A successful global payroll implementation

The right approach to make it happen

The right approach to make it happen

| A successful global payroll implementation

Table ofContents

Introduction 01

Page3

Why do it?

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The basics and essentials

Page5-7

Reaching the finish line

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A global payroll control platform

Page 10-13

1 A successful global payroll implementation

1. Introduction

A lot of multinational companies today are choosing to go down the route of a global payroll implementation. Essentially, this is the process of unifying and centralizing all of their payroll systems, data and payroll providers around the world into one central location for better operational efficiency and management control. The goal, post implementation is to have a payroll delivery and management process that is standardized across countries and leverages digital technology to streamline processes, speed up data flows and help with compliance visibility. Unifying and centralizing all of the key elements of global payroll delivery and management in a single location goes a long way to solving many of the key challenges that exist with payroll today-and this is the core reason that payroll teams choose to undertake an implementation project. What they have is currently not suitable for the present day and unsustainable for the future-they are seeking a technology solution to solve problems in the here and now but also prepare them for future growth i.e., the ability to pay a geo-dispersed global workforce on time and accurately every pay period as they expand into new countries and territories. In this paper, we will take a look at what a global payroll implementation might look like in practice, suggest a helpful approach and outline some of the key considerations you should be aware of before you start.

2 A successful global payroll implementation

2. Why do it? To solve a number of problems is the quick answer. Global payroll delivery and management at multinational companies today is defined by complexity. There is an urgent need for a technology solution to apply structure and control to payroll and introduce execution excellence and harmony into the day-to-day delivery. So, what are the problems that need solving? • Non-standardized dataflows-no single way of working across countries

to actually see what is happening across each of their payroll countries in real-time. They want to work with standardized data and automated inputs. They want full visibility over their compliance calendars, and they want to select, change and manage their own network of local providers. They want digital integrations to ensure seamless bidirectional data flows between the key players in the payroll ecosystem: payroll software, HCM systems and local country providers. They also want to empower their payroll professionals with digital tools while offering their global employees self-service access to their payslips and payroll information. These are the reasons lots of global companies are undertaking a global payroll implementation project-let's take a look at what approach they might take and how they should go about it. “Many are now seeking to futureproof payroll operations by consolidating payroll to a single global platform and vendor governance model”

• Manual heavy process-all excel spreadsheets, no automation

• Multiple disparate systems, lack of integrations- HCMs & Finance

• Limited or no consolidated reporting

• Difficulty managing multiple local country payroll providers

• Compliance, regulation and data security concerns

This is what payroll managers need to solve. They need to consolidate, unify and centralize their global payroll operations in a single location for better visibility, control and operational management.

Nelson Hall, Next Generation Payroll Services, March 2019

They want a payroll model to follow and a system in place that allows them

3 A successful global payroll implementation

3. The basics and essentials

Parallel Run

Discovery- Current State

Requirements gathering

Technology Partner

Integrations Scope

End to end Testing

Go Live

Start with getting clear on why you're doing it, then round up all the key stakeholders whose opinion such a project would benefit from: including Payroll, HR, InfoSec, Finance and cybersecurity stakeholders is usually a good idea. Next, you move to discovery: this is where you outline what your current state of global payroll delivery and management looks like. This is your starting base or ‘before’ picture.

Some key questions to get clear on here include:

How do we want to deliver and manage multicountry payroll?

What are our growth and recruitment plans?

Does our global payroll technology and process support these growth plans?

Is our current process automated or manual?

Are we working with standardized data?

Do we need to integrate with HCM's and financial software?

What are our reporting needs? Can we currently analyze labor costs effectively?

Do we have data security, information protection and privacy concerns?

Do we know if we are compliant in each of the countries we deliver payroll?

4 A successful global payroll implementation

The answers to these questions will help you to find the scope and detail of any global payroll implementation project. These requirements gathering answers should also give you a clear indication of what kind of payroll expertise you need in the form of a payroll technology partner to ensure you undertake the kind of implementation that covers off all of your needs both today and in the future. Formulate a plan and outline it in writing - a list of requirements, deadlines and key milestones. Always keep in mind the need to constantly communicate and update on this plan-this is change management best practice and is vital to creating and maintaining the kind of momentum needed to bring the implementation to a successful and rewarding conclusion. Factor in training and support initiatives to ensure that everybody fully understands how to get the best out of the new process and technology in the post live environment. Take a phased approach: each of your countries may have unique data and pay element nuances-decide which countries you are going to start with first and focus on them – a good tip is to prioritize countries where you have the largest number of employees based.

Consolidating your data will be key - consider all of the sources where data comes from in your payroll delivery: your current payroll software, a HCM system if you have one and your network of in-country providers. Look at the pay element and mapping codes-what do you need now and what flexibility might you need in the future? A key part of any implementation will be gathering all of this data in one location and then categorizing it and standardizing it at a global level-this will provide the foundation for execution excellence in global payroll operations.

5 A successful global payroll implementation

Next, you focus on your technology partner - who has the digital platform capabilities to consolidate all of your countries in a single location, standardize your data and introduce automation to replace the manual processes you currently have? What model and platform can give you control and visibility - the ability to select and manage your own local providers in a single location? Who offers the most automated validations for speed and efficiency with payroll inputs and who can provide the level of detailed, consolidated and comprehensive multi country reporting for global level cost understanding and bigger picture insights? Who is best positioned to help you meet your growing compliance obligations? These questions will help you find the kind of payroll technology partner who can

“Platform integrations connecting payroll to the HR technology landscape has become a critical factor in global payroll transformation.”

