• Determine who your customer is and understand their needs
• Identify your support and your barriers for the best practices initiative
• Obtain the analysis tools needed to implement best practices
• Understand how to make a best in class continuity plan
• Determine the return on investment for the proposed process changes

Payroll professionals who are interested in taking steps toward transforming their current practices into payroll best practices

Introduction to Best Practices

• Why best practices?
• Assessing where you are today
• Improving business processes – where best practices fit
• Best practices trends and issues
• Understanding best practices
• HR/payroll process components
• Best practices defined
• Typical attributes – payroll best practices

Best Practices within Payroll

• What other organizations are doing
• Technology and best practices Managing technology
• Emerging trends in technology
• Cloud computing
• Changing role of information technology (IT)
• Emergence of self-service applications and tools
• Self-service models
• Direct deposit/payroll cards – electronic payments
• Paperless payroll
• Time and attendance
• Web-enabled applications
• Other technology that enables best practices Mobile applications
• Data security
• Next generation remote worker tools
• Trends in mobile technologies
• Communication breakdown
• Biometrics
• Advantages of biometrics
• Types of biometric devices
• Electronic document imaging
• Best practices: payroll processes

Benchmarking and Best Practices

• Best practices and correlation to benchmarking
• Types of benchmarking
• Quantitative versus qualitative benchmarking
• Find comparable organizations – measuring “apples to apples” Importance of complexity ranking
• What to measure Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Problems/Issues = poor benchmarking scoresApproach to benchmarking – some examples of measurement
• Benchmarking – common errors to avoid
• Start benchmarking with manageable chunks
• Benchmarking is a two-way street
• Highlights of the American Payroll Association’s Payroll Benchmarking Survey
• Standardizing definitions for benchmarking
• Dashboards

Securing Support for Your Best Practices Initiative

• Importance of securing support
• Strategic planning Values
• Vision
• Mission
• Objectives/key results
• Commitments
• Identifying barriers and risks
• Establish a best practices stakeholder committee Committee mandate
• Committee member roles and responsibilities
• Committee profile/representation
• Meeting frequency
• Creating an opportunity assessment Opportunity and scopeBenefits
• Required resources and stakeholders
• Funding request
• Duration
• Developing a business case Key questions before beginning development of a business case
• What is a business case? Executive summary and recommendation
• Purpose and objectives
• Scope
• Determining the recommended option
• Project plan of preferred option
• Project management
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Risk Analysis
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• Communication elements Active listening Individual behavioral patterns

Tools for Implementing Best Practices

• Team development
• Effective teams Stages of team development
• Stages of team development
• Reaching the next stage of team development
• Team player styles Contributors
• Collaborators
• Communicators
• Challengers
• Project management Determine “who” is on the project team
• Determine “when” to implement your project
• Determine technically “what” is needed to start the project
• Determine “how” to implement the project
• The project plan
• Communication
• Coordinate status meetings
• Risks?!
• Be realistic
• Impact on business total cost of ownership
• Issue identification and inhibitive thinking Inhibitive thinking – problems, rules, assumptions
• Brainstorming
• Quick hits
• SWOT analysis
• PEST analysis
• Process mapping Why redesign?
• Why process map – some of the key benefits
• Developing a process map Determine the boundaries/ parameters
• Identify and list the steps taken in the process
• Sequence the steps
• Draw appropriate symbols
• System model
• Check for completeness
• Finalize/validate the process map
• Analyzing process flows Examine each step
• Review each of the decisions within a process
• Examine the rework (or return) loops within each process
• View the process from the customer’s perspective
• System testing Testing phases – defined
• Total cost of ownership
• Return on Investment Calculating Return on Investment (ROI)
• Customer window surveys 

Last upd Implementing Best Practices for Processes and Technology

• Making it happen
• Best or better practices?
• Implementing new processes – some important considerations before you begin
• Approach to process change Assemble your team
• Affirming the vision for the future
• Understand your current processes
• Categorize the phases within the process
• Get the facts
• Determine your metrics
• Select the right processes for redesign – scorecard
• Redesign the process
• Create the plan
• Implement the plan
• Technology implementation
• Selecting payroll technology
• Why do you want/need a new system/ technology?
• Approach to system/technology selection Establish the project team
• Select a hardware platform
• Determine where/how the technology will be developed or delivered
• Select a processing environment
• Select interfacing versus integration
• Prepare a high-level project plan
• Conduct a current situation analysis to create a functional requirement document
• Prepare a request for information (RFI)
• Prepare a request for proposal (RFP)
• Perform the evaluation
• Select the system
• Negotiate contract terms
• Revise the project plan
• Mistakes to avoid
• System lifecycle strategy
• Documentation of policies, procedures, and systems Types of documentation
• Documentation is a project
• What to include
• Gathering the facts
• Creating a “shell” document
• Writing techniques  

Customer Service

• Trends in payroll influencing customer service
• Levels of customer service
• Factors that influence customer service
• The role of expectations Strategies to build an exceptional customer service reputation
• Service delivery skills for payroll Telephone skills
• Voice mail skills
• Email skills
• Specific customer service situations
• Move to problem solving, as that has always been your goal
• Skills for recovering when you didn’t perform as promised
• Dealing with the employee who is wrong
• Delivering bad news
• How to instill quality customer service values

Outsourcing as a Best Practice

• The forces driving outsourcing
• Benefits of outsourcing Phases of outsourcing
• How important is top management in implementing effective outsourcing strategies?
• Obstacles to outsourcing success
• How long does it take to perform an outsourcing initiative from start through implementation?
• Is it necessary to use outside advisors (consultants) or “implementation partners?”
• Top 10 factors in vendor selection
• Top 10 factors in successful outsourcing
• Ten critical outsourcing shifts
• Hallmarks of successful outsourcing relationship management
• Business process outsourcing (BPO) Is BPO just reengineering with another name?
• What are the business forces driving BPO?
• The ASP/SAAS models – service through outsourcing
• Business service providers (BSP) – a hybrid outsourcing model
• Future trends in outsourcing
• Making the outsourcing decisions
• Prepare a current situation analysis
• Prepare a cost comparison analysis
• Choosing the right outsourcing provider
• Employee and manager self-service
• Security and confidentiality 

The Role of Business Continuity Planning

• Don’t make recovery too difficult
• Making disaster recovery more comprehensive
• Benefits of a business continuity plan
• Steps to create a business continuity plan Obtain top management commitment
• Establish a planning committee
• Perform a risk and business impact analysis
• Establish priorities for processing and operations – “critical needs”
• Determine recovery strategies
• Perform data collection
• Organize/document a plan and procedures
• Develop testing criteria and procedures
• Test the plan
• Approve the plan
• Get involved and get results 

Change management

• Change process – critical stages
• Key questions to ask about change
• Change management – important do’s and don’ts
• Using change agents – qualities and characteristics of effective change agents
• Dealing with negative reactions to change
• Studying all angles of change
• Resistance to change – how to overcome it
• What should you as the payroll leader/ manager do?
• Change management – finding the right balance

• Change impacts – some examples that you will likely face Communication planning
• Affecting change through communication
•  Communication goals and objectives
• Change versus transition
• Ways to manage transition
• Assess your organization’s transition-worthiness

CDGA attendance certificate will be issued to all attendees completing minimum of 75% of the total course duration.