1. Enterprise-wide integration: Business processes are integrated end to end across departments and business units. For example, a new order automatically initiates a credit check, queries product availability, and updates the distribution schedule. Once the order is shipped, the invoice is sent.

2. Real-time (or near real-time) operations: Since the processes in the example above occur within a few seconds of order receipt, problems are identified quickly, giving the seller more time to correct the situation.

3. A common database: A common database enables data to be defined once for the enterprise with every department using the same definition. Some ERP systems split the physical database to improve performance.

4. Consistent look and feel: Early ERP vendors realized that software with a consistent user interface reduces training costs and appears more professional. When other software is acquired by an ERP vendor, common look and feel are sometimes abandoned in favor of speed to market. As new releases enter the market, most ERP vendors restore the consistent user interface .

Some Benefits of an ERP System Implementation in the Manufacturing Sector

Last week, we saw how the ERP implementation took place. And we plan for today who can use this ERP system software in the respected business. The answer for who can use ERP is pretty short. Everyone. Every Business. Here, we see some business categories that can use ERP in Ethiopia.

For many growing businesses, it’s not a matter of if they’ll need enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, but when. As a company grows, so does its amount of data generated—and data sources to track. Managing all that information across multiple platforms becomes costly, time-consuming, and prone to mismanagement.

While there’s no hard-and-fast rule about when it’s time to take the plunge, a lot of the small business owners we talk to share common pain points that an ERP system can resolve.

If your business identifies with the following telltale signs, you’re probably in need of an ERP. Even if the implementation your business chooses comes with high upfront costs, you’ll save money in the long run by streamlining processes and maximizing workflow efficiency.

You’ve outgrown your existing software: Much in the same way we outgrew our favorite Led Zeppelin tee as teenagers (a sad day indeed), adolescent businesses experience similar growing pains with software. You can try to stretch it out and wear it until you lose all circulation in your torso, but you’re really just delaying the inevitable.

Data is the blood of your business, and you have to keep it flowing. If you’re processing data in entry-level software applications built to hold only so much volume, you need a more robust system to do all that heavy lifting.

How an ERP helps: ERP software is designed to store large amounts of data across the spectrum of business operations. These operations include accounting, manufacturing, CRM, or HR, to name a few. The flexibility of ERP systems provides SMB owners with room for continued growth and, just as important, some welcome peace of mind.

Your existing process is inefficient: If you’re losing track of all those spreadsheets, constantly switching between software, or struggling to get your apps to communicate with each other, don’t worry—you’re not alone. These are common challenges for a growing business, and some of the main reasons to upgrade to an ERP system.

A manufacturer, for example, relies on demand forecasts to manage production and maintain adequate inventory levels. But to do so accurately and efficiently requires a streamlined supply chain process, one that integrates sourcing, sales, distribution, and other manufacturing planning functions.

A lack of communication between codependent processes: is almost certain to result in unwanted surpluses or shortages. And in manufacturing especially, such inefficiencies can derail production, throw off timelines, and wreak havoc on a company’s bottom line.

How an ERP helps: ERP’s flagship offering is its ability to integrate functions seamlessly, combining disparate operations in a single, central workspace.

This eliminates most, if not all, of the duplicate processes you’re doing across a number of different applications. It also reduces the risk of data entry errors, since information only has to be entered once into a centralized system.

You’re spending too much on software integration: Without an ERP, odds are good that your business relies on various software integrations to streamline data and access it cross-departmentally. But integrating multiple applications isn’t cheap.

Between license fees, staffing, training, operations, and the labor required to get them to work well together (if they even work together at all), the price of owning and integrating multiple pieces of software can add up real fast.

The majority of small businesses that have called Software Advice and were recommended an ERP prefer an all-in-one system. Far less popular is best-of-breed software, which comes fully formed and without the level of customization, businesses crave.

