Month: September 2014

In our last few posts, we’ve talked about how to get the most out of attending a seminar and tips to keep in mind while presenting. On October 6-8, a seminar will be held in Philadelphia for optimizing payroll in SAP.

SAPinsider has lined up some exceptional speakers with a wide breadth of knowledge and background of expertise in SAP Payroll. Each speaker brings something different to the seminar and knows the language of business, both functional and technical.

Speakers are Jennifer Adams from AspireHR, Yu Chen from Deloitte, and ICG’s own Mike Timm. You can learn more about the speakers here.

The seminar will provide a deeper knowledge of the inner workings of payroll, ideas on how to make processes more efficient, and methods to employ more functionality. The sessions will dive deep into business processes, configuration, and technical settings all focused on SAP payroll.

The seminar will discuss the following areas:

• Achieving greater control over payroll-related costs and resources
• Ensuring compliance with tax regulations and audit requirements
• Reducing the complexity of FI/CO integration
• Avoiding the challenges of global payroll
• Mastering time management and its integration with payroll
• Managing claims, garnishments, and month-end accruals with ease
• Processing year-end payroll accurately and on time
• Streamlining annual maintenance with tips for managing HRSPs and CLCs

Mike will be presenting five sessions during the conference and will also be on the rapid-fire Q&A panel held on the end of day two.

On day one, his presentation will cover the ten most critical factors that impact the accuracy and efficiency of SAP payroll.

On day two, he will take on integrating payroll with accounting (FI/CO) and benefits: configuration guidelines and best practices to reduce complexity. His second presentation will be a comprehensive guide to US taxes and their impact on payroll operations. The third will be on managing payroll claims, garnishments, month-end accruals, and more: lessons from the trenches.

On day three, his presentation will be on field-tested strategies to avoid or overcome the most common and costly payroll and time-related challenges.

Mike’s excited to share his knowledge and experiences in an environment where the focus is all on payroll and those who care about payroll.

Keep up with us before, during, and after the seminar by following us on twitter: @MikeTimmSAP and @SAPinsiderHR. Also, search for the hashtag “payrollseminar” to see what others are saying about the seminar.

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In last week’s blog post, we talked about tips for attending a seminar. This week, we will go over some tips for presenting at a seminar. For first time presenters, the idea of talking in front of a group of people can seem pretty daunting. But hopefully with these tips, we can help put you at ease.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Know the logistics. How long do you have to present? Will there be a Q&A session afterward? Ask about technology— is the room capable of projecting a power point? Will you have access to the Internet? Can you use your own laptop, or do you have to use the one provided?

Prepare. Once you know how much time you have to present, you should plan your talk accordingly. Include an outline slide when using a PowerPoint so that your audience knows where you are taking them in your presentation. Do not bog down your slides with lots of words. Include only key words or points, but most importantly, make sure to have appealing visual displays.

Practice over and over. Don’t read your slides word for word, and don’t learn them verbatim. When you’ve memorized a presentation, your voice tends to stay in the same register, and your audience will quickly get bored. Try to keep a conversational tone, which will happen naturally if you take the time to learn your presentation topic and not just memorize a speech.

Drive attendance. Market yourself— send out emails to your network explaining the logistics of the seminar. Let them know the big picture of your presentation and how their company could benefit.

Back up your presentation. Make sure that you have your presentation in at least two different forms. For example, send your PowerPoint or visuals to yourself in an email, and also put it on a flash drive.

Arrive early. Get to the room you are presenting in early, and if allowed, start setting up. That way, if you need something or the Internet isn’t working, you have time to find someone to help you fix the problem.

Q&A session. Try to answer the questions to the best of your ability. If you don’t know the answer, tell your audience that you are not sure, but will think about it. If an answer comes to you that seems correct but you aren’t sure, let the audience know that you are speculating.

Learn from your presentation and reflect. What will you do differently next time? What worked really well? And don’t forget to have fun. You’re a leader in your field, and being able to share your knowledge is something many people don’t get to experience.

