Customer spotlight: Ceridian helps Franziska Racker Centers make the most of a precious resource -- time

July 21, 2008

Featuring an interview with Dan Brown, Associate Executive Director, Franziska Racker Centers

Life is busy at Franziska Racker Centers. Based in Ithaca, New York, this not-for-profit organization is dedicated to creating opportunities for people with special needs. With 25 locations, Franziska Racker Centers Inc. serves over 2,600 individuals annually and employs more than 650 people.

"Ours is a thriving organization that makes a real difference in people's lives," said Dan Brown, Associate Executive Director at Franziska Racker Centers. "It also happens to be a great place to work. Since 1948, we've based our values on diversity -- on appreciating the many things all people have in common. Our principles apply to everyone, including those we serve and those we employ. So even though our days are very busy, it's a pleasure to come into work here."

A large, geographically dispersed workforce
Franziska Racker Centers help individuals with special needs achieve their goals for success and happiness by creating opportunities for learning, having friends, making decisions and participating. Helping to carry on the mission are more than 650 staff who work out of 25 locations throughout upstate New York. Residential counselors, therapists, pre-school staff, community support staff and administrative personnel work to assist the thousands of individuals and families that Franziska Racker Centers serve each year.

To help manage the needs of its large, geographically diverse workforce, Franziska Racker Centers sought to outsource time and attendance functions. "We considered Ceridian and four other vendors," Brown said. "Some had reasonable solutions for some pieces of time and attendance, but not a total solution. One vendor did have solutions for all the pieces, but did not offer a Web-based solution. Ceridian had all the pieces to meet our unique requirements and provided a solution for our geographically dispersed workforce. We went live with Ceridian Time Essentials in April 2007."

A true workforce management solution
Franziska Racker Centers chose Ceridian because they provide one of the leading workforce management solutions in the marketplace. "We have so many locations," Brown said, "that it made sense to have an outsourced solution. We looked across our workforce -- at all the people who are working so hard on behalf of those we serve -- and realized that no matter where they were located, they needed to have access to their information. With Ceridian Time Essentials, our staff have direct access to their information 24/7. They can easily look up what they need, when they need it."

Ceridian Time Essentials automates the processes that can take up valuable time and resources throughout the organization. At Franziska Racker Centers, timecard preparation time has been reduced dramatically and payroll error rates have been minimized because supervisors are alerted to errors on timecards and can correct them before payroll is processed. Pay rules are applied consistently and accurately for all staff because the solution is configured to meet Franziska Racker Center's unique needs.

Ceridian Time Essentials has also helped improve overall efficiency and effectiveness by fully integrating with the organization's Ceridian HR/Payroll Web application.

While Ceridian Time Solutions can be offered as an in-house or hosted solution, Franziska Racker Centers chose to have Ceridian host the application. This reduces the organization's cost for IT, eliminating the need for hardware, upgrades and infrastructure to support the system and delivering the very latest product enhancements at no additional cost. It also allows access to the solution via a browser, from any location.

"Ceridian was a true partner and understood our business need. They went out of their way for us," said Brown. "We wanted reports that didn't exist in the standard list, and they worked with us to put those in place."

"When I think about the value that Ceridian Time Essentials brings to our organization," Brown said, "the main thing is that we get accurate information on a timely basis. Supervisors find it much easier to approve time entries, and the system is very easy to use for the employees.

Today, Franziska Racker Centers uses Ceridian HR/Payroll Web, Recruiting Solutions and Self-Service in addition to Time Essentials. As the organization takes advantage of these workforce solutions, all staff can make the most of a precious resource: time. "I'd recommend Ceridian Time Essentials to other organizations," said Brown. "There are great advantages to Web-based applications, and Ceridian can provide full integration between the different products."

Ceridian offers a large portfolio of Time and Attendance solutions to organizations of every size. For more information about our suite of Time products and services, contact your Ceridian representative.