How an ERP helps: Whether you find an integrated or a best-of-breed ERP system to be a better fit for your business, all ERP systems streamline data while reducing training costs, user error, and the expense of maintaining multiple systems.

You’re struggling to meet customer demands: our customers are vital to your organization, and the last thing a growing business needs is a failure to deliver on the promise of your product.

Whether you’re having difficulty managing and tracking inventory, retrieving customer-specific financial information, or producing comprehensive reports for clients, ERP software allows you to organize and access data in a central location.

For instance, you’re a manufacturer who is increasing production and adding a new plant. But you’re still using manual methods and disparate applications to track inventory and process purchase orders, and things are getting messy. In this case, an ERP system can help you scale appropriately and account for any increase in demand.

How an ERP helps: ERP software can help streamline and simplify the manufacturing process in the following ways: ERP systems collect data from accounting, CRM, order management, and shipping, among other departments.

It also consolidates this data into a single, easy-to-navigate dashboard, providing greater efficiency, accuracy, and insight into your internal processes. These efficiencies are essential to ensuring that your customers remain happy and loyal advocates of your business. For illustration purposes, this is what a comprehensive manufacturing dashboard looks like:

1. Get upper management support:

Companies that tend to struggle the most with ERP are the ones that lack upper management level involvement. Resources at the lower level tend to not be educated and engaged with the implementation project without senior-level involvement, but they need to be aware of the issues that are causing delays to the project."

2. Make a clear and extensive list of requirements before you start looking at vendors.

Begin by carefully defining the scope of your project, focus on specific business processes and system requirements. The more specific you can be upfront, the more detailed your vendors can be in their proposals.

"Too often, people select an ERP system based on factors such as price, current technology buzz, or the system that is the flashiest," adds Fresca. "But without a good fit, companies are left with expensive customization and bolted together solutions," she notes. The solution: "Find an industry-specific ERP system, with tools and features designed to solve your business requirements. The ROI and long-term benefits of a good fitting system are extensive."

3. Don't forget mobile users

As mobility and BYOD increase across industries, accessing ERP systems from desktops only is no longer an option. Choose an ERP solution that allows users to be productive on smartphones and tablets. Yet at the same time will ensure that sensitive information is secure.

4. Carefully evaluate your options before selecting your ERP system.

Poorly run and ill-defined evaluation projects can lead to poor implementations of requirement definitions and vague priorities can lead to the wrong vendor selection.

Also, do not forget about integration. An ERP solution that does not work with your existing legacy and/or critical office systems is not a solution but another expensive piece of unused or unusable software. Finally, find a partner that specializes in your industry. Better yet, find one that is dedicated to your industry. Those trying to tackle the entire ERP world can't offer the same expertise.

5. Get references.

First and foremost, when shopping for an ERP solution provider, ask the vendor for at least three references. Then "ask the customers what went right, what went wrong, and what they might have done differently. If a vendor can't provide at least three verifiable, happy customers, they may not have the experience you need."

Similarly, if you are a member of an industry association, ask colleagues for ERP recommendations.

6. Think before you customize.

Consider the amount of customization required to configure and deploy. Highly customized systems will generate higher costs, not only in the initial deployment but when upgrading from release to release an industry-specific ERP system

If a particular business function believes they have a case for customization, make sure they prove it. Remember, the cost of the customization is not only writing and testing the code for initial implementation but providing long-term support of the custom code and treating any customizations as exceptions every time you upgrade your software. Keep it simple and try not to allow customization into your ERP program.

7. Factor in change management.

Organizational change management is pivotal to the success of your project, an ERP-managed services and technology solutions provider. Typical ERP projects facilitate massive change in organizations that can include changing of day to day job descriptions or eliminating job descriptions in total. These changes impact the culture of your company and without careful control and communication plans and workshops, you can create an adverse reaction to ERP resulting in barriers to implementation and adoption.

