Mangrove — Workforce Empowerment - CPA Practice Advisor

The
Mangrove Workforce Empowerment is a full-featured web-based SaaS payroll and
human resources solution, providing payroll, HR and benefits management, time
and attendance and self-service features. This product is best suited to mid-sized
to large companies and is primarily designed for client-side/direct use by organizations,
but with the ability to manage multiple employer entities and those with departments
and subunits. As a result, Workforce Empowerment fits within the “Direct
Client/Business Use” payroll model for this year’s review.

Workforce Empowerment is fairly all-encompassing with advanced functionality
for experienced HR, payroll and benefits staff to assist with processing payrolls
for up to thousands of employees. Benefits offerings ensure compliance with
EEO, HIPAA, OSHA and COBRA, and employee self-service functions allow for reviewing
pay stubs and W-2s, as well as requesting time off and accessing company forms,
etc.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS:
Workforce Empowerment is an all-inclusive system, but access can be restricted
to certain areas based on the subscription purchased. The system is very easy
to navigate, and the user interface is customizable and quite intuitive. Wizards
aide in the Initial setup of company, employees, rates and other settings. The
system opens into a personalized announcement page that outlines any tasks that
need to be addressed. Wizards also guide the actual payroll process.

A toolbar across the top provides access to primary functions, with options
for company information, employee database, events, time entry, payroll and
reporting functions. The program also allows for advanced employee searches.
Alerts can also be set to remind of pending deadlines or other events. Since
the product is focused on multi-employer configurations, processing multiple
payrolls at a time is fairly intuitive. Time can be entered manually or imported
to generate the amounts owed to the employees. If direct deposit is used, copies
of the payroll advice are available for employees to view in the Human Resources
Portal (discussed later). An email is automatically sent to the employee letting
them know that the payroll advice is ready to view.

All federal and state tax returns are updated quarterly, and payroll taxes
can be remitted electronically to the proper taxing authority. In addition to
electronically submitting taxes, the system also allows users to set up an electronic
transfer of funds to benefit providers and retirement/savings accounts. W-2s
are automatically generated at the end of the year. The Workforce Empowerment
system can handle time specification for all types of employee or contract workers,
with unlimited pay rates per worker, unlimited deductions and multiple states.
A Mass Salary Change tool is available for applying pay rules across large groups
or departments.

Multiple user roles with customized interfaces can be set for each department,
and security features prevent users from accessing unauthorized areas. Direct
deposit is available for multiple accounts per employee with the option for
partial check/deposit payments.

REPORTING & MONITORING:
The Mangrove product has more than 450 standard reports with customization options,
ranging from payroll summaries to deductions, wages and periods to numerous
HR-focused data. Other custom report writing is available for an additional
charge, with the ability to self-populate a list of recent reports run by the
user. The Report Navigator menu also provides good grouping of output options
into intuitive categories. Reports can be saved in PDF, Excel and various text
formats. Documents can also be stored within the vendor’s document management
program.

All due dates can be managed, and email alerts can be set for administrators
and employees. The administrator of the system can also monitor upcoming and
recent tasks. And an administrative dashboard can be utilized with user-selected
panels to monitor key business data.
State and federal compliance forms are included and can be printed and mailed
or sent electronically to participating entities. Checks can be printed to preformatted
or blank paper.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT & EXPORT:
The program can import from Excel and text format, as well as from QuickBooks,
Quicken and Peachtree. It also supports import of time data from most timeclock
systems, with direct integration for Mangrove’s Time and Attendance solution.
A GL bridge allows for export to most accounting programs.

HELP/SUPPORT:
The system provides traditional built-in Help functions and an index, along
with form instructions and some guidance. Live, phone-based technical support
is included in pricing. The vendor also offers a place for users to submit ideas
and product suggestions online through an “Idea Book,” with the
option for voting on other posted ideas/suggestions. All users are also required
to participate in a core features training session.

CLIENT SELF-SERVICE FEATURES:
Workforce Empowerment’s human resources self-service portal really sets
this product apart from the rest. The portal allows the client’s management
team to better communicate and manage employees. In simple terms, the human
resources portal is a communication portal that allows the company to communicate
to its employees. Company messages can be set to display upon employee login
to ensure everyone is up to date with new developments within the company. These
messages can be in the form of text announcements, videos or calendars. Additionally,
this portal allows the human resources department to attach and manage performance
evaluations and monitor license and certification dates. Employees can view
paystubs, make changes to personal information and W-4 data (pending review
and approval by payroll staff), and manage and choose benefits and tax withholdings
through the portal, as well. A bonus for businesses is that the system can be
private labeled for each company.

SUMMARY & PRICING
The Mangrove Workforce Empowerment system is a best fit for businesses with
mid-sized to larger employee bases and considerable reporting requirements,
especially those with multiple geographic locations that increase the complexity
of reporting and payment of liabilities. For such entities that have multiple
staff members managing payroll and human resources functions, the system helps
ensure full compliance and provides valuable workflow tools, employee self-service
management, and strong analysis and reporting functions. Pricing varies considerably,
but the investment generally starts in the tens of thousands of dollars. Since
each version is customized for each firm, businesses can schedule a phone conference
with one of the sales representatives to get pricing. After the initial purchase
and software installment, the recurring annual fee will be approximately 10
to 20 percent of the initial price. Technical support is included in pricing.

2010 OVERALL RATING:

Payroll