estratex Updates: External Notes

Transcription

1 estratex Updates: External Notes 2017, Release 1 This weekend we will deploy updates to our estratex software system. Please use this document as a resource to stay up-to-date with changes and improvements that you may encounter in estratex. If you have any questions about these updates and how they may affect your company of employees, please contact your Service Team. Highlights: We are incredibly excited to announce major enhancements to the estratex user interface! In order to make these features available to you as quickly as possible, we have focused efforts on the most heavily-used pages in the system Myself, Team and the NEW Management tab. As has been communicated over the past few months, our goal with this change is to improve the user experience. We hope you find the new pages more intuitive and functional. See below for a few before and after pictures, and the full release notes for details about improvements to functionality. We understand this will be a pronounced change for you and your users. To help in the transition, we have guides posted in the Help Center that will answer many questions users may have. Click here for answers for frequently asked questions and help navigating in the new pages. Page 1 of 11

2 In this release: 1. Managing Employees 1.1. Visual improvements have been made to the estratex user interface Added Management Tab 1.3. Profile Overview Updates 1.4. Position Updates 1.5. Professional Background Updates 1.6. Status Changes Updates (Termination, Leave of Absence, Re-Hire) 1.7. Documents & Forms Updates 2. Reporting 2.1. Terminated employees have been added to the Employee Discipline Records report template and the Quick Notes report. 3. Performance 3.1. Progressive Discipline Updates 4. Payroll 4.1. Direct Deposit Updates 4.2. Pay Change Updates 4.3. Pay Information Updates 4.4. New Page: Total Compensation 5. Benefits 5.1. New Benefits Summary Page 6. Timekeeping 6.1. Time Away From Work Updates 6.2. Various updates for estratex timesheets 6.3. A company setting for default Unpaid Time Off has been added. 7. Other 7.1. New I-9 Page 2 of 11

3 1. Managing Employees 1.1. Visual improvements have been made to the estratex user interface. Item Identified: We wanted to update the look and feel of commonly used pages in estratex. Resolution: We have made visual improvements (as well as some functional improvements) to the Myself, Team, and Management tabs in estratex. We re confident you will find the new pages more intuitive easier to find, easier to use, and more informational Added Management Tab Item Identified: Based on feedback from Admin users, we wanted to split the current Team tab into Team and Management tabs. Resolution: This has been done. The Team tab can be used as a filterable directory of active employees. The Management tab contains manager dashboards you currently have access to (e.g. Performance Dashboard, Timekeeping Dashboard, Recruitment Dashboard, etc.). This change will make it much easier to navigate between employee profiles and various dashboards Profile Overview Updates Item Identified: We wanted to consolidate some of the pages in estratex that are typically fields in a profile page the old Profile Overview, Contact Information, and Name & SSN and give the page a facelift. Page 3 of 11

4 Resolution: The new Profile Overview page has been built as a useful landing page when navigating to a specific employee page in estratex. Basic employment information can be found on the left side of the screen, under the employee s profile image, name, and contact information. Also included are two main sections on the right side of the screen Contact Information and Demographic Information making editing employee information much easier. The settings button found in the upper right hand side of the Profile Overview contains settings (Employment Status, Spokeware ID, Workflow Groups, Daily OT Threshold, Spokeware Allotted Lunch, and Custom Data) that used to be found on the Name & SSN page Position Updates Item Identified: We wanted to update the position page in estratex. Resolution: We have combined the Position and Position Details page into one new Position page, which is now in the Career Profile dropdown. You ll find two tabs here Position and History. On the position tab, you can view basics and edit a current position and add additional positions (if using multiple positions). The History tab shows position history (previously on the Position Detail page), with the option to download the data in CSV format Professional Background Updates Item Identified: We wanted to consolidate and visually update the Work History, Education, References, and Skills pages. Resolution: This has been done! The new Professional Background page provides an easy place to access all of this information. Tabs exist for each of the four categories Work History, Education, References, and Page 4 of 11

5 Skills. New records can be added using the add button on the respective tabs, and existing records may be edited or deleted using the buttons next to their titles. An audit button at the bottom left will display details of any changes made to the page Status Changes Updates (Termination, Leave of Absence, Re-Hire) Item Identified: We wanted to visually update and consolidate status change pages. Resolution: We ve added a new page Status Changes to the Career Profile dropdown. This page combines the old Status Changes pages including Termination, Leave of Absence, and Re-Hire. A wizard has been added to guide you through any actions you need to take on this page, just press the Add button to begin, select the type of change you need to process, and follow the instructions in each step. For more detailed information on how to use the Status Changes wizard, see the help center Documents & Forms Updates Item Identified: We wanted to consolidate and visually update estratex pages related to Documents & Forms. Resolution: We have combined Document Library, Company Documents, W4 Information, I-9 Management, Year End Documents, and Immigration Documents into a new Documents & Forms page. The page will simplify the process of finding documents in employee profiles. You ll find tabs for the Document Library, Tax Forms, I-9, Company Documents, Immigration Documents, and Year End Documents. All editing of tax forms and I-9s can now be done from this page. For more detailed instructions, please see the help center! Page 5 of 11

