PDS Provides an All-in-One HR, Payroll & Benefits Solution for
The IMA Financial Group, Inc.

The IMA Financial Group, Inc. is an innovative leader in the insurance brokerage business. Founded in 1974, it has become the 20th largest privately-held insurance brokerage in the U.S., with total revenues approaching $44.6 million, offices in five cities and approximately 400 employees.

Challenges
In 1999, TeddiAnne Krehbiel, HR Systems analyst for IMA, joined the company right after it had transitioned to a new human resource management system (HRMS) that was said to be “the end-all be-all solution,” but it never delivered on its promises.

Back to the drawing board, Krehbiel and her team conducted another review of HRMS options and narrowed it down to three potential solutions. “We liked the look and feel of the PDS system and the fact that it was an all-in-one solution that included HR, payroll and benefits,” said Krehbiel. “After completing the PDS training program in July 2000, we were up and running without a hitch January 1, 2001.”

PDS’ Vista HRMS
“PDS provides a one-stop solution that seamlessly integrates our various human resource-related components and allows our systems to talk to each other,” added Krehbiel, now an active participant in PDS’ User Group and on the PDS Steering Committee.

One example of the tight integration involves the individual licenses IMA’s employees hold. IMA has employees licensed in all 50 states. Prior to PDS, all of its information was scattered throughout the company. It had issues keeping all of its staff’s licenses current. With Vista, all of this critical information is in one place and the brokerage firm’s licensing department has access to Vista and can enter information into the system. And, because it is available through IMA’s intranet, any of its employees can search among its 400 dispersedly located professionals to determine who is licensed in certain states.

“Vista’s reporting capabilities are phenomenal,” said TeddiAnne Krehbiel, HR Systems Analyst for IMA. “We are able to easily create reports to meet government requirements as well as managers’ needs throughout the company."

The Vista system also centrally manages employee data (i.e. home addresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts, birthdays and many of IMA’s listings that are accessible on its intranet), enabling the data to be updated only once. Although the information is managed in Vista, it can be pushed to other applications. Before IMA implemented Vista, each IMA department stored this data in their own system, causing significant duplication of effort throughout the organization.

Vista’s Value
With the integration of the HR, payroll and benefits applications, IMA is able to enter data one time into Vista and have access to that data in multiple systems across the enterprise – truly streamlining its business processes.

“Vista’s reporting capabilities are phenomenal,” said Krehbiel. “We are able to easily create reports to meet government requirements as well as managers’ needs throughout the company. It is an invaluable tool and I know we don’t use all of its capabilities, but at least I know they are there when we do need them.”

“PDS really listens to its customers,” added Krehbiel. “They continue to take our feedback and refine their solution. And PDS’ customer service is second to none. Their front-line support goes above and beyond the call of duty.”