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HR Software System for a Growing Trust

Good afternoon

I'm wanting to obtain some advice and recommendations with regards to purchasing and implementing a brand new HR system for our growing trust.

I'm currently working with Sims.net (horrendous for HR reporting) and a million spreadsheets!

As our Trust is growing I want to look at a HR system that is going to be efficient, effective and fit for purpose. We currently do payroll in house and use Opera so I'm wanting a stand alone HR system (it would be great if it could link up with Opera but not sure if that is possible).

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Carly 

1835 views
  • Hi Carly,
    I am currently looking for one, too, and have tested:
    -Breathe HR
    -People HR
    -Cezanne
    Breathe HR is really good value for money, but my boss didn't like the design. People HR and Cezanne are fairly similar but I prefer the design of People HR and it is slightly cheaper than Cezanne. All these systems seem to be fairly similar regarding the modules they offer (all of them are also equally user-friendly in my opinion). The final choice will come down to budget and personal preference.
  • In reply to Debora:

    Thanks Debora, I've just been looking into People HR this afternoon, I'm liking it but as you say it comes down to budget! Thanks again for your reply.
  • Hi Josh,
    Thanks for you reply. I'll have a look at your organisation and the software solutions you have. Can you send me any links or demos. Thanks Carly
  • I work for a HR consultancy firm and we use HR Toolkit and is use by all our clients
  • In reply to Debora:

    And Breathe HR is free for charities which is a useful aspect and sometimes helps accept the design!
  • Steve Bridger

    | 0 Posts

    Community Manager

    26 Sep, 2018 09:22

    In reply to Carly:

    Hi Carly - hopefully you picked up the details before I removed Josh's post (which was contrary to our Community Guidelines).

  • Hi Carly

    I am also looking for a HRIS as Sims is awful and I think I've finally got my schools to acknowledge this, however, I found many packages do not support what schools need, multiple duties being the main issue, and then the workforce census etc.

    HCSS have a schools HR package which I really like the look of and we use them as a finance tool also, however, Civica (a competitor whose system we also use in finance) have come back and said there are floors with HCSS so waiting to see the specifics.
  • In reply to Kimberly:

    Hi Kimberly,
    Thanks for your reply, I've had a demo of HCSS people and it looked great but I don't think its great on the budget! We use HCSS for budgeting and we have Opera for payroll. I know what you mean about school specific . . I want it to hold my SCR and be able to complete the workforce census . . . I'd appreciate you keeping me posted on your findings.
  • Hi Carly,

    I have just been through this process and we looked at CIPHR, Cascade and NaturalHR.

    In the end we decided to go for NaturalHR, they have great customer service and even better references. They have a number of features which can be adapted to suit business needs and can be branded. They have a help section also and I think they have a 90% rate of creating new features which users need and are not currently built in. I was also bought into their ethos, attitude and knowledge. The CEO is very hands on and one of the developers himself (he built the system for his wife's business). We will also be their first strategic partner to use their partner payroll system. I highly recommend them.

    Many thanks
    Annie
  • Hi Carly

    I don't know if you have made your choice yet but I have worked with many systems over the years and the best one I have come across by far is Cezanne HR. For the budget you get amazing functionality, flexibility and their support team is 2nd to none and so responsive and they are always developing additional functionality based on client need...I can't praise them highly enough...I have transitioned 3 clients onto it now and haven't found anything to match it.
  • We have recently converted and my advice is that choosing the wrong payroll provider could / will be catastrophic for the overall reporting of finances to the Trust. Take your time and get references before deciding on a provider - there are only a very few select providers that have the ability to offer commercial / academy level / FMGS requirements. Feel free to email me if you need further advice.
  • Hi Carly

    I too am looking at a integrated HR system for our MAT. My prefered supplier to date is Civica for four main reasons:-

    1. It is the only system I have found so far which intefaces with SAGE payroll
    2. It has a two way interface with SIMs. So Cover will be managed by the school cover supervisor and absences will write back into Civica.
    3. It is modular so I can start off with the HR system (including self-service) & the recruitment module and then later add payroll, or any other module we need. It will also interface with our Civica finance system if we want to go down that route.
    4. It can do the SWC and SCR.

    I think it's quite expensive but I am hoping the Board will take pity on me as I am sinking in paper at the moment!!

    Regards
    Elaine
  • Hi Carly
    Our Trust set up on 1 September 2018 and following a nightmare 8 months with the current payroll provider we are moving to Data Plan. Data Plan are very inexpensive compared to others. Their payroll monthly reports (according to HCSS) will upload to HCSS no problem. The added bonus with this payroll provider is that they have an online system called Vera that holds all staffing information including all staff details, absences etc so you can see this across the trust - any payroll changes that need to be made are just added via this system and it automatically sends it to payroll and adds it to the member of staff HR file. All payroll reports can be manipulated on the system and downloaded as and when you want them.

    We go live on 01 July 2019 but so far our team, the Trustees and I are very impressed.

    Karen
  • In reply to Elaine Snell:

    Hi Elaine

    did you go with Civica? we are just implementing it at the moment and would love to link up to see how you have set things up

    Lynette
  • In reply to Helen:

    Hi Helen, is this myhrtoolkit you are referring to? If so, could you please reach out to me with further feedback on whether you'd recommend it.