| e-Meetings via WebEx
Taking advantage of new technologies is the philosophy at Genesys.
For the past year, Genesys has utilized a highly regarded third-party application to host Internet meetings: the WebEx Meeting Center, provided by WebEx Communications, Inc. Through the use of these web-based meetings, Genesys is now positioned to provide innovative support and break through technology to its customers in terms of providing remote customer support and meetings. In addition, this Internet technology has enabled Genesys to streamline the sales cycle by offering remote demonstrations of its various products.
WebEx is a dynamic application that allows desktop sharing by the party on either end. When Genesys shares with clients, information such as a user group presentation can be seen, a specific system feature can be explained, etc. When clients share with Genesys, they can clearly show where, within an application, they have questions or issues.
And with WebEx, all systems are totally secure. Whether Genesys is sharing with clients or a client is sharing their desktop with Genesys, both parties can remain completely confident that everything is secure. There's no need for clients to worry because every keystroke and every mouse-move is visible to both parties. In other words, "you watch us, watch you."
Genesys has enjoyed success utilizing web-based meetings for remote customer support and remote meetings, as outlined below.
Remote Customer Support:
- It's not unusual for a Customer Services Account Manager to think to him or herself… "I could help resolve this individual's issue more quickly if I could only see their screen." When a client is having a problem and is trying to explain their situation, it would be extremely helpful to have a visual image of the client's desktop. WebEx to the rescue! A web-based meeting doesn't provide just a mere snapshot of a desktop; it provides the live, working desktop. This enables clients to share their desktop and walk through a process, while on the other end, their Account Manager can follow their every movement and clearly read all settings, making suggestions where appropriate.
- The flip side of a client sharing their desktop is when Genesys shares with the client. This scenario has proven to be extremely beneficial, particularly in training situations. With Genesys in the driver's seat, the Account Manager can say "watch me while I perform this task" and then walk the client through the procedure. Often times, being shown how to do something is much clearer than if the same task was only verbally explained via the telephone.
Remote Meetings:
- Genesys clients maintain a number of regional User's Groups around the country. Genesys representatives can attend via the WebEx Meeting Center. For example, recently Chris Kelley attended a User's Group meeting in person, while both Mike Hanninen and Bob Driscoll were active participants through WebEx. This technology enabled Mike and Bob to provide a presentation of Version 6.1, while Chris was able to address additional questions on the spot.
Both Mike and Bob are old pros when it comes to giving live presentations, however, a presentation over the Internet comes complete with its own unique challenges. For example, how do you draw a client's attention to a particular area or certain field on a screen? Well, old habits die hard and it takes one or two web-based meetings to remember that finger pointing doesn't work… a client 2000 miles away can't see a waving finger! Instead, to draw attention to a certain area, the presenter must either circle the area with the mouse, which makes the cursor highlight the area, or the presenter must clearly state his or her intentions verbally.
- Existing clients and prospects aren't the only ones to reap the benefits of web-based meetings. The entire Genesys sales force has utilized this Internet technology on many occasions, to stay in touch and exchange ideas and information. Genesys holds an annual Sales Camp each spring that is attended by the national sales staff; reps come to headquarters from as far away as Texas and California; however, the sales staff needs to communicate more frequently - enter WebEx. As mentioned above, this technology provides an outlet for the sales team to interact, but without ever leaving the home base.
Another plus of WebEx is that it is platform independent. All Genesys clients, including MVS clients, can use and benefit from it, it's not limited to just Web and NT users.
Following a recent WebEx meeting, Robert Johnson, of Lake County, summarized the interactive Internet experience best when he said: "Genesys' utilization of web-based meetings to cut through communication confusion proved quite valuable to Lake County. Being able to view the actual process while listening to instructions and/or procedures enabled us 'to get on with' the task at hand, without multiple phone calls or on site visits. WebEx use to us, emphasizes the old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words'."
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Announcing e-Town Meetings
Taking advantage of WebEx technology, Genesys is pleased to announce e-Town Meetings for all Genesys customers. Beginning Tuesday, June 26th, the Customer Services department kicks off a new feature, e-Town Meetings. Each e-Town Meeting will be devoted to a specific topic and each meeting will be scheduled for a variety of days and times to better accommodate all clients. Since space is limited at each meeting, pre-registration is required to attend. Contact Leslie Goida at lgoida@genesysHCM.com for details.
