TALX Corp. Receives $1.75 Million Contract Extension to Expand Web Capabilities For The Department of Veterans Affairs HR LINK$ System
To launch the Web expansion, TALX will assist the VA in the roll out of Employee Central self-service applications from TALX to all 250,000 VA employees and the roll out of Manager's Desktop to 40,000 managers — both activities will begin in the coming months. These solutions were successfully pilot-tested in December 1999.
Finally, the contract extension includes an upgrade to the Web solution to interface with the VA's new PeopleSoft 7.51 HR application and create a portal for accessing other best-of-class third-party applications from the desktop. These additions boost the TALX solution as the launch point for authorizing employees and managers to perform online transactions in a seamless integrated solution.
"As we continue to implement the Web solution, we are excited to implement the VA's vision to create a single source for employees and managers to perform HR, benefit and payroll self-service transactions online," said Rick Schrader, director of federal sales for TALX. "And, although the Web is a powerful access option, the VA will continue to maintain the interactive voice response (IVR) component of the HR LINK$ System to deliver a full turnkey solution that meets all employee and manager needs, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day."
Expanding the Web Solution
TALX's Web solution for the VA consists of nearly 60 different self-service applications that fall into close to a dozen categories. An appropriate level of security is included in the Web enhancements. VA employees are now able to conduct dozens of personal self-service transactions from their desktops, including name/address change, federal, state and local tax change, direct deposit set up, savings allotment designations, health insurance/life insurance sign up and changes, combined Federal Campaign enrollment, and U.S. Savings Bonds purchases.
The Manager's Desktop is an intuitive application providing VA managers with a full-range of self-service capabilities, including new hire processing, performance reviews, compensation and job change requests, review and approval of time sheets and employee termination processing.
Activating the Manager's Desktop system requires high-level security clearances that identify the individual's management status. Approval routings are also an integral part of each workflow process, so that no transactions are interfaced to the host unless they have passed all edits and have all required approvals.
For example, with Manager's Desktop, a supervisor can use any popular Web browser software to authorize a pay change for an employee. The automated process includes routing the change for required approvals and, once the change is approved, updating the payroll system with the employee's new rate of pay.
And all of the employee and manager self-service transactions interface with the VA's PeopleSoft database, eliminating the need for re-keying information because online transactions are automatically recorded in the database.
About TALX Corporation
TALX Corporation is a leading provider of interactive employee services for HR, Benefits and Payroll. TALX services and products utilize a variety of technologies including Web, interactive voice response, speech recognition, fax and e-mail. TALX offers the following solutions: The Work Number, the nation's leading employment and salary verification service, with nearly 35 million employee records from over 500 organizations, automates the verification process. Employee Central is a set of self-service applications that empower employees to complete transactions independently. Employee Central solutions can be outsourced to TALX or implemented at the client's site. All TALX employee services integrate with popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) providers, such as PeopleSoft and SAP. TALX clients include over 150 of the Fortune 500 companies and large government agencies. Based in TALX CorporationMO, TALX is a publicly held company and can be found on the NASDAQ: TALX. For more information about TALX Corp. call 1-800-888-8277 or access the company's Web site at www.talx.com.
TALX's federal sector division is located at 3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 700, Bethesda, MD 20814. The office can be reached by calling 301-664-8464. For more information about TALX, visit the company's Web site at www.talx.com or e-mail TALX at moreinfo@talx.com.
Statements in this press release expressing the expectations of management may be forward-looking and involve uncertainties. TALX risk factors are detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.