SmartCare Brings Out Greatness with Greater Toronto Airports Authority
This case study examines the benefits of partnering with expert, white-glove service provider, Align HCM, to make Greater Toronto Airports Authority (“GTAA”) even greater.
Challenges
GTAA, a long-time Ultimate Software customer, used the "UKG Pro" product for many years. After the merger of Ultimate Software and Kronos, GTAA expanded their SaaS licenses with UKG to include the entire UKG Pro suite of products.
They added the WFM module (formerly known as Dimensions) in 2022. With all 1700 employees using the UKG suite, the addition of the WFM modules (including advanced scheduling, accruals, and leave management), placed additional demands on the GTAA administrators.
Up until this point, GTAA had partnered with a UKG service provider for support focused on the Pro features and functionality. However, with the new demands of the WFM solution, they needed additional expertise. This is where Align HCM stepped in.
The engagement included the following needs:
- Advanced Scheduling – Practices around how managers were inputting comments into schedules and timecards lead to inaccurate timecards and upsetting workflows. The view into schedules was not efficient because it was limited by person and/ or report.
- Time Keeping Optimization – Timelines were tight in that managers needed to review and sign off timecards within in a day. Managers were missing their deadlines, resulting in negative downstream payroll processing impacts.
- Time Off Accruals – GTAA was not confident that all their accrual rules and policies were addressed. For example, excluded vacation was a subset of vacation that could be tracked but the system configuration needed to be updated to prorate based on the employee’s month of hire.
- Administrative Knowledge – GTAA desires to be self-sufficient and requires that they are knowledgeable in all areas of UKG Pro for success. To this end, the support approach requested is hands-on by GTAA staff, with Align experts as guides and consultants.
Solutions
Recognizing a gap in Workforce Management (WFM) knowledge from their current support provider, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) sought the expertise of Align HCM for configuration updates, best practice solutions, and knowledge transfer.
Align HCM, known for its white-glove service and personalized high-touch engagements, was an ideal choice with its SmartCare Stabilize offering.
After choosing the Stabilize offering, GTAA and Align collaborated to identify and prioritize a list of items. The SmartCare team then began addressing these items, presenting solutions to GTAA, and made an immediate impact. Within the first six months of the partnership, twelve identified needs were successfully resolved.
Results
1. Improved Managerial Operations – The high-priority WFM improvements were focused on areas of system functionality that would ease administrative burdens. The Pro WFM solution aims to be intuitive and easy to use, allowing managers to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time engaging with their teams and doing work that really matters.
For example, when employees or managers are viewing staffing numbers for scheduling purposes, the Align HCM team worked out additional views and access points to see the big picture. Now with one-click, managers can see what they need to in terms of staffing.
2. Operational Efficiency – In addition to improving managerial experiences, the UKG Pro suite provides opportunities for organizations to review gaps and duplications of current processes and policies and optimize for greater efficiency. Automated application of rules – for example using the accruals module to measure, award, and track Paid Time Off (“PTO”) – is a great feature of the WFM solution.
After fully implementing accruals , GTAA later identified areas where the rules were not appropriately applying expected values or needed to be updated based on organizational or contractual changes. Some high-priority items when GTAA came to Align were focused on evaluating the accrual rules in WFM, analyzing along with Union contracts GTAA was bound by, and updating where necessary.
Not only did these improvements create greater operational efficiency and confidence in the system, but GTAA successfully mitigated risks associated with non-compliance.
"The services from Align are exceptional. The consultants are proactive, responsive, and show a real dedication to delivering results."
Ryan Roncesvalles
Manager, HR Systems
Greater Toronto Airports Authority
3. Enhanced Experiences – The SmartCare Stabilize offering provides GTAA with the ability to have quicker, expert support when needed. As a customizable solution, Align and GTAA kicked the engagement off by reviewing GTAAs needs from a holistic viewpoint and then collaborated to mutually agree what the most valuable use of time and resources would be.
Not only is this partnership beneficial for short-term arrangements when clients are working to stabilize, but the relationship building provides a fantastic foundation for ongoing success planning.
Align HCM has provided a robust group of experts focused on the specific tasks needed to help GTAA stabilize and achieve their long-term business goals. While the short-term focus is on WFM needs, the broader picture is on GTAA’s success using the UKG Suite of products and UKG ecosystem.
Conclusion
GTAA has been using the UKG Pro solution for quite some time and when WFM was added to their suite in 2022, they thought they had it all figured out. However, after using WFM for a while, they realized that they needed to optimize their workforce management processes to get the maximum value from their investment.
To address this challenge, GTAA sought the expertise of SmartCare services, which initially focused on mitigating WFM pain points to improve their overall experience. As their partnership flourished, GTAA became an Align HCM customer, which provided them with a team of experts who were readily available to guide them through any query, from a quick question to strategic best practices.
"We continue to partner well with Align and that partnership is helping our team become more efficient and knowledgeable on the UKG products."
Ryan Roncesvalles
Manager, HR Systems
Greater Toronto Airports Authority
With Align by their side, GTAA received proactive recommendations, on-hand support, and a guarantee that they were getting the most out of their UKG solution.
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