Have you presented recently and have any other tips? Leave us a comment. You can also let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn–we’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Business seminars are a great way to sharpen your skills, learn what’s new in the world of business, and to network. Just as we talked about with conferences last March, there is a right way and a wrong way to attend seminars.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Come prepared. Look at the schedule ahead of time. Which speakers do you want to see? What topics are you interested in learning more about? Familiarize yourself with the speakers’ works – What papers or books have they written? What are their areas of expertise?
• Take notes. Our minds tend to wander even during the most interesting of conversations, so taking notes is the best way to stay focused.
  • Bring your laptop or notebook, a highlighter and a few pens, and a pack of post-it notes. They will all come in handy.
  • Review your notes. That way, if a question arises, you have a chance to ask the speaker directly. You will also be able to talk with other seminar attendees about the presentation and get their take on the subject.
• Ask questions. If there is something you don’t understand or want explained in more detail, don’t be afraid to ask during the Q&A portion of the presentation. If you want to have a discussion about the topic with the presenter, try to catch them after the presentation or some other time during the seminar.
  • It’s important to remember to speak for the right reasons—it is more impressive to give a suggestion or ask an in-depth question than to try and pick out flaws in a presentation.
• Take it all in before applying. Don’t try to overhaul your business by next Monday. It’s okay to use some of the new ideas and materials right away, but it’s best for you to sit down with your business associates and plan a course of action incorporating the new ideas in a way that’s right for your business.
• Travel. Travelling seems to be pretty obvious, but there are a few things to keep in mind when attending a seminar that is out of state (or even out of town). When travelling a longer distance, try to arrive the day before the seminar begins just in case you run into delays. Make sure you have a hotel room before arriving to the city. If you fly in, check if the hotel offers a service to take you to and from the seminar. If not, ask the front desk to call a taxi for you.

In next week’s blog post, we will talk about presenting at a seminar and offer some tips for giving the best presentation possible.

Do you have any favorite tips or recommendations for making the most of a business seminar? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn–we’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Employees are an integral part of any business, and any human resource mistakes made while dealing with employees can hurt both your employees and your company. Some of these mistakes have the potential to haunt your company, producing consequences for years to come.

It’s important to make sure your business or company avoids these common mistakes:

Lazy job definition and descriptions: Take time to describe the job you are hiring for— in order to let potential employers know exactly what you are looking for, be specific. Your description should include the education, skills, and training that you want in a candidate, and you should only interview those who meet your requirements.

Inappropriate interview questions: It’s not exactly common sense anymore that certain questions should not be asked during an interview. Asking questions based on race, age, sex, or religion can land you and your company in big trouble— and it is up to you to make sure that you avoid such questions.

Hiring the wrong people: It’s obvious why hiring the wrong people can harm your business. When conducting an interview, make sure you are asking concise questions. Ask yourself if you can see the candidate as an integral part of your business. Make sure the candidate knows from the beginning exactly what you expect of them.

Not taking enough time to train your employees: Most businesses know the importance of taking the time to properly train an employee when they first start, but it is also crucial that you continually train your employees. This can mean anything from continuing education, leadership, basic supervisory, and skills-based training. These kinds of measures will keep your company a step ahead of your competitors, while also improving the opportunities given to your employees.

Not knowing your competitors: There are a lot of different reasons you need to not only know who your competitors are, but also keep tabs on them. When it comes down to keeping your employees, it’s important to know what your competitors are offering salary and benefit-wise. Keeping salaries and benefits up to industry standards is imperative. If you don’t, your competitors will have a much easier time stealing your best employees away from you.

Do you have any helpful ideas to add to the list? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.

Here at Integrated Consulting Group, we specialize in the design, development, and customization of SAP Human Capital Management business software for leading edge North American companies with global reach. Have any questions about SAP? Feel free to contact us via the contact page of our site, or on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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We are pleased to announce our participation in SAPinsider’s Optimizing Payroll in SAP, the preeminent seminar for HR, payroll, and time specialists seeking to derive maximum value and efficiency from existing SAP^® ERP HCM payroll systems.

SAPinsider and ICG are bringing this brand new event to these three cities:

Philadelphia, October 6-8
Chicago, November 17-19
Las Vegas, December 8-10

Optimizing Payroll in SAP provides proven techniques guaranteed to drive significant results. The expert speakers will draw from a combined 50+ years of experience working with leading SAP customers, and detail the strategies and best practices that have been most effective at:

• Achieving greater control over payroll-related costs
• Reducing the complexity of FI/CO integration
• Ensuring accurate and timely processing of year-end payroll
• Streamlining global payroll administration
• Centralizing and automating payroll and time entries
• Streamlining annual system maintenance
• Increasing the consistency and accuracy of payroll runs
• Ensuring compliance with tax regulations and report requirements

Join us in one of these cities for process-improving methodologies and time-saving tips that can be put to immediate use back at the office.