Objectives

The primary objectives of this tender are to:

• Ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll processing and statutory reporting within South Africa.
• Implement a robust leave management system aligned with BCEA, institutional policies, and audit requirements.
• Enable employee and manager self-service (ESS/MSS) functionalities for payslips, tax certificates, leave requests/approvals, and personal data updates.
• Strengthen internal controls, audit trails, and data protection in line with POPIA.

Scope

The successful bidder will deliver an end-to-end payroll and leave management solution, including:

• Licensing/subscription for 500 employees, scalable to 650.
• Implementation, configuration, parameterisation, and testing of payroll and leave modules.
• Data migration covering master data, leave balances, payroll history, organisational structure, and cost centres.
• Integration with time & attendance systems (if applicable), identity management, finance/ERP, and email systems.
• Provision of Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Manager Self-Service (MSS).
• Role-based security, audit, and workflow approval processes.
• Compliance with statutory requirements (SARS, UIF, SDL, BCEA, POPIA) and standard reporting.
• Training for end users, payroll officers, HR administrators, and approvers.
• Go-live support, hypercare, and post-implementation optimisation.
• Establishment of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for ongoing system maintenance and support over three years.

Technical Requirements

The solution must meet the following technical specifications:

• Deployment options: Cloud (SaaS) and/or On-Premises, with hardware/VM specifications provided. Cloud deployment should preferably have data residency in South Africa.
• Application uptime: Minimum 99.5% during business hours (07:30–17:00 SAST).
• Security: Role-based access control, MFA support, encryption at rest and in transit, secure audit logs, optional IP allow-listing.
• Backups & Disaster Recovery: Daily backups with at least 35-day retention, RPO of 24 hours, RTO of 8 hours, annual DR testing.
• Compliance: POPIA, BCEA, SARS regulations, with evidence of recent penetration testing (last 12–18 months).
• Browser & Mobile Support: Compatibility with latest Chrome/Edge browsers; responsive mobile or native app support for ESS.

Skills and Implementation Approach

The vendor must demonstrate:

• Experience in deploying payroll and leave management systems, supported by at least three reference letters.
• Implementation expertise for systems supporting at least 300 employees, with relevant deployment evidence.
• Structured project approach including governance (project manager, solution architect, functional/payroll consultants, technical lead, change manager).
• Methodology: phased or big-bang, with detailed project plan including milestones (kick-off, design, build, SIT, UAT, training, cutover, go-live, hypercare).
• Estimated timeline: 8–12 weeks for core payroll and leave modules for 500 employees, with vendor proposing specifics.
• Comprehensive documentation: BRD/Design, test scripts, training materials, SOPs, cutover plan, acceptance reports.

Training & Support Skills

The provider must offer:

• Role-based training for payroll, HR, approvers, and staff (ESS).
• Training materials including user guides, quick reference cards, and videos.
• At least 2 train-the-trainer sessions and 3 end-user cohorts, with attendance registers.
• Post-go-live refresher training within 60 days.
• Support services during business hours (07:30–17:00 SAST), with options for extended hours during payroll cut-off.
• Channels: Phone, email, ticketing portal.
• Response and resolution targets based on priority levels (e.g., response within 1 hour for critical issues).
• Quarterly SLA performance reports, service credits for chronic failures, and regular updates (statutory, tax, features).

Additional Skills & Governance

The vendor must ensure:

• Compliance with data privacy, security, and audit requirements, including full audit trails and change logs.
• Adherence to procurement regulations and anti-collusion practices.
• Provision of detailed project management, including phased implementation, data migration, parallel and live runs.
• Ability to integrate with existing systems (time & attendance, finance/ERP, identity management).
• Capability to support statutory reporting formats and statutory compliance.