Marshall Aerospace

Synopsis

For many years Marshall Aerospace were using an in-house main-frame Payroll and Time & Attendance system which required a great deal of support from their IT department.  Whilst meeting the vast majority of their individual requirements, continued use of this system presented a number of challenges.  The system was cumbersome and inflexible, highly dependent on IT support and generating reports was, in some cases, near impossible.

Coupled with it's in-house Time & Attendance system, Marshall Aerospace are now using TeamSpirit Payroll which has addressed a number of key challenges: electronic submission of year end returns to the HMRC, generation of both standard and ad-hoc reports by the payroll department and additional flexibility as a result of minimal support and intervention now required from the IT department.

About Marshall Aerospace

Established in 1937 with a current turnover of £167M, Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge is the UK's leading independent aerospace contractor with a worldwide reputation for engineering excellence.  Decades of experience in aircraft design, manufacture, maintenance, conversion, modification and logistic support are firmly backed up by a dedicated team of almost 1600 highly trained personnel and an exceptional range of facilities housed in 1.2 million square feet of hangar space.

Marshall Aerospace clients include the MOD, British Airways, Rolls Royce and Lockheed Martin.

The Aim

The Marshall Aerospace payroll department employs a Payroll Manager, plus 1 part time and 2 full time members of staff, who are responsible for the monthly and weekly payrolls for almost 1600 Marshall Aerospace staff and Aeropeople's 144 staff.

Use of an in-house system required valuable resources  from Marshall's IT department to react to statutory changes, which in turn meant having to divert people from their core business.  In addition, the payroll department would regularly request ad-hoc reports which would have to be written by IT.

The particular turning point was the introduction of efiling by the HMRC, forcing the IT department to look for an alternative off the shelf solution that could meet their requirements.

After writing up a comprehensive specification, Marshall made contact with a number of payroll suppliers and finally requested detailed information from six.  Following demonstrations from four of the suppliers, the payroll and IT departments arrived at a shortlist of two.  A final meeting to establish how each of the shortlisted systems could be customised to meet their needs formed the final stage of the selection process.  TeamSpirit were quickly able to demonstrate how easy it was to build a report to fit Marshall's individual requirements during the meeting which was enough for them to make their final decision. 

Customisation to interface with Marshall's Time and Attendance system and specific shift pattern requirements were conducted by TeamSpirit, but with minimal training Marshall Aerospace would also be able to add any future customisation required without having to incur additional costs from TeamSpirit.

The Solution

Once implemented, TeamSpirit was initially used to extract the year end files from their in-house payroll system ready for submission to the HMRC.  Implementation of the new TeamSpirit system also meant that Marshall were able to move from their old three part payslips to z-fold laser payslips that could be pressured sealed.

Jo Courage, Payroll Manager for Marshall Aerospace is delighted with their selection of TeamSpirit, and commented, "What we asked for during our initial meeting has been achieved and we've not regretted our selection of TeamSpirit Payroll since.  Implementing TeamSpirit has meant that we rarely have to rely on the support of the IT department and the management of the payroll system is now back in our hands.  We continue to receive good service from the TeamSpirit Helpdesk and enjoy the flexibility that the system provides for running our processes and the ease of report production".

The Benefits

Implementation of TeamSpirit has benefited Marshall Aerospace in many ways;

• Both the payroll and the IT departments have noticed a significant shift in responsibility.  With the previous in-house system IT had regular involvement with the payroll process but TeamSpirit has meant that the responsibility for payroll is back where it should be.
  
• Microfiche for data storage is now a thing of the past as TeamSpirit allows data to be stored and recalled at the touch of a button.
  
• The submission of BACs payments, which previously had to be submitted by IT, can now be submitted by payroll.
  
• Payroll can now produce their own reports from a selection of standard reports or build new reports using TeamSpirit.
  
• TeamSpirit provides the payroll department with the ability to re-run the payroll for a single employee.  With the old mainframe system they only had one shot at producing the payroll and any errors would have to be reconciled in the following pay period.
  
• TeamSpirit now gives the payroll department greater flexibility in terms of cut off times and means they can provide a better service to the rest of the company.
  
• The flexibility of TeamSpirit also allows for supplementary payments to be made.
  
• The payroll history function within TeamSpirit provides invaluable information which can be accessed quickly and easily.

The Future

Since TeamSpirit's initial implementation in April 2005, Marshall Aerospace has conducted a thorough review of their internal processes allowing them to streamline their operations even further. 

Marshall is now investigating the benefits of implementing TeamSpirit's Self Service system which will give them the ability for their employees to access electronic payslips.

The rigid IT controlled system is now a distant memory and TeamSpirit continues to provide a flexible and reliable system.

Back to case studies