8. Provide the necessary time and resources for training on the ERP system.

Learning a new way of operating will require a significant time commitment for everyone, so the project team must take proactive measures to reduce the burden on employees. Identify department-specific needs, allowing for sufficient time to develop and deliver training programs.

3. Software Updates

We know that software updates and upgrades can be a headache. Not to mention, they always seem to pop up at the most inopportune times, so it’s easy to push them off or ignore them altogether. However, outdated software leaves room for system vulnerability.

Hackers search for vulnerable systems, so neglecting your appropriate software updates and upgrades leaves your business unprotected. Remember, while a software upgrade may seem like a headache, resolving a security breach will be a full-on disaster that costs way more money and resources.

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Enhanced Business Reporting:

• Better reporting tools with real-time information

• A single source of truth – one integrated database for all business processes

Better customer service:

• Better access to customer information

• Faster response times

Improved on-time delivery, and order accuracy

Improved Inventory Costs:

• Only carry as much inventory as needed, avoid these common issues

• Too much inventory, and higher overhead costs

Boosted Cash Flow:

• Better invoicing and better collections tools to bring cash in faster

• Faster cash means more cash-on-hand for the business

Cost Savings:

• Improved inventory planning and vendor relationship management.

• Better procurement management and customer service

Better Data & Cloud Security:

• Dedicated security resources

• Avoid installing malicious software

• Data distributed across multiple servers

Business Process Improvements:

• Automate manual or routine tasks

• Implement smarter workflows

• Gain efficiency

Supply Chain Management:

• Effective demand forecasting and lean inventory

• Reduce production bottlenecks

• Transparency through the business

You’ve heard of inventory management, and you probably already have some inventory management practices implemented in your supply chain. So, what is inventory optimization?

In plain English, inventory optimization is the practice of having the right inventory to meet your target service levels while tying up a minimum amount of capital in inventory. To achieve this, you need to account for both supply and demand volatility.

Inventory optimization is the next level of inventory management for warehouse and supply chain managers and buyers.

According to Wikipedia, inventory optimization is: “a method of balancing capital investment constraints or objectives and service-level goals over a large assortment of stock-keeping units (SKUs) while taking demand and supply volatility into account.”

The world is going through several revolutions simultaneously; digitalization, globalization, and security threats are just a few of the macro trends that affect companies and supply chains worldwide. Consumer behaviors and habits are changing more rapidly than anyone thought possible just a few years ago while new technology makes it possible to source cheaper and better products from all over the world.

This results in complex global supply chains where every link contains an opportunity for something to go wrong. But those who account for uncertainties within their supply chain will be one step ahead of their competition and better prepared to meet customer demand.

Enterprise-sized companies like Amazon and Target already have advanced systems in place for optimizing the supply chain, allowing them to source products from all over the world and deliver to their customers – sometimes within a few hours. But this is far from reality for many small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) who are still trying to calculate order quantities, safety stock, and reorder points in Excel. Manually managing the supply chain results in rough estimates for inventory quantities which in turn leads to excess inventory (that will eventually go obsolete) or, alternatively, poor service levels to their customers. Ten years ago, it might have been ok to ask your customer to wait a few weeks until you got the right product in stock, but today you’re likely to lose that customer to another vendor if you aren’t able to deliver. After all, your competitor is just a click away.

Optimizing your inventory means that you will determine exactly how much you need to order for every single SKU and when you need to order it to always be able to serve your customers. Inventory optimization takes seasonality and campaigns into account as well as supplier lead times and schedules. This way you will always have the right products in the right warehouse without tying up too much capital in inventory. This blog post will briefly go through the key elements of optimizing your inventory and link to resources that will give you more details of each key concept:

1. Demand forecasting

2. Inventory policy

3. Replenishment

1. Demand Forecasting

There are several ways to forecast demand including looking at last year’s or last period’s demand or request forecasts from your sales force. This can work for some SKUs, but on other items these methods can put you on the completely wrong track.

