Brad Nycz, UKG Ready™ suite customer success manager and former customer, is back at it. For the December release, he’s journeyed up north to explore how the team at the North Pole will leverage the latest features in their day-to-day work. Grab a cup of cocoa and settle in as we explore the latest and greatest UKG Ready features.
Cross-Suite Enhancements
A curated Company Hub template and content experience
Mrs. Claus, the chief human resources officer at the North Pole, wants to send organizational information and communications to the staff. She’s excited that she doesn’t have to start from scratch with the new Company Hub template. During this time of year, anything that saves time is a present in itself. With the predefined template, she can easily swap out the sample content within the current widgets and offer the team relevant updates about the holiday party, how to request time-off, or even an employee spotlight. She is also excited that she can clone and create multiple profiles, which allows her to copy certain content widgets and tailor the message to specific groups. This new feature will come in handy when she announces to the night shift that there are free cocoa and cookies available each night and to the day shift that free lunch will be available from now until year-end.
Where to find more information: Cross-product release notes
Who will want to use it: Administrators
The classic dashboard transition made easy
While curating the new Company Hub for her employees, Mrs. Claus noticed some employees were using the classic dashboard experience. “OH, NO,” she thought, “I must have a consistent experience for all my employees.” Luckily, with the new one-click migration, she effortlessly moved all employees using the classic dashboards over with one click. Now that everyone is using the new dashboards, she can rest assured that everyone will access the same capabilities and information.
Where to find more information: Cross-product release notes
Who will want to use it: Administrators
eSignature update offers streamlined steps
During this time of year, Buddy Elf, who was promoted to director of HR, is helping to onboard new employees. He wants to ensure a quick process so that production isn’t hindered. With the influx of new hires, W-4 forms have been flying in! Buddy is happy that these all can be tracked digitally through UKG Ready and employees can sign off on their W-4 form with the proper deductions, which is something that Prancer in Payroll is very happy about.
Where to find more information: Cross-product release notes
Who will want to use it: Administrators
Year-end updates for Payroll, HR, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Provide employees with an easy way to connect to TurboTax
Speaking of Payroll, Prancer read the latest information about the UKG Ready and TurboTax integration. Prancer is delighted to know that there now is a direct link to the TurboTax website on the W-2 preview for desktop and mobile apps. This new integration will help when employees are ready to file their taxes, since Mrs. Claus and the team can easily connect with TurboTax. Once on the TurboTax site, employees can file on their own, get help from experts, or even have a dedicated expert do their taxes from start to finish.
Where to find more information: Payroll release notes
Who will want to use it: Administrators, employees
Resources and enhancements to ease the year-end stress
Mrs. Claus, Prancer, and Buddy are in a frenzy with all that needs to be done for the seasonal rush, and they are overwhelmed by the year-end processes they need to complete. “It sneaks up on us every year,” Prancer proclaims! Luckily, since team North Pole has now partnered with UKG, year-end processes will be a cinch!
With the Release Readiness page on the UKG® Kronos Community and the readyConnect release readiness topic, they can access short spotlight videos that provide timely updates that will be coming in the December release for year-end, including:
- 2021 ACA Forms (1095-C and 1094-C) will be added for year-end reporting
- For 2021 ACA filling prep, the AIR and CA XML file will now contain a universal unique identifier each time, which allows them to continue testing and working through their filings without starting over each time
- The OSHA 300A forms will be updated so they can use the forms based on individual locations
And, while reviewing readyConnect,* Prancer notices a new topic for Payroll, which is a year-end payroll checklist. The checklist offers step-by-step instructions on how to navigate year-end for Payroll. But wait, there’s more! Prancer also learned that a new topic would be available for ACA year-end reporting starting in December. Prancer is ecstatic and will be checking his payroll and ACA checklists twice, just like the jolly fellow himself!
Where to find more information:
- OSHA 300A – HR release notes
- ACA update – ACA Release note
Who will want to use it: HR administrators
*readyConnect My Topics for year-end Payroll is available for customers using the payroll solution and for UKG Payroll Services customers. The My Topics for ACA is slated to be available for customers with the ACA solution starting December 1.
Appendix
- For 24/7 access to release notes and user guides, log in to your account and go to My Info > My Learning > Product Documentation within the UKG Ready solution. Note: as of the December release, the classic path for getting to documentation and release notes has been removed.
- Bookmark the Release Readiness and the Preparing for Year-End pages in UKG Kronos Community for everything you need to know to stay updated with your UKG Ready solution.
- Visit the Announcements group in UKG Kronos Community to stay up to date on published release notes and future release dates.
- Get important notifications on critical system updates with alert groups. Not sure which alert group to join? Click here.
- Log in to UKG Kronos Community and visit the IDEAS section to share ideas about new UKG Ready features or enhancements and to vote on fellow users’ ideas.
- Review our technical highlights for easy reference to key release notes.