Onboarding
We appreciate that entrusting a new provider with your payroll is a big commitment – it needs to be right from the get-go.
Out with the old…
Leaving behind legacy systems, multiple vendors and a slow and fragmented payroll approach can lead to big improvements – the challenge is making that transition work for you and your business, with an onboarding process you can trust.
Fortunately, that’s where we come in.
Your tailored onboarding approach
You need to understand what’s happening at every step of the way with clear expectations, open communication, and your own dedicated team of experts to guide you through the process.
Our structured deployment model and experience navigating multiple languages and geographic requirements will ensure your smooth and seamless transition, from discovery and configuration to testing and go-live.
A 100% CloudPay-delivered process
We don’t rely on any third-party teams to get you on board; everything is taken care of by our dedicated, in-house onboarding experts. Our mature teams have clearly defined roles and complete familiarity with CloudPay’s systems and processes, giving you the most streamlined and efficient experience possible.
It’s not time to replace – it’s time to upgrade
We don’t simply copy and paste your existing service. We take the time to completely understand your current situation and pro-actively enhance and optimize your entire global payroll. Our technology and expert managed service combine to save you time and money, while reducing risks.
Your own bespoke, tailored development plan
Your onboarding deserves a structured deployment model – tailored to your specific requirements – with a clear and transparent schedule to ensure your deadlines get hit. We deliver your plan with a clearly defined process and appropriately phased deployment across all your countries of operation.
Complete visibility, from day zero to done
Retain complete visibility of your payroll implementation with our project management system – see exactly what’s required from your team (and from ours) throughout the process, ensure that nothing gets missed, keep your stakeholders fully informed and, crucially, avoid any delays.
Fully transparent communication, all stored in one place
Access all your conversations and documents via the CloudPay Platform, making it easy for all stakeholders to find and track the information they need – essential for successful delivery with ongoing communication between various parties on a complex project.
Your CloudPay implementation resources and services
Rapid Implementation
Our Rapid Implementation Approach (RIA) enables a quicker payroll go-live for your newly registered business entities, subject to criteria.
Collaborative tools
Our centralized hub contains intuitive tools for your project and document management, keeping you fully connected though all your onboarding stages while providing efficiency gains with automated processes.
CloudPay NOW App
Our employee app removes the need for a penny test, creates a direct channel from your HR / Payroll to your employees, and provides a suite of wellness resources. Plus, you can add our Pay On-Demand services at the press of a button.
Readiness – setting you up for success
To lay the groundwork for a smooth onboarding, your CloudPay journey begins with your dedicated Readiness Team – they will work with you to manage stakeholder expectations regarding the activities, responsibilities and scope of your onboarding process.
To enhance your experience, your Readiness stage will establish and clarify details for your CloudPay and Service Partner activity, your integration, your security and infrastructure, and our shared processes.
We will explain what capacity and knowledge is needed for each stage of your onboarding journey and align on dependencies and resource allocation.
Stages of your onboarding process
Your onboarding process will be managed using our Projects tool within the CloudPay Platform, helping to automate the process and reducing your administration tasks while ensuring that no steps are missed.
Throughout your entire process with CloudPay, there will always be people whom you can ask for help – your team will be introduced to you during the Planning phase.
READINESS
PLANNING
DISCOVERY
CONFIGURATION
TESTING
DEPLOYMENT
Readiness
Your team of Readiness Consultants will discuss and establish your scope, your existing landscape, your key project success factors, and explain CloudPay’s implementation methodology, tools and training. We’ll arrange specific sessions for you with our in-house product experts to answer any queries you may have.
Your roll-out plan will be finalized and your team will trigger your early activities – providing you with access to the CloudPay portal and learning platform; requesting country initial templates (PSQs) and sharing your first set of configuration templates.
The Readiness Team will then transfer their knowledge and recommendations to the Onboarding Team, along with your risk assessment and suggested mitigation actions.
