Brightpay connect

Do you get your clients to do the leg work?

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I know brightpay comes highly recommended on AW and it's because of this I decided to trial it out. I do really like the software but it doesn't seem as efficient as moneysoft, the simple matrix summary on MS is wonderful.

I love the idea of having bp connect and letting clients input the details and approving the payslip, this should reduce the time taken to run the payroll which is a major plus as its low paid work. It almost feels like it should be a self-service type service.

When I did a trial run I found there were an awful lot of “clicks” in this process going back and forth before they actually get a payslip.

A frequent request from clients is pay a £XXX net bonus, it doesn’t look like there is an easy way for the client to calculate this in the software.

Is it a case of “oh not another portal”, some clients hate it and to be fair it annoys be a bit too. Need to remember another website, username, password etc.

The calendar, annual leave etc while great for the odd client it just adds more confusion.

Also some changes I want to make en mass which don’t seem possible, I have a standard payslip design I want to use why do I have to change this for every employer.

If you are using bp are you also using connect? Do you get the client to enter the details or just approve? Do you find it saves time?

Any input is welcome, thank you.

Replies (6)

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Slim
By Slim
07th Feb 2021 21:12

I've found the option to disable the calendar but you can only do this by going into each employer which is a bit of a pain.

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A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
08th Feb 2021 14:18

I decided not to use it as its easier to get the clients to send the pay details in. Plus larger clients are already using things like Breathe for HR so don't want to introduce another system to them/their employees.

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By Mr_awol
09th Feb 2021 09:50

Why is payroll low paid work?

We seem to charge a bloody fortune for it. Nearly £400 plus VAT for a single/two director monthly payroll. Admittedly it's not a hell of a lot more for a 'proper' payroll due to our pricing structure of flat fee plus small charge per e'ee.

Of course if you're just providing a portal and the client is putting all their own data into it, then i see why you wouldn't be able to charge very much. If i had to put all the hours, holiday, etc in i wouldn't want to pay much either. This is what bugs me with portals for tax info requests which are being increasingly touted. If client puts his P60 info, dividends, interest etc into a capture form (even if he gets it wrong) he's not going to want to pay even as much as the £119 advert on tv i imagine.

I suppose it comes down to what service you are flogging. If it's a payroll bureau service, then the client should give you the info in a mutually agreed format (probably email spreadsheet or something) and you plug it in and charge him a decent fee. If you want to be a software reseller, providing a portal for him to do his own payroll then you're not really adding much and should take a minimal fee (but you can really scale up the volume)

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
09th Feb 2021 12:12

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
09th Feb 2021 12:11

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By Coppice Payroll
09th Feb 2021 16:04

I use Connect for my larger clients, it is an absolute godsend. I've opted for more of a whatever works best arrangement, in that some clients will input via the system, some prefer to send the data over in a spreadsheet as they always have done, some are tiny and don't want to bother with Connect at all. All I can say is, I definitely notice the time saved on jobs where it does exist. I haven't had to send a replacement payslip or P45 to any of the staff at the largest place I do (around 1000 employees) since I signed everyone up!

None of mine use the Calendar, I disabled it via the portal. I can see the benefits of this, but the clients have their own internal trackers for absence etc.

I make a habit of altering the payslip design with every employer I add, and so I haven't found myself needing to change things on a large-scale basis, but you could always let the Connect team know that this is something you'd need, as I have had suggestions of mine make their way into BP and BP Connect before (such as the calendar disabling, definitely not the only one that asked, but would still be mandatory if no-one asked!).

I really do find the best way to see if you can do something with BP, is just to ask them. There are all sorts of hidden shortcuts for when manual changes need to be made (such as holding Shift to access extra, less common, pension options), so asking can often get you a bit more information.

Coppice Payroll

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