Two-way data syncs, GL magic, and speedy service piqued Goetsch’s interest in AllianceHCM
Goetsch’s Welding & Machine Inc. is a custom fabrication and manufacturing company specializing in customer orders for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). All its products are made to order based on customer requests and specifications. Goetsch’s was founded in 1969 and serves heavy equipment manufacturers, construction, paving, and automotive clients from its headquarters in Merrill, Wisconsin.
Aaron Wunsch, the accounting manager for Goetsch’s Welding & Machine, discovered AllianceHCM while attending a Global Shop Solutions user conference in 2022. Aaron joined Goetsch’s earlier that year and is responsible for the company’s journal entries, month- and year-end closing, financial reporting, and assisting with payroll and margin reporting to upper management.
A long-time client of Global Shop Solutions
Though not actively looking for a new payroll and HR solution, Aaron learned that AllianceHCM was a preferred partner of Global Shop. The two companies had recently upgraded their integration with a new API. Global Shop is the exclusive provider of the One-System ERP, which assists manufacturers from quote to cash and everything in between.
Aaron decided to evaluate AllianceHCM, influenced by the need for a payroll and HR systems provider with more responsive service and reliable communication. At the time, Goetsch’s provider had long wait times for inquiries and was unreliable in giving guidance when troubleshooting issues. “Before with our previous provider, if we asked a question, we would wait one, two, three, four weeks to get a response. With Alliance, we can send an email to our main customer service rep, and generally within 24 hours, if not sooner, they reply with their answer,” said Aaron.
Significantly decreased manual processes
A key factor for choosing AllianceHCM was its two-way integration with Global Shop, which set it apart from other payroll systems that required multiple manual data transfers to sync the two systems. The AllianceHCM and Global Shop integration streamlines onboarding, payroll, and journal entries, significantly reducing manual work and improving data consistency. This integration and the support provided by AllianceHCM were instrumental in Goetsch’s decision to switch.
Once online with both systems, the time-saving benefits of the integration proved invaluable to Goetsch’s staff by reducing manual work. Handling journal entries through AllianceHCM and the company’s general ledger became quicker and easier to process. Before using AllianceHCM and Global Shop, Aaron’s team had to download files, configure the file formats, and then upload them manually. Now all of these steps have been eliminated.
Aaron is working with AllianceHCM’s development team to enhance the integration to include line item descriptions on journal entries. “The other thing I know our HR manager likes a lot is when she onboards an employee in Alliance, our data gets synced. They’re automatically set up in Global Shop,” said Aaron.
Starting with steady training
Aaron credits the implementation team’s approach to practical basic training and building knowledge incrementally along the way, which gave Goetsch’s team a gradual and comprehensive understanding of the platform’s capabilities. Aaron appreciated the hands-on, step-by-step approach the AllianceHCM implementation team took to help ease the transition to the new system.
Goetsch’s rollout of AllianceHCM came at a unique time, as it coincided with the new release of AllianceHCM’s employee self-service app, MyPay. Aaron was an early adopter of the new mobile app and volunteered to be a beta tester. Once MyPay was widely released, employees’ acceptance and usage rates took off.
Today, job applications, the onboarding process, and open enrollment for employee benefits are 100% paperless at Goetsch’s. Approximately 50% of all benefits enrollments are completed using the MyPay mobile app. “We don’t have to print anything out, and even with I-9, we take a photo or make a scan of their ID and save that document in Alliance right with the I-9,” said Aaron.
Ongoing support for custom reporting
The basic reporting capabilities were straightforward, but the custom reporting required help from the application support team.
“It’s a nice tool, but again, you need some advanced training on how to set those up and what you’re pulling from the data tables,” said Aaron about creating custom reports. “If you hit a wall, I’ve done that a couple of times; I had to reach out to our customer service rep, and they’ll get us in touch with the reporting team, and within an hour or two, they bust out exactly what you’re trying to do.”
Aaron and the rest of the team at Goetsch’s are pleased with how AllianceHCM’s technology streamlines their daily processes and rest easy knowing they can rely on second-to-none customer support.
