- General	- Ascentis HR	- Ascentis Payroll
- Ascentis Self-Service	- Ascentis Time	- Ascentis Recruiting

 

How long have you been in business?

Ascentis Payroll was created in 1980 by EBS OnLine, a California payroll services company. The organization flourished through a focus on exceptional customer service and real-time payroll processing. Ascentis HR was created in 1994 by Ascentis Corporation, a human resources software firm dedicated to providing small and medium-sized businesses with easy-to-use HR and benefits management solutions. These companies were started in 1980 and 1994 respectively, but joined forces in 2007 to create a fully integrated HRIS and payroll offering which continues to grow with additional add-on modules.

What is your customer support like?

This is just one of the things about our company that we truly pride ourselves on. We hear from customers all the time that our customer support is far better than any other human capital management partner that they have ever worked with. Our HR and Payroll users each have dedicated support representative that are available Monday through Friday 6am to 5pm PST. Our entire staff is based in the United States. 98% of phone calls are answered promptly by the support team. Calls that go to voicemail are answered within an hour (during business hours) and emails are answered within four hours. No more waiting days for answers to your questions, or being bounced around from one rep to another. Our representatives are intimately involved in helping to solve the issues and challenges that our clients face, and take pride in supporting them. See what Ascentis Clients have had to say about the excellent service they receive from Ascentis.

I keep up with the companies I do business with through social media. Where can I find you?

We’re quite active through social media channels. You can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and on our blog where we post several times a week.

I’m a current client who has new team members. I’d like them to learn your systems. Do you offer training?

We certainly do. Learn more about our various training classes for HR and payroll. In addition, we offer HR workshops for face-to-face training. For more information, contact hrtraining@ascentis.com. 

Ascentis HR

What is Ascentis HR?

Ascentis HR is an easy-to-use, on-demand, web-based HRIS | HR software solution. Ascentis HR management software maintains all employee data in a single database providing one source of entry for data flow. Human resources professionals no longer have to spend hours searching through paper files for specific information. Employee data is instantly accessible and always up-to-date.

How often do you release software updates and product enhancements?

New versions of Ascentis HR are released several times a year based on three critical pieces of information: customer feedback, government regulations and planned improvements. When we release a new version of Ascentis HR, customers are immediately notified, keeping them constantly up-to-date with the latest and greatest Ascentis software.

Do you offer live Web support?

Our Ascentis support team is equipped with tools to offer live Web support. Our support engineers can (with a customer’s permission) remotely view and control your instance of Ascentis software, walking you through any necessary fix. With live Web support it’s like having us on-site within minutes. If you are in need of support, give us a call at 800-229-2713 x8.

What kind of security do you use?

Ascentis HR can be securely accessed over the web via RDP with 128-bit encryption. Each user is assigned a unique login and a secure password. Role-based security enables the administrator to grant staff members and managers access to only the information they should see, on a tab-by-tab basis. Ascentis HR includes Sarbanes-Oxley financial audit reporting which tracks the user and change date and time for any changes made to compensation. User accounts are locked after three incorrect log-in attempts. If you’d like a datasheet on Ascentis HR world-class security and reliability, just send us a request or if you are a current customer, contact your Ascentis account manager.

What kind of reports are available in Ascentis HR?

Ascentis HR offers more than 300 valuable reports around attendance, compensation, reviews and bonuses, benefits, employee info, self-service, and compliance. In addition, custom reporting is available. With the reporting Wizard, generating reports is simple, fast and easy, without requiring help from IT or requiring any technical or database knowledge.

What size company is Ascentis HR appropriate for?

Ascentis HR fits the needs of companies that have between 75 and 2,500 employees.

Ascentis Payroll

Is Ascentis Payroll SaaS?

Yes. Ascentis Payroll is a completely Web-enabled system that operates “in the cloud.”

What kind of security do you use for Ascentis Payroll?