Every product has a life cycle. For example, when the product is first introduced to the market it will not have any historical demand at all. From there it will likely move into to a positive trend where the demand is constantly growing until it becomes a stable and fast-moving SKU. From there, it might get more irregular and then move into a negative trend where the demand is falling to becoming a dying and finally obsolete product. To accurately forecast your SKUs you need to know where in the life cycle all your SKUs are right now and how they move through the product life cycle.

Another thing to keep track of is seasonality. A product that only sells in the summer, like sunscreen, cannot be forecasted based on the previous quarter’s demand. New product introductions also throw a wrench into demand forecasting; a product that was new a year ago cannot be forecasted based on last year’s demand.

Finally, campaigns and promotions are great tools for marketers but can be a headache for planners and purchasers. It might seem obvious that you have to plan for campaigns, but in reality, this is not always done properly and the entire campaign risks failure.

2. Inventory Policy

The next step is to determine your inventory policy, which means determine which products to stock and how much to keep of each unit.

One common method is to sort SKUs based on ABC analysis, where you classify your inventory into A, B and C classes depending on their annual consumption value. This blog will not go into the details of ABC classification, but you can read all about it in our blog post on ABC analysis. This analysis helps you to determine which items to stock in your warehouse and which items can be ordered on demand.

Then you need to determine how much safety stock you need to keep in order to cover sudden demand peaks, supplier disruptions, or other unforeseen disruptions. You can read more about safety stock calculations in our blog.

Finally, it doesn’t matter if you have the exact right quantity of each item if you store them in the wrong places. Therefore, if you have more than one warehouse, you need to optimize your inventory to be distributed over your locations in the right quantities at the right time and place. And if you don’t have enough demand for an item in one specific region, but still enough global demand, you’ll want to find the right warehouse to store it in to be able to ship it out to where it’s needed as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

3. Replenishment

Last but certainly not least is stock replenishment. This is to calculate reorder points and order quantities and turn them into actual orders.

A few things you need to track to optimize your purchases are:

A. Supplier Reliability

Supplier lead times have a big effect on stock availability and service levels. In addition to lead times for your different items, you also need to know opening hours and production cycles. For example, many Chinese manufacturers shut down production completely for the Chinese New Year which comes as a surprise to many western distributors. Another common challenge is some products have lead times of several months. If one of your fast-moving items has an exceptionally long lead time and your customers expect fast deliveries, you can get into real trouble if you didn’t order enough quantities in time.

B. Goods in Transit

If you are placing an order for an item, it’s not enough to know what you currently have in stock to determine the order quantity. You also need to know what you currently have in transit and on the way into your warehouses from your suppliers. This may seem obvious, but most ERPs and other systems don’t have this information easily available.

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It is software that incorporates the latest technology to integrate different processes of a company. The different processes that an organization has are Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Procurement, Planning, Production, and more, depending on the exact business.

ERP implementation is not that easy! The decision to switch to an ERP system may take several months or even years and requires a lot of accurate customized training and for that matter, which apply to other solutions. ERP serves as the central nervous system for your organization that provides real-time reports to higher management.

However, if not implemented correctly, ERP may lead an organization to face financial and non-financial loss. Some of the common challenges faced by different organizations during ERP implementation are:

1. Choosing the Right software:

ERP companies have many solutions to offer to their customers. This is the major and most common challenge faced by almost every organization. It is the first step in transforming your business into a new system.

Lack of knowledge about current technologies leads to a waste of time and money. There are hundreds of solutions available in the market. Organizations need to understand which is the best one that fits their needs in terms of size and scope of systems.

The best solution to overcome this problem is to look at other firms of the same size in your industry, what software they are using, how long they have been using that software, but also to look at other ERP implementation failures ‌ to make an informed decision.

2. Full Knowledge about the processes of the company:

There have been instances where ERP software companies are not briefed properly about the processes of the company. ERP implementation is a costly process and consumes huge financial resources.

