different departments you may need to contact if you have an urgent issue you need resolved. If you are hoping (as I was) that UltiPro would mean only one phone number or one representative that could handle any of your customer service issues, forget it.

Another major disappointment: with the transition from PayChex to UltiPro, we went from having a payroll processing deadline of 4pm for next-day delivery to a payroll processing deadline of 12pm for second-day delivery of hard-copy paychecks. To be fair, every time the undersigned has failed to meet this infeasible deadline (to wit: every single payroll), UltiPro has been able to get the checks to us on the 2nd day following completion. But if a holiday falls between completion of your payroll and your company payday, your employees will not see their hard-copy paychecks until the 3rd day following completion.

Another: their inability to customize the interface for our company’s needs vs. the needs of all their other clients. Example: while entering newly-hired employee data into their system, there are (as would be reasonably expected) a multitude of data fields to complete: i.e. name, SSN, address, hourly rate, etc. etc. One of the necessary fields UltiPro requires for every employee is TIME ZONE. Our company only operates in the U.S. central time zone. Can the system be set up so that this field automatically defaults to U.S. Central Standard Time? Nope. Why not? Because other UltiPro clients operate in other time zones, or in multiple time zones. Repeat this “because our other clients…” answer for a substantial number of other required data fields. It’s simply more chances for things to be entered incorrectly; more invitations for other complications and issues.

Another: as issues, difficulties or complications arise, UltiPro expects you reduce the problem you are having to writing for entry into their separate CUSTOMER SUCCESS PORTAL, where you receive a claim number, and hopefully a response of some kind within 24 hours. Describing an issue in writing is often challenging & time-consuming, depending upon the complexity of the issue, even for someone with exceptional writing skills. If you’re lucky, your problem might have an easy solution. If not, you might engage in a friendly little game of phone tag over the course of the next few days. I’m sure UltiPro loves this complaint system, as it most likely serves to discourage complaints or service requests from being made at all. To be fair, there is an UltiPro Rapid Response phone number, but they ask that you use this line only for urgent matters affecting a payroll with a payday within 72 hours of your call.

I have yet to experience the standard end-of-year duties and chores with our new UltiPro system. I’m sure it will be an absolute delight, all things considered. I’m afraid. Very afraid. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and if you are considering making this transition, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL.

Pros

The up-time is great. Wish we had more active notification when things are down. Notifications go out a few hours after they start and usually after I've called in and been told it's a known issue.

Cons

Some ease of use items don't exist or we've been waiting a few years since they were suggested in the share ideas portal. As a couple of examples:
-A basic copy of open enrollment or life event set up was suggested at least 3 years ago. It was added to benefits prime, but not regular benefits. That's a basic feature that all of your competitors offer.
-The ability to change an email address for a new employee in onboarding has been request for multiple years as well. It still hasn't been delivered.

Pros

There are a few good things I like about UltiPro. I like their reporting system and having a wide-range of reports available by a click and no need to recreate a new report. They also offer reports you never thought you would use, but after using it is a great tool and resource to have! The online customer success portal is a nice feature to help you find the answer you are looking for, but also having an option to create a case and have a representative look into your question and contact you via phone or email to resolve.

The app is getting better and better and our employees utilize the app the most to have their information at their fingertips.

It is difficult to break something in the software, but they offer a "sandbox" where you can test out the system or different products to test it out. They also offer a lot of workflow processes to where you set up the approvals for each item or activity that is changed on an employee profile or can set it up with no approvals and changes automatically.

Cons

We are not big fans of the Learning Management Module they offer with their system. It is a 3rd party site and doesn't incorporate well with the Core side of the system. However it does work and is an option to stay within the UltiPro system. Just takes a little adjustment to get used to and work with other parties to import content.