6 2. Reporting 2.1. Terminated employees have been added to the Employee Discipline Records report template and the Quick Notes report. Item Identified: We wanted to include terminated employees on the Employee Discipline Records report template and the Quick Notes report, as these are often used for unemployment claims. Resolution: Terminated employees will be included on the reports. We have added a column for employment status as well to make filtering easier. 3. Performance 3.1. Progressive Discipline Updates I t e m I d e n Item Identified: We wanted to give functionality an update along with the look and feel for Progressive Discipline. Resolution: Progressive Discipline will now be focused on discipline steps, rather than points as in the past. With the new page, an Action Sequence can be set up for each behavior tracked in Progressive Discipline. For example, an action sequence of three verbal warnings, one written warning, suspension, and termination could be set up for an employee being late (behavior: Tardiness). Now, when entering a record of for the Tardiness behavior on Progressive Discipline, the system will recommend the action to be taken as well as the action to be taken the next time that behavior occurs. The new page functionality will be easier to use and more in line with company policies. For more details, please see the help center. Page 6 of 11

7 4. Payroll 4.1. Direct Deposit Updates Item Identified: We wanted to make the Direct Deposit setup easier to use to work towards eliminating errors that cause unwanted paper checks to be printed. Resolution: We gave the Direct Deposit page a facelift and introduced a wizard to guide users through the setup process! To initiate the wizard, click the Add button on the top right-hand side of the page, and follow five steps to add a new account. Existing accounts may be edited or deleted at any time using the buttons in the last column of the table Pay Change Updates Item Identified: We wanted to improve the Pay Change page visually and functionally. Resolution: Yer a wizard, Pay Change! Please see the help center for more information. Page 7 of 11

8 4.3. Pay History Updates Item Identified: We wanted to consolidate the Pay Stubs and Pay History page to make it easier to see detailed information on employee paychecks. Resolution: "Pay Stubs" and "Pay History" have been combined into a single "Pay History" page. In addition to the ability to download individual pay stubs and pay history report(s) for a date range of your choice, a chart has been added, empowering you to visualize employee earnings and deductions by month Pay Information Updates Item Identified: We wanted to consolidate Earnings, Deductions, and Taxes, and Taxable Wages into one page to simplify reviewing and updating employee Pay Information. Resolution: This has been done. Earnings, Deductions, and Taxes can now be viewed in their own tabs on the Pay Information page. Filters are available to the right of the chart for FEIN, Year, Quarter, and Active vs. All items. You can add items to the page using the add button, and edit using the button in the last column in each table. If you use multiple rates, those can be added to an earning by clicking the edit button in the last column in the Earnings table. Please see the help center for more detailed instructions! Page 8 of 11

9 4.5. New Page: Total Compensation Item Identified: We wanted to add a Total Compensation page. Resolution: We are happy to introduce a new page designed to help you better understand compensation in its various forms. The Total Compensation page will include details about Earnings, Employer-Paid Benefits, an estimate of Tax Savings resulting from pre-tax deferrals, and Time Away From Work accrued. 5. Benefits 5.1. New Benefits Summary Page Item Identified: We wanted to improve the visibility of historical Benefit elections and incorporate a new audit trail. Resolution: With our new Benefits Summary page, we have incorporated the previous Dependents page, as well as added more details to the summary itself. The Summary page now includes the option to filter the view based on Plan Year and Benefit Tier. All associated benefit documents can now be accessed by using the new Benefit Documents link on the page. In addition, we re introducing a new audit trail that will capture all future election updates made. With this new audit trail, you ll be able to more easily track benefit changes made moving forward. Page 9 of 11

10 6. Timekeeping 6.1. Time Away From Work Updates Item Identified: We wanted to improve the employee and manager experience when using the TAFW module. Resolution: We have updated both the employee TAFW page and the manager TAFW Dashboard (under the new Management tab). To request Time Away From Work, employees can click the Request button on the TAFW Page (now under Time & Labor) and follow instructions four quick steps. We have added the ability for users to enter the start and end time of day for each request to give a more detailed view of when custom hours will be taken. The new TAFW Manager dashboard on the Management tab allows managers to view, approve, and deny requests for TAFW from a calendar or list view. The filter can be used to narrow down the list of requests to direct reports only, and by the status and location of the request. The new pages will streamline the process of requesting and approving time off and provide a clearer view both of what time is available to employees as well as for managers when planning shifts. Page 10 of 11

11 6.2. Various updates for estratex timesheets Item Identified: Several rare issues with pay rate calculation and display on timesheets were identified. Resolution: Our Product Development team worked quickly to fix these issues and release the fixes throughout our development cycle A company setting for default Unpaid Time Off has been added. Item Identified: When recording unpaid time off at punch out, the system defaulted to 0 minutes. We wanted to add the option to change the default amount of minutes. Resolution: This has been done! If you would like to update your company s default, please contact your service team. 7. Other 7.1. New I-9 Item Identified: USCIS has released a new Form I-9 that employers must use starting January 21 st, Resolution: This new form has been built into the system, replacing the previous electronic form I-9 in new hire and employee profiles. The form in the system mirrors the new paper form and is fully compliant. In the near future, we will be building out features included in the fillable version of the form. These features are intended to assist users in their completion of the form and are not required in order to be compliant. Page 11 of 11