I am happy to share some insights on Ultimate Software drawn from our latest Value Index research, which provides an analytic representation of our assessment of how well vendors’ 
offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research Value Index: Workforce Management 2019 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for workforce management. We evaluated Ultimate Software and 12 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the vendor (TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our experience and data derived from our benchmark research on workforce management.
Ultimate Software Group placed seventh in the WFM Value Index. It ranked first in TCO/ROI as it provided the most comprehensive business case support, including tools to support the decision-making process: a robust ROI calculator, 
detailed information on costs and information on different market segments. It also did well in Validation. Due to these results it ranked third for customer assurance, reflecting its work to ensure its investments are realized and validated by customers.
UltiPro is a comprehensive product that facilitates many workflows such as clocking in and out, submitting timesheets, shift swapping and bidding on shifts, viewing timesheets and requesting PTO as well as requests related to a missing punch, meal premium waivers and make-up pay. The Scheduling module enables users to create demand and event-based templates in order to quickly create a schedule based on labor needs for the period and then re-use those templates when scheduling future periods with similar demand characteristics. Administrators can create policies with coverage requirements company-wide, team-specific or at the job level.
Ultimate’s relatively low 11th-place score in the Capability category is largely due to scheduling optimization capability limitations, such as not using historical patterns. This is on the company’s roadmap, as are a range of attendance and leave management features. Task and activity management includes core capabilities but would benefit from features such as Gantt charts and allowing attachments. It could also improve on its Usability and support for accessibility of its applications’ roles and mediums.
This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of workforce management software in the industry. You can learn more about our Value Index as an effective vendor selection and RFI/RFP tool here. Participating vendors can learn more about how to use the Value Index here.
Authors:
Ventana Research
Ventana Research, now part of Information Services Group (ISG), is the most authoritative and respected market research and advisory services firm focused on improving business outcomes through optimal use of people, processes, information and technology. Since our beginning, our goal has been to provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies. In short, we want to help you become smarter and find the most relevant technology to accelerate your organization's goals.