Software companies also allocate their resources to develop the best ERP system, but sometimes, even when everything is ready, the company finds out they missed one of the core business tasks to include in the ERP system. At that time companies find themselves in hot water because there is no other choice than to revise the whole project once again, or even revert to the previous system. It takes time for developers and also puts an extra burden on the client company to pay extra for any additional task.

It is therefore important for companies to arrange meetings with their managers before the project starts. This way developers get full knowledge of the process about what's happening in the company and how they must address the issues in the best possible way.

3.No Prior Knowledge of ERP:

Many managers in a company don't even have prior knowledge about what an ERP is. This lack of knowledge leads to differences between them and developers. Sometimes they misunderstand the ERP implementation and even the best solution for their company's operations.

They opt to go for ERP even when they can achieve the same result from just simple software. During this situation, it is in the best interest of project managers, and for the companies, to downscale the project. They can advise them what is best for them and if ERP is either suitable or not. Most of the time this happens when companies don't have IT specialists in their companies or their IT manager is incompetent to guide them properly.

This, in turn, leads to ERP implementation failure in technical training as well because of the very technical nature of ERP.

However, even if that is one of the main key issues in ERP implementation, it can easily be solved by getting customized training ‌ online tailored to your needs – and the ones of your whole team or company.

4. Company Involvement:

While having trained managers and implementation teams is a core ingredient of a successful ERP implementation, ensuring that the whole team that will have to use the product, and not only the key users, are properly trained, on time, and at their pace, is of extreme importance.

Most of the ERP risks and challenges are actually associated with people that don’t have a direct impact on the project, but that hasn’t been trained at all, and an indirect lack of knowledge leads them to make decisions that do not take the big picture into account, and that might have collateral damage on the core implement project.

Therefore, it is of utmost importance to get customized training packages for the whole corporation, that they can all access at their own pace, and to make sure that the right resources are recruited in the first place, by using recruiting platforms.

In order to talk about the Monthly Payroll with Human Resources, we should first know the practical definition of the Payroll and HR Payroll Management system?

A payroll is a set of employees whose pay you process with a single frequency, for example, weekly or monthly. You can define as many payrolls as you require to meet the pay policies of your enterprise.

Payroll Management System is the system by which an employer can manage the salaries of the employees. The salary structure includes salary, allowances, deductions, and net payable to the employees. It also deals with the generation of payslips. Complicated Computations that are performed manually can be automated using the payroll software.

Every company will have different departments like marketing, finance, information technology, research and development, and human resources. The Human Resources department is a crucial part of any organization because employees are considered as the real assets and also the HR department needs to look after the employee welfare and make the facilities easier.

So how can the business benefit from running a monthly payroll with the Human Resource system? This is a simple question and has a straight straightforward answer.

Simply because the business can benefit from the following

1. Easy to Process – It makes the tasks easier. As it requires very little input because it has software in which one has to feed all the information of employees to get the data of calculating wages, finding taxes, paying taxes to the government, financial records which also includes the bonuses, deductions, and net pay. These records need to be maintained and recorded by the employer for future references or verification.

2. Performance Management – Performance management records the performance information of each and every employee. Hence, it helps the employers to get a clear view related to the performance and skills of their employees which further helps the management in scheduling training according to the needs and requirements of each employee. This type of employee performance review can be highly beneficial when it comes to planning and overall productivity improvement.

3. Optimized Process – HR Payroll Management System helps companies to reduce the number of employees who are manually working in the maintenance of the attendance, salary, working hours, income taxes, etc. Frequently repeating the payroll tasks sometimes lead to boredom and result in an error. So, it is always advisable to optimize the process so that accurate information is available.

4. Accuracy – HR payroll Management System helps business enterprises to reduce or rather eliminate the errors in the process of payroll. The payroll process is used to get more accurate data. The inconsistency can be easily tackled. It will provide only appropriate and reliable payroll information which minimizes the inefficiency.

