From my perspective, there are no significant downsides to UKG, as it is currently the leading solution in workforce management. Mostly, UKG is used in manufacturing industries. One area where UKG could improve is in its ability to understand its own competency and then work hard to improve it.

In the future, I would like to see more applications integrated into UKG, as currently, it operates on SQL and Boomi platforms. It would be good if it could be an open-source platform.

It could be more configurable.

Viewing deductions: We should be able to do so without having to act as if we are going to edit the deduction first in order to move forward.

• Customer Support model could use improvement.
• Offer immersion BI workshops (perhaps on-site in FL).
• Integrate Salary Management and Talent Management (most companies are promoting employees at the same time as the salary review process; doing them separately is inconvenient).
• Enhance "Mass Updates" to allow more functionality.

Reporting is always a hurdle for any user just because it is so extensive. They provide a lot of out-of-the-box reports, but it is something that you always need to work on because you need more advanced writing of reports. 

Certainly, the time and attendance and the payroll integration need a lot of work. They are disjointed pieces, and they don't work smoothly together. That's the main drawback.

UKG could be a little more flexible in some areas. 

The Time Management module currently lacks the same look and feel of the UltiPro application and the other modules that Ultimate provides its clients. While the functionality is there, and it gets the job done, it is the only area that I feel needs to be improved.

• Implementation

A chat feature for customer support would be great. Some questions are simple that we shouldn't have to create a case just to get an answer for (emails do not get answered for several days, if at all). I’ve found that often times I have a quick question that I need answered, and when I send an email, I don’t get a reply back or the reply takes several days. For example, what time would I need to have payroll submitted by in order to make sure I have checks by a certain date. I’m not a phone person (or it could be that I’m on the phone with someone else and I don’t want to disrupt that call) so I thought it would be nice if they had a chat feature so I could ask my question, then move on. I only want to have to create a case if something needs fixing or if I need help performing a task or getting something set up. Many companies nowadays have a chat feature when you go to their websites if you need help or just have questions when trying to find something.

I still would prefer better paging in all screens; I do not like having to select something at the bottom of a screen, then paging back to the top to pick your action.

Better coordination between document uploads and the life events/open enrollment session.

As a Benefits Administrator, my staff approves life events as entered by employees in Employee Self Serve. For every life event, however, there will always be documentation that must support the life event prior to its approval. Once a Benefits admin reviews a life event request and thus needs to review the uploaded supporting documentation, there is no link from the life event to the employee’s documents tab. Currently, the benefits admin must minimize the life event screen, go to Administration tab, My Employees tab and then search on the specific employee. Once the employee is up, then go to that employee’s Documents tab and click on the individual documents for the supporting documentation. Once the Benefits Admin is satisfied that the documentation is sufficient, they then go back to the life events tab for the employee and click Approve. Now, in order to continue approving life events, the Benefits Admin, now needs to go back to Administration, Life Events SetUp since the last screen was Administration, My Employees. It would be very helpful if on the Benefits Admin view of the Life Event (Pending Approval) had a direct link to that employee’s Documents tab so that any documents could be viewed without a lot of clicks to other tabs that then remove the Benefits admin from Life Events.

The tax corrections are a bit burdensome; you have to void & reissue payments.

This is an area that Ultimate has stated that they are working to improve in the next few releases, but the current process is very time-consuming.

One example is if we find out that an employee moved previously & we need to correct their state taxes, the only way to do this is to void all the payrolls that included entries going to the wrong state & re-enter all of the transactions as an adjustment moving the taxes to the correct code.

We had an issue during implementation where one of our work locations was setup with the wrong PA local taxes and it was not found for 3 pay days. In order to correct it, we had to void & manually re-enter every employee's payroll transactions for all 3 pay days & this took a few employees multiple days to reenter.

My hope is that this will be greatly improved with some of the upcoming releases, but right now it is my least favorite thing about UltiPro.

Currently, we have UKG integrated with another payroll system. I would like the capability to use UKG as a single platform without the need to alternate between systems.

The thing which sours my company's experience with UltiPro is the customer experience; being promised items to find out it cannot be delivered at all. I am not the administrator for our HRIS program, but the admins for our UltiPro HRIS program have been promised various things throughout our drawn out eight month delay in launching our go-live date of Phase I of the UltiPro program. For example, we were promised that the UltiPro system will be able to “read” the schedules for our employees, so they won’t have to manually go into ‘Advanced Options’ to delete their normal days off when entering a PTO. We were told that, trained our staff on it, and then realized that the information given to us was untrue.

