Textron was founded in 1923 and is a multi-billion dollar corporation with approximately 49,000 employees. The corporation is comprised of 5 core business segments that include Aircraft, Fastening Systems, Industrial Components, Industrial Products, and Textron Financial. Textron includes many well-known companies of which you are probably familiar: Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, E-Z-Go, and Greenlee.

A few years ago, the Textron International Assignment team noticed that many of their processes were quite time-consuming and managing 135 employees with a limited number of administrators seemed nearly impossible! Their desire to manage the international assignees more effectively and efficiently drove them to seek out a tool that could do just that.

In considering the purchase of a new system, the Textron team was pleased with the functionality of HRToolbox including the easy, web-based access. Jennifer Trejo, the Global Human Resource Manager for Textron Global Services, explains the importance of this type of access. “The web-based capability was key for our use because it did not tie us to a system connected directly to our local network. We are out of the office often, and desired a web-based tool for the convenience and speed”.

Another determining factor in the selection of HRToolbox, as explained by Jennifer, is that regular updates of the tool are made based on client enhancement requests. “We are very pleased that unlike many of its competitors, HRToolbox can make changes to their product based upon their clients’ needs when their clients need them. We do not have to wait for a year or more for a new version of software to roll out. Since it is a web-based program, the client changes can be made real-time which is value-added to Textron”.

The Textron International Assignment team noticed many time and cost savings in using HRToolbox. Ormonde Cragun, formerly the Global Human Resource and HRToolbox Project Manager, was particularly pleased with the HRToolbox pricing model. “The subscription based pricing allowed the cost to fluctuate with demand. The cost was scalable”.

Areas in which Textron found time savings included the ability to easily review compensation information within the system, the consolidation of assignee information within that system, and the ability to make changes and view history for the balance sheets in a only a few minutes. Using the standard compensation templates in HRToolbox has helped the team identify which international assignees had exceptions to their compensation package and which division had unique practices. HRToolbox makes it easy to modify each assignee balance sheet without changing the company-defined compensation templates. Ormonde explained that it is beneficial to the Textron team to retrieve data from HRToolbox very quickly and that each team member is able to get the data in the format best suited to his or her needs.

Textron Global Services and HRToolbox have enjoyed a successful business relationship for almost two years. Jennifer Trejo explains, “prior to HRToolbox, our demographic, accounting, tax equalization, and compensation information were in separate databases. Now we have all of the elements in one database so it makes running reports for management easier and much more accurate”.

HRToolbox will continue to help Textron Global Services manage their International Assignee population in every way possible and will help their team in the utilization of the HRToolbox payroll functionality in the near future.

New HRToolbox Employee

On February 3, 2003, HRToolbox, Inc. welcomed Terron Wright as the Director of Infrastructure. Terron comes to HRToolbox with 10+ years of IT experience in data management and project/program management, systems integration and administration, and network administration. Terron will be focused on data integration and security features related to making it easier for HRToolbox technology to communicate and share data with our clients’ systems.

Before joining HRToolbox, Terron worked as an experienced manager for both Arthur Andersen and KPMG Consulting. He also worked as the VP of Technology for LeagueMVP and as a Data Architect Manager for Priceline.com.

Terron obtained his B.S. from Auburn University and his M.S. from Southern Polytechnic State University.

SHRM Global Forum Conference and Expo
March 31 - April 2, 2003

HRToolbox will attend the SHRM Global Forum’s 26th Annual Conference and Exposition from March 31 – April 2, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.

Come by and visit HRToolbox at Booth #119. We will have team members available to demo HRToolbox and answer any questions you may have.

Planned Updates

• Ability to create a specific criteria set to use with all reports with a particular report type
• Ability to create nested checklist items to create a roll-up structure
• Ability to automatically create reminders from checklist items and the Payment screen
• Ability to set up reminders for items such as assignment end date, work permit expiration date, and visa expiration date

Did You Know?

• Did you know that the next HRToolbox Quarterly Release is scheduled for mid-March?
• Did you know that you can set your report templates to an access level of “Private” so only you are able to view it? If you would like to make sure that no other administrator has the ability to edit your report template, you can set the access of that report template to private.
• Did you know that HRToolbox can set up any additional fields that your company needs?
• Did you know that HRToolbox can upload your company’s exchange rates?
• Did you know that two new fields have been added to the Assignment – General screen? The new fields are Assignment Status and Reason for Termination of Assignment.
• Did you know that you now have the ability to include Compensation Notes when creating a Compensation Report Type template?
• Did you know that you now have the ability to track participation in multiple bonus and stock option plans?
• Did you know that you can track an employee’s scheduled events such as home leave and vacation on the Employment – Schedules screen in HRToolbox?
• Did you know that HRToolbox can help your company track an employee’s total compensation?
• Did you know that HRToolbox also has a Global HRIS database?