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New Look for WEBServe — Paycheck Stub Added
WEBServe, the Genesys employee/manager self-service application, recently underwent a redesign. In an effort to provide essential new features, as well as to keep up with industry trends and the many browser capabilities that people have come to expect, we redesigned the look and feel of WEBServe and to date, the reviews have been extremely positive.
Key points of the new design include:
- The added ability to display an employee's payroll check stub.
Clients have asked for this capability and now it's here. All the data that appears on a check stub can now be retrieved and displayed online through WEBServe.
- The added ability to link to external benefit providers.
Each organization contracts with different medical, dental and vision providers. In the newly redesigned WEBServe, clients can 'hot link' to their providers of choice.
- The use of color-coding to simplify use.
The Genesys employee/manager self-service application is comprised of five categories: Employee Information, Life Events, Benefits Information, Company Information, and Manager Self-Service. Each of these categories, and all related sub-level information, is color-coded.
- Static menu tabs that appear at the top of each page.
Menu categories that remain constant on each page makes accessing a new category as easy as point-and-click.
- Easier to read fonts.
- A color scheme that matches the newly redesigned Genesys web site and logo.
Below
are sample thumbprints of the new application. To learn more about
the features and benefits of WEBServe, and to arrange a personal
demonstration of the product, please contact your Sales Account Manager
or send an e-mail to solutions@genesysHCM.com.
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Customer Services Quarterly Tips
Tip One: Making the most of the online documentation's table of contents
The Genesys online documentation, which is in HTML format, makes use of a compiled table of contents that is displayed in a frame on the left side of the page. Below are a couple of tips for using that table of contents.
- Printing
To print an entire chapter, highlight the chapter title in the table of contents, click the right mouse button, select print, and then select "print the selected heading and all subtopics."
- Expanding and Collapsing
To expand or collapse the entire table of contents (to show or hide all topics and subtopics), click the right mouse button and select "open all" or "close all."
- Moving the Contents Left or Right
Now and then, the table of contents will not display the "book" or the plus/minus icons that allow you to expand or collapse a chapter or topic. (And there is no horizontal scroll bar.) The solution is to hold down the control key and use the left and right directional keys to move the contents one way or the other.
Tip Two: Viewing the entire table of contents, down to the bottom line
Users viewing the online documentation with a pixel setting on their monitor of less than 1024x768 have often been unable to see the bottom of the table of contents. This issue has been fixed in the three tax manuals: U.S. Tax, Local Tax, and Canadian Tax. The remaining online documentation will be addressed soon. There is no white space after the last item in the table of contents, but now the last item will display, regardless of your pixel setting.
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Short Topics
Tax Rate Reductions Effective July 1, 2001
On June 7th of this year, President Bush signed into law the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. This is the largest tax rate reduction America has seen in a generation. The new rates go into effect on July 1, 2001, which will have an immediate impact on your payroll processing. The American Payroll Association has an informative web page devoted to this new tax rate reduction; visit http://www.americanpayroll.org/taxcut.html for details.
Conference 2001: Create the Future
The Genesys Annual HRMS Conference is just three months way. A marvelous keynote speaker has been booked; many thought-provoking sessions and workshops have been organized; the traditional fun-filled evening event has been planned... Now we're just waiting for you! Have you registered for Conference? Have you booked your airline flights and hotel room? Don't delay!
This year's conference agenda has been finalized. Each day offers a number of sessions, covering a variety of topics. Session presenters include both Genesys employees and members of our customer community. For a complete run-down of what you can expect at this year's conference, including the full agenda online, please visit the Genesys Conference Page.
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Current Release
As of June 15, 2001, the latest Genesys release is number 2001-07. This legislative release includes:
- State Withholding Changes (Idaho)
- Federal Withholding Changes (Federal Income Tax, Supplemental Payments)
- Local Tax Service Changes (Pennsylvania)
- US Year-End Reporting (SSA 1 Record)
- Canadian Taxation (Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Quebec)
- Defined Benefits (Social Security Calculations)
Accessing Release Files and Documentation
Within the Customer Connection site is a list of all releases, as well as a list of the corresponding release documentation.
To view release-related information, follow these steps:
- Access the Customer Connection site
- Select the appropriate icon (Software Services, Outsourcing Services, GenExpress Services)
- Provide a User Name and Password
To access the latest release, or prior releases, select release files.
To view the corresponding documentation, select release notes.
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Press Corner
- Gartner, the world leader in providing business technology research, consumer and market intelligence, consulting, conferences and decision-making tools, recently produced a detailed report on HR Outsourcing. Genesys is pleased to announce that among all the national HR vendors, the Gartner/Dataquest report, compiled by analyst Rebecca Scholl, placed Genesys in the ERP/ASP category with only one other vendor, PeopleSoft. On another note, given that the Gartner/Dataquest reports are much sought-after and are highly-respected in the industry, Genesys is extremely proud to be highlighted on the Gartner/Dataquest web site in a report entitled "Genesys Software Systems Human Resources & Payroll Software" authored by Daniel Stang and Karen Spring.
- The Outsourcing Institute recently held a lengthy "virtual" interview with Lisa Rowan, Genesys Director of Marketing. The interview, entitled "Choices for Outsourcing Payroll, Benefits and Other Human Resources Functions," is accompanied by a picture of Lisa. To read the full Q&A piece, visit the Outsourcing Institute.
- The April 2001 issue of the ProEmp Journal included coverage
of the announcement of Genesys' Year-end Services (YES) Program, noting
that the "YES output is handled in the high-volume Genesys production
facility, and attention is paid to the privacy and security of customers'
confidential payroll information."
- In April, Larry Munini, President of Genesys, participated in an audio-interview experience with the Wall Street Report. Interviewed by Tan Khandaker, Larry offered his viewpoints on a number of industry issues. To hear the full audio presentation, click here. Note that Realplayer is required; a free download is available. The interview is approximately 10 minutes in length.
- The American Payroll Association (APA) is once again sponsoring National Payroll Week, set for September 3-7, 2001. This annual event is designed to educate the American work force with information regarding their paycheck. According to the APA, they are "focusing on the changing landscape of pay technology." The APA will make available "articles and interviews detailing how technological advances in the payroll industry are improving the lives and money management of America's workers." Recently the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Payroll Association thanked Genesys for supporting this annual event.
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Training Schedule
To receive a complete 2001 Training Schedule, call the Training Coordinator at (978) 685-5400 x3027, send an e-mail to classreg@genesysHCM.com, or send a FAX to (520) 833-1169. Be sure to visit the Genesys Customer Connection site to view the Online Training Catalogue, which includes course titles and descriptions. (The Customer Connection site is a secure, customer-only area; a User ID and Password are required.)
Below is a list of upcoming courses. Unless otherwise noted, all courses are held at the Genesys Corporate Training Center, Methuen, Massachusetts.
| Course |
Date |
| HealthCare HRMS System |
July 9-13 |
| Defined Benefits System |
July 17-18 |
| Introduction to Genesys |
August 7 |
| Basic Payroll System |
August 8-10 |
| Human Resource System |
August 14 |
| Human Resource Planning System |
August 15 |
| Flexible Benefits System |
August 16 |
| Basic GenTools |
August 21-23 |
| Technical Seminar: Client/Server |
August 28 |
| Technical Seminar: Mainframe |
August 29 |
| Writing Online Reports |
September 25-26 |
| Advanced GenTools |
October 2-3 |
| Writing Deferred Reports |
October 4-5 |
| Advanced Payroll System |
October 10-11 |
| ONESource |
October 22-26 |
| Year-end Training |
To Be Scheduled |
| Basic GenTools |
December 4-6 |
| Introduction to Genesys |
December 10 |
| Basic Payroll System |
December 11-13 |
| US Payroll Processing |
December 14 |
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Upcoming Events
Genesys is pleased to be participating at the following conferences and trade events. We welcome you to visit us at any of them.
| Date |
Event |
Location |
| July 22-25 |
ASHHRA's 37th Annual Conference and Exposition |
Chicago, IL |
| Sept. 5-7 |
Softworld Human Resources Information Systems |
New York, NY |
| Sept. 10-12 |
HR Technology's 4th Annual Conference and Exposition |
Baltimore, MD |
| Sept. 16-19 |
The Genesys 21st Annual HRMS Conference |
San Antonio, TX |
| Sept. 27-29 |
12th Annual Texas Payroll Conference |
Austin, TX |
| Oct. 7-10 |
Benefits Management's 14th Annual Forum & Expo |
Atlanta, GA |
| Oct. 29-30 |
NCHRA Annual Conference & Trade Show |
San Jose, CA |
| Oct. 29-Nov. 1 |
Windows on Healthcare VII |
San Diego, CA |
To view additional information about all upcoming events, visit the Genesys Events web page. The event listing provides you with links to the various sponsoring organizations. You are encouraged to visit these sites to learn more.
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