All data communication between our clients' PCs and our webservers is encrypted over SSL using AES 256-bit encryption. Our clients' payroll is processed from one of our two fully redundant datacenters. Our servers and datacenters are audited annually by an independent firm and are covered in our SSAE16 Type II report. Our network and security infrastructure includes Intrusion detection, intrusion prevention and stateful inspection through multiple levels of firewalls. Security is monitored 24/7 by an independent security agency. We employ the same standards as banks and financial institutions, so rest assured your data is protected and safe.

I’ve hired a new payroll employee. Can you train them on your software?

Yes, we can train your new payroll employee how to use Ascentis Payroll. Not only do we offer training to your staff at time of implementation, but when you hire new or additional staff they can take one of several payroll training classes to get up to speed on our software.

What is your uptime?

Rarely do we have any unplanned downtime, and when we do plan downtime we notify our customers in advance and make updates to our system during what would typically be our users’ off hours so our updates are seamless and create no interruption to our customers’ work.

Our Uptime Commitment: Ascentis HR, Recruiting, Payroll, Time and/or Self-Service modules will be available to our clients 24 hours per day, 7 days a week less the excusable downtime which includes:

• Routine System Maintenance: On occasion the system may be taken off-line for scheduled maintenance. This maintenance is done at night or on weekends. We notifiy clients of scheduled maintenance at least 48 hours in advance.
• A general failure: A general failure of the Internet beyond the control of Ascentis. We guarantee that the system will be available to our clients at least 99.5% of the time each month, excluding the excusable downtime.

This is our Uptime Commitment. If we fail to satisfy the Uptime Commitment during a month, upon request Ascentis will credit our clients a percentage of the fees for the service that was unavailable. The Uptime Commitment does not apply to disruptions caused by factors outside of our reasonable control; or that resulted from our client’s equipment or third party equipment, or both (not within our primary control).

What size company is Ascentis Payroll appropriate for?

Ascentis Payroll fits the needs of companies with 100 employees on up. We have happy customers with hundreds of employees ... and with thousands of employees.

What kind of support do you offer?

You will be assigned to a single payroll support rep. They get to know you, and you get to know them. That rep will know your specific payroll needs. You won’t have to waste time explaining things over and over again to a different support rep each time you call. All of our reps are based in the U.S. Our payroll support team has an average of over 11 years of payroll experience. We also have multiple Certified Payroll Professionals on staff, so you’ll have true payroll experts on your side.

What kind of payroll reporting capabilities are there?

There are a robust set of standard reports that are generated in real time, that you can run and access at any time. There is also a powerful report builder tool to create custom reporting that you need.

Can I use Ascentis Payroll on its own or do I need the other products too?

Yes, you can utilize Ascentis Payroll without Ascentis HR, Ascentis Time, or Ascentis Recruiting. And if you ever change your mind and find a need for the other products, you can easily add them as part of our full human capital management solution.

How long has Ascentis Payroll been around?

We’ve been providing our payroll services for more than 30 years.

Do you handle the payroll taxes and filings for me?

With the Ascentis Payroll Tax Service, we will take care of federal, state, and local tax calculations, payments, and filings. Along with the monthly, quarterly, and annual filings of payroll taxes, we also prepare and distribute W-2s and 1099s for your employees and contractors.

Ascentis Self-Service

What is Ascentis Employee Self-Service?

Ascentis Employee Self-Service (Ascentis ESS) gives employees immediate access to their personal HR, benefits, and payroll information via the Web.

What exactly can employees do with Ascentis ESS?

A lot, actually. Employees can view and update their personal info (like their name, address, phone, etc.) and view and update dependent information as well as add other life events. In the benefits section, employees can participate in new hire and open enrollment. HR can approve enrollment elections and then those elections are applied to employee records. Employees can also see a summary of benefits, plan comparisons, total benefits value, plan documents, beneficiaries, 401k info, and more. The “time off” section allows employees to request time off, see a summary of the leave balances and leave taken, and see where their time off requests are in process. “My Paycheck” allows employees to view current and prior pay stubs and W-2’s, specify federal/state/local withholding, make or change direct deposit info, and create “what if” pay calculation scenarios for gross to net pay calculations. Self-service is a very in-depth and powerful tool for employees.

