2. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 1
KeyInterval Research . . .
monitors and examines the status,
behavior, and functionality of the 40 HR
Software Silos outlined in our Research
Map. We are curious about:
• The differences and similarities
between offerings
• The connections and synergies
between silos
• The impact of user interfaces on
employee experience
• The realities of life at the intersection
of people and technology.
Introduction
In this report, KeyInterval Research examined the functional foundation of major Payroll Systems. The
research was conducted in August 2014.

3. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 2
Best of Breed—Benefits
MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES SYNCHR BENEFITFOCUS BSWIFT SPOTLITE BENEFITMALL PLANSOURCE
One Database
Single Application
Security Rules
Event-Driven HR n/a n/a n/a n/a
Business Intelligence n/a n/a
Partial-Period Payroll n/a n/a n/a n/a
Retro-Pay Calculations n/a n/a n/a n/a
Drag & Drop Panels n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Smart Workflow n/a n/a n/a n/a
One-Page Employee Transaction Portal
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Don’t Know
n/a Not Applicable
KEY

4. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 3
Best of Breed—Payroll
MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES SYNCHR PAYLOCITY INTUIT PAYCOM PAYCOR PAYCHEX SUREPAYROLL
One Database
Single Application
Security Rules
Event-Driven HR n/a n/a n/a
Business Intelligence
Partial-Period Payroll n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Retro-Pay Calculations n/a n/a n/a n/a
Drag & Drop Panels n/a n/a n/a
Smart Workflow n/a
One-Page Employee Transaction Portal n/a
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Don’t Know
n/a Not Applicable
KEY

5. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 4
Best of Breed—HR
MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES SYNCHR CHECKPOINTHR SAGE HRMS PDS ECI EMPOWER VIBE HCM
VISTA HRMS SOFTWARE CFACTOR
One Database
Single Application
Security Rules
Event-Driven HR n/a n/a n/a
Business Intelligence
Partial-Period Payroll n/a n/a n/a n/a
Retro-Pay Calculations n/a n/a n/a
Drag & Drop Panels n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Smart Workflow n/a n/a n/a n/a
One-Page Employee Transaction Portal
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Don’t Know
n/a Not Applicable
KEY

6. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 5
Best of Breed—Benefits/Payroll/HR
MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES SYNCHR CERIDIAN ADP ASCENTIS PAYCHEX ULTIMATE SOFTWARE
One Database
Single Application
Security Rules
Event-Driven HR n/a n/a n/a
Business Intelligence
Partial-Period Payroll n/a n/a n/a
Retro-Pay Calculations n/a
Drag & Drop Panels n/a n/a
Smart Workflow n/a
One-Page Employee Transaction Portal
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Don’t Know
n/a Not Applicable
KEY

7. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 6
Best of Breed—Hottest in the Market
MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES SYNCHR BAMBOOHR NAMELY ZENEFITS WORKDAY ZENPAYROLL
One Database
Single Application
Security Rules
Event-Driven HR n/a n/a n/a
Business Intelligence
Partial-Period Payroll n/a n/a n/a n/a
Retro-Pay Calculations n/a n/a n/a
Drag & Drop Panels n/a n/a n/a
Smart Workflow n/a n/a n/a
One-Page Employee Transaction Portal
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Don’t Know
n/a Not Applicable
KEY

8. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE—PAYROLL
© KeyInterval Research | keyinterval.com | Page 7
How To Contact Us
Web: keyinterval.com
Phone: 415.683.0775
Twitter: @keyintervalR
William Tincup: Principal Analyst
@williamtincup
william@keyinterval.com
+1.469.371.7050
John Sumser: Principal Analyst
@johnsumser
john@keyinterval.com
+1.415.683.0775
Copyright 2015 by KeyInterval Research, all rights
reserved. You many not copy, duplicate, or share this
report with anyone, ever. No, not even a teensy-weensy
part of it. If you do, bad things will happen and all your
hair will fall out. Well, maybe not that last bit. Really,
this is proprietary and protected by copyright. So don’t
copy or share. Love, Legal.
About KeyInterval Research
KeyInterval is a practitioner centric market research firm. We survey practitioners in
HR and Recruiting to discover what their work with technology is like. We work at the
intersection of HR and Technology. We use a blend of quantitative and qualitative research
to see beyond the more traditional vendor centric view.
The company is driven by the curiosities of its founders, William Tincup and John Sumser.
Our goal is to provide practitioners with a clear view of what actually happens when their
peers and colleagues go to work.
We help practitioners understand what is working in the day to day business of HR. We do this by investigating
the realities of work in the HR practitioners’ world. We make maps that help practitioners to work more effectively
and vendors to supply better technology.
As long term participants in the HR ecosystem, we’ve heard a lot of stories about how things work or don’t. We’ve
originated, repeated, recycled, learned and catalogued much of the folk wisdom that passes for rational thought in
HR. We are pretty sure that the realities of HR work are substantially different from the ways they are portrayed.
We want to discover what is true and accurate. We want to separate that from wishful thinking. We are mapping
the realities of our industry. We will have better questions and better answers as time
goes on.
The explosion of technology makes it possible to replace anecdote with fact. Our work
combines quantitative research (surveys) with qualitative (interviews and focus groups).
The big vision is to replace fiction with fact and to sharpen the things that are true.