Case Studies

Related Links

Gift of Hope

Sage Abra HR

Sage Abra Payroll

Featured Customer: Gift of Hope

More than 91,000 patients in the United States currently await organ transplants that could save their lives. Hundreds of thousands more wait to regain active lives through tissue transplantation. Luckily, Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network is there to help.

Gift of Hope is the federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) that coordinates organ and tissue donations in the northern three-quarters of Illinois and northwest Indiana. Working with 183 hospitals and local and national donation and transplant communities, Gift of Hope works to develop effective, government-regulated systems to increase the number of donated organs available for transplant.

Since its inception in 1986, Gift of Hope has coordinated donations that saved the lives of more than 10,000 transplant recipients. It also works with and educates medical professionals on organ donations, from the appropriate identification and timing for referrals, to medical management of donors and recovery surgery.

In-House Payroll for More Control

Sage Abra HRMS had proven itself at Gift of Hope since 1998, automating human resource functions and attendance functions. In 2004, the agency expanded its use of the software by bringing payroll processing in-house with Abra Payroll, a comprehensive, in-house payroll management system by Sage Software. "Outsourcing payroll had always presented a challenge because it gave us little control over our own payments," says Daniel Simpson, senior staff accountant. "It was difficult, for instance, to cut checks manually. We'd have to process the payment through our payroll system to have the correct withholdings made, and then key the check into our accounts payable to print a check. With Abra Payroll, on the other hand, now we can print a manual check in two minutes and eliminate double entry."

Offering Access to Information With ESS

Another big improvement came when Gift of Hope launched Abra ESS (employee self-service), giving employees ownership of their personal information. "Our employees can log into Abra ESS and verify that their personal time-off is correct, or check their catastrophic leave balance," explains Simpson. "They can review their compensation and last review dates. With the click of the mouse, they can print W-2s for information purposes, or their own check stubs. Also, because Abra ESS is Internet-based, they can access their data through any computer at the office, at a remote site or from their home as long as they are logged onto the company network."

How do employees feel about Abra ESS? "They really like it," says Simpson. "It lets them know things much faster.

Birthday Alerts and More

Gift of Hope uses Abra Alerts, which automatically monitors the Sage Abra database and proactively distributes information to managers and employees via e-mail, to send targeted e-mails to individuals.

"Abra Alerts cuts down on paper," Simpson notes. "And on a lighter note, it makes sure that we never forget anybody's birthday, as the system automatically sends out a notification to the person's supervisor three days in advance."

No Duplication With Seamless Integration

Other parts of the organization use Abra HR to manage recruiting efforts, time sheets, and attendance. "The good thing about Sage Abra is that all parts of it talk to one another," explains Simpson. "The result is no duplication. If you key someone's name and address into one part of the system, it is input everywhere else. The integration saves us time and cuts down on errors."

In the finance department, Abra and Abra ESS has minimized the number of questions fielded every day. "When people can look at their own check just by clicking on Sage Abra and Abra ESS, they don't have to call us for help. Of course, we still have a lot of contact with employees. But the system lets us make better use of our time and devote ourselves to the more complicated issues," Simpson says.

Gift of Hope has seen first-hand how Abra makes HR and finance departments more efficient so that its employees can process organ donations better than ever before and save more lives.