What is Ascentis Manager Self-Service?

Ascentis Manager Self-Service (MSS) enhances the management decision-making process. MSS offers full workflow capabilities that include the ability to define flexible, customizable approval processes while automating email communications.

What kind of data can managers see in MSS?

With MSS, Managers can access data within the system from anywhere at any time. They can analyze multiple employee’s data, comparing within departments or even companywide. Ascentis MSS’ built in compra-ratio tools help managers process employee raises or bonuses for better budget decisions. Within MSS managers respond to employee leave requests, view a company leave calendar (to better view, analyze and approve leave requests), view job history, instantiate promotions and transfers, view notes and file attachments/resumes/reviews, and route data through workflows. MSS simplifies and automates what are normally manual paper processes, creating a more streamlined process that saves time from employee to manager to HR and back again.

Does Self-Service come with the same level of data security that Ascentis Payroll and Ascentis HR offer?

Ascentis Employee Self Service (ESS) and Manager Self Service (MSS) is a Web application running over SSL with 128-bit encryption. A complete log is maintained of all user activity including successful and failed logins, password changes, and user authentication.

About our Datacenter Security: The Ascentis SAS70-certified datacenter provides a high level of security. The datacenter infrastructure includes:

• Stateful packet filtering at the firewall. All traffic passes through the firewall before reaching a Web server.
• The network is protected by a network Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) along with Network Intrusion Detection System (IDS).
• Traffic  leaving the Web server must again pass through the firewall before reaching the client’s databases, giving another level of stateful packet inspection and filtering.
• Servers are installed with current operating systems and updates are applied regularly.
• All Web servers have SSL certificates issued by Thawte.

In addition, Ascentis employs an independent third-party (SecureWorks) to monitor the security infrastructure 24x7x365.

Ascentis Time

What is Ascentis Time?

Ascentis Time delivers on-demand time and attendance tracking that accommodates companies of all sizes. Integrated with Ascentis HR, Ascentis Payroll and Self Service, Ascentis Time provides tools that help manage labor costs, employee schedules, resources, utilization and more.

What kind of reporting can I expect to see in Ascentis Time?

Ascentis Time reports are very in-depth and can offer you a deep view into your workforce’s time. From in-depth employee reports, exception reports, labor level, hours paid, job tracking, payroll impact reports, and much more. The wide variety of reports within Ascentis Time will help you assess job costing, control departmental costs, monitor staffing, and track benefit administration. Schedule your reports once, around a pre-established calendar date, and automate your reporting to happen as-requested, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, annually, or in any custom schedule.

Does Ascentis Time integrate with any data collection devices?

We integrate with and offer the latest collection devices including web clocks, badge terminals, biometric terminals, and telephony devices.

Ascentis Recruiting

What kind of software and hardware will I need to use the Ascentis Recruiting?

The simple answer is NONE. Ascentis Recruiting is 100% Web-based SaaS. That means our clients don’t need anything more than a standard Web browser and an Internet connection. That means you can source, communicate with and hire candidates from anywhere in the world, any time of day. No downloads or special installs are ever required.

How will using Ascentis Recruiting impact my website?

Ascentis Recruiting will take over the work of managing your corporate career site. Beyond a minimal amount of up-front coordination, most of the technical aspects of your career site's functionality are handled by our system.

Does Ascentis Recruiting post my jobs to job boards?

it sure does. At no cost, your jobs are posted to SimplyHired.com and Indeed.com, two sites that receive a lot of traffic from potential employees. For an additional fee, your jobs can be post to sites like Monster and CareerBuilder. Contact us to learn more about this feature.

How often do you upgrade your features and functionality?

Very frequently. We constantly add new features and enhancements to our system so that our users have the latest and greatest in recruiting technology.