• PTO accruals

The solution could improve by simplifying it even more core reports, such as more sample reports, more generic reports that you can edit and improve on yourself.

Tthere aren't very many of us that use UKG Dimensions and UKG Pro. Our main dream is that the two will truly become one because right now they're two separate entities, two separate software packages. We still have to do integrations between the two. If they would merge fully it would be wonderful.

• Compensation management

Simplify steps to execute functions.

• Platform Configuration: would like to be able to add pages, and be able to have more flexibility around the addition of custom fields
• BI: would like to be able to have Drill-Through functionality in Excel exports

Ultimate is growing fast and this has occasionally impacted response time with the customer support team.

Copying capability for Open Enrollment Sessions / Life Events, provide more expression writing courses for, resources, quick tours, delivered reports and BI. Also, create on demand options for popular BI courses. These are are "use or lose it" knowledge courses where I am constantly looking for a quick resource in the learning center.

We have challenges with some transactions like voids and reissues and part of it is due to us wanting to use the original date of issue. This becomes problematic after month and quarter closes.

The back office doesn’t have the detailed security that allows various roles in to handle certain functions but my understanding is that eventually will be on the web. This is not a big enough issue for anyone to not use UltiPro!

I would like to see more consideration in the web to sports teams' payroll.

Currently in Ultipro Web, there is no place to enter contract information that will then feed other areas for the employee such as job history or pay.

Also, the field “No. of Games” doesn’t display in Pay Data Entry in web, so even if I import the game information into Web while I’m processing payroll, I still have to log into Back Office in order to make adjustments.

Also, the expression for BDUES doesn’t work. It should be $80 per duty day, which normally is either 15 or 16 days per pay period but the expression doesn’t work, so I import that information from a spreadsheet also.

Apportioning days per state for state withholding (not SUI) is also a challenge. I frequently have to override that information in pay data entry.

• Need more help with cleaning up earnings and deductions.
• Case response depends on case owner; should be a structured response time.

I am excited about the development of a job description component. I had asked about this several years ago!

I would like to see more standard integrations available with UltiPro in external vendors, and I would like the look and feel of UltiPro's time management to get a facelift.

Ultipro does not have preconfigured integrations with our external vendors for our health insurance, 401(k), or stock program to name a few. This requires us to build reports in their business intelligence module, manipulate the data to get it in the approved format, and manually import the date into a secure vendor site. As we use large providers for all of our interactions I am surprised UltiPro has not done work to standardize this as a service to its customers.

UltiPro’s time management system originally a separate system that they have incorporated into their core deck of products. As such it has a different look and feel that is not easy to get used to.

Also, the navigation and report writing functions require different logical steps that can be confusing to new users. I would like to see them incorporate the UTM function into their core system more.

Our biggest concern was the implementation. Having no person on site to help us through integration was a big negative. The online training, though very nice, is very hard to follow and retain because the trainers assume you know how the system works. For me, the training became an exercise of the trainers telling us to click here and click there, and I did not retain a thing. I need more personal one-on-one time to configure the system to our needs and have a better understanding of how to work the system by the time we launched. I felt behind the 8 ball after implementation.

The navigation on the screen could be better. Sometimes, I have to dig a little bit deep to find what I need. Everything is there. It just needs to be a little bit smoother.

There are some improvements needed as it's still a growing technology. Improvements with regard to some of its functionality need to be extended out a little bit further.

The solution could use better reporting with standard reports. We use the Cognos platform in BI for a lot of our reporting. However, they need to have more robust standard reporting available to their user base.

The self service benefit enrollment tool could be more user friendly.  Employees that are not computer savvy tend to have more difficulty and require help from the administrator. 

Like most SaaS providers today, the improvement potential lies in the service offering rather than the product. Prompt, knowledgeable, SME service is a must-have to support product champions. I personally preferred the tiered service solution they had five years ago to the current solution where first level support relays information back and forth between the client and the SME. When the translation is conducted by non-SME support, much is “lost in translation” and this can be very costly, because it is extremely time-consuming and often results in miscommunication.

The submit button sometimes does not work and the timesheet stays in the "In Progress" mode. This means the employee has to be told that their timesheet was not submitted and they need to resubmit.

Documents upload and the way it is used for life events, it is too many steps to process. The documents go one place and the life event approval is in another place. Same as other situations that require documents.

