Overview:

Since 1934, Citizens Bank has been serving communities in Tennessee with solid financial offerings, personalized service for its customers, and a fair working environment for its employees. With assets in excess of $606 million and capital of over $65 million, Citizens Bank is the largest independent community bank in the region. Today, Citizens Bank relies on Sage Abra HRMS to meet its entire range of human resource management and payroll requirements–but the bank took an indirect path to this solution.

Sage Abra HRMS

• HR
• Payroll
• Attendance
• ESS

UNITIME Automated Timekeeping System

Citizens Bank saves time and money with Sage Abra HRMS

Since 1934, Citizens Bank has been serving communities in Tennessee with solid financial offerings, personalized service for its customers, and a fair working environment for its employees. With assets in excess of $606 million and capital of over $65 million, Citizens Bank is the largest independent community bank in the region. Today, Citizens Bank relies on Sage Abra HRMS to meet its entire range of human resource management and payroll requirements–but the bank took an indirect path to this solution.

Outsourcing Proves Inflexible And Expensive
Citizens Bank was using the Sage HR and Payroll modules, but as several new branches were added, management made the decision to switch to outsourced payroll provider ADP. "Outsourcing seemed like a good solution for us; employees at each location could enter their time over the Internet," recalls Sharon Jones, vice president of human resource management at Citizens Bank. However, Jones says that the restrictions imposed by ADP quickly became burdensome. The organization's bi-weekly payroll for more than 200 employees had to be sent to ADP by Tuesday afternoon, or ADP imposed a penalty. And, if the bank was not able to deliver the data to ADP by Wednesday, there was no payday that week. "It was very stressful around here, making sure we had everything completed by ADP's deadline," Jones remembers.

Then there were the unexpected fees. "If we needed something a bit different, they could usually provide it, but at a high cost," says Jones. "We felt we were at ADP's mercy; they could charge us whatever they wanted."

Bank On The Right Solution
While researching alternatives to ADP, Jones and her staff discovered an automated timekeeping system from UNITIME to help the bank cut down on data entry time. Employees at each branch location are able to clock in and out using their PC, and UNITIME automatically records their hours worked. UNITIME Automated Timekeeping System then produces a data file that can be imported into Sage Abra.

Citizens Bank contacted a local Sage Abra business partner, who helped the bank implement the complete solution, including Sage Abra HR, Payroll, Attendance, ESS (Employee Self Service), and the UNITIME Automated Timekeeping System.

"Sage Abra gives us complete control over payroll processing, full HRMS functionality, and an integrated time clock solution. Plus, it saves the bank money," says Jones.

Spend Time Productively
Now on payday, a simple import utility transfers employee hours from each of the 17 bank branches into the Sage Abra Attendance module.

With the time saved, Jones and her HR staff are able to engage in more strategic initiatives for the bank. "We're able to closely monitor overtime costs and staffing levels," says Jones. Sage Abra provides this information, both in the form of standard reports, and through custom reports Jones develops using the integrated report writer.

Simplify Administration
With ADP, time collection software had to be loaded on each employee's computer. Sage Abra is loaded on a server at the bank's headquarters, and secure access is provided to staff at all locations over the company's intranet. Similarly, the UNITIME Automated Timekeeping System is also accessed through the intranet. "This provides us with much simpler administration," notes Jones.

Empower With Employee Self Service
The Sage Abra ESS module is a proven favorite among both staff and management. Employees access the self-service portal from the bank's intranet and can view and change their W-4 information, update their address, check available vacation hours, view and print their pay vouchers, and more.

"We don't generate paper vouchers for payroll," says Jones. "Our employees take advantage of Direct Deposit, and then can view or print their vouchers online. It's very efficient for us–and we don't have to print or deliver checks or vouchers to the 17 branches."

Branch managers also use the ESS module to view information about their employees. "Our branch managers can check emergency contact information if necessary, check on vacation eligibility, or review compensation for their teams using ESS," explains Jones.

Invest Wisely
Jones estimates that the Sage Abra solution will pay for itself in less than five years. "We made some hardware upgrades in addition to the software purchase," says Jones, "but we're well on our way to a positive return on our investment."

Jones concludes, "Sage Abra is an essential tool for us. We use it constantly. I'd hate to try to do my job without it."