Continuing our analysis of integration with payroll providers, in this insight we look in detail at how different workplace pension providers integrate with the Intuit payroll system.
Once a payroll department has found an automated payroll management solution that works for them, it can be an invaluable part of their arsenal. Therefore, flexible integration between a workplace pension provider and payroll provider, accurately calculating and paying employer contributions, can make a big difference to the daily working life of payroll professionals.
As part of the Quickbooks family of accountancy and HR software solutions, Intuit is very popular with smaller businesses and their accountant/bookkeepers. It enables them to take care of payroll alongside business finances in a seamless experience and also includes additional HR features including timesheets, rotas and holiday requests.
On its website Intuit proudly boasts it can help with “pain-free pensions” by automatically submitting information to a pension provider. However, our data shows that only six workplace pension providers currently offer an active integration with Intuit.
Those six providers are Aegon Master Trust, Aegon Workplace ARC, Aviva Designer, Royal London, Standard Life and Standard Life DC Master Trust.
Aegon Master Trust, Aegon Workplace ARC and Royal London offer the broadest range of automated processes. Clients of these providers who use Intuit are able to automate receiving autoenrollment assessment of employees lists, receiving postponement notifications, receiving employer setup notifications, retrieving employer setup details, receiving autoenrollment lists of assessed employees/enrolling workers notifications, receiving member contributions / autoenrollment payroll update notifications, receiving setup details/joiners notifications, receiving payment approval notifications, receiving payment schedules/contribution notifications, receiving opt-out notifications, receiving stopped contribution notification and retrieving refunds notifications.
All three providers offer this on a CSV file basis. For Aegon Master Trust and Aegon Workplace ARC the file is generated by the payroll provider in an agreed file format and sent manually. For Royal London the file is manually mapped and uploaded by either the employer or the payroll provider.
Standard Life and Standard Life DC Master Trust also offer a fairly broad range of automated processes. Clients of these providers who use Intuit are able to automate receiving autoenrollment assessment of employees lists, receiving postponement notifications, receiving autoenrollment lists of assessed employees/enrolling workers notifications, receiving member contributions / autoenrollment payroll update notifications, receiving setup details/joiners notifications, receiving payment approval notifications, receiving payment schedules/contribution notifications, receiving opt-out notifications, receiving stopped contribution notification and retrieving refunds notifications. This is done on a CSV file basis with the file generated by the payroll provider in an agreed file format and sent manually.
Although Aviva Designer have said that they do integrate with Intuit, they have not shared any of the detail.
It is worth noting that all integrations with Intuit/Quickbooks are done on a CSV file basis. Unlike some integrations with fellow payroll systems including Sage and Xero, some of which are done on an API basis.
Generally, API integrations are the preferred method for most HR and payroll professionals as they offer a real-time and secure data connection from one software system to another. This limits the amount of rekeying of data and therefore the potential for human error or delays occurring, as well as limiting the amount of work that needs to be done by the employer.
