Certified Payroll Analytics for Construction
Background
I4 Strategies is a consulting and advisory group that provides customizable services in the areas of Compliance and Integrity Monitoring, Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, Security Master Planning, Data Analytics, and Business Intelligence. Their aim is to collaboratively develop a scalable infrastructure to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse to ensure security and safety for their clients.
Business Need
I4 Strategies engaged DataBrains to build a Time Integrity Program (TIP) to allow clients to upload their payroll data through a web interface, transform and store this data in a managed database, and provide analytics dashboards and reporting. Specifically, the TIP must be able to aid in the payroll certification process for regulatory purposes and supply alerts when data is missing or invalid.
The Solution
DataBrains worked closely with i4 Strategies to understand the certified payroll process and requirements to build a method for taking raw payroll data, combining it with actual swipe data, and visualizing it in a suite of embedded dashboards to make it easy to confirm payroll.
Web Application for Uploading Payroll
DataBrains built a modern web application that collects master data information from users to include construction project and company information from Developers, Prime Contractors, and Subcontractors. It included a suite of integrations to retrieve the physical access control data (swipes) from construction security and access providers. A data mapping tool within the web application allows subcontractors to map their existing payroll data format to the format needed for TIP. The web application allows subcontractors to upload their payroll files to be linked to swipe information in reports and Tableau dashboards. Additionally, an enhanced data collection module within the web application collects specific data points needed for certified payroll submission and automates the generation of forms required by government labor agencies as PDF files. These forms are then routed directly through DocuSign to collect necessary electronic signatures to approve certified payroll.
Payroll Analytics Dashboards
DataBrains created a suite of payroll analytics dashboards. The dashboards allowed clients to compare submitted payroll against actual swipes (time in and out). They made it easy to find bad actors – those employees not swiping in and out properly. Overtime analytics supplied insights into the distribution of hours by pay type (Regular, Overtime, Doubletime, Other). Insurance Analytics compared payroll dollars to owner-controlled insurance program (OCIP) estimated payments to show differences. Additionally, demographics analyses were supplied to show patterns in the data (swipes, payroll, and employee counts) based on a variety of key demographic attributes. Lastly, administrative reporting allowed i4 to find when payroll had not been uploaded into TIP or any missing data or irregularities that need to be addressed before certifying payroll.
Embedded Solution
Tableau Dashboards were embedded into the existing i4 site’s Vue framework, as users were already familiar with that site to view other reports. Trusted tickets enabled Single Sign-On (SSO) within Tableau Server, supplying access to key dashboards and reports. Users were able to view dashboards, further analyze data, and export the data and dashboards. The embedded dashboards were created to be device agnostic, allowing users to view the dashboards effectively regardless of what device (computer, tablet, phone) they were accessing from.