Offline payroll systems are usually part of payroll or ERP software and run on internal computer systems. Software vendors have to incorporate such changes and update the software at their client’s end. If the client has implemented some customization to the software, updating has to be done carefully to not destroy such customization. More importantly, employer users have to find a way of maintaining all employee-related information for a period which is at least 7 years.

Online payroll systems run on the Cloud. The software is maintained and updated by the vendor regularly. Internally, the employer has to have an attendance management system that is linked to the online payroll system. Once the attendance system updates monthly information to the payroll system, the online payroll system will calculate and generate employee-wise earnings and deductions that can be used to pay the employees. Online payroll systems also have flexible report generation that will allow you to analyze your payroll pattern and link it to employee and company productivity.

Online payroll systems are easier on your infrastructure particularly if you have many offices, and employees spread across geographies. Choose the payroll system for you carefully.

Computer-Based Payroll System

This is where a computerized payroll system offers immense help. Once the attendance records are fed, a payroll system calculates all earnings and deductions correctly. Modern payroll systems can also be linked to bank accounts for auto disbursement of salaries. This usually consists of a list of employee codes and names, bank name and account number, IFSC or similar code and the amount to be transferred. This list can be generated by the payroll system and sent to the bank.

Payroll management in Ethiopia is normally an integral part of the accounting or finance department of any organization. It is usually part of a division, section, or unit of the finance function of the organization.

Ethiopia is a stable and fast-growing country. It has about 115 million inhabitants and is just under 450,000 square miles – a little larger than Egypt and 5 times the size of the UK.

Every country thinks that it has a highly complex payroll “system”. Ethiopia is, let us say, not less complex than the average.

Payroll preparation is mainly governed by the income tax law of Ethiopia which is composed of a progressive taxation system that is applied also to all Ethiopia’s regional governments.

As well as tax calculations there are also: Provident fund schemes, Private pension schemes, Government-backed pension plans, Other statutory deductions such as labor union, Court order, etc.

Some of the sections of the Ethiopian tax laws are very “general” and merely stipulate that detailed procedures should be issued by the relevant government agencies by way of directives. These directives sometimes don’t exist and can sometimes be in conflict with each other.

Taxes on monthly salaries are calculated during the monthly payroll preparation and have to be paid to tax authorities within one month after having been deducted from the employee. The same applies also to the various provident funds and pension schemes. There are stiff penalties for late submission of tax returns and all other statutory deductions.

The directives for fringe benefits and other income from employment are sometimes difficult to apply due to the inefficient distribution of directives to all stakeholders.

In Ethiopia, all income from employment like various allowances like fuel, representation, cash indemnities, etc is taxable. It is not one of those countries where one can mysteriously reduce taxable income by calling it “housing allowance” or “transport allowance”!

The tax rates for payout for accrued, unutilized annual leave during termination processing are heavy: they are pro-rated over the period of months the income applies to and are subject to the maximum tax rate.

The tax rate for severance pay, however, is much lighter as it is taxed at a monthly salary rate to support the concept that the employee may not have financial difficulties whilst searching for his next employment. Employment contracts whether permanent or temporary are always copied to the private organization employees’ pension offices.

The rates applied for provident fund & pension schemes sometimes confuse accountants and cause inaccuracies as the rates for provident fund varies from company to company.

Payments for outstanding performance or the award of cash prizes at times like marriage are not tax effective. They are taxed at the same rate as the normal monthly salaries.

Most allowances like fuel, representation & house allowances are taxed fully as long as the whole remuneration package is above a certain level.

The payment of accrued leave is complicated. Accrued annual leave paid on termination of the contract should be prorated over several months and should reflect that actual income received and the tax rates applicable at the time of earnings. It is therefore strongly recommended to get employees to take their vacation – much simpler all around!

It is thus tedious & time-consuming to compile earnings history if it is not stored data on currently used software.

