Sage Abra 500 HRMS Version 8.4
Product Announcement
July 29, 2008
Introducing Sage Abra 500 HRMS v8.4
With New Payroll Module
Contents
Introducing Sage Abra 500 HRMS v8.4
New! U.S. Payroll Module
Other Improvements with v8.4
Upgrading to v8.4
Converting to v8.4 from Abra v7.x
Product Availability
Product Pricing
Sage Abra Business Partner Certification Policies
Additional Information
Contacts
Introducing Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 with New Payroll Module
Sage Abra 500 HRMS v8.4 is the latest release of Abra SQL Server platform for the U.S. and Canada. Abra 500 HRMS delivers tightly integrated functionality across HR, benefits, training and attendance, with rich reporting and analysis, and a Web workforce portal with employee self-service, company communications, benefits enrollment, recruitment and more.
We are pleased to announce the availability of the U.S. Payroll module with release v8.4. Now there is an Abra solution for customers and prospects requiring a SQL Server-based system with integrated HR/payroll capabilities.
Read on to learn more about the new Payroll module and other improvements that are part of Abra HRMS v8.4
New! Abra U.S. Payroll Module
Abra HRMS US Payroll is a new module available in version 8.4. Customers who are currently using an Abra 8.x version may purchase Abra HRMS U.S. Payroll as an add-in and must upgrade (at no charge to SupportPlus Customers) to v8.4. The Abra HR module is required for the payroll module, it cannot be installed as a stand alone.
Sage Abra U.S. Payroll (v8.4) is for U.S. organizations seeking an integrated HR/Payroll system,
and requiring or preferring an application that supports the Microsoft SQL Server database
Management system. As part of an overall Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 solution, Abra U.S. Payroll
provides a comprehensive and flexible solution that includes the payroll functionality needed by
midsized organizations to process their payroll accurately and quickly every time. Abra U.S.
Payroll supports the needs of most industries including manufacturing, services, retail, wholesale,
financial, transportation, high-tech, government, education, construction and agriculture.
Abra U.S. Payroll General Capabilities
Flexible Payroll Processing
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Run an unlimited number of payrolls to ensure data accuracy, create templates and set up selection lists of employees and process by date without being tied to pay periods.
U.S. Tax Management & Reporting
Tax management features, including automatic quarterly updates of tax tables and electronic media reporting for states where required, and supports federal and state tax jurisdictions, federal and state income, unemployment, disability taxes, workers compensation, ACH credit transaction files, and more.
Comprehensive Reporting & Compliance
Produce processing reports, pre- and post-check registers, analysis of earnings, benefits, deductions, accruals and taxes for the pay period. Print W-2s and submit electronically. Proof, print and complete a 941 report. Track and report Workers’ Compensation, SUTA and FUTA.
Accruals & Overtime Calculations
Set up single schedules covering vacation or sick time accrual for all employees and a single overtime payment schedule for employees in every pay frequency, or easily create as many schedules as needed.
Check Printing
Preview and print standard and customized checks and direct deposit advices for selected employees.
Direct Deposit
Supports unlimited direct deposit accounts for each employee, as well as automatic ACH file creation.
Benefits, Earnings and Deductions
Set up unlimited earnings and deductions codes with support for a range of calculation methods and earning types, including base, premium, and tax only earnings. Define deductions for each or a range of employees, and manage them with rules such as withholding frequencies and employer matching.
Variable Pay Plans
Calculate variable pay including sales commissions, draws and piece-rate production. Sales dollars and production units per employee can be entered directly into payroll via the timecard function.
Pay Frequencies
Supports an extended set of pay frequencies to accommodate the needs of most organizations, including government, education, unions and more.
Key Differences between the Sage Abra v8.4 Payroll and v7.x Payroll
Note: v8.4 Payroll is a completely new application. It performs the same functions as the v7.x Payroll but works differently and with some key feature differences to be aware of.
