Company background
Cascade develops and supports its HR and payroll software solutions from its head office based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Its .NET solution has been available since 2004 and the latest version is now live at just over 200 clients. Owned by four directors, the organisation has no outside investment and no borrowings, and states that it is financially strong.
Cascade holds the following company and product accreditations:
- Microsoft Gold Partner.
- Investor in People.
- HMRC Standard Payroll.
- 2009 winner of the Software Satisfaction Awards.
Products
Companies use Cascade to manage the key aspects of their human resources and payroll, from simple administration to complex business processes and legislative requirements. Cascade's HR and Payroll teams aim to change an HR service from an administrative to a business-oriented department able to directly support the productivity of the business. The aim is that profitability is maximised as companies get the most from the employees they have and those they recruit.
Functionality
Cascade HR offers the following core modules and sub-modules (which are included but can be optionally set up based on user requirements:-
- Core HR system - including a system designer, third-party interface functionality, AD single sign-on module and Outlook diary integration.
- Self-service (employee and manager) - including policies and procedures document publishing and an online staff surveys module.
- Training manager module.
- Recruitment manager module.
- Online recruitment.
- Payroll system including report writer.
- BACS/IP module.
- HR timesheet module (group).
- HR timesheet module (self service).
- Workflow designer module
- Active directory data exchange module.
Product architecture
Cascade is built on a technical platform using the industry standard Microsoft SQL Server database, coupled with a pure web-based presentation architecture, again using industry standards for security and delivery. Cascade HR was designed from the start as a browser based system. This means companies can start using Cascade HR immediately, with no need to wait for a new PC program to be installed.
Access options
The HR database can be installed on servers at the user organisation, making it ‘intranet-based' - available only to internal staff and hidden from the wider internet. If preferred, the software can be ‘hosted' - where Cascade is responsible for looking after the database and the user company's employees connect to the system securely over the internet. Cascade says it uses high quality outsourced hosting servers for this service. One key feature of browser based solutions is a lower cost of ownership and maintenance, because there is no need to install or upgrade the Cascade HR system at each PC. It also means the system can be accessed from anywhere within an organisation.
