A large investment bank sought to determine whether any tax assessment systems offered by the large accounting firms could be easily integrated within the firm’s existing compensation guidelines.  Additionally, they needed to know if these existing products would offer the flexibility and functionality to allow a broad swath of HR employees to utilize the product without purchasing additional seats or licenses.

 

After reviewing and testing each accounting system, the final decision was made to build, rather than buy, an in-house product.  Using the steps in the SDLC (system development life cycle) for new product development, we conducted JAD sessions with the sponsors, developers and end users to refine the goals for the end product.

 

Using process flow diagrams and ERD’s, we created a blueprint for the proposed system and laid out the workflow processes to allow individual results or batch processing for entire employee database.

 

The next stage, implementation, involved developing the system in an interative process where development and presentation/testing took place concurrently so product would adequately achieve objectives goals while remaining within budget and on time for the project’s critical path.

 

The iterative development process that resulted from the overlap of the Implementation and Testing phases ensured a well developed solution that was acceptable to all parties (sponsors, end-users & developers) at the Bank.  

 

Tools and Resources utilized:  

IRS Publication 15 (Circular E) Employer’s Tax Guide

Tax Tables from New York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana

AIRINC - Cost of Living Services, Home & Host country information

Microsoft Visio, Office, VBA

Peoplesoft ERP Compensation module (now Oracle eCompensation)

Sybase SQL