Delivering HR Integration at Every Point Along the Way

That's Sage 360°.

Organization: AAA Southern New England
Industry: Membership Organization
System: Sage Abra HRMS

CHALLENGE:
The Club quadrupled in size through an acquisition. The volume of paperwork in HR became staggering, requiring a total rethinking of how the department processed its work.

SOLUTION:
Sage Abra HRMS and Abra ESS to extend HR, recruiting, and payroll information access to managers and employees.

RESULTS:
A paperless application process, streamlining four points of data entry into just one, and providing an increased ability to support strategic HR initiatives.

AAA Southern New England (AAASNE) is the sixth largest AAA club in the United States, serving over 2 million members. The Club’s mission to “provide members with superior service, product, and value” leads them to deliver a wide variety of services.

Due to a rapid expansion in operations several years ago, HR found itself buried in paperwork.

Abra HRMS Streamlines Every Angle
The Club had used Sage Abra HRMS as its HR software for 10 years. However, payroll processing, time and attendance, and benefits administration were handled by outside vendors. AAASNE wanted everything integrated into one system.

“We needed to streamline our workflow processes through automation, beginning with the Club’s first contact with an applicant,” says Jackie Young, vice president of staffing and organizational development. “Our goal was a paperless office.”

Thanks to custom interfaces, the Club’s payroll, time and attendance, and benefits systems are now all managed by Sage Abra HRMS. Sage Abra provides a single point of data entry, rather than the four required before, and stores information in a centralized database.

Frank Cerilli, vice president of compensation and benefits, says, “This integration approach has helped our department in moving from a transaction-based approach to one that is much more involved in supporting the organization to achieve strategic objectives.

“We wanted to make certain Sage Abra could support our vision, so we turned to our reseller. He demonstrated how to create a seamless system based on Sage Abra HRMS, and introduced us to Abra ESS to reduce office traffic.”

Abra ESS Helps Employees See Clearly
Using Abra ESS, employees can now view and update personal information through the Club’s intranet. The Club controls access rights, so employees can only view their own information and change appropriate fields. Abra ESS has relieved the HR office of hundreds of telephone and in-person queries from employees each year.

“Employees go to Abra ESS to check on vacation time, benefits, and training,” says Young. “They like it because they get instant answers, even if they’re on a night shift when HR is closed.”

Supervisors are also able to access data on their direct reports, trimming requests for reports from HR. Entries like emergency contacts, which can easily become outdated, are now more accurate, since people are checking their records and making necessary updates on a regular basis.

“These programs and initiatives have been launched to drive business results, which has given us the opportunity to think more strategically as a department,” explains Cerilli.

A 360º View to a Paperless Office
Gone are the days when the Club accepted paper applications and resumes. Instead, AAASNE uses a completely electronic system, with entries completed by applicants through the Club’s Internet site, at kiosks in the Club’s lobby, or through major recruiting sites. Applications and resumes are stored in the Sage Abra database and accessed by staffing specialists using Sage Abra search and query tools. “We receive between 50 and 90 applications every day,” Young says. “Clearly, we’d be overwhelmed without Sage Abra’s automation.”

Jackie Young believes AAASNE is better positioned for the future because of its expanded use of Sage Abra HRMS. “Sage Abra HRMS provides us with more accurate information, and centralizes employee demographics, payroll, benefits, and training data into one solution. At the same time, the system has reduced our workload in the HR Department. Furthermore, we hold a strong value to help and serve as a way of life. Abra ESS assists HR in delivering a more personalized service experience, helping employees to achieve their individual goals, and meeting strategic commitments."