• Less IT needs for upgrades

I would like to see better integration and less paper.

• Interfacing to other products

One area with room for improvement is having communication on all the different aspects UltiPro has to offer and how it will improve our organization. A big problem has been "you don't know what you don't know" and we find out really useful information by accident and once we've ran into a problem.

• Tax services with W-2s and 1095Cs

Improvements in processes and being able to track our turnover statistics to assess the effectiveness of retention efforts and programs.

Time management functionality and integration could be improved.

Reporting and talent suite.

UltiPro Time Management reports are easy to use and manipulate. However, these reports are not pretty. I would like to see more functionality in the next release to be able to get hours and dollars per calendar month rather than just by payroll in the Business Intelligence reports.

This was my first time attending the convention and I was a little dismayed to find out that on the first day of registering that I could only sign up for one hands-on class. I understand the concept of making sure the classes don't fill up before everyone has a chance to sign up but even when the registration opened up for a 2nd round, the classes that I would have liked to enroll in were no longer available.

I'd have to look back at the length of time that was allotted for the hands-on classes, but an added 15 to 30 minutes would have been nice. I understand though that you are trying to fit them in the flow of the entire event so people can attend other sessions. But for me, I would have taken a hands-on class each morning and each afternoon if one had been available.

Perhaps next year I can do better at scheduling myself and just be a stand-by at the door in case there are any "no shows".

The entire event was really beneficial to me and I look forward to attending again.

Global employee management features are limited. I would love to see the ability to add tables to store increments for supplemental life when using the age-graded rates setup.

Export of time takes too much time; would like to be able to push through some changes once we open payroll; would like to "undo" an import after submit and calc without having to start over from the start; benefits feeds; negative deduction refunds without earnings and improved communication from Ulti to tax filing.

Implementation.

Better integration between UTA and Recruitment/Onboarding.

Reporting capabilities in UTM.

Additional customer support reps are needed.

Benefit administration is probably the weakest part of the system. Open enrollment is not very flexible for different plan designs, nor is the life events process for new hires or qualifying life events.

The UTM option to have the option to allow a supervisor to approve only the hours worked in their department when an employee has worked in multiple jobs.

My suggestion to have the option in UTM to allow supervisors to approve only the shifts that an employee had worked for his/her own department when this employee had transferred hours (shift) to another department.

And to allow the supervisor for the department where the hours were transferred to be able to approve those transferred hours only.

Example: Employee #003894 has hours worked at her own Dept. 67 and also worked hours in Dept. 53.

Currently, at the end of the period, if a supervisor in Dept. 67 is the first one to approve the timesheet, then supervisor in Dept. 53 is not able to approve the hours transferred to his department.

The same happens if a supervisor in Dept. 53 approves a time sheet first, then the supervisor in Dept. 67 is not able to approve his own hours.

Since supervisors complain when they are not able to approve hours because the time sheet was already approved by the other supervisor.

Time management and the screen showing punches

Not showing on the same page when you use all fields, even when you down size your screen

The only way to see all the fields is by making the screen smaller and it is not readable. We change depts., jobs, projects , HR depts. and Activity.

I would like to see better platform config and benefits admin.

More explanations on the required spreadsheets for implementation; explanation of each field in the spreadsheet.

We are still in the implementation stages.  There are several spreadsheets that we use to upload info into ACT.  When we are having our info calls, they touch base on each of the columns and give examples of what that column represents or what you are looking for in this column.  But, when we go to enter this info in, it become a foreign language and we are left feeling frustrated.  We have to skip those columns and ask again what they are for.   It would be nice if when we go to fill out these fields that we could hover over the column header and read a description what you are wanting in that column.    Also, if 85% of your clients come from ADP, why not have a more customized spreadsheet for ADP rather than a generic spreadsheet?   We were discussing Data conversion and some of the columns came over on the ADP dump and some didn’t.  Making a spreadsheet for ADP would give you the option of saying at the top of the column that this comes over from ADP data conversion and not needed unless you want to change that info.  Honestly, why isn’t it assumed that everything in your current system is accurate?  I just adds confusion to the data conversion saying you can add this field and change it if it’s not accurate in your current system.

• Recruitment

I wish UltiPro had the functionality as an administrator to view a user's screen or what they are viewing when trying to help troubleshoot if the user is not onsite.

• Comp admin for bonuses

Making adjustments should be easier and in the web; also, tax recon in the web.

