Case studies

Unit4 HR and payroll case studies

Five engagements in HR, payroll and data migration: local government, higher education, policing and one international organisation. Each was delivered by Mircea Rogojan-Rush, the Unit4 consultant who founded and runs Bear Consulting Services.

The five engagements

01 A payroll of over 2,500 employees proved before the first live run International
02 A policing data migration validated across more than 50 data categories Policing
03 A support backlog cut by 50 per cent in a higher-education Unit4 team Higher education
04 A payroll review forecast to save 9,000 administrative hours a year Local government
05 An upgrade acceptance programme across 16 HR and payroll process areas Local government

Where none of these resembles your Unit4 system, start with the free health check.

A payroll of over 2,500 employees proved before the first live run

Sector and scale: An international organisation. Over 2,500 employees across multiple pay groups.
Problem: A new payroll had to be proved correct before anyone was paid.
Role: HR and payroll lead consultant and interim project manager, designing and running the parallel-run and acceptance approach.
Deliverables: A parallel-run comparison for every pay group, a maintained defect register with resolution rates reported to the project board, and a completion evidence pack quantifying the residual risk.
Result: Calculation parity was proved before the first live run and the residual risk went to the board as a figure.

The method behind this Why Unit4 payroll defects survive go-live Unit4 X-Ray

A policing data migration validated across more than 50 data categories

Sector and scale: Policing. An operational database migrated into a new system.
Problem: The data had to move without loss, duplication or silent transformation, on a fixed timetable.
Role: Test manager, leading and mentoring a three-person test team.
Deliverables: A category-by-category validation and reconciliation strategy, source-to-target field mapping, and daily dashboards of defect discovery, fix rate and residual risk for the board.
Result: Validated category by category, the migration met the client's requirements and timescales.

The method behind this What to ask before a Unit4 cloud upgrade Embedded advisory and delivery

A support backlog cut by 50 per cent in a higher-education Unit4 team

Sector and scale: Higher education. A central Unit4 support function.
Problem: A support backlog the team could not clear, and service levels missed.
Role: Senior Unit4 application consultant, clearing the backlog and upskilling the team inheriting it.
Deliverables: A defect tracking and resolution routine through the service desk, regression packs for the Unit4 integrations, acceptance scenarios and criteria for a financial workflow redesign, and knowledge transfer material.
Result: The backlog halved. The team met the agreed service levels in full and kept the capability to hold it there.

The method behind this Configuration debt in a mature Unit4 system Unit4 X-Ray

A payroll review forecast to save 9,000 administrative hours a year

Sector and scale: Local government. A council payroll with multiple pay entities, including a schools payroll.
Problem: Unmapped manual effort, a cloud migration approaching, and no written picture of how the payroll worked.
Role: Senior HR and payroll analyst embedded with the internal team, mapping workflows from user interviews and sequencing the fixes.
Deliverables: An operating review with a phased remediation roadmap and consultancy estimates, new standard operating procedures, a training curriculum for self-service time, attendance and travel claims, and parallel payroll testing across two consecutive cycles, smart client against web client.
Result: Parallel testing over two payroll cycles proved calculation parity between the old and new clients before go-live. The review and its procedures enabled the move to self-service entry, forecast to save 9,000 administrative hours a year. One web migration workshop found, root-caused and resolved four defects in the same session.

The method behind this Twelve checks on your Unit4 configuration The free health check

An upgrade acceptance programme across 16 HR and payroll process areas

Sector and scale: Local government. A Unit4 HR and payroll system on a major-version upgrade.
Problem: Every HR and payroll process had to be accepted, with evidence the organisation could put to its board.
Role: Test manager, with every defect taken through to closure.
Deliverables: An acceptance strategy, master payroll and HR script libraries, and a phased execution and defect record across every process area, including position administration, applicant, starter, induction and probation, absence, occupational health, leaver and contractual change, loans, deductions, pensions and court orders.
Result: Dated defect status reports and a recommendation backed by the numbers went to the project board, which accepted all 16 process areas on evidence, not a spot check.

The method behind this Go or no-go evidence for a payroll cutover Unit4 X-Ray

References on request

Where the client has agreed and confidentiality allows, references and sample deliverables are shared on the call.

How Bear Consulting works is on the about page and the six services on the services page.

Contact

To discuss the engagement closest to your Unit4 system, book a 30-minute call.

The call ends with a view on where Bear Consulting would start on yours.

Book a 30-minute call