Should I Migrate From Abra Suite to Sage HRMS SQL?

_______________________Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Paralea Boose, CPA, CITP, CGMASr. Business Analyst/Consultant

Today’s Presenter

Paralea BooseCPA, CITP, CGMASr. Business Analyst, Certified Trainer

and Sage Business Partner

• Over 25 years in accounting, HR solutions

• Sage Certified trainer and consultant for Abra HRMS plus some ERP solutions as well

• Prior industry roles include Controller, Regional Financial Manager, and Staff Accountant

• 15+ years of experience with Sage HRMS

Agenda

Differences in platforms What will I gain? What will I lose? How long will it take to migrate? What happens to my Crystal Reports?

Difference in Platforms

Abra Suite is a FoxPro database

Sage HRMS is a SQL database SQL offers more security options on your

network SQL offers better backup/restore routines for

your IT Department SQL has better scalability, and can handle

many more transactions SQL offers faster search results and report

computations SQL has built-in file corruption protection

Difference in Platforms

Employee Self Service will be an upgrade, but will look essentially the same New option for pay stubs to be a pdf which is

customizable with Sage HRMS Payroll

Payroll will be an entirely new

implementation!

Setups are different

Screens are different

Tasks are different

Processes are similar but different

What do I gain? HR/Time Off/Train Changes to HR, Time Off and Train

Screens and tasks will still appear basically the same (new look coming in HRMS 2016!)

New Employee Quick Find (name or id) Time Off can store different Maximum

Available and Maximum Carry Over amounts by seniority level instead of by plan

Store Alternate Email address for each employee

Store a Time Off Service Date Step rates in salary grades Access to Canadian forms and OHS screens

if install Canadian portion

What do I gain? Payroll

Establish a Pay tab for employees Payroll defaults from here, timecards are

only used for exceptions (deduction overrides, hourly employees whose hours fluctuate each week, etc.)

Overtime Schedules Calculate overtime on earnings codes

Worker’s Comp Schedules/Groups Allows for workers comp rates to be grouped

by state, etc. Shift Schedules/Groups

Allows for multiple sets of shift schedules

What do I gain? Payroll More pay frequencies

Only exist on payroll side, not HR Can do 10/yr, 13/yr, 22/yr and quarterly—good

for earnings paid quarterly, such as ER HSA contributions

Time cards are not required, but you can store reusable timecards on employees if necessary Can pay employees based on their set up

without entering time card information Timecards also have the ability to annualize taxes

on things like commissions and quarterly bonuses Direct Deposit Calculations

Can be a flat amount Can be percentage of gross earnings or net

paycheck Can be any combination of the above

What do I gain? Payroll More information on the Pre-Check Register before

finalizing payroll Shows GL accounts for all earnings, deductions and

taxes Shows the calculation base dollars for all taxes and

deductions that are a percent of earnings Shows all employer calculations for each employee

(taxes, earnings, deductions) Several different earnings types in addition to wages

Accruals to interface to Time Off module and do payroll accruals on hours worked

Benefits type to handle employer paid benefits, fringe benefits

Sales Commission and Piece Rate earnings Six levels of rate schedules Progressive/Non-Progressive calculation options

What do I gain? Payroll Salary Earnings codes options

Can pay salaried people either Flat or Fixed amounts per pay period instead of rate x hours to equal pay period amount

Can choose whether or not earnings or deductions print on the check stubs

Add-on solution for custom check stock printing, including self-seal check stock (laser signature/MICR still an option as well)

Ability to pay one or more employees through payroll process without paying all employees Can send by direct deposit if employee has direct

deposit set up No need for “On Demand Check”

Creating the ACH file also provides a report of exactly what is in the ACH file for reconciliation Also can create a pre-note file outside of payroll

processing

What do I gain? Payroll

Void multiple checks at once, even an entire payroll Tax withholding screen adapts to the tax being

entered Only have fields that pertain to that tax

Option to warn or to error out on closed months Ability to delete earnings/deductions/taxes from

employee profile without affecting history Utilities to add earnings/deductions/taxes to a group

of employees Utilities to update earnings/deductions/taxes for a

group of employees Includes ability to import into timecard entry from a

specific format

What do I gain? Payroll

Integration from HR to Payroll is now a process Allows for payroll to bring changes over timely Allows payroll to see changes coming from the HR side

GL Structure no longer a jigsaw puzzle Enter actual GL accounts into GL setup Enter different segments to GL such as division and

department Option to set distribution codes and use on employees

to change GL accounts based on an org level Option to use cost center overrides for GL subaccounts

and update cost center based on org level Warning or error if GL account combination is invalid

What do I lose? Payroll and System Each EIN can only be one payroll company

Each payroll employer is stored in its own database Enterprise Setup Options in Payroll

Each company has to be set up—no sharing of codes since they are in separate databases

Employee can only get a live check or direct deposit, not both If employee has direct deposit line items, balance of

check will go to the last direct deposit line item used, not to a live check

Pay Groups Payroll is processed based on the frequency of payroll Selection lists can be established to separate payroll

into multiple pays per frequency Employees can be chosen individually, by a range of

ids, or by class fields (similar to organization levels) to be processed

What do I lose? Payroll and System Organizational levels are not tracked/changed

at the timecard line item detail There are four “class” codes that can be set on the

payroll side, but they are at the employee level only and cannot be changed on timecard line items

GL Distribution codes and cost centers, plus a “work classification” field are at the line item level, as are optional fields