One of the challenges is the fact that monthly information comes from a lot of different sources, some of which are communicated manually. This makes for difficulties for the payroll/accounting service, especially when the preparation work changes hands within the payroll/accounting team.

Obtaining substantial data from payroll is also made complex and difficult as salary increments & bonuses are usually made retroactively. Retroactive payments of increments & emulation payments do entail commensurate adjustment payments to statutory deductions.

Lack of clarity or absence of clear laws on taxation of a variety of allowances paid to employees or Board Directors of private concerns is some of the issues that make payroll preparation more complex and result in a misunderstanding between the taxpayer & the authorities.

Payroll software can do many pay-related calculations. However, you will still need to input and maintain certain data for each of your employees.

What does payroll software do?

Any payroll software will take over the routine calculation of ordinary payroll requirements such as tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs). It will also calculate the NICs that you have to pay as an employer. It will allow you to pay people at monthly or weekly intervals, as appropriate.

Payroll software will also:

● calculate student loan and other deductions

● produce pay slips for your employees

● produce payment reports to allow you to pay employees, showing the amount to be paid to each employee

● keep records of payments and deductions

● produce year-end reports and documentation for you and your employees

● produce the necessary figures or documentation when an employee leaves

What payroll software can't do

Payroll software will automate most of the calculations, but there will still be administrative work for you to do in terms of inputting relevant data into the system.

You will have to:

● enter employee's details when they start their employment

● make changes when their rates of pay increase or decrease

● change tax codes when notifications are received

● enter details of hours worked and overtime

There are also many possible deductions from pay such as employer loans and pensions. Even if the software can automatically calculate some or all of these, you will still need to key in the details for each employee to whom they apply. You will have to update this information when appropriate.

Payroll software features

Most payroll software offers certain basic payroll features to help you pay your employees correctly and on time. For example, payroll processing, tax management, tax form preparations, direct deposits, etc.

Depending on the software, extra features may be included as part of a customizable or enhanced payroll package, to help you manage different aspects of payroll effortlessly and reliably.

Various payroll periods

Weekly and monthly payment intervals are standard in most payroll software. If your business has other requirements, make sure that you choose software that can adapt to different intervals (e.g. fortnightly, quarterly or annual). Some software can support multiple pay schedules, allowing you to customize your payment schedule based on your employees' needs.

Multiple user operation

Smaller businesses may only require support for a single payroll operator at a time, but you should check that multiple-user operation is available in case you need it in the future. If you intend to grow your business, choose a payroll system that is easily scalable and customizable according to your changing needs.

Pay slips

All payroll software will tell you the amounts that you need to pay to employees and HMRC, but check that you can use this information in a way that meets your requirements. For example, you may want the software to create and print pay slips for you, or automatically email pay slips to employees on a specific date. You may want features that allow you to customize digital paystubs, send pay slips in different formats or let staff view their pay slips online.

Pension scheme automatic enrolment

Some payroll packages include automatic enrolment functionality, allowing you to set up your pension scheme, enroll employees, process opt-out requests, issue communication, make contributions, view reports and more.

Employee management

Fully featured payroll software may also include functionality to help you calculate and record holiday entitlements, track sick leave or provide self-service to allow employees to request or book annual leave online. Some packages may also be able to keep records such as job position history, previous employment history, education, and academic qualifications, references, skills and competencies, and training records.

Integration capability

Most payroll software can integrate with another accounting or HR system, which can be highly useful and desirable. For example, time tracking integration can automatically import employee hours from payroll into an HR system. Expense integration can help you automatically synchronize expenses with payroll. This helps to minimize the need for duplicate data entry and allows you to streamline processes and prevent errors. For integration to work, a payroll product must be compatible with the related system.

Some businesses may prefer to process payroll via their accounting software. However, keep in mind that payroll modules of accounting packages may not always provide all capabilities of a dedicated payroll solution.