Planning
You will meet your designated onboarding team and validate the data we have collected so far. Your team will discuss your specific requirements and identify areas where we can provide additional value. Together, we will allocate resources from your teams and ours, and define the most appropriate governance model for your needs.
We will review and refine your plan together before our team engages with yours to begin your onboarding process.
Discovery
We start by getting to know your old payroll – this allows us to design the best possible new payroll solution for you, without missing any details. We’ll arrange questionnaires to establish your essential information, to prepare the project team for your global scope; this will include our country-specific documents to help you prepare your local teams.
We’ll use our collaborative CloudPay Calendar tool to review and establish essential milestones and dates for your payroll calendar and your teams.
Configuration
We prepare the CloudPay Platform to perform your compliance and payroll cycles while providing you with strategic insights for your business…
- Interface – we set up the interface and connectivity with your HCM system (using either our global automated HCM interfaces or standardized XML / XLS templates)
- System – we prepare our system for your payroll, including your data, reporting, calendar tool, and our validation framework
Testing
Your CloudPay Onboarding Team will test your set-up to ensure everything is working smoothly and completely, including testing data flows and processes. You will have access to the CloudPay environment where we provide tests and parallel runs until we are completely comfortable to go live.
You will be introduced to your Account Success Manager who will ensure full and early alignment between your implementation and ongoing service delivery. You will also be provided with video conference training sessions and access to our CloudPay Academy for full access to additional tutorials, guides and information, as well as training certification for your teams.
Deployment
We go through the sign-off process for a ‘go / no-go’ decision, reviewing all the test phase results – if everyone is satisfied with the outcomes, we are ready to ‘go live’.
After your onboarding process is complete, we follow a formal handover process to our operations teams who will manage your ongoing relationship with CloudPay – providing a controlled stabilization period – and ensure that you have a full and clear understanding of the resources being assigned to you.
Your CloudPay Onboarding Team
Your onboarding team will provide end-to-end advice and support, ensuring that your process is smooth, that all your payrolls are set up correctly, and that the transition to live payroll is as quick and seamless as possible.
In addition to your Global Project Lead, you will work with specifically assigned CloudPay project and subject matter expert who will ensure alignment between your onboarding process and your ongoing CloudPay service delivery.
Top tips for global payroll onboarding
1. Secure dedicated resources
Ensure you have sufficient personnel and resources available throughout the whole project to make it a success – ideally, aim to establish a project team to mirror your CloudPay team.
2. Gather all your data
Preparing all the data required for your implementation – ideally in Excel format – including gross to net, payslips, period-to-date data and, if possible, year-to-date data, will make things a lot smoother once the process starts.
3. Avoid concurrent transformations
Wherever possible, avoid other simultaneous large-scale projects when undergoing your payroll onboarding project – be aware of concurrent projects and dependencies to avoid having insufficient resources.
4. Manage existing vendors
As part of your readiness phase, be sure to consider any termination periods with current vendors before signing your contract – this will ensure you can avoid any unpleasant surprises with fees or fines.
5. Start small and then expand
Avoid taking all your countries live at the same time – you’d need a huge team to successfully deliver all your data take-on and testing! Start with a small group of simpler payrolls to learn the concepts, then apply those to your bigger and more complex countries.
6. Plan your start date
In your Readiness phase, consider when in the tax year to ‘go live’ – later in the tax year usually increases year-to-date builds.
7. Prepare for change management
It’s crucial for all parties involved in the implementation project – and for your wider internal team – to understand the change in tools, provider and processes, and the impact this will have across your organization.
Where to next?
Finished exploring the CloudPay onboarding process and our global pay solutions?
You can learn more about the core components of the CloudPay managed service model by following the links below…
HCM Integrations
Discover the advantages of bringing your HR and payroll worlds together, by integrating your HCM system with the CloudPay platform.
Compliance
See the compliance benefits of a globally managed pay and payroll ecosystem (and the assurance model we use to ensure your data is protected).