Optional fields are not easy to hand enter Agricultural employee type and reporting are

not available Sage has also retired the Agricultural 943/943-A

reporting in Suite as of the end of 2013 Best option for this is to put these employees in a

separate company, and be prepared to manually track tax liabilities for the 943-A reporting or request a custom crystal report

No option for 1099 earnings and printing

What do I lose? Payroll and System Secondary Jobs detail with additional pay rates

does not translate automatically to payroll and the timecard line items There are options for a master developer solution to

read from the secondary job table during a time card file import that can be investigated if necessary

There is no Labor History detail screen since job code (and organizational level) is not available at the timecard line item There are some workarounds, such as optional fields, that

can be investigated depending on your specific situation and needs

MTD, QTD, YTD Earning/Deduction/Tax screens are not at employee level MTD, QTD, YTD are not separately captured fields in

HRMS like they are in Suite Just run your reports for the date range that you want

Inactive items do not print on pay stubs (including ESS)

What do I lose? Payroll and System Backup and Restore no longer an option inside

software Due to nature of backups on SQL SQL Server backups save and restore much more

quickly IT will need to be involved in backups and restore

However, there is less of a need for backups during payroll—SQL platform is more stable and payroll

processing writes to fewer tables Gross Up Calculator (returns in version 2015!) Retroactive Pay (could be replaced with a Crystal

Report) Secure Query to payroll details (check history,

earnings, deductions) Queries using payroll tables will need to be rewritten in

Crystal Shifts are flat amount per hour only

Percentage shift differential will need to be an earnings code instead of/in addition to a specific shift

What do I lose? Payroll and System Some Local tax codes have to be set up

manually Sage is trying to accommodate all the taxes

GL (Cost Center) Overrides are not at earning/deduction/tax code level Taxes will follow earnings and break out to GL segments

on the same percentage basis if cost center overrides are established

You can override expense accounts or expense/liability accounts with GL segments only on a global scale; it is also based on whether the software setups are expecting an expense or liability, not the actual account you are using

GL accounts will be a discussion at the beginning of the project and is the first step in setting up payroll Determine if we will use cost center overrides or straight

distribution codes Will use a GL report in Crystal to create journal entry

What do I lose? Payroll and System Trial Payroll and Final Payroll

Sync from HR, enter timecards if necessary, calculate and print…it’s (almost! ) that simple!

Trial Quarter Close and Final Quarter Close New software is date driven for reporting As long as the period is open in the GL portion you can process

a check for any employee for any date at any time Quarterly reporting could be an issue if you pay an

employee in a quarter that has already been filed No closing process at all – just choose to print your reports and

specify the date or quarter

What do I lose? Time Off

Time Off (Attendance) Changes If HRMS Payroll is installed, it will only work with Time Off

module reporting in Hours – you cannot use Days All time off plans must be moved to the Employer level –

cannot be at the Enterprise level You can only have *one* reason code attached to any

plan that interfaces with a payroll earning code (vacation, sick, PTO, etc.) It is a one to one mapping from earning code to plan, not

earning code to reason code Seniority is always by months of service unless you are

accruing on hours worked where seniority is by years of service

Accruing on hours worked is always a rate based on seniority times hours worked that period No option for basing accrual on lifetime hours

What do I lose? Self Service

Self Service Changes No longer an option in ESS to update W4 information (can

replace with HR Actions to accomplish) W2 history will be gone – Aatrix has ability to provide

electronic copies of W2s for employees

How Long to Migrate? HR/Time Off/Train installs only:

Approximately two days after installation of the software

Plan for Abra Suite to not be available during the migration Can be done on a copy so Suite available for review only

Abra Suite with Payroll: 3-5 months average for a re-implementation of payroll All new setups in payroll, plus time for testing prior to

Go Live Go Live date drives how much history is converted

At January 1, no payroll history is brought over Ideally Go Live should be at the beginning of a quarter to

make reporting easier but can go live at any point during the year

Conversions are usually entered manually, but can be automated for a price, depending on the number of employees with history

Currently there is no end of life date for Abra Suite

What Happens to My Crystal Reports?

Sage HRMS uses Crystal Reports 2011 (newer version)

Existing HR/Time Off/Train reports Only need to change to the new data source Files and field names do not change

Existing Payroll Reports Custom Payroll reports will NOT migrate Custom Payroll reports will need to be reviewed to

determine if they can be rewritten; review this early in your upgrade process These include reports to send 401(k) and HSA

information to your providers Data files and fields are different than Suite File structure and how history is stored is different

Upcoming WebinarsAlerts and Workflow for Sage HRMSEmail Alerts based on conditions in HRMS data

May 27, 2015 2:00 - 3:00 pm ET

Employee Recruiting Made Easy with Cyber Recruiter

June 23, 2015 11:00 am– Noon ETJune 30, 2015 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET

Paperless Performance AppraisalsJuly 21, 2015 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

July 23, 2015 11:00 am – Noon ET

http://www.netatwork.com/hr_webinar_series.aspWebinar/Class Ideas are always welcome!

Paralea Boose, CPA, CITP, CGMA, Sr. Business Analyst/Certified Trainer

pboose@netatwork.com

(919) 714-8785

Steve Hamel, Business Analyst/Certified Trainer

shamel@netatwork.com

(785) 783-8961

John Guglielmo, Account Executive

jguglielmo@netatwork.com

(800) 719-3307 Ext 3978

Lynda Dixon, CPA, CGMA, Business Analyst/Certified Trainer

ldixon@netatwork.com

(919) 714-8792