SkillNet Solution Highlights

• Implementation and customization of Retek’s Time and Attendance product
• Integration with PeopleSoft HR and Hyperion’s data warehousing product
• Forecasting and analysis of labor trends
• Features to support state labor laws, seasonal work periods and staggered payout cycles
• Extensive reporting features to enable efficient management of workforce

Cost reduction due to

• Fewer errors in capturing information on work periods and labor information
• Automatic triggers and alerts for mandatory time off

Increased productivity due to

• Forecasting workforce requirements
• Seamless information flow between payroll, HR and data-warehousing systems

Specialty Retailer’s Goals

The retailer that SkillNet created the solution for has stores nationally. Each state has its own set of regulations relating to labor-management, which have to be met. The retailer wanted a robust system that could handle management and monitoring of the seasonal, temporary and part-time workforce.

The retailer wanted this workforce management system to integrate with the PeopleSoft HR system, so there could be a seamless process between the payroll system and the store-collected information. This would considerably ease accounting and making payments to the large temporary workforce during peak seasons.

Retek’s Time and Attendance product was selected to support most of the standard features desired by the retailer. SkillNet was selected by Retek to implement the extensive customization required.

SkillNet Approach

After the implementation of Retek’s Time and Attendance product, SkillNet and Retek team carried out a systematic study of the retailer’s requirements by state and store. There were different categories of features required, such as, work periods, labor-initiated actions and state-regulated actions, and payroll stipulations.

Work period related feature-enhancements had SkillNet’s team working on setting the system up with minimum working hours, mandatory break periods, and paid overtime. Labor-initiated actions included paid vacations, jury duty, and sick leave. The retailer required its own PeopleSoft HR system to stagger payout cycles, which were also divided between daily and weekly payouts. This was enabled by integrating Retek’s Time and Attendance product with the PeopleSoft HR system.

To build efficiencies into workforce management, which represents a huge percentage of costs for any retailer, SkillNet provided the retailer with forecasting and analysis mechanisms, enabled by integration with the data warehousing product by Hyperion. The retailer was empowered to forecast labor trends and load so it could efficiently manage resources. The reporting features also included some for exception matching.

The SkillNet solution enabled the retailer’s workforce management system-environment to act as a virtual in-bound payroll system for the retailer, collecting information and automating monitoring.