· HR/payroll data sharing - the payroll user can control when HR data updates v8.4 payroll
· Overtime schedules/calculations - V8.4 Payroll can automatically calculate overtime pay from a single timecard entry
· Shift differential schedules/calculations - V8.4 Payroll can automatically calculate shift pay from a single timecard entry
· Piece rate earnings schedules/calculations - V8.4 Payroll timecard feature allows piece volume entry to automatically calculate pay
· Commission earnings schedules/calculations - V8.4 Payroll timecard feature allows entry of sales dollars to automatically calculate commission pay
· Step rates - Many union shops and government organizations value this
· Additional pay frequencies supported in v8.4 – daily, quarterly, and 10x, 13x and 22x pay periods per year
· In v8.4, the user enters local tax rates manually
· v8.4 supports printing of Checks & DDA’s in the same print run
· MICR option and Laser Signatures – Available for v8.4 from third party – PrintBoss
· Sage Forms are not available for v8.4 payroll
· V8.4 does not support EFT processing of child support payments using file formats required by state law. However some state requirements can be met through customization. This is a future enhancement
· Abra ESS does not display employee W-2 forms or employee pay history in v8.4. This is a future enhancement
· V8.4 Payroll does not create absence transactions in Abra Attendance. In v8.4 accrual balances are calculated in Payroll
Other Improvements to Sage Abra HRMS v8.4
Abra HR
· In Attendance > Actions, and Assign Leave of Absence or Return from Leave of Absence is selected, the step to Review Benefit Enrollment is now available.
· A run-time error no longer occurs when a Cross Employer Transfer is performed.
· Added new functionality for the tracking of veteran reporting categories to accommodate the required annual reporting for federal contractors.
Abra Attendance
· Plans will no longer accrue after the Close Accrual Year process has been run.
· Lump Sum attendance plans that have a monthly accrual period now correctly accrue when the employee reaches a new Seniority Level. Rates will post only for the remaining months of the plan year, rather than the entire year.
· Employees who are assigned to an annual, lump sum monthly accrual plan now correctly accrue for the month which their anniversary date falls in.
Abra Train
· When the Close a Class action is performed, the Courses Taken Status for employees who have completed the course now updates from Enrolled to Completed when the class is closed.
Abra eRecruiter
eRecruiter now has several new enhancements: The ability to identify applicants who do or do not meet job requirements, filter EEO reports using meet/does not meet job requirement flags, new Veteran categories added to eRecruiter Applicant Profile and new Veterans category responses will transfer to Abra HR at hire.
Other
· Changes have been made to the Abra Link export to ADP process to correct sorting records. This corrects sorting problems that occurred for employees who had changes to two different benefit codes that were mapped to the same ADP deduction code.
· In Abra Link, an ADP export file created after a benefit is expired in Sage Abra no longer causes the expired benefit’s matching deduction to be taken for the employee when the file is imported into ADP.
· Product Group Filters are no longer ignored when Abra Secure Query is run. Security is now correctly enforced.
· For customers who upgraded from 7.x to 8.x, a runtime error no longer occurs when you attempt to edit field in a custom detail page using Abra ToolKit.
· In Abra ToolKit, there are no longer errors when an existing date field (such as birth date or original hire date) is added to a custom detail page.
· The LearningAction icon in the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with Sage University.
· Before you run a client install after the installation of Abra HRMS with SQL Server 2005 Express, you must set the SQL Network configuration for the Shared Memory and the TCP/IP protocols must be set to Enabled.
Upgrading to Sage Abra v8.4 from a Prior Version of Sage Abra v8.x
Customers with current Sage Abra SupportPlus maintenance contracts will be able to upgrade from earlier versions of Abra HRMS v8 to Abra HRMS v8.4 at no additional charge.
During installation, the system gives the option to either update the existing version or to install the new version alongside the existing version. If doing a side by side installation is selected, you will receive a prompt to copy your existing data tables to the new version. Then, you can uninstall the previous version.
Converting to Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 From Sage Abra Suite v7.x
Please note that Sage is still actively marketing and supporting the Sage Abra v7 series. It is not a requirement for existing Abra v7.x customers to convert to v8.4.
Sage Abra SupportPlus customers converting from Sage Abra Suite – U.S. Edition v7.3 or later have the option of converting their Human Resources, Attendance and Train modules to the Sage Abra HRMS platform for a one-time license fee.
Note: At this time, we are not supporting the conversion from v7.x payroll to v8.x payroll. Conversion tools are in development for future release. Consult the Abra Technical Support Engineering (TSE) group on a case-by-case basis.
