FEATURE INSIGHT
Design, development and implementation
The CIPP’s Project of the Year Award always draws great nominations of amazing projects, many of which involve payroll and the design, development and implementation of software. This article reviews two of the nominated projects for the 2018 Project of the Year Award. Both feature automation of work to achieve efficiency and better outcomes. The worthy winner of the 2018 award is ‘Bostick’ which was nominated by Armstrong Watson LLP Payroll Services. BOSTICK Armstrong Watson LLP is an innovative company always seeking to improve by embracing technology where possible. The payroll team are viewed by many in the firm as AI payroll pioneers with a human touch. Armstrong Watson LLP runs around 1,200 payrolls at any one time. Each administrator can have up to 150 payrolls per month to process, which is time-consuming, especially in a fast-paced environment. Clients provide data in many formats and
therefore there is always a risk of error, albeit rarely resulting in a client being impacted. Correcting errors takes time thus reducing productivity and efficiency; costs that cannot and should not be passed on to clients. When productivity is reduced it often creates the need to increase resource but in Cumbria (where Armstrong Watson is based) payroll specialists are very difficult to find. As with any payroll processing function, human and system errors can occur. With automation increasingly on the agenda of businesses the payroll leadership team wanted to look at using systems to mitigate risks of errors further. Objectives for the project named ‘Bostick’ were: ● to streamline the process of data capture and extraction from clients into the payroll software ● to decrease the risk of human error impacting on the payroll calculation ● reduce time taken to process payrolls to minimise recruitment costs. The project team comprised: the sponsoring director of payroll services, the head of operations, payroll support and IT
specialists, and the payroll support team in conjunction with payroll processing team.
Existing data capture methods Three methods, for capturing clients’ pay data are in operation, each with advantages/disadvantages (A/D): ● Front-end – the client enters the data straight into payroll software and provides a backup of the system for the Armstrong Watson (AW) payroll to process. A/D: direct data input so no re-keying; requires payroll software and user knowledge at client’s site. ● Ad hoc – the client provides the data in an unstructured format either by email, post or telephone. A/D: very flexible; easy for the client to integrate into their existing processes; encourages continuous stream of pay run data through the period; risk due to GDPR; duplication of data entry with high risk something is missed. ● Input sheets – the client uses a bespoke spreadsheet to enter the specific data required to process the pay run (the most common). A/D: each sheet bespoke to client and encourages all required information to be provided; can be imported directly into payroll software avoiding re-keying. Further, the inability to access payroll data from an enterprise perspective has these disadvantages: unable to monitor
...the payroll leadership team wanted to look at using systems to mitigate risks of errors...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2019 | Issue 49 46
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