Red Wing Software — CenterPoint Payroll

From the September 2009 Review of Professional
Payroll Programs

Red
Wing’s CenterPoint Payroll is a comprehensive employment and live payroll
management system that offers support for multiple business entities with any
number of employees each, allowing the program to be used by accountants offering
payroll to their clients or by entrepreneurs with multiple employer entities.
The system includes compliance support for all states, including electronic
filing and payment where available, plus allows direct deposit to multiple employee
accounts, unlimited deductions and pay rates. The program was built on the .NET
platform, which gives users great flexibility in screen layouts, design, data
presentation and other customization options. Pricing for CenterPoint Payroll,
with support for any number of employer businesses, starts at $795 for a single
user. Direct deposit and e-filing is offered as an add-on, with unlimited use
costing $395.

DATA ENTRY & KEY FEATURES:
The newness of the .NET design is apparent immediately after logging into the
system, where users have the ability to reposition and customize virtually every
component, from menus to visual elements, simply by dragging and dropping them
in or renaming and adding links. The home screen provides traditional icons
and menus across the top, with the Quick List menu providing the primary navigation
console, offering access to payroll, setup functions, transactions and reports.
CenterPoint has a series of guides and wizards that lead users through many
initial setup tasks and simplify creating GL accounts, employee deductions,
pay rates, system defaults and other items. Data screens for general company
and employee information include several smart features, such as calendars,
selection lists and quick entry functions.

Any number of standard or custom pre- and post-tax deductions can be created
and applied to employee paychecks, including benefits options and third-party
voluntary and involuntary deductions such as 401Ks, insurance, cafeteria plans,
HSAs, garnishments, child support, planned giving and union dues.

Selection lists for employers and employees offer spreadsheet views that allow
filtering and sorting, while displaying summary information and offering tabbed
views of detailed information when a client is selected. Payrolls can be set
up for multiple frequencies, with employee groups and departmental options available.
During processing, the system offers a multi-employee spreadsheet view, with
the program automatically populating time and calculated data fields for salaried
staff and allowing quick entry of data for other employees, including simply
duplicating prior pay periods if no changes occurred. CenterPoint also offers
several benefits management functions, including tracking of paid time off for
holidays, vacation and sick pay, which can be set to accrue by various methods.
The HR functions include the ability to track applicant information, resumes,
training records, reviews and employee photos, or to create custom data fields.

With the direct deposit add-on, any number of runs can be processed at no
additional charge and applied to any number of employee bank accounts. For unbanked
employees, payroll can be loaded to pay debit cards. Pay stubs and other employee-focused
communications can be bilingual. Since the program is not web-based, employee
portals are not available. New for 2009, Red Wing has added several new tools,
including an Advanced Earnings Matrix, which simplifies paying employees who
received different rates for different shifts and functions. Also new is a payroll
check stub designer, automated backup, em-ployee training/certification tracking
and support for the 64-bit version of Vista.

REPORTING CAPABILITIES:
CenterPoint’s exceptional customization capabilities extend to its reporting
options, which include a broad collection of payroll output, including run summaries,
period detail and summaries, wages, liabilities, deductions, departmental costing,
labor distributions and check registers, as well as all state and federal employment
and wage reporting forms. Reports can be customized and saved using the built-in
report system, output to Word, Excel, PDF and HTML formats, or emailed from
within the program. The program can also electronically file most compliance
forms and reports to entities that allow it.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT & EXPORT:
CenterPoint Payroll offers direct integration with Red Wing Software’s
business, agribusiness and fund account-ing programs, and also offers the ability
to import employee time from most time clock systems or from spreadsheet files.
A bridge is available for transferring payroll data to the GLs in most account-ing
systems.

RELATIVE VALUE:
CenterPoint continues as one of the most comprehensive payroll systems on the
market, providing support for multiple entities with one user license, as well
as supporting complex multi-departmental businesses with payroll liabilities
in multiple jurisdictions. The system can be used either in-house by a business
or by professionals serving multiple clients. The inclusion of debit cards as
a payroll method further extends the value of the system to businesses with
unbanked employees.

2009 Overall Rating:

Payroll