The “Upsizing Wizard” tool will convert the Abra data from the existing v7 FoxPro database to the v8.4 SQL database. The program will include a review of the data and systems, as well as a test upgrade and conversion to ensure that that data has been upsized properly. Contact Sage Abra Customer Support for more information on the program. (Note: Payroll conversion from v7.x to v8.4 is not supported).
Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 Software Requirements
Abra U.S. Payroll (v8.4) is a module of Sage Abra HRMS v8.4. Abra U.S. Payroll (v8.4) requires Abra HR (v8.4).
Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 supports Windows 2000 Server Standard or Advanced Edition (SP4 or above), Windows 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise Edition (SP1 or above). Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 supports SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition (SP4 or above), SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, and SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition.
Product Availability
New Orders – Abra HRMS v8.4 becomes the production version effective with new customer shipments starting July 29, 2008.
Partners – Abra HRMS v8.4 will ship to Abra Business Partners certified on Abra HRMS v8 series on August 5, 2008.
Customers – Abra HRMS v8.4 will ship to current Abra v8 series SupportPlus customers beginning August 6, 2008.
Product Pricing
Pricing for existing modules does not change with the Abra v8.4 release. See current Sage Abra U.S. Price List on the PRO web site.
Please note:
· v8 Payroll must be sold with v8 HR (Abra Payroll v8 cannot be sold and installed as a “stand-alone”) – For convenience, a combined HR/Payroll price line item has been added to the Price List
· v8 Payroll can be sold as an add-on for existing Abra v8 series customers. An add-on Payroll price line item is on the Price List
Abra HR + Abra Payroll / 75ee / 150ee / 300ee / 500ee / 1,000ee / +500ee / +1,000eeLicense / $4,260 / $9,600 / $16,390 / $22,115 / $38,215 / $9,735 / $19,470
Annual Support / 25% / 25% / 20% / 20% / 20% / 20% / 20%
Abra Payroll Add-on to Abra HR
License / $2,775 / $5,910 / $9,380 / $12,790 / $24,265 / $5,165 / $10,330
Annual Support / 25% / 25% / 20% / 20% / 20% / 20% / 20%
Sage Abra Business Partner Certification and Training
Sage Abra business partners who are currently certified on Abra v8.x are required to take a 3-day Abra Payroll v8.4 training class to bring certification up to date. The 3-day class is being offered for FREE.
Sage Abra business partners who are certified on Abra v7 only and wish to become certified on Abra v8.4 must take a 5-day Abra v8.4 training class. This class covers Abra HR and Payroll. This 5-day class is being offered at 50% DISCOUNT.
Launch Presentation Webcast of v8.4 with Payroll is scheduled for Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Click here to register.
Demonstrations
· Weekly demonstration’s for Business Partners only, SQL Preview
o Each Wednesday at 4:00PM EST
· Customized demonstration post discovery calls
Upcoming certification training opportunities:
· August 11 - 15, 2008 - Abra v8.4 HR/Payroll Certification – Irvine, CA
o Open to New Abra partners, existing Abra v7 partners or SQL trained (V8 or AWC)
· August 25 - 29, 2008 - Abra v8.4 HR/Payroll Certification – Dallas, TX
o Open to Existing Abra v7 partners or SQL trained (V8 or AWC)
· October 6 - 10, 2008 – Abra v8.4 HR or Abra HR/Payroll Certification – Houston, TX
o Open to New Abra partners, existing Abra v7 partners or SQL trained (V8 or AWC)
Additional Information
For more detailed information on Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 and the new Abra U.S. Payroll module, please refer to the PRO website for the following documents:
· What’s New In Sage Abra v8.4 (for customers)
· Sage Abra v8.4 Release Notes
· Sage Abra HRMS v8.4 Payroll Comparison Summary
· Sage Abra v8.4 Installation and Setup Guide
· Sales Tools
Contacts
· Sage Abra v8.4 pricing and availability
o Sage Abra Regional Account Manager (RAM) – 800-424-9392
· Sage Abra Pre-Sales Solution Consultants:
o Reinaldo Camera, 800-424-9392 x3509
o Kate Vaughan, 800-424-9392, x3388
o Melanie Spurgeon, 800-424-9392, x5610
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