Overview
With over 2,000 employees operating in 7 manufacturing and repair facilities in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, a leading shipbuilder was finding it difficult to finalize their Kronos software upgrade. The company had engaged Kronos Services, Kronos’ dedicated consulting team, to install the software upgrade but the implementation was not complete. The company was still struggling with several interfaces specific to their GL and payroll, preventing full use of the new version as designed, and decided to look beyond Kronos for expert help.
Challenge
While the payroll manager was well versed in Kronos, she couldn’t dedicate the bandwidth required to set up and test the new Kronos upgrade herself.
Solution
Surety Systems provided a seasoned Kronos analyst experienced in GL & payroll operations to lead the Kronos interfacing and testing effort.
Result
The consultant’s knowledge around Kronos GL& Payroll filled the gap in the shipbuilder’s internal team and helped complete the upgrade on time.
The Challenge
During a planned software upgrade, the company’s payroll manager realized she needed an expert to properly implement the Kronos payroll upgrade. While the payroll manager was well versed in the company’s payroll operation, she knew she could not dedicate the bandwidth required to set up and test the new Kronos version herself.
The manager knew that a successful implementation and an error-free payroll operation would require configuration specific to their organization’s operation and no one on her team had the needed experience. In addition, the payroll manager valued thorough testing to validate the implementation and provide the confidence needed to fully transition to the new version. With no organic staff equipped with the expertise required for such an effort, the payroll manager reached out to Surety Systems for help.
The Solution
Surety Systems responded with a solution tailored for the payroll manager and her team. By providing a seasoned Kronos analyst, extensively experienced in GL & payroll operations, to lead the Kronos interfacing and testing effort, Surety Systems would maximize responsiveness and flexibility throughout the project. The Surety Systems’ consultant reported to and was closely aligned with the payroll manager throughout the engagement. This arrangement provided the company’s payroll manager maximum control of her project.
The Surety Systems’ Kronos consultant needed to work as part of the project team to effectively learn and understand the company’s process and perspective. She shadowed the Payroll Manager through the project creating a close communications circuit that facilitated quick answers to questions. Surety’s consultant communicated regularly with the upgrade Project Manager and the other project stakeholders so everyone would be informed in real time.
One challenge faced during the Kronos upgrade was a mismatch in payroll totals between Kronos and the company’s ERP system. Surety Systems’ expert Kronos consultant initiated a specific effort to assemble a task team and process to work through the details of the integration and the data settings to resolve the issue without a change to the project timeline.
The Result
Surety Systems’ consultant’s extensive experience with Kronos GL & payroll filled the gap of the shipbuilder’s organic team and created the ability to get the Kronos upgrade completed on schedule while producing a quality result. The shipbuilder’s team obtained Kronos-specific knowledge while working together as a team, and now has a fully executed implementation of Kronos 6.3.