Nelson Hall, Next Generation Payroll Services, March 2019

It would be very wise to integrate payroll with any existing HCM system and finance software as part of the payroll implementation project. Doing so will remove the need for duplicated data across systems and will also immediately introduce better connectivity and greater operational efficiency between these three connected departments. When HCMs like Workday and SuccessFactors are integrated with payroll, benefits in the form of saved time, greater accuracy and more insightful reporting can happen quickly.

deliver the global payroll implementation you need.

Next, consider if you want integrations to be in scope. The likely answer is yes you will - global payroll does not exist in isolation and crucial, bidirectional data flows will be needed to connect payroll delivery to related departments such as HR and finance.

6 A successful global payroll implementation

4. Reaching the finish line At this point, you will have arranged all the stakeholders you need, selected your technology partner and gone about the process of cleansing, standardizing and automating your data flows. The finish line is now in sight, and you move into the testing phase and parallel runs with your existing multicountry payrolls to ensure everything is working as it should be. The testing and parallel run process will help you iron out any teething problems and also highlight any concerns that need to be addressed. Digital developers in your technology partner team may have to do a little extra work fixing mapping and coding elements or analyzing where automated feeds are not coming through as well as they should be. Mapping changes and bug fixing are all fixable issues, and this is the reason why you do testing and parallel runs before go live stage. This is where the data workflow development happens. In this testing and client user acceptance stage, you can observe in a non-live payroll environment just how well the data standardization process is working, how your automated data flows are saving time and what level of detailed and comprehensive multi country reporting you can now generate thanks to this global payroll implementation. This is also the place where you observe how well the integrations with the local country providers and any HCM system is working.

“Payslip help to position you for success in the future, and to onboard, really hundreds of people when you need them very quickly and very efficiently, in the same way for each country.”

Travis Saville, HR Systems Lead

7 A successful global payroll implementation

This is the stage where you can really see the value of working with a specialized implementations team who can offer insight and expertise to get you to the finish line. Some SaaS or digital offerings are simply ‘out of the box’ purchases with no implementation or reliable customer support - many companies who have chosen to go down this route with global payroll have regretted it. Once all stakeholders are satisfied with the quality control protocols around testing and parallel runs, then you can move to the go live stage and the post live training. This training is where the implementations team from your technology partner of choice, upskill and train all global payroll professionals on how to fully leverage the new model and digital tools that have been introduced as a

result of the global payroll implementation. (A proactive

implementation team will often begin this training well before the parallel run and go live stage.) This is about ensuring that your team develop full competency via platform

demonstrations, video training, helpdesk and query resolution

support. After this, you should be up and running with a faster, smarter and better payroll delivery model and technology infrastructure for execution excellence in multi country payroll delivery and management.

8 A successful global payroll implementation

Payslip

Payslip delivers a scale- up advantage for today’s global business leaders, harmonizing global payroll operations to fuel growth efficiency. By standardizing and automating the complexities of global payroll, Payslip’s Global Payroll Control Platform empowers outperformers to achieve execution excellence, see a bigger picture and scale at any dimension.

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9 A successful global payroll implementation

5. A global payroll control platform

Our platform is the perfect place for a multi country global payroll implementation. The Payslip global payroll control platform was designed specifically to solve a range of challenges associated with global payroll delivery and management at multinational companies today. Our hugely experienced implementations team are on hand to guide you through the implementation process. We start with gathering your data from all of your source inputs such as local vendors and HCM systems, we then categorize and standardize it all at a global level, enabling you to develop a single way of working across all of your countries. Our platform supports the creation of unlimited local country pay elements, so all of your local country nuances can be accommodated. The platform is also provider agnostic, meaning you can connect any local country provider to it-giving you the flexibility to select, manage or change local country providers whenever you need to.

Next we automate payroll data inputs and workflows wherever possible, fully replacing time consuming manual data inputs with rapid, efficient automated dataflows. Then we integrate your payroll process with your payroll ecosystem, so you have smooth and automated bidirectional data flows, seamlessly connecting your payroll to your local country providers, HCM system and finance software. All of this serves to lay the foundations for detailed, comprehensive and consolidated multi country reporting for bigger picture insights and strategic decision making. Your payroll professionals are then fully trained on how to use the various digital tools available on our platform: dashboards, system alerts, compliance calendars, communication tools, reports, platform navigation tools and more. The goal is to empower them to leverage their new digitized payroll process for faster, smarter and better multicountry payroll delivery.

A successful global payroll implementation

Our implementations team are with you from the start, helping you to outline a plan filled with key deliverables and milestones. We do this all the time, and you will find that new country onboarding can happen a lot quicker than you might think. As soon as one country is on-boarded, you then have a playbook for duplicating this process across all of the other countries. Our experienced tech support team are always on hand for queries and post implementation support. “Rapid and effective multi country payroll implementation is a core feature of our platform. We help global clients avoid a time-consuming “rip and replace” project -Instead we work with what you already have and want to keep. We digitize your payroll, standardize & automate your data, and integrate with your HCM. The goal is to solve your current payroll problems and help you quickly expand into new countries with visibility and control, while managing it all on a single platform.”

We work with our clients to identify the smartest way to achieve a fast and effective multi country global payroll implementation on our platform. We have lots of experience helping global companies who are scaling rapidly and need to implement a global payroll solution that works with their existing software and processes while also enabling them to grow efficiently into new countries and territories. Our experienced team are here to help you get started. For more information, talk to us today.

Fidelma McGuirk, Payslip CEO and Founder

11 A successful global payroll implementation

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