Fall Favorites: Our Top 10 Picks for the September Release

The next release is coming out in September, but depending on where you are, the date of the release might differ. Check out this article to understand your transition date.

Employee Information — New Look Toggle: Switching Views Stays on Selected Profile

Jason, an administrator at a healthcare organization, begins his day by looking at one of his employees’ profiles. He notices the employee profile user interface has changed. While this new experience gives him a cleaner look with hyperlinks to the information he needs, Jason likes seeing all the information at once on the employee profile. With the New Look Toggle, administrators like Jason can toggle back to the Classic Employee Profile view. This enables organizations like Jason’s to use the classic view of the profile until additional enhancements are added to the new view over the course of the next few releases. And the best part? Jason can still access the classic view even though his organization just switched over to the new UI.  

Where is it? Cross product
Who will use it? Administrators 

Reports/Charts in the Dashboard — Create Chart, Full Screen, and Edit Options

Sarah is a manager at her local retail organization. Since her store reopened, she has needed insight into turnover statistics and punch data (who is punching in early and who is punching out late). Before this enhancement to dashboard reports and charts, Sarah would have needed to navigate off the dashboard, create the chart, and then add it back onto the dashboard. Now Sarah can build the charts she needs right on the dashboard, saving her plenty of time. 

Where is it? Cross product
Who will use it? All users, mainly admins

Today’s Tasks in the Dashboard

Pete, a bank manager, logs in to his Workforce Ready solution on Monday morning. With Today’s Tasks, the latest enhancement, Pete can see exactly what needs to get done for the day at the top of his home screen. Today, when he logs in, he sees that three of his employees’ timesheets need to be approved before sending them off to payroll. Today’s tasks are quick reminders to help managers like Pete stay on track and be as efficient as possible. 

Where is it? Cross product
Who will use it? Managers

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Personal Experience— readyConnect Panel: Checklists Available to Users

Isobel makes it a point to take advantage of all the resources her Kronos Workforce Ready solution has to offer. Her new favorite resource — the readyConnect Panel — has just been updated yet again! Now Isobel can access the latest release readiness resources through readyConnect. Through pop-ups in the connect panel, she can see the top feature enhancements to get excited about and access links to valuable resources to better prepare her for the upcoming release! 

Where is it? Cross product
Who will use it? Administrators

Twilio — SMS Two-Way Communication for Workflow Requests

Elizabeth has been working remotely for the past couple of months while her organization plans a safe return to the office space. Between working full time and helping her kids with remote learning, she is always on the go. With open enrollment approaching, Elizabeth needs to find time to submit a benefit plan change request. Luckily, with this latest enhancement, she can do that via text messaging on the go. She doesn’t need to be tied to her desk or carve time out of her ever-busy 9-to-5 job to submit a change request. 
 
Where is it? Cross product
Who will use it? All users, mainly admins

Benefit Plans — Primary National ID Added to Benefit Plan Page

Natalie is a benefits administrator at Elizabeth’s company, and open enrollment is one of the busiest times of the year. With everyone working remotely this year, Natalie is nervous about how it will go, especially if someone forgets to submit an essential piece of information. With this latest enhancement, employees are required to submit their spouses’ and children’s SSN, BSN, or national ID before submitting their change request. She sees Elizabeth’s request come through and all the necessary fields are filled out, saving Natalie a bunch of time.

Where is it? HR
Who will use it? Benefit administrators 

Checklist Items — New “Hyperlink Within System” Added

Matt, an HR administrator, is creating a checklist for one of his new employees, Trevor. However, in order to complete the checklist, Trevor needs to navigate to several different pages. That can get a little confusing. Thanks to this latest enhancement, Matt can now add hyperlinks to the checklist. Now all Trevor has to do is click the link, and he’ll be taken right to the page. Not only is this more efficient, but it also saves time for both Trevor and Matt. 

Where is it? HR
Who will use it? Administrators 

Managed Cost Centers — Setting Permissions in Cost Centers 

Aaron is one of the department heads of operation at a retail organization and oversees several locations. Kayla, a manager at one of those locations, opens a job requisition. Thanks to this new update, Aaron can automatically access the job requisition and perform the needed approvals as part of the requisition. And if John, a manager at a different location, opens a job requisition, Aaron will automatically have access to that as well. Regardless of the location, Aaron now has the ability to see all requisitions.    

Where is it? HR
Who will use it? Administrators 

Workflows — Wellness Check Workflow Added for Questionnaire Workflow Type 

Stephen’s organization is returning to the office after working remotely for the past couple of months. His main concern is how to keep his employees safe and make sure each person who comes in the building is healthy. Thanks to this latest enhancement, Stephen can kick off a questionnaire checklist that all employees need to answer upon entering the building. For example, Stephen’s organization may consult with its legal team and decide to ask if employees have had a fever within the last 14 days or if they are experiencing any shortness of breath. 

*Please consult with your counsel when developing the wellness questionnaire for your organization. 

Where is it? HR
Who will use it? HR, administrators 

Timesheet (New Timesheet Experience) — Manager Policies: Timesheet Changes Made by a Manager Will Be Returned to an Employee for Resubmission (Desktop and Mobile) 

Doug just returned from vacation a few days ago. It’s the end of the pay period, and his manager has asked him to approve his timesheet. Doug logs on and sees that his vacation did not properly track. The system says he was on vacation for three days last week when he was actually on vacation for four. This latest enhancement allows Doug to change his vacation time from three days to four instead of having to rely on his manager do it or tracking down someone in HR. However, it’s important to note that once the pay period is locked, no changes can be made. 
 
Where is it? TLM
Who will use it? Managers and employees 

Appendix

• For 24/7 access to release notes and user guides for the classic user experience, log in to your account and go to Our Company > Download Documents > Service Provider Documents within the Workforce Ready solution.

• For 24/7 access to release notes and user guides for the new user experience, log in to your account and go to My Info > My Learning > Product Documentation within the Workforce Ready solution.

• Bookmark the Release Readiness page in Kronos Community for everything you need to learn about what’s new and what’s next.

• Visit the Workforce Ready Announcements group in Kronos Community to stay up to date on published release notes and future release dates.

• Alert groups provide you with important notifications on critical system updates. Not sure which alert group to join? Click here.

• To share ideas about new Workforce Ready features or enhancements and to vote on fellow users’ ideas, log in to Kronos Community and visit the IDEAS section.

• Review our technical highlights for easy reference to key release notes.

The content from this blog post is courtesy of Brad Nycz, customer success manager and former Kronos customer. Brad identifies key features in recent releases, and we translate them into story form. Hope you enjoyed this article on release 70! Please stay tuned for more real-life, relatable examples about Workforce Ready features in action.