From an implementation standpoint (not at my current organization), taking the time to truly listen and understand unique complexities that might be outside standard capabilities of the system.

Longer time period with implementation team.

Ability to use fillable forms.

Hard to mention one, but perhaps only the amount of time it takes to reach customer support, but once you're on the phone with someone, they seem to know exactly how to fix things given the right info.

Payroll processing/tax filing.

They need to update the open enrollment and life events process, make it more flexible, and update the look and feel.

• Recruiting upgrading from v10 to v14

Advanced benefits administration should include more-complex benefit setups (ex: items dependent on something else).

Customization of labels in headers on the pages to fit the actual business verbiage used at your specific organization.

The area of improvement is probably in the area of benefits. Maybe we are not set up correctly. It seems like we have to make a lot of corrections.

I would like to see a faster time frame to resolve issues.

The current retro pay feature doesn't work with our setup; more custom fields that we can tailor to our business needs.

Our company doesn’t follow an 8 hour schedule. We work 7.5 hours Monday-Thursday, and 7.0 hours on Fridays. The current feature doesn’t work with that setup. UltiPro, as I’ve been advised has the same number of hours on each work day (so our 37.0 hour week, would equate to approximately 7.4 work days – you cannot setup your daily hours differently)

The other comment about custom fields – this would be helpful because we use the “Other company info” tab in UltiPro and have our managers input their salary increase recommendation amount. This really doesn’t belong there but without the compensation management module, we don’t have another place to have our managers put that data. Also, the education portion of UltiPro doesn’t have certain fields to record class name, grade, cost, etc. so it’s all put in the notes section and isn’t really reportable. These are just two small examples.

Benefits admin:

• Would like to see a benefits history page of begin and end dates per employee
• Would like benefit elections to drive the deductions

Only issues is slow response time when checks have needed to be voided or reissued for payees.

Servicing of products. Affirmative Action/EEO.

Increase product knowledge in their customer service people. My experience has been when I speak with a support person, I know more than they do. In some cases, by the time I receive an answer I have already figured it out.

UTM, which is coming!

The performance module would be ideally updated next since it has not had the full review like the others have.

Need better assistance with the BI reporting. It would be great to get notifications on sessions and classes to better equip users on how to navigate the system and get the report that they need.

Recruiting and interfacing the information to payroll are areas with room for improvement.

Customer service could be more responsive at times and the implementation team could have explained some items better. Now that we are on the system, we have found some of our setup should have been done differently. 

LMS integration in Career Development needs to improve.

• On boarding

One of the main areas with room for improvement are benefits. We have found it to be very lacking. Also, the way the system uses effective dating and the communication between core and UTM are areas with room for improvement.

We would love to see more mobile options. But, it sounds like this is coming within the next 6 months.

Time and attendance are areas with room for improvement.

I would like to see more options for automating 401k feeds/imports.

UTM and core connectivity: this should be way more straightforward!

Better platform for carriers.

Rollout of new products/communication is sometimes problematic. For instance, we were told that we would go onto the new recruiting product almost two years ago and we are still waiting. 

I would love to see a Text Box added to the Status page. When putting an employee on Leave of Absence, it would be great to have a place for notes!

I would like more real-time help.

• Open enrollment

• Easier reporting

• BI reports

• Customer Service
• Rapid Response

Automation, rules for life insurance, etc., are areas with room for improvement.

Change how the drop boxes work so you can do them faster.

Some reports are not accurate.

The feature needs to be able to differentiate weekdays from weekends when calculating the PTO hours when requesting PTO days.

Tax filing and quarter/year end process.

Time management.

• All pages should be configurable.
• Effective date should be available in audit for all transactions.
• Should be able to delete salary plans after worksheets have been deployed and partially submitted but not closed. There is no audit needed for a salary plan that is not closed.

• Customer cases when we have problems

Inactivates DD when employees leave for a short period. With our business, we hire, terminate, and rehire employees on a regular basis.

When I terminate employees, I do not check the “inactivate dd” box. However, on quite a few occasions, the DD is inactivated.

• Time management

Onboarding and Performance Management are areas with room for improvement.

• Implementation

• Bring all components for HR and payroll to the cloud. 
• Fix timeout issues and slowdowns when all customers are running payroll on Mondays and Tuesdays. 

• Recruiting
• UTM

• UTM

They need to be able to duplicate current benefits for each year!!!

I think customer support needs improved. Some of my cases are not touched for several days.