A critical delay during payroll parallel testing

One of the most significant challenges arose during payroll parallel testing for Denmark.

The testing phase was delayed because members of the provider’s operations team had not been properly trained to use its payroll parallel testing tool. This created confusion around how the tool should operate and placed the testing timeline at risk.

Without the right technical knowledge, the delay could have affected the wider implementation schedule and reduced the time available to identify and resolve payroll discrepancies before go-live.

Global HRIS brought detailed knowledge of the provider, its processes and the testing tool itself. This allowed the team to quickly identify the knowledge gap, clarify how the tool should be used and help move the testing activity forward.

Identifying a missing pension scheme before go-live

The importance of thorough payroll testing became even clearer when parallel testing uncovered an entire pension scheme that had not been included in the original requirements.

If this omission had not been identified before go-live, affected employees could have received incorrect pay or pension contributions. It could also have created additional work for the payroll team, financial corrections and a loss of employee confidence.

By identifying the gap during testing, the team was able to address the requirement before it became a live payroll issue.

This demonstrated why payroll parallel testing should never be treated as a final administrative check. It is one of the most important controls in a payroll implementation, giving organisations the opportunity to find missing requirements, incorrect calculations and data issues before employees are affected.

Our solution: Specialist support built around the provider and the payroll

Global HRIS supported the programme with a flexible, hands-on approach that combined payroll knowledge, data expertise and implementation experience.

Our detailed knowledge of the global payroll provider helped us understand how its processes and tools were intended to work. This enabled us to challenge incorrect assumptions, resolve operational gaps and communicate effectively with the provider’s technical and delivery teams.

The project required employee and payroll data to be prepared and transformed for the new solution. We supported this process to ensure the information could be loaded accurately and used effectively during implementation and testing.

We supported the parallel testing process to compare the new payroll results against expected outcomes, investigate discrepancies and identify missing requirements.

This included uncovering the pension scheme that had not been captured during the initial requirements-gathering process.

Adaptive project support

Multi-country payroll implementations rarely proceed without unexpected issues. Our approach allowed us to respond quickly to challenges while maintaining focus on the implementation timeline, payroll accuracy and successful go-live.

— Thales

The results

All eight countries within scope went live on time, within budget and to the required quality standards.

The programme delivered:

• Successful payroll implementation across eight countries
• Completion of country go-lives according to the agreed schedule
• Identification of a missing pension requirement before it affected live payroll
• Resolution of delays within the parallel testing process
• More accurate and dependable payroll outcomes
• Reduced risk of incorrect employee pay and pension contributions

The project also demonstrated the value of having an independent payroll specialist who understands both the client’s requirements and the provider’s systems.

The lesson: Strong payroll projects begin before requirements gathering

One of the most important lessons from the Thales project was the value of preparation.

Organisations often enter formal requirements-gathering workshops expecting stakeholders to immediately identify every payroll rule, process and exception. In reality, without preparation, important requirements can easily be missed.

Pre-workshops give payroll, HR, finance and local country teams time to examine their existing processes before meeting with the system integrator or payroll provider. They help uncover pension arrangements, local calculations, exceptions, interfaces and reporting needs that may otherwise appear much later during testing.

When requirements are incomplete, the consequences can include:

• Project delays
• Additional costs
• Change requests
• Repeated configuration and testing
• Disagreement over whether an issue belongs to the project or business-as-usual operations
• Increased risk to payroll accuracy

The more preparation completed before formal requirements gathering, the stronger the foundation for implementation and testing.

Protecting payroll during global transformation

Global payroll consolidation can create greater consistency, visibility and control. However, achieving those benefits requires more than selecting a provider and moving data into a new system.

Organisations need accurate requirements, effective data transformation, properly trained delivery teams and rigorous payroll testing.

For Thales, specialist provider knowledge and hands-on payroll expertise helped turn a complex eight-country programme into an on-time and successful implementation—while identifying issues before they could affect employees.

If you are planning a multi-country payroll implementation or need independent support with requirements, data migration or payroll testing, speak to Global HRIS.