City of Ann Arbor Improves HR Efficiencies and Set to Achieve Savings Using UltiPro for Human Capital Management

Business Wire, July 9, 2008

WESTON, Fla. -- Ultimate Software (Nasdaq:ULTI), a leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, announced today that the City of Ann Arbor is achieving strategic HR gains, experiencing fiscal savings, and meeting its environmental goals since going "live" on core UltiPro, UltiPro Recruitment, and UltiPro Time and Attendance delivered through Intersourcing -- Ultimate Software's software-as-a-service. For additional gains, the City is rolling out UltiPro Benefits Open Enrollment now, and UltiPro Performance Management and UltiPro Salary Planning and Budgeting later this year.

The City of Ann Arbor was using a traditional financial program for payroll and basic human resources tasks, but the solution required manual reconciliation, lacked sophisticated reporting capabilities, and burdened internal IT resources who were responsible for system maintenance. In November 2006, City leaders selected UltiPro delivered through Intersourcing to resolve these shortcomings, streamline HR processes, enable its human resources associates to function more strategically, and even reduce reliance on paper.

Comparing the hard operating costs of its previous methods to UltiPro through Intersourcing, the Michigan municipality is on its way to saving approximately $540,000 over a five-year period. In that same time frame, the organization hopes to achieve another $500,000 in soft-cost savings from using UltiPro.

"We've changed our approach to information technology so that our IT team functions at a higher level -- managing core business projects rather than writing code or running reports. Since Intersourcing does not require dedicated IT staff, servers, or a software license, we've been able to free our IT resources and remove related expenses from our budget," said Richard Martonchik, Manager of Human Resources operations for the City of Ann Arbor. "By automating our entire human capital management program with Ultimate Software's comprehensive, integrated solution, we anticipate the soft- and hard-cost savings to total approximately $1 million over five years."

Although Martonchik and his team have experienced many of the practical administrative benefits of UltiPro, the advantages have been organization-wide. For example, using UltiPro Recruitment, applicants can submit applications online rather than having to visit the office and requiring assistance from HR associates. With the UltiPro career portal, communication is electronic, including a series of online assessments that candidates can complete at their convenience.

Collecting applications and assessment results online gives hiring managers and recruiters fast and complete details on candidates, and the City's time-to-hire is improving as its pool of applicants continues to grow. Because this information is centralized in UltiPro, the City can generate reports to evaluate the talent acquisition process and track metrics, such as the City's most effective recruiting methods and their costs. With these capabilities and increased efficiencies, the HR team, and managers, too, can operate more strategically, something that impacts the whole organization.

"We want our HR team members to function like business consultants to City leaders, offering valuable insights and direction on issues like recruiting and retaining a high-performance workforce, rather than tactical staff who manage forms and input data," said Martonchik. "With its extensive human resources and reporting functionality, UltiPro has done more than bring our procedures into the 21st century; it has elevated our HR team so they can make a difference in the quality of people we hire and the kind of strategic information they share with upper-level management."

UltiPro's Web feature-set is typically a significant source of efficiency because companies can transform manual processes into electronic transactions with built-in workflow. UltiPro's workflow automatically routes relevant details to approvers or those who need to be "in the know" without interdepartmental mail, phone calls, or forms. With UltiPro, no steps are skipped and everyone involved is included without relying on HR to move and track paperwork and process flow. For talent acquisition, attendance tracking, and other cumbersome operations, reductions in paper can be significant, saving time and money while creating a more environmentally sustainable business.

"The City of Ann Arbor has a strong environmental initiative, and Ultimate Software's Web-based self-service for managers and employees, recruitment, and time and attendance have helped us support that cause because we can use a secure Web browser accessible from anywhere at any time for these functions," said Martonchik. "The City of Ann Arbor has been able to decrease the costs and effort associated with volumes of paper, and we expect even more shifts to paperless processes moving forward with UltiPro."

"Organizations don't have to compromise and select a vendor that delivers strategic value over one that might promise greater financial returns," said Greg Swick, chief sales officer for Ultimate Software. "Ultimate Software's offerings meet both objectives, and we are pleased that the City of Ann Arbor is taking advantage of UltiPro's complete end-to-end functionality for maximum gains."