Apr 2018
30
What is BrightPay Connect?
BrightPay Connect is an optional add-on cloud and HR product for BrightPay Payroll. Connect will allow you to sync your BrightPay Payroll employer data to a web based online portal providing the following powerful features:
Secure Online Automated Backup - Users can backup and restore payroll information on your computer to and from the cloud. BrightPay Connect will synchronise any changes you make to your payroll or employee information back to BrightPay Payroll. Your historical backups and data files are accessible and can be restored at any time.
Online Self-Service Portal - The online portal allows payroll bureaus, employers and employees to log in and access their payroll data. Employees can view and access their payroll information. Employers can view their company’s payroll information, a company annual leave calendar, approve employee requests, access reports and Revenue payment details. Payroll bureaus can access an online overview of all of the client's payroll information.
Employee Self-Service - Employees can access their own payroll information by logging into their personal self service portal. The self service allows online access to a personal leave calendar, view remaining holiday days, view sick leave taken, request annual leave, view and change contact information, access payslips and other payroll employment related documents.
Online Payslips - Employee’s payslips are stored securely on BrightPay Connect allowing for easy access on the go for employees. Payslips can be set up by the user to be automatically uploaded onto BrightPay Connect for employees, eliminating the need to manually email them from BrightPay Payroll. Employees can view and download their current and historical payslips at any time.
Employer Online Dashboard - Employers will have access to an overview of their payroll, a company annual leave calendar for all employees, payroll reports, employee information and more. Employers can authorise or approve employee requests such as a change of address or annual leave requests. BrightPay Connect automatically synchronises these changes which are updated on BrightPay Payroll. Even invite your accountant to instantly access your payroll data 24/7. Watch the BrightPay Connect Employer Video here.
Payroll Bureau Dashboard - Bureaus will have online access to an overview of their payroll clients payroll information. Invite clients to their own online dashboard which can be branded with your bureau’s logo. Watch the BrightPay Connect Payroll Bureau Video here.
Annual Leave Calendar - Employees can request holidays through their employee portal. A notification email will be sent to the employer informing them of the employee's request. Employers can then either authorise or reject the annual leave request. Approved leave is recorded and synchronised back to BrightPay Payroll on the desktop.
Payroll Documents & Reports - BrightPay Payroll has the ability to build and save employer reports. Saved reports that have been set up in BrightPay Payroll will then be automatically available on BrightPay Connect. Through the online dashboard, employers can access and view these reports at any time, along with a record of Revenue payments and amounts due.
Data Protection & Security - BrightPay Connect is built using a compartmentalised design structure that maximises security. Each user will have their own login details and password. BrightPay Connect utilises the Microsoft Azure platform to give our customers reliability, scalability, data redundancy, geo-replication and timely security updates out of the box.
HR Solution - BrightPay Connect acts as a HR management package and is an integrated solution that can accelerate HR processes across your organisation. Run your HR operations with ease by managing and simplifying your workforce management. BrightPay Connect covers all of your core HR needs, including employee management and leave management.
- Employee Management: By law you are required to keep and provide certain information about your employees. BrightPay Connect records and stores your employee data, leave & absenteeism and key HR documents in one secure online location. This also allows users to access an overview of employees for employee performance and development purposes.
- Document Upload: Users can store and manage sensitive employee documents securely in the cloud. BrightPay Connect allows you to upload employee documents such as company newsletters, employment contracts and handbooks, appraisal documents, company pension information and even disciplinary correspondence. Users can also see a notification of when employees view HR or company documents.
- Training Management: Using the document upload feature, users can store qualifications and certs for each employee. These documents will be available to both the employer and the employee. Company training documents can also be uploaded and easily distributed to all employees online.
- Manage Staff Leave: BrightPay Connect takes the burden out of managing staff leave by streamlining the process. Users can easily reduce the processing time of leave requests. Employee leave that is approved or recorded by an employer in BrightPay Connect is then automatically synced back to BrightPay Payroll. Employers can approve employee leave requests in minutes which allows you to monitor staff leave to ensure you have adequate cover at all times.
Additional Users - Adding new users to BrightPay Connect is easy. Employers can grant access for additional users to view the company payroll data, authorise annual leave requests, process payroll and more. Employers can invite their accountant to their BrightPay Connect account. There is no limit to the amount of additional users that can be set up. There are two types of users:
- An administrator has full control over a BrightPay Connect account, with the ability to edit account settings, add other users, redeem purchase codes, connect employers and manage all employer and employee information and processes.
- A standard user typically has access to just one employer in your BrightPay Connect account, although they can be granted access to multiple employers if required. A standard user can view all employer (and associated employees) information and process employee self-service requests.
User Access - Users may wish to give senior employees, supervisors or management access to certain functions on BrightPay Connect. Employees can be set up with restricted access to the high level payroll information but can be given varying degrees of access to approve employee leave requests, change employee contact details, view financial information including payslips and payroll reports, view employee HR documents and view high level employees such as directors.
Processing Payroll - BrightPay Connect will not have the ability to process payroll. This function will be only be available through the BrightPay Payroll desktop application.
GDPR Ready - BrightPay Connect is tailored to help you overcome the challenge that GDPR presents. The cloud functionality will improve your payroll processing with simple email distribution, keep employee records up- to- date, safe document upload, easy leave management and keep a secure backup of your payroll records.
For a single employer, BrightPay Connect costs €59 + VAT per year. This price includes cloud backup, employer dashboard and the employee self service portal for all employees. For bureau customers who have multiple payroll clients, we offer bulk discounts for several BrightPay Connect licences.
Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software
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Apr 2018
10
How will GDPR affect your employee processing?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on 25th May 2018 changing the way we process data forever. The aim of the GDPR is to put greater protection on the way personal data is being processed for all EU citizens. Personal data can be anything from a name, an email address, PPS number, bank details etc so as you can imagine employers process a huge amount of personal data on a daily basis. So how will the GDPR affect employers in terms of processing employee data?
Consent
Data in the employment context, will include information obtained from an employee during the recruitment process (regardless of whether or not they eventually got the job), it will also include the information you hold on current employees and previous employees. All this information may be saved in hard copy personnel files, held on HR systems or it could be information contained in emails or information obtained through employee monitoring.
Under GDPR your employee’s will have increased rights around their data. These rights will include:
- The Right to Access. It’s not a new concept that employees will be able to request access to the data you hold on them. However, there is a new recommendation that where possible employers should provide their employees with access to a secure self-service login where they can view data stored on them. This backs-up the whole concept of transparency and ease of access to data, which underpins the new Regulations.
- The Right to Rectification. Individuals are entitled to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete. This is an existing right and the onus is on the employer to ensure that your employee records are kept up-to-date. To help ensure you maintain up-to-date records, employers should make it easier for employees to update their data.
- The Right to be informed. Employers must be very transparent with employees about what data you hold, why and how long it is held for. Up until now it has been the common practice for many employers to include a standard clause in the employment contract regarding the processing of HR Data, under GDPR that will no longer be sufficient. Employers need to be reviewing their Employee Data Protection Policies and possibly writing new Employee Privacy Policies that go into detail on the processing of employee data.
Employee Self Service
Under the GDPR legislation, where possible employers should be able to provide self-service remote access to a secure system which would allow employees view and manage their personal data online 24/7. Furthermore, the cloud functionality will improve your payroll processing with simple email distribution, safe document upload, easy leave management and improved communication with your employees. By introducing a self-service option, you will be taking steps to be GDPR ready.
Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software
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Feb 2018
6
The benefits of offering cloud payroll services
Accounting firms and payroll bureaus are increasingly moving into the cloud to offer clients a more flexible and streamlined payroll and HR service. Many believe that payroll isn’t a profitable service due to the complexity of the work, the manual administrative time required and the increasing number of mistakes when it comes to recording employee leave.
The actual process of running payroll is straightforward enough due to easy to use features in your payroll software. But what about the administrative payroll and HR related tasks such as processing & sending payslips, managing & recording employee leave, retrieving lost payslips, backing up your payroll data, sending payroll reports to clients and updating employee records? All of these tasks can take a considerable amount of managerial time to process and correct especially where errors have occurred.
The payroll landscape is changing and many payroll bureaus are offering clients a higher level of cloud HR functionality that automates otherwise time consuming tasks. Online access to payroll information for your clients and their employees offers significant benefits for today's bureau which can streamline many workforce management tasks.
Cloud Backup
Storing payroll information and data protection continues to be a challenge for payroll bureaus. With a cloud backup tool you will never lose your payroll data again. You don’t need to worry about backing up your payroll data. Where your payroll software is integrated with the cloud, your payroll data can be synchronised to the cloud whilst maintaining a chronological history of your backups. You can restore or download any of the backups to your PC at any time.
Eliminate Paper & Postage Processing
The concept of paper payslips that need to be downloaded and emailed or printed and enveloped and then posted is an outdated process. More and more employees want their payslips to be accessible and securely stored online. Payslips and other payroll related documents such as P60s, P45s and employment contracts can be easily accessible on an employee self-service online portal. With the cloud, payroll bureaus can avoid spending time printing, emailing and resending lost documents to employees. An online employee self-service option allows employees to view current and historic payslips and access all employee HR documents.
24/7 Online Accessibility
A cloud client and employee dashboard provides 24/7 flexibility and control of payroll information. Clients can access all employees’ payslips, payroll reports, amounts due to Revenue, employee contact details and can even approve annual leave requests. Employees can access their self-service portal on their computer or via their smartphones to view and access payslips and easily submit holiday requests.
Increased Bureau Productivity
Cloud functionality allows for many payroll related tasks to be synchronized with your payroll software. Payroll bureaus radically save time as they no longer need to send payslips to employees, send payroll reports to clients, resend lost payslips, look up holiday leave remaining for employees or manually process and record employee leave on the payroll software.
Annual Leave Management Tool
Annual leave requests can be approved in the cloud where clients can view a company-wide online calendar to easily approve leave while managing staff availability for their business. Employees can benefit as a cloud portal will calculate accurate leave balances in real time. HR managers or supervisors can be given access to approve holiday requests, without having access to view the payroll information.
Full integration with payroll software
Payroll software systems that offer full integration with the cloud is a must. Integrated payroll and cloud systems enables users to share and synchronise payroll data in real time. An online dashboard can link to clients payroll data that is saved on your payroll software ensuring all information is current and correct.
Embrace cloud payroll functionality
Using the cloud to automate many daily payroll and HR related tasks will improve efficiencies for payroll bureaus, employers/clients and their employees. BrightPay Connect is one such cloud solution that fully integrates with BrightPay Payroll offering:
- Cloud backup
- Bureau / client online dashboard
- Online payroll reporting
- Employee self-service
- Online leave management
- Safely store HR documents online
- Update employee details
- Affordability with discounts for multiple purchases
- Easy of Use
Book a demo to see how BrightPay Connect can improve your payroll service and improve your profits.
Related guides
Benefits of BrightPay Connect for Bureaus
What's New in BrightPay 2018?
PAYE Modernisation - Are You Ready For January 2019?
Sep 2017
11
Key Features you need to know about BrightPay Connect
BrightPay Connect is our latest cloud add-on that works alongside BrightPay Payroll. Automatically store payroll information in the cloud and enable online access anywhere, anytime for payroll bureaus, employers and employees. You’ll be up and running in seconds.
Secure online Backup
- Automatically synchronise and backup data to the cloud protecting against ransomware and cyber attacks.
Payroll Bureau / Client Dashboard
- Online access to clients’ payroll information.
- Invite clients to their own online dashboard which can be branded with your bureau’s logo.
- Clients can access payslips, payroll reports, amounts due to Revenue, annual leave requests and employee documents.
- Watch our BrightPay Connect video for payroll bureaus.
Employer Dashboard
- Online access to your payroll information.
- Invite your accountant to instantly access your payroll data 24/7.
- Access all employees payslips, payroll reports, annual leave requests, amounts due to Revenue and employee documents.
- Watch our BrightPay Connect video for employers.
Employee Self Service Portal
- Invite employees to their own online portal.
- Employees can view and download payslips, P60’s and P45’s. Easily submit holiday requests, view leave taken and leave remaining.
HR & Annual Leave Management
- View all upcoming leave in the BrightPay Connect company wide calendar.
- Authorise leave requests with changes automatically flowing back to the payroll.
- Upload HR documents including employee contracts and handbooks.
Book a demo today to see how BrightPay Connect can enhance your payroll processing.
May 2017
15
Keep your payroll data safe against a Ransomware attack
Ransomware, like the name suggests, is when your files are held for ransom. It is a type of malware that essentially takes over a computer and prevents users from accessing their data until such time as a ransom is paid. The ransomware encrypts data on the computer using an encryption key that only the attacker knows. If you want to decrypt them, you have to pay. If the ransom isn’t paid, the data is often lost forever.
A ransomware attack, also known as WannaCry or WeCrypt, recently spread across the globe and is believed to have affected over 200,000 organisations. The cyber-attack struck banks, hospitals and government agencies in more than 150 countries, exploiting known vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems.
How to protect against a ransomware attack?
- Think before you click – It is important to look for malicious email messages that are often concealed as emails from companies or people you regularly interact with online. It is important to avoid clicking on links or opening attachments in those messages, since they could unleash malware. However, unlike many other malicious programs, WannaCry has the ability to move around a network by itself. Once the virus is inside an organisation, it will hunt down vulnerable machines and infect them too.
- Keep software up to date – Users should ensure that security updates are installed on their computer as soon as they are released. Last month, the NSA revealed software vulnerabilities in a Windows Server component which allows files to spread within corporate networks. Since then, Microsoft has released software patches for the security holes. Anyone who applied this patch more than likely was not affected by WannaCry. However, not everyone has installed these updates and so these users are susceptible to an attack. It is also important to note that the vulnerability does not exist within Windows 10, but is present in all versions of Windows prior to that, dating back to Windows XP. Support for Windows XP was discontinued in 2014, and so if you are using XP it is recommended to upgrade to a more secure system. It is important to keep all software packages up to date to maximise protection against attacks.
- Keep backups of data files – Users should regularly back up their data, which will make it possible to restore files without paying a ransom. This can be done by saving files to a USB key, external server or a cloud sharing facility such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Individual software packages may also offer a backup facility, enabling you to automatically back up sensitive data, for example BrightPay Cloud allows users to easily backup payroll data.
How can BrightPay Cloud help?
BrightPay Cloud allows employers to automatically and securely backup payroll data to a highly secure cloud server. Payroll data (including payslips, payroll reports etc.) is automatically backed up every 15 minutes ensuring that you will never lose your payroll data if you are the victim of an attack.
You may decide that you only want to use BrightPay Cloud for payroll backups, however, the features listed below can also be availed of.
With BrightPay Cloud, employers can invite their employees to their own self-service portal. Employees can login to their own personal account, be it on their PC, tablet or smartphone, where they can view payroll documents relevant to them, with a full history of payslips and P60s. Employees can also request annual leave and view annual leave remaining through their portal.
Furthermore, BrightPay Cloud provides users with an annual leave management facility and a document upload facility, where all information is stored within the same location. With the document upload, employers can upload employee contracts & staff handbooks, training manuals, employment documents and much more, which can be accessed by employers and employees on any device.
Find out more about BrightPay Cloud with an online demo.
