Innovative, world-class HR and payroll developed locally

By Phumeza Tontsi for Sage VIP Payroll
Johannesburg, 30 Aug 2013

Sandra Swanepoel, Sales Director at Sage VIP.

"South African businesses do not have to invest in international products to get to the latest and top quality technology for HR and payroll. The level of technology expertise in South Africa is world-class, especially when it comes to innovation," says Sandra Swanepoel, Sales Director at Sage VIP.

Sage VIP launched the VIP People Payroll and HRIS system in South Africa 24 months ago as a brand new, state-of-the-art HR and payroll application, targeting large to enterprise size businesses in Africa.

Swanepoel says Sage VIP wanted to develop a product that could cater for those companies that required more detailed and complex functionalities than what has been available in the South African HR and payroll market, but without having to pay up to 10 times more for custom-built applications. "We employed the intellectual capital we've gathered over the last 25 years as leaders in the HR and payroll industry to develop a world-class system," says Swanepoel.

Swanepoel continues by highlighting the system's key capabilities, which show how Sage VIP's innovative solutions have produced a system that is globally on par.

Security, stability and improved processes - The VIP People system not only lends security and stability to the modern HR and payroll environment, but also provides improvement of processes through innovation. The design also complements existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications and builds on the strength of SQL as a unified platform.

Online real-time design - The online real-time design provides substantial benefits to the end-user, making processing easy to monitor, vastly reducing errors and minimising risk. The combination of an online real-time design with a date-driven system is unheard of in the industry. It's state-of-the-art technology.

Innovative design contributes to efficient implementation - Due to the software's pioneering design, the time required for implementation of the solution is a fraction compared to other systems of this calibre. For example, we recently managed to complete a full implementation at Mr Price for 19 000 employees in three months. Implementations of this size would normally take between six and 24 months.

Some interesting facts about VIP People:

* The system was developed in .Net and runs on a MS SQL Server.
* It employs a friendly and familiar user interface with the ability to customise the working space for each user as they prefer.
* The payslip can keep track of, and manage details of external payments, for example, garnishees, bond bonuses and revenue services.
* It creates remuneration structures containing all the payroll definitions applicable to a specific individual or group of employees, which streamline processes.
* Company management is also streamlined. For example, VIP People can create unlimited companies per database and employees' pay periods can be viewed for two years in advance.
* Customers can regularly receive all the latest statutory updates ensuring full legal compliance with minimal effort.
* The reports allow for complex calculations and further manipulation.
* Multiple medical aid providers with their various options can be created.
* The employees' leave transactions can be viewed on an actual calendar and the leave set-up is done according to company-specific guidelines.
* VIP People is based on an extremely secure design which employs best practice principles to ensure maximum security and control at all levels.

Universal calculation engine - The system's universal calculation engine can be used in any design area, from calculating medical aid deductions, printing detailed reports or generating complex job costing calculations, and makes the system truly quick and efficient. This functionality highlights Sage VIP's commitment to deliver cohesive, comprehensive and configurable HR and payroll solutions with distinctive capabilities that enable users to break legacy configurations and embrace change.

"Companies are looking to continuously modernise their HR and payroll systems, and the VIP People system provides them with an agile, cost-effective, world-class and innovative solution with tremendous benefits. Since its inception, more than 50 companies, representing 150 000 employees, are paid using the system. These companies include well-known brands such as King Price, McCarthy and Mr Price," concludes Swanepoel.

Mr Price, one of South Africa's largest fashion retailers, also implemented VIP People recently. Jenny van Winkel, Group Payroll Manager, says the implementation has been an amazing experience for the entire HR and Payroll team at Mr Price. The company needs to, for its Africa and South African operations, pay casuals on a weekly basis and permanent salaried staff on a monthly basis. "From week one of paying staff on the new system, everything went smoothly and the successful implementation can be attributed to the excellent support from the VIP project team. They have honestly listened to our needs, were professional and their turnaround time excellent," says Van Winkel.

McCarthy Motor Group, one of South Africa's largest motor retailing groups, is one of the companies which implemented VIP People recently. Shelley Viljoen, Payroll Manager at McCarthy, said since the company has implemented VIP People, its payroll processes are much more streamlined and automated. "We have a big staff turnover and the solution definitely assists in managing all our complex HR and payroll needs. We are also looking forward to the Employee Self Service (ESS) system, which will simplify the process of leave applications and approvals, and it will allow employees to print their own payslips." Viljoen said McCarthy's payroll team wants to implement a paperless office and the new system allows them to capture and edit any data electronically. Viljoen also complimented VIP People on the detailed management reports and business analytics.

Sage VIP

Sage VIP is a leading supplier of payroll and human resource management solutions in South Africa and Africa, having a comprehensive African partner network that comprises 24 African countries. Sage VIP's extensive service offering and comprehensive range of products epitomises ease of use, stability and reliability. The flexibility that the Sage VIP service offering provides is uniquely catered to each client's company and legislative needs, whether it is an SME or a multinational corporation.

Sage VIP was voted as the Business and Professional Services Company of the Year for 2012 in the 'Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey', for the third year running.

The Sage Group

Sage Group is a leading global provider of business management software to small and medium sized companies, creating greater freedom for them to succeed. Sage understands how and why each business is unique. It provides products and services that suit varying needs, are a pleasure to use and are secure and efficient. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and entered the FTSE 100 in 1999. Sage has over 6 million customers and more than 13 380 employees in 24 countries covering the UK and Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, Asia and Brazil. For further information, please visit www.sage.com.

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