Case Study: Atlas Engineered Products

Atlas Engineered Products (AEP) is a truss and wall systems manufacturer with acquired subsidiaries across several provinces in Canada.

Since going public in 2017, AEP has acquired 10 companies, upgrading their operations for improved cost efficiencies and an extended product mix.

While growth has been strong, managing their workforce across so many locations created significant challenges.

Before Criterion, AEP ran HR and payroll in separate systems that required a lot of double entry and manual updates — with constant risk of error. They needed a unified platform to connect HR and payroll and support their multi-entity structure.

To understand how Criterion improved their organization, we spoke with two members of AEP’s finance team:