UI Reaches its Goal of Workforce Management Automation

UI is a New Haven, Connecticut-based regional distribution company that provides electricity and energy-related services to more than 320,000 customers in municipalities in the Greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas. UI’s World Wide Web address is http://www.uinet.com. UI’s parent company, UIL Holdings Corporation, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UIL.

When UI’s timekeeping system was no longer supported by its software vendor, the company began searching for alternative solutions. While the old system was still being used by UI, it was not meeting all of the workforce management needs of the company. This presented an opportunity for the organization to find a system that met its specific requirements.

Workforce Challenges & Issues

When it came to workforce management, the major issue for UI was the complexity of its business rules, including pay policies, federal and state compliance, and the bargaining union contract compliance. All of which included manual processes or calculations. The existing system required timekeepers to enter employee time into the system from paper timesheets submitted by 1,000 employees. This process required eight timekeepers to perform data entry at least two hours a day, five days a week; the managers spent up to four hours a week on timesheets, approving time and reviewing overtime and accounting codes prior to submitting to the payroll department. UI knew that an online time entry system was one of the requirements and a key process improvement.

An important requirement for UI was to make sure complex union contract rules were applied consistently and accurately. It was difficult to maintain and easily access audit trails of this information, which was critical to its workforce and meeting compliance rules. Several hours each month were also spent reconciling time associated to specific general ledger accounts and project codes. UI needed a system that would verify the data before posting it. The goal was to automate processes to create a more productive environment and ensure accuracy and compliance.

Selecting WorkForce Software

“Our primary goal in looking for a new workforce management system was not driven to save money,” said Charles Jones, a senior project manager at UI. “This was driven by doing the process correctly the first time by automating contract rules, overtime calculations, and compliance regulations.”

Nearly 20 representatives of UI were involved in the search for a new workforce management system. WorkForce Software was the chosen vendor because its EmpCenter^® solution could automate the organization’s key requirements, including the support of complex overtime rules, overtime equalization reporting, and labor distribution across a variety of billing codes. UI searched for a software partner that could help determine if there were compliance issues and help define process automation to solve them.

“We were looking for the complete package in a software vendor, from consulting services to a system that automated all of our workforce management processes without source code customizations,” said Jones. “Other vendors we talked to required customization to their products, which creates many problems for IT departments down the road. The references we checked confirmed that WorkForce would bring to the table what we needed to make this a successful project.”

Implementation

“Our theme for the implementation was ‘no surprises’ and we held fast to it,” said Jones. “To make sure there were no surprises, there was constant communication between the WorkForce Software and UI project teams, and we made sure employees and the bargaining unit officers were up-to-date on the project. We knew this would be a culture change, and we wanted make sure there was good communication.”

Working together, the WorkForce Software and UI teams reviewed the organization’s current processes, and then developed a comprehensive list of requirements for the new system, which was the key to the success of the project. The first requirement was for a self-service interface that employees could use to enter in and out times. The system could then calculate overtime pay during the period, and update the general ledger with real-time labor cost data. Each employee would have a default accounting string and only exception accounting would be entered. To calculate overtime pay automatically, the WorkForce team configured the union’s contract requirements into the system.

This was a major requirement for UI – configuring the software with the union contract rules to support three levels of overtime pay rules and overtime equalization reporting rules. This was important to the company since union workers work long hours responding to power outages and storms, where they have various pay scales and a fatigue window after so many hours of labor. Supervisors also need real-time information on who to call next for overtime work and see who has worked overtime recently versus who has not worked or refused overtime.

Although a complex implementation, the working relationship between the companies resulted in a successful project. “The project management methodology from both WorkForce and our team was a good combination,” said Jones. “This was truly a combined effort between our two companies and it is hard for me to imagine a better working relationship.”

Data Collection

Collecting employee time used to be a long and tedious process that included many handwritten paper timesheets, a lot of data entry, and significant labor spent on monthly general ledger reconciliation for project tracking. Since many of these processes were manual, there was room for errors that resulted in extra time and labor costs.

Today, the majority of UI employees login to a computer to submit their in and out times online. The system automatically calculates employee pay, overtime and the general ledger account to track that time, resulting in accurate and consistent payroll, time tracking, and budget allocation. The field crews still use a group entry method, which is entered by a timekeeper.

“EmpCenter is extremely user friendly and our training sessions are short and straightforward,” said Jones. “The transition to the online system was very smooth with very few support calls coming into the team for resolution.”

Testing & Rollout

“We are proud to say that as a result of our extensive testing there were virtually zero issues with the system when we went live,” said Jones. “The team spent months testing and retesting every requirement and scenario using different teams of people, and it paid off. It was an unbelievably smooth implementation and transition.”

The WorkForce team held several train the trainer sessions to get the payroll team comfortable with the system. The UI training department created specific training materials for the various groups and conducted extensive company-wide classes.

“The high level of success of the implementation is evident throughout our company and we continue to get spontaneous comments from end-users on how much they like the system and how well it works,” said Jones. “The low level of issues continues to be a source of pride for all of us that put work into this project and we are already seeing the benefits of some of the process improvements we implemented.”

Customer Service & Support

“We are unanimous in recognizing the role the WorkForce team played in our success,” said Jones. “The responsiveness and professionalism of WorkForce Software’s project management is easily among the best of all vendors we have dealt with and everyone who worked on this project is to be commended for their efforts.”

“Our consultant was consistently proactive in her approach, and her application knowledge, level-headed approach and technical skills were invaluable, and the support team was always ready to address our issues and provide us with the best solution.”

Results

UI’s primary requirement was that the system work correctly, and the fully configured system has easily met the acceptance criteria the company set forth, and continues to performs beautifully, according to Mr. Jones. One of the biggest benefits has been the time savings. Managers and timekeepers no longer spend hours each week entering and calculating time. The labor associated with verifying data into the finance system is no longer a drain on company resources, as the system automatically verifies that information upon time entry. Overtime calculations are automated, so employees do not have to calculate the various levels based on number of hours worked, project, the day, etc. EmpCenter helps increase productivity and reduce labor costs associated to UI’s workforce management practices.