2012 Review of Sage HRMS 2012

Sage – Sage HRMS 2012
866-271-6050
na.sage.com/sage-hrms

From the October 2012 review of professional payroll systems.

Best Firm Fit: Organizations seeking a comprehensive in-house solution to manage payroll and human resource functions for up to 1,000 employees

Strengths

• Strong SQL database platform to ensure data is shared accurately
• Ability to process US and Canadian payroll
• Employee history is available at any time without changing years
• Two licenses of SAP Crystal Reports included to enhance reporting needs

Potential Limitations

• Only available as onsite server/workstation/desktop solution
• Electronic filing of forms is handled by third party

[Read a First-Hand user experience of Sage HRMS here.]

Sage HRMS is the newly rebranded payroll and human resource management solution from Sage. Formerly known as Sage Abra HRMS, the functions and capabilities largely remain unchanged from previous releases. Sage HRMS serves as an entry-level solution and contains many tools necessary to fully manage payroll and HR functions. Built on a SQL database, Sage HRMS contains payroll compliance reporting functions as well as comprehensive benefits administration.

Basic System Functions: 4.75 Stars

Sage HRMS is an in-house payroll solution designed for companies under 1,000 employees. The interface design is similar to Microsoft Outlook 2007/2010 with a list of general categories on the bottom left of the screen. All tasks associated with these general categories are displayed directly above the list.

Sage HRMS allows each of these tasks to be tailored based on organization needs and may include direct links to various actions and reports within the system. Data entry is generally intuitive and most screens are tab driven.

Sage HRMS allows unlimited earnings and deduction codes for each employee. All federal, state, unemployment, disability and workers compensation functions are built into the system and are available for tracking. Users may also setup various benefit, retirement and cafeteria plan items as necessary.

Each benefit item may be directly linked to the human resource management features to avoid duplicate data entry. Since each module is shared across the same SQL database, information is automatically updated in each module when payroll is processed.

Unlimited payroll runs may be processed through the system. As each payroll is processed, historical employee data is immediately updated and available through reports.

The payroll process is guided through a dashboard screen with shortcut icons attached to each step. Time entry may be accomplished through manual data entry or import from Microsoft Excel and Access as well as text file formats.

Each time card may pull from a preformatted template that may be reused for future payroll runs to maintain consistency with data import options. Upon final processing and posting of payroll data, direct deposit data may be generated and processed. Sage HRMS allows for unlimited processing of direct deposit data. Alternatively, employees may be issued payroll debit cards, though that service is provided at an additional fee.

Sage HRMS provides a number of human resource functions in addition to payroll. As part of the same system, data is easily shared between the modules for accurate payroll processing. Since the modules share the same SQL database platform, HR data remains live even while payroll is being processed.

This allows multiple users to be in the program simultaneously and allows for continuous updates and data entry. An unlimited number of benefit plans and options may be setup and tracked within the system. Additionally, all appropriate eligibility criteria and wage base information may be entered and tracked to ensure all benefits are calculated properly.

Reporting & Monitoring: 4.5 Stars

SAP Crystal Reports serves as the reporting module for Sage HRMS and two SAP Crystal Reports licenses are provided with each installation. This allows users to create and maintain a wide variety of reports based on need.