Dresser Serves the Right Solution to Food Management Investors

They Rely On Sage HRMS Provided By Dresser & Associates

Dresser & Associates' knowledge, level of support, and willingness to help couldn't be better. They truly go above and beyond."

Food Management Investors, Inc.

Restaurant Holding Group Benefits From Integrated Solution

Food Management Investors, Inc. (FMI) provides the back-office support for 28 restaurants across four states, including Applebee's, Up The Creek, and Space Aliens. With more than 2,000 employees, FMI demands a full-service human resource management system (HRMS), and a business partner that delivers of its promises. FMI relies on Sage HRMS and the talented consultants of Dresser & Associates.

A La Carte System Overwhelmed

Two years ago, FMI had no formal human resource software, instead it relied on spreadsheets and paper files to track the details of its employees' job history, beneficiary, accrual, and benefit information. "We were manually tracking paid-time off for our 2,000 employees," recalls Becky Nelson, HR Supervisor for FMI. "It was an overwhelming amount of work."

Payroll was run through the company's accounting software, Sage MAS 200 ERP. Through rapid growth, the company had reached the limit of the number of bank accounts it could track in Sage MAS 200.

Select The Best Solution

FMI began the search for an integrated HRMS, one that would incorporate payroll, human resources, and attendance tracking into a single solution. "We looked at several systems, including one from Microsoft Dynamics GP, but we ultimately decided on Sage HRMS," Nelson says. "It provided the most functionality, and there is a link to transfer payroll data from Sage HRMS into Sage MAS 200."

Obtain The Best Service

FMI hired a local consultant to implement the Sage HRMS Payroll module, but as Nelson explains, things didn't go well. "The consultant didn't perform well. They took too long and weren't responsive to our needs. When you're dealing with payroll operations, you need a business partner that's responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive."

Unsatisfied, FMI began looking for a new business partner. "We asked several companies for referrals, and kept hearing the name of Dresser & Associates," Nelson recalls. "We contacted them and were immediately impressed with their knowledge of the software and of payroll and HR best practices. They had several suggestions of ways in which we could get more out of the payroll system. We hired them to complete the implementation."

Integrated Solution Saves Time

Dresser & Associates implemented the Sage HRMS HR module remotely, saving FMI the cost of travel and expenses. "Our consultant was patient and thorough. I was very impressed with her knowledge and her teaching ability," Nelson notes.

With Sage HRMS HR set up, the employee information residing in the Sage HRMS Payroll module flows into the HR module. This eliminates the need to re-enter employee information and keeps data in the modules synchronized.

The Sage HRMS HR module tracks details such as review dates, merit pay increases, promotions, and leave dates, providing a single integrated database of each employee's job history with FMI. "We used to have to pull paper files to put together this information," says Nelson. "Now it's instantly available on screen or in a report. This saves us a tremendous amount of time that we can put to more strategic use within the department."

Automate Timesheet Collection

Employees at each of the 28 restaurants enter their time locally, in the restaurant's point of sale system, and an electronic file of that data is uploaded to the company's main server in advance of pay day. Nelson and her team import that data directly into Sage HRMS, using a tailored import utility Dresser & Associates developed. Similarly, an electronic file containing new hire information is imported into Sage HRMS, creating new employee records automatically. "This used to be an entirely manual process," Nelson recalls. "Now it happens automatically, saving us several hours each pay period."

Streamline Reporting And Compliance

Nelson is able to provide the management team at FMI with detailed statistics about labor expenses. "Using the report writer in Sage HRMS, I can access the information we need to generate our corporate Profit and Loss Report," she says. Information required to produce compliance reports, such as the EEO-1 Report, is generated automatically by the software. "Before we manually went through the employee lists for each restaurant to accumulate this information," Nelson recalls.

A Partnership With A Difference

Nelson has nothing but praise for the support team at Dresser & Associates. "We get a phone call every month from our consultant," she says. "They check in to see if we have questions or concerns about the software. It's a nice touch."

Nelson adds that the negative experience with the other consulting firm makes the company appreciate Dresser & Associates that much more. "There's a 180-degree difference. Dresser & Associates' knowledge, level of support, and willingness to help couldn't be better. They truly go above and beyond."

Read more customer testimonials, or contact Dresser & Associates to discuss how we can help meet your business' HR needs.