
WESTON, Fla., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultimate Software , a leading provider of Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions, announced today that Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS), is benefiting from UltiPro Workforce Management's e-Benefits Enrollment functionality, customizable online portal features, and reporting tools.
TAMS, an independent group company of Toshiba Corporation and a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT, X-ray, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, MRI, and information systems, had been using a payroll service bureau and an in-house solution for HR that didn't include easy-to-use consolidated reporting or an employee portal. After evaluating UltiPro alongside several enterprise resource vendors, TAMS selected Ultimate Software's offering and went live in September 2002 after an on-time and on-budget implementation. Almost immediately upon rolling out the UltiPro portal to employees, TAMS began seeing improvements, with an estimated 70% increase in open enrollment efficiency.
"With UltiPro, we have cut two weeks off the open enrollment process while dramatically improving the accuracy of the information because we had the time to audit the data before submitting it to benefit providers," said the company's senior benefits analyst, Angela Bradley. "The employees were happy, too, because they received their enrollment cards more quickly than before."
UltiPro eBenefits Enrollment enables TAMS employees to use the Web to review, elect, and submit their benefit choices at home or in the office without meeting with a benefits practitioner. Using eBenefits Enrollment, employees can view and compare current benefits with the costs of new benefits and make elections for the coming year.
In an effort to expand the usage of the Web beyond the benefits enrollment process, TAMS has posted a library of documents and forms on its HR portal, including the benefits handbook, which garnered a 2004 Apex Award for publication excellence. That same year, Business Insurance magazine also gave TAMS the Electronic Benefit Communication (EBC) award for outstanding achievement in communicating employee benefits programs over the Web. To continue elevating its use of Ultimate Software's HRMS/payroll solution, TAMS modified the UltiPro portal to meet the imaging company's unique needs. It was completely integrated with several proprietary applications created to address compensation and performance management issues so that TAMS employees have a central location for comprehensive workforce and payroll information from a Web browser that they can access with a single sign-on.
"We are proud of the quality information we provide to our employees on the Web and are very impressed that UltiPro has allowed us to integrate third- party applications with the portal," said James Wade, HRIS manager for TAMS. "Employees and managers appreciate the convenience of having employee communications and news centralized, and they like how quickly they can locate the data through the portal."
To further leverage the Web and gain better access to employee reports, Toshiba America's HRIS staff set up three types of workforce reports that users can obtain using the Web without technology support-static reports, such as employee listings that are automatically updated by UltiPro and available on the Web; prompting reports that remind managers to give specific date ranges or other parameters for targeted data on terminations, new hires, and so on; and snapshot reports, such as those on headcount or salary details. With Toshiba America's previous solutions, running a headcount report could take as long as four hours per month. With UltiPro, that time has been cut to just one hour. The processing time for quarterly reports has been slashed from five days to less than five minutes.
"Now we can do a lot more with the data we have in UltiPro with fewer steps," said Kenneth Kopf, senior analyst for Toshiba America. "We have created approximately 250 reports online that are helping our executives, managers, and administrators get the information they need when they need it."
"I am glad that Toshiba is taking advantage of the efficiencies that result from using the UltiPro portal as a one-stop employee information center," said Greg Swick, Ultimate Software's senior vice president of sales. "Businesses of nearly all sizes are increasingly automating processes that were formerly manual, reducing the need to store paper, and improving overall employee communications through portal technology."
About Ultimate Software
Ultimate Software, a leading provider of Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions, markets award-winning UltiPro as licensed software, as a hosted application through Intersourcing, and as a co-branded offering to Business Service Providers (BSPs) under the "Powered by UltiPro" brand. Employing approximately 500 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services, Ultimate Software was named the 2005 Payroll Provider of the Year by the Human Resources Outsourcing Association and listed among the 2005 Top 25 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work For in America by the Great Place to Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. Ultimate Software customers represent diverse industries and include such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, The Florida Marlins Baseball Team, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth's Chris Steak House, SkyWest Airlines, and Trammell Crow Residential. More information on Ultimate Software's products and services can be found at http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/ .
UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.
For Sales Information:
Ultimate Software
Phone: (800) 432-1729
Web site: http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/
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