EmpCenter^® Software Consolidates Workforce Management

Activision Blizzard is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment, and is a leader in subscription-based online games as well as PC, casual online, console, handheld and mobile games. Its two principal studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Entertainment, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and Sierra Entertainment, headquartered in Los Angeles, which includes Radical Entertainment, Swordfish Studios, High Moon Studios and Massive Entertainment. Activision Blizzard Games maintains strategic relationships with Universal Music Group, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, and Ludlum Entertainment. The company has 16 offices around the world and conducts business in 75 countries.

Business Issues & Payroll Challenges

Before licensing WorkForce Software’s EmpCenter® solution, Activision Blizzard’s game division had 14 different methods for collecting time, attendance and project information. Various paper timesheets, spreadsheets, time clocks, and multiple online systems were used to collect data, and the company used ADP for payroll processing and Oracle’s Project Accounting system for tracking projects. Because there are several concurrent projects, the tracking was essential to determine profitable and non-profitable projects and products.

Completing payroll in a timely manner was one of many challenges. The payroll department was responsible for re-keying in time that was submitted on paper or accessed from one of several online systems that required custom interfaces. Since there was no consistent process for collecting time, project tracking was difficult and inaccurate. Employees would often charge to closed projects, and invalid codes were entered or written down by mistake. Activision Blizzard’s payroll department spent a lot of time on inefficient methods that cost the company money.

Selecting WorkForce Software

In 2000, the company decided to consolidate the various time reporting methods with a single, commercial, off-the-shelf system. Thirty-four people from various business units were assigned to the project team to evaluate software packages. Several products from some of the largest vendors in the industry were examined, and the team unanimously selected WorkForce.

“We were looking for flexibility,” said Payroll Systems Analyst Lisa Pozarich, Activision Blizzard Games. “We were impressed with the unlimited number of rules that could be configured in the WorkForce Software application, allowing us to automate business processes that would still require manual calculations in other systems.”

Implementation

WorkForce’s implementation consulting team conducted several onsite interviews to better understand the business requirements and provide recommendations on how to deploy the system. A number of challenges were identified, including an interface to/from Oracle Project Accounting, support for Macintosh platforms, and several unique labor tracking requirements.

“WorkForce Software was up front about the requirements its software could meet and what requirements could not be handled with the base software system,” said CIO Bertrand Leroux, Activision Blizzard Games. “Where standard features were not available to meet a requirement, they proposed product enhancements at reasonable costs. This ensured a key goal of ours was adhered to—namely running off-the-shelf software instead of customized code.”

The WorkForce consulting team configured policies for the various business areas, including overtime, holiday, project tracking and accrual requirements. Activision Blizzard has locations in California, so the overtime laws were configured to specifically support the state requirements, including paying overtime for seven consecutive days.

“WorkForce Software was able to configure the system to work with all of our calculations, validations, and interfaces,” said Director of Payroll Rebecca Clites, Activision Blizzard Games. “No matter how complex the rules, the consultants from WorkForce set up the software to meet our needs.”

When some of the initial policies had to be revised to reflect company changes, the system was easily reconfigured to support the modifications without having to reprogram the system.

Labor Tracking

One of the key reasons Activision Blizzard chose WorkForce was because of its ability to support the complex labor tracking requirements. There were several unique rules identified for employees recording time against projects and tasks, including:

• Restricting employees to only projects and tasks associated with their cost center in certain areas
• Charge projects to the home cost center as appropriate
• Charge pay codes, such as vacation, to the default project/task based on the employee’s specific cost center
• Divide a salary employee’s pay check proportionally based on the hours worked on each project/task

“WorkForce Software was able to adapt its software to our project tracking needs very closely,” said Project Accounting Manager Jim Mattler, Activision Blizzard Games. “By collecting project data at the employee level and validating information immediately, we have virtually eliminated data errors in our project accounting system. Now we can quickly update our financial system and make business decisions with accurate, up-to-date information.”

Data Collection

Four data collection methods were determined necessary to collect time and attendance information:

• Reporting time through a web browser interface allows supervisors approve the time online
• Production employees, assigned to pre-defined project and task, use a badge reader to punch in and out
• Timekeeper re-keys timesheet information into the system for a small group of employees
• Small group continues to use an in-house system to initially collect time due to the unique business requirements, but there is an integrated interface into the WorkForce system

Even with a few different methods for entering data, all the time and attendance information was consolidated into the WorkForce system, which helped Activision Blizzard ensure compliance.

Interfaces

The WorkForce system easily interfaces with other systems to support the needs of its customers. For Activision Blizzard, WorkForce interfaced with ADP’s payroll software. The interface retrieved data from ADP, including employee information, exempt/non-exempt status, full/part-time indicator, location, supervisor, pay rate, and other information as required by Activision Blizzard. The built-in employee synchronization feature was configured to automatically load the information on a daily basis. When new employees or changes are entered into ADP, the information is automatically synchronized with the employee tables in the time and attendance system.

WorkForce consultants also created an interface to Oracle’s project accounting system, so employees had look-up lists for project and task codes to charge their time against. The configured values included cost center, defaults and other labor tracking requirements.

At the end of each pay period, the total hours are calculated by WorkForce’s software, which is interfaced to the ADP system to generate payroll checks. The interface to Oracle’s project accounting also ensures payroll and project values match, which was a constant frustration for the payroll department when these numbers did not match. WorkForce’s EmpCenter solution has the flexibility to meet all aspects of Activision Blizzard’s payroll needs.

Results

Activision Blizzard has received a number of benefits since the implementation of the system, including eliminating redundant data entry, reducing payroll processing times, less errors and balanced timesheets. Employees also have access to real-time information to plan time-off without having to contact the payroll department. The detailed and accurate labor tracking information interfaced to Oracle provides the company with real-time information on operating costs to make better decisions.

“WorkForce Software delivered on the promises they made when we selected their software,” said VP of Finance Steve Tami, Activision Blizzard Games.

“We have dramatically streamlined our manual processes and achieved significant cost savings. The WorkForce Software system will pay for itself many times over in the coming months.”