Established in 1894, the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA) is a not-for-profit organisation that provides support services for over 20,000 students. Its overall mission is to create a sense of belonging and a future-ready workforce.
The UCSA encompasses a purpose-built hub, multiple food and beverage outlets, early learning centres and hundreds of staff and volunteers who keep the association and its many off-shoots running smoothly.
As the organisation has grown and expanded across multiple sites, legacy paper-based systems struggled to keep up with staffing, rostering and payroll requirements.
We spoke to Jeremy Hanna, Commercial Director and Merrin Leckie, Accounts Payable about how MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management have set the UCSA up for another 100 years of success.
Paper-laden, manual processes no longer cutting it
Before MYOB Advanced, the UCSA used MYOB Exo Employer Services as its primary payroll solution. Alongside this were paper timesheets, paper leave requests and a lot of manual data entry for a payroll of over 180 employees.
While the UCSA staff made do, the process was time-consuming and open to plenty of errors along the way.
During the COVID-19 work-from-home mandates, the UCSA’s reliance on paper and manual processes was cast into the spotlight. They knew there was a better way of doing things and it was time to shift to a cloud-based solution.
“What used to be a 2 day timeline manually entering all timesheets, checking and processing payroll for up to 180 people only, has become a more efficient 1.5 day process for up to 280 people.”
– Merrin Leckie, Accounts Payable, The UCSA
A streamlined, digital payroll solution
The UCSA’s payroll is complex, with different pay rules for different departments, rostered versus salaried staff and specific legal obligations around tax declarations and employment contracts. So, while they were looking for a solution with more features and functionality, it also needed lots of support migrating systems.
The UCSA looked at various cloud-based payroll systems. But the real drawcards were its existing relationship with MYOB and the ability to customise MYOB Advanced Payroll to suit its needs.
“Transitioning to MYOB Advanced Payroll has been one of the easiest I’ve experienced. The best part? It’s available on any computer or phone if I need to access it.”
– Merrin Leckie, Accounts Payable, The UCSA
One central system – different teams across multiple locations
As the UCSA’s responsibilities and commercial ventures have expanded across multiple sites in Christchurch, moving to a cloud-based payroll system has had many advantages.
By integrating MYOB Advanced Workforce Management, staff can submit their timesheets and leave requests using MYOB on their laptops or mobile phones. That information is automatically synced to MYOB Advanced Payroll in real-time, significantly reducing double handling.
This increased visibility means managers can set rosters in advance, see estimated wage costings, and no longer wait for information in arrears.
“With MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management, we’ve seen huge efficiency gains across all departments of the UCSA."
– Merrin Leckie, Accounts Payable, The UCSA
Overcoming resistance to change with plenty of support
Paper timesheets had been used at the UCSA for almost two decades, making the shift to a cloud-based system and app an overwhelming prospect for some staff. But the UCSA felt well-armed to face the change.
“We used the MYOB Advanced Workforce Management help-centre documents to form the basis of our wider staff training, and the online knowledge base and whitepapers were extremely useful,” Merrin says.
Now, 80% of staff use MYOB Advanced Workforce Management every day for timesheets and rostering, and the improvement is being felt office-wide, Jeremy says proudly.
“Staff wouldn’t be without the new software.”
– Jeremy Hanna, Commercial Director, The UCSA
Improvements with MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management:
Substantial payroll efficiencies: 55% increase in staff, 0% increase in processing time
Flexibility to work from anywhere: crucial with multiple sites
Synchronised software has reduced workload and double-handling
Working with real-time information: managers can set rosters in advance
Improved security with individual access to payslips and payroll data
Time to make your business future-ready? MYOB can help – Find out more about MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management solutions.
