Payslip saves Intuitive Surgical 84 days a year by automating ADP Flexiform dataflows from 32 sources

“Processing payroll for 17 countries all on ADP means 17 different Flexiforms every month. This was a huge amount of tedious manual Excel spreadsheet work with a high risk of human error. Payslip has removed all of this work for us, saving the team 7.5 days per month.”

The Challenge

Intuitive Surgical contract with ADP to run their payroll and the ADP Streamline software requires that Intuitive Surgical compile all the input data into ADP’s prescribed Excel format called a Flexiform. The Flexiforms are complex Excel files with a different layout and set of rules for each country. Each Flexiform takes data from multiple source systems in Intuitive Surgical: Oracle (HRIS data), E*Trade (stock compensation data) etc. The manual compilation of these Flexiforms was a complex, time consuming and error prone task which had to be repeated each pay cycle.

This was a data integration and systems orchestration challenge. Intuitive Surgical were looking for a way to automate this process. They wanted to remain on ADP Streamline but remove the burden of the manual data entry and validation part of the notoriously frustrating ADP Flexiform process from their payroll team.

“This was a huge systems integration challenge, collecting data from 32 different files. We leveraged MIPI to simplify everything. It allowed us to accept the data in the formats these systems already produced and removed any client side need to change those systems.”

The Payslip Solution

Data Consolidation

The Payslip platform provides a central repository and stores all data needed to run payroll in every country in a consistent way globally with a data model that allows comparisons to be carried out across different entities and pay periods.

To get the data into the global payroll control platform, the Payslip team undertook a large data consolidation exercise for Intuitive Surgical and got to work absorbing data from multiple systems so that they could be mapped to our data model. The Payslip data model takes data in from all sources and then categorizes and standardizes it all at a global level.

We do this via our Integrations as a Service tool called MIPI- Multi Inputs Payroll Integrator: Payslip MIPI follows a light touch integration philosophy. MIPI will accept the data via Excel or CSV files, without being prescriptive on the layout and structure of those files. This reduces and often eliminates any system integration requirement on the customer as most systems have the ability to export data in reports or to Excel/CSV files. 

MIPI is a no-code capability to read customer and payroll related data from these arbitrarily formatted CSV or Excel files.

Payslip performs automated validation checks of the data during ingest, checking for data completion (no data missing) and data integrity (does the field value match the expected type and range). The ingested data is mapped to the Payslip schema and stored in the Payslip database.

32 data files from 9 different source systems including Oracle Fusion, UKG and Concur made this a large undertaking. But Payslip’s technology is purpose-built to solve challenges like this and our team of experts leveraged the MIPI no-code capability to quickly and efficiently read & map data from these 32 files. The entire project, from start to go live was completed in just 16 weeks- hugely impressive turnaround speed for a systems integration project.

The Result

Fully automated integrations and dataflows

Fixed the Flexiform Pain

The constant manual data transfer of data into ADP Flexiforms in every payrun was a major problem for the payroll teams at Intuitive Surgical who were required to gather, organize, re-format and then check that their payroll data matches the Flexiform particulars in order to be accepted into the ADP system. They were seeking a solution that allowed them to remain on ADP - avoid a rip and replace project but spend much less time and resources on the Flexiform process.

Payslip automatically ingests all their data into the platform and the Payslip team were then able to produce the Flexiforms for each country by mapping the data to the required tab and cell in the Flexiform. The Flexiforms are delivered to ADP via automated file transfer (SFTP) so that the manual upload to the ADP portal step is removed. ADP send the data to their network of local country payroll providers for payroll calculation and processing just as they had done before. There was no work requirement for ADP, they receive a Flexiform from Intuitive in the same format as before. But for Intuitive Surgical, this saved hours of manual work in each payrun across every country where the Flexiform process is followed. The new process completely eliminates manual data entry into Flexiforms- automated feeds save time while reducing both cost and human error.

On the Payslip platform, Intuitive Surgical have integrated 9 different systems and data from 32 different files flows into the platform and then across to their local payroll providers in a seamless and automated manner. This was achieved for 17 countries in just a few months and will result in estimated savings of $374,850.

All the input files need for ADP Streamline are now produced in the required Flexiform format which is a huge time saver for Intuitive Surgical. There is no manual work pushed back to the client, Payslip handles all of the data and fully automates the process.

“Processing payroll for 17 countries all on ADP means 17 different Flexiforms every month. This was a huge amount of tedious manual Еxcel spreadsheet work with a high risk of human error.

Payslip has removed all of this work for us, saving the team 7.5 days per month. All the required data is transferred with the click of a button, leaving the team with much more time to focus on data analysis and reporting. We feel we now have a lot more control of our payroll and our data.”

Payslip removed the burden of data gathering for Intuitive Surgical and automated the production of the Flexiforms and their delivery to ADP.   Intuitive Surgical have all their data visible to them on the platform and because Payslip automates all the workflows, they know exactly where every payrun is on every pay cycle, how they are tracking against timelines and who is responsible for each payroll task. These controls keep the payroll process visible and also record all actions taken so that the system provides audit ready information to prove effective controls are in place.

Having all their global payroll data on one central database for all countries also facilitates the running of consolidated, detailed and comprehensive multi country reporting. The Payslip platform acts as the single source of truth for all their current and historic pay data showing total employer costs including taxes in a way that is much more granular than can be achieved through journal files alone. Intuitive Surgical now own and control their payroll data which hugely reduces the reporting burden on the payroll team.

Payslip are experts at helping companies like Intuitive Surgical introduce major improvements to their global payroll operations. Achieve complete control and full visibility over your payroll using our Global Payroll Control Platform.