Payroll
2013 Review of CYMA Systems CYMA 13 Payroll
Sep. 30, 2013
CYMA software is focused on payroll and human resource management services and CYMA 13 Payroll delivers as a quality offering for medium size and larger organizations. The payroll solution offers a high level of customization features that spread throughout the system. New for the current release is a refreshed interface to the employee self-service portal and enhancements to the payroll cost distribution and allocation capabilities.
Basic System Functions: 4.75 Stars
CYMA 13 Payroll is a fully customizable payroll solution capable of fulfilling needs for businesses of all sizes and types. Though not provided as a specific option for accounting professionals, the solution may be customized to run a large number for payrolls for small organizations. Designed primarily as an in-house payroll solution, CYMA 13 Payroll is installed as a traditional desktop and server installed software. The software may be hosted through a web-based environment, but will generally require additional IT assistance to accomplish.
Each payroll company may have multiple simultaneous users without bogging down the system. Navigation throughout the system is simple and most data entry screens can be customized to display and reorder columns. An unlimited number of payroll runs may be processed inside the system and there is currently no limit on the number of employees within each payroll company. Earnings and deduction codes as well as benefit and user defined custom data fields round out the customization features provided to mold the software to fit any business payroll need regardless of complexity of the payroll solution.
Full support for department codes is provided and has received minor enhancement under the current release. A unique feature of CYMA 13 Payroll is that Social Security Numbers are encrypted at the database level to help ensure the highest level of employee data security. Introductory human resource functions are provided to track basic employee demographic information as well as military service and education level. Further human resource management may be obtained through the available human resource add-on module.
Reporting & Monitoring: 4.75 Stars
CYMA 13 Payroll supports federal and all state compliance filings as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. State payroll forms are not automatically populated for filing and will require a separate state processing module to populate required quarterly state compliance forms. Currently, localities are supported by the system but rely on user defined fields and no locality compliance forms are included with the state processing module. All federal compliance forms are now automatically populated and pushed through an electronic filing system to ease filings of Forms 941 and 940. State compliance filings and deposits may be filed electronically through the add-on module.
Alerts to important dates and user defined items are presented to users upon login. A document management solution is also provided allowing documents such as employee résumés, employment contracts and annual reviews to be attached to each employee.
A variety of reports are provided within the system and each report may be customized through available filters. Additionally, custom reports may be created by users through use of Crystal Reports and shared with CYMA 13 Payroll. All generated reports saved within CYMA 13 Payroll may be exported to Excel, PDF, text or website view.
Integration/Import/Export: 4.5 Stars
CYMA 13 Payroll is the payroll component within a suite of accounting module solutions provided by CYMA. The suite provides multiple levels of tight integration between each module. For users of the general ledger module, all payroll activity seamlessly posts to the accounting general ledger through account mapping. Accounts payable are also automatically generated for payroll taxes and required benefit payments. A bridge to the human resources module is built-in and provides users an even richer experience when managing employees.
Employee time data is automatically imported for users of the available employee self-service portals. Time data may also be imported from a number of the third-party vendors through text or Excel files. Other integration points will generally require custom programming options from CYMA programmers. Fees for custom program and bridge import or export services will vary depending on programming needs.
Help/Support: 4.75 Stars
System level support is provided through a dedicated drop down menu inside CYMA 13 Payroll and provides general guidance on screen navigation. For product updates and dedicated support, annual maintenance and support contracts will need to be purchased. Through these contracts, users have access to the most recent tax table updates as well as additional tools to assist navigation and understanding of the software. Phone and email support is available on per use or per incident basis should an annual support contract not be desired.
Client Self-Service Features: NA
Through an available add-on module, employees gain access to a dedicated self-service portal. New for the current release are significant enhancements to this offering, including a completely redesigned user interface. The new interface includes a new company event calendar and notification center that prompts users of upcoming company events. Also included is a redesigned communication interface allowing employees to directly communicate changes in contact information as well as request time off. Full access to current and previous paystub information remains available and now provides users more information on-screen.
A redesign of the employee time entry screens has also been released. The new screens provide employees more filter and data entry options to help ensure employee time imports correctly and without any reallocations into the CYMA 13 Payroll solution. All employee data access may be tightly controlled through user access rights to maintain the integrity of system payroll data.
Summary & Pricing
CYMA 13 Payroll is a payroll processing solution that is highly customizable to suit needs of any size organization or business type. Though not specifically designed for accounting professionals, the system can be used to process payroll for multiple companies. CYMA 13 Payroll is priced through a tiered model based on the number of employees processed. Pricing for unlimited client files starts around $750 and includes processing capabilities for up to 25 employees within each payroll company file. The CYMA Employee Self Service module has a starting price point of $495.
Best Firm Fit: Larger organizations looking to upgrade existing in-house payroll system or accounting professionals looking for an in-house solution to manage a large number of payroll clients
Strengths:
- Customizable to fit needs of any size organization
- Strong database level security over employee data
- Reports may be fully customized, through users will need access to Crystal Reports
- Newly enhanced employee self-service portal
Potential Limitations:
- Not suited for smaller organizations
- No web based payroll solution without extensive IT involvement