Marks Paneth & Shron - Finding the Right HR Software Vendor

	INDUSTRY:	Services
	NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:	500
	NUMBER OF LOCATIONS:	3
	MODULES LICENSED:	HR & Benefits, ESS, MSS, Recruiting Managment, Candidate Self-Service
	CUSTOMER SINCE:	January 2008
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WHEN THE PARTNERS CALL, NUVIEWHR IS THERE TO HELP
Marks Paneth & Shron is an accounting firm committed to client success, whose priority is to help them make smart decisions at every turn.

As a growing firm – now one of the largest in the New York region – they focus on giving clients access to the best and most experienced professionals in the industry, regardless of the discipline. Even as they grow, they stick to a culture of personal attention and customized services. Marks Paneth began its search for HR software like many organizations -- via a web search. The initial business requirements driving the search for software tools included remote login to the
system (necessitating a web-based system, rather than a client/server product) and a rich Employee Self-Service (ESS) product to accommodate a wide range of employee actions and activities, including Open Enrollment.

Other factors, including price, features, capability to expand, additional functionality and user-friendliness factored into the buying criteria too.

FIND THE RIGHT VENDOR -- THE SEARCH PROCESS
Marks Paneth focused on three leading providers in the HR space, including NuView Systems. They began a deep dive into each of the vendor products through extensive on-site demonstrations and follow-up questions/document reviews.

Marks Paneth selected NuView Systems for its user friendliness, ability to provide a payroll interface to ADP, superior staff and affordability. Some of the “holes” that Marks Paneth saw in competitor systems included client machine requirements (where NuView’s thin client product did not install any software on client machines) and multiple sign on (meaning an employee would have to sign on separately as an employee, manager, hr admin -vs. NuViewHR’s single sign-on solution).

A web-native product, NuViewHR eliminated any IT concerns, since it supported multiple web browsers and the system could be accessed remotely from anywhere to accommodate employees working from home, from on the road or while working in other MPS offices. The single sign-on capability saved time, keystrokes and contributed to efficiencies for the busy staff at MPS.

"Implemenation was easy and fast!"

THE IMPLEMENTATION BEGINS
Good preparation is a sure indicator of future success. A lot of upfront work and pre-planning goes into a new HRIS implementation. This is a time when current business processes (workflows) are reviewed for effectiveness and either removed or modified. Layers of approvals may be added. Notifications and alerts are defined. Security, defining what employees can see and do, and what Managers are expected to do, becomes a central discussion point. “There’s a lot to think about upfront” says Rebecca Lopez, HR Generalist at Marks Paneth, who was heavily involved with the
NuViewHR implementation.

OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS
A product is only as good as the people and the company that stand behind it. Lopez characterized working with NuView as “wonderful”. “That helps you through the bumps. NuView staff were very supportive and provided guidance to us throughout the implementation” added Lopez.

Implementation of the system has caused numerous changes within Marks Paneth. Employees were introduced to new technology, the capability to view absence summaries, perform benefit open enrollment, enter an address change, view an
employee directory and company calendar, which has produced positive employee feedback and has been a great time saver for the employee (and the HR department through reduced paperwork and fewer calls).

Manager responses have been overwhelmingly positive. They can view staff vacation hours remaining, view a department calendar, review employee history, see employees up for evaluation, view salary history and staff budgets, among other functions.

The HR Department has realized significant time reductions through its ability to report monthly time off summaries, the elimination of paper forms for Open Enrollment and duplicate entry because of the Payroll interface provided by NuView.
Reporting, according to Lopez, is one of the key selling points of the NuViewHR system.

Benefits cited include:
• Easy to create and run (using the ad hoc query builder and report writer)
• Easy to access data
• Provides the firm’s Partners and Marketing Group with all required data
• Provides CPA compliance tracking
• Provides EEO information (compliance reports and diversity information)

"NuView staff were so supportive throughout our project"

NEXT STEPS
" One of the nice things about NuViewHR’s architecture is that it is modular, which allow us to implement components when we need to, instead of doing everything all at once. That allows us to review process, determine our strategic goals, and then implement the modules that address those goals. Since all of the modules use the same database, and User Interface, ramp up time for new users on these pieces is negligible” continues Lopez. Marks Paneth plans to implement NuViewHR’s Recruiting Management and Candidate Self-Service components next.

SINGLE BIGGEST IMPACT
Aside from easy access to information, perhaps the single biggest impact is that employees make their own benefit elections, using a paperless process. HR no longer has to enter benefit elections manually and Open Enrollment is now faster, more accurate and more efficient than ever!