UKG (Ultimate/Kronos) — USA And Global, Legacy-to-Modern Workforce Management

UKG (born from the Ultimate Software + Kronos merger) is a global HCM and workforce management provider. Organizations commonly run UKG for timekeeping/scheduling alongside ADP payroll and Oracle Fusion HCM/ERP. UKG’s portfolio (e.g., UKG Pro and UKG Pro Workforce Management, formerly Dimensions) emphasizes global scheduling, time and attendance, and compliance—making it a frequent upstream data source for payroll and HR master data flows.

For U.S. programs, the integration pressure centers on taxability, garnishments, and union/CBAs; globally, it expands to country-specific calendars, allowances, costing, and localization. The more heterogeneous your legacy plus modern footprint, the more your ETL engine must normalize. UKG highlights global workforce needs and compliance as core value propositions—precisely the domains where clean ETL reduces cycle time and risk.

Syntra’s extract layer taps authoritative sources for person, job, and time data, while honoring delta logic (effective dating and “since last run”). On the payroll side, Oracle’s supported patterns include real-time pushes for hire/maintain and batch HCM Extracts for bulk payroll artifacts—your ETL should align to these modes to avoid rework. For ADP, Oracle provides guided setup for Workforce Now and Global Payroll interfaces; Syntra aligns its extraction cadence to those patterns (e.g., new-hire real-time vs. pay-period batch).

The biggest time savings come from prebuilt transformations for high-complexity, high-volume objects where UKG/ADP semantics differ from Oracle Fusion’s canonical model. Below are the archetypes where Syntra’s mappings and rules engines reduce manual cleanup and payroll exceptions:

• Balances and YTD: Loading opening balances for go-live cutovers and reconciling quarter-to-date/year-to-date to prevent tax and benefit discrepancies.
• Costing and GL: Mapping departments, cost centers, project segments, and local ledger nuances into Oracle’s accounting flexfields; preparing ADP GL interface files for downstream posting to Oracle Fusion Cloud.
• Earnings and Deductions: Translating UKG pay codes to Oracle elements and ADP earnings codes; ensuring taxability flags, pretax/post-tax deductions, and union rates align; bundling retro adjustments cleanly for the next payroll cycle
• Time and Labor: Converting UKG time pairs/punches and schedule exceptions to Oracle time cards or payroll time elements; applying rounding, grace, meal-break, and shift-differential rules consistently in U.S. and non-U.S. contexts.
• Person and Employment: Effective-dated merges of person, assignment, work location, and legal entity; mapping legacy IDs to Oracle person numbers; resolving “rehire vs. transfer” logic.

These transformations are where “templates” beat hand-crafted logic. In U.S. deployments, pretax benefits and garnishments drive most corrections; globally, allowances, expatriate packages, and statutory files dominate. Syntra’s approach is to capture those patterns as reusable rules so each entity inherits quality by default rather than by spreadsheet.

On the load side, Syntra targets Oracle Fusion loaders (e.g., HDL) and HCM Extract-driven handoffs to ADP. Oracle’s Payroll Connect and outbound interfaces prescribe file structures and delivery options (including JSON for some ADP endpoints); aligning to those specifications prevents brittle custom code and eases support handoff. For ADP Workforce Now and ADP Global Payroll, Oracle’s playbooks outline the prerequisite objects—elements, balances, fast formulas, and object groups—that must pre-exist for a successful load. Syntra sequences those dependencies during environment promotion.

Most programs don’t start greenfield. You’ll inherit Kronos/Ultimate configurations, local payroll idiosyncrasies, and half-documented pay codes. UKG’s evolution (Ultimate + Kronos) and renames (e.g., UKG Pro Workforce Management, formerly Dimensions) complicate reference data. A disciplined ETL treats those as migration inputs: catalog pay codes, time rules, and earning/deduction equivalences; then map them to Oracle elements and ADP codes once—so you don’t repeat the exercise every sprint. UKG’s own materials emphasize global, industry-specific workforce needs; Syntra makes the operational bridge to Oracle/ADP by codifying those mappings

Illustrative ranges from typical enterprise programs; your mileage will vary with entity count and change velocity.

An ETL without observability becomes a ticket machine. Align Syntra’s controls to Oracle/ADP checkpoints: new-hire real-time event status, batch extract run results, and GL load validations. Oracle’s connect and interface frameworks expose status pages and delivery logs; Syntra should surface these as dashboards with drill-through to failing rows. In U.S. contexts, add audit views around tax location, SUI, and reciprocity; globally, around statutory calendars and allowance eligibility.

An ETL without observability becomes a ticket machine. Align Syntra’s controls to Oracle/ADP checkpoints: new-hire real-time event status, batch extract run results, and GL load validations. Oracle’s connect and interface frameworks expose status pages and delivery logs; Syntra should surface these as dashboards with drill-through to failing rows. In U.S. contexts, add audit views around tax location, SUI, and reciprocity; globally, around statutory calendars and allowance eligibility.

• USA: Prioritize deductions/taxability correctness, garnishments, multi-state mobility, and union differentials. Align pay groups and calendars early so time buckets reconcile. Oracle’s Workforce Now interface guidance lists the prerequisite HR/Payroll objects and sequencing.
• Global: Expect country-specific allowances, work-rule calendars, and statutory reporting formats. Oracle’s ADP Global Payroll connect architecture supports real-time hires plus batch maintenance via HCM Extracts; Syntra can route updates accordingly and stamp timezone/locale to keep effective dates sane.

• Wire Syntra to produce Oracle-ready HDL and ADP-ready payloads that match Oracle’s published interface formats, then automate environment promotion.
• Stand up a golden mapping of person, job, pay code, deduction, and cost segments across “pilot” entities (e.g., U.S. HQ + one EMEA country).
• Use delta smoke tests (new-hire, transfer, unpaid leave, retro time) as your regression pack; track defects to a single mapping catalog rather than per-integration code branch.

In summary, integrating UKG with ADP and Oracle Fusion through a purpose-built ETL solution like Syntra gives organizations a practical path to modernize without losing the value of legacy configurations. By automating the extraction of HR, payroll, and time data, transforming high-complexity objects like pay codes, time punches, and costing structures, and loading them into clean Oracle-ready and ADP-compliant formats, Syntra reduces manual effort, speeds up payroll cycles, and minimizes risk. For USA and global operations alike, this approach supports both legacy and modern UKG environments, creating a unified workforce management data flow that scales efficiently across regions, entities, and evolving compliance requirements.