The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End

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What is Year End?

Well, it means different things to different people and parts of your organization.

If you’re in Human Resources, Year End means getting ready for a new benefit year with Open Enrollment, reviewing policies to make sure they are in compliance with new laws, and fielding last- minute questions from employees about their existing or new benefits.

In payroll, Year End is the culmination of everything done during the year, as well as a number of processes that you execute only once a year. Year End is your last chance to find and fix issues from the current year before they become complicated. These issues might include: an employee moved without telling anyone; people were overpaid or underpaid; someone just noticed duplicate employee records.

In short, Year End can be hectic, but it’s easier to get all the details right, the first time, instead of having to go back and make adjustments later. UKG Pro gives you tools and resources to manage the process, and, if you are using UKG Pro, Mosaic is here to help! Check out Simplifying Your Year End for more tips and tricks.

UKG and Mosaic Consulting Group experts agree: for a successful Year End, the key is to begin the process as early as possible. Here are some other resources and tools that will help make the process easier for you. At the bottom of this article you will find a recording of a Mosaic Webinar on this topic.

Leverage UKG Pro for a Smooth Year End:

As an UKG-only consulting firm, Mosaic has the knowledge you need to be sure you are using this powerful tool to its fullest capacity during the busy Year End season. It is important to understand the what’s involved in preparing for Year End, know the resources available to you, identify the people to have on your team, make a checklist to keep track of all the moving parts, and get familiar with the new features of UKG Pro that will make the process easier for you! Keep reading for more information on what UKG Pro offers to ensure you have an easy transition in to the new year.

UKG Pro Year End Gateway:

If you are a Mid Market client, and UKG Pro files your payroll taxes for you, you can turn on the Year End Gateway in UKG Pro. This can be found under Administration > Year End, and you can provide access to this tool to everyone on your team.

If you don’t see “Year End Gateway” and you think you should, have your Security Administrator review your access level. If it’s enabled and you still can’t see it; you aren’t eligible. If that’s the case,skip to the UKG Pro Checklist section of this article.

The Year End Gateway is an online checklist for the Year End process as they relate to UKG Pro. Pay close attention to the Due Dates – these will change color if you don’t mark something as completed on time. The Gateway walks you step-by-step through the process, and it not only tells you which reports you need to run or the business rules you should look at; it will also take you directly to the report when you click on the links. As an added bonus, as you complete each task, it is marked “complete,” and people working on different parts of the process can see what has been done and what hasn’t. It is a great tool to keep you – and all members of your Year End team! — organized and informed.

UKG Pro Checklist:

UKG also provides a handy-dandy Year End Checklist. Typically, clients who use UKG Pro but who file their own taxes will have access to the checklist instead of the Gateway. To find the checklist, search for “Year End Checklist” on the Customer Success Portal. While not as interactive as the Year End Gateway, this list does provide the tasks that must be done and the sequence they should be completed in. It also gives you the names of the reports you need to run, and the pathways for accessing tasks within UKG Pro.

If you do not use UKG Pro for your tax filing, you will need to append any Year End tasks from your tax filer to this checklist.

New UKG Pro Features – Right on Time for Year End:

One of the biggest changes that happened to UKG Pro this year was the added ability to do reversals and adjustments on the web. This is a game changer for UKG Pro and Mosaic clients! Previously, if you needed to process a reversal and/or adjustment in order to correct a tax issue, you needed to go through the Back Office or, if you don’t have Back Office, open a ticket. Now you can process these changes on the web.

Another exciting change is the addition of an import tool on the web. With the new web import, you can give more people access to import files. If you’re not familiar with creating imports for UKG Pro, these can be complicated, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any help. Here are some links that may help:

UKG Pro Import Tool Instructions:

Is Anything Else New in UKG Pro?

Yes! UKG Pro dropped a batch of new sample reports in BI last month, and these reports will save our clients a great deal of time during year end. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find:

  • New Tax Reports: Combines a few ‘Standard Reports’ and highlights errors. This means you can find problems quickly and address them effectively.
  • Earnings and Deductions Reports: Combine two or more ‘Standard Reports’ to make everything work better.
  • W-2 Box DD Report: This report will filter through your data and show you only those employees and deductions you need to pay attention to.
  • PTO Reports: These focus on the key dates in each plan, so you can avoid problems with accruals and rollovers at year end.

Want to know more about simplifying year end? Check out Mosaic’s tips and tricks to simplify year end.

Whether you’re executing Year End for the first time or looking for ways to make the process more efficient, we can help. Our team has developed best practices from working with a broad range of clients and can help make Year End seamless. Take advantage of the resources, tools and tactical support your Mosaic team can offer.

Contact Mosaic today for help with any and all UKG Pro related projects or questions.

Watch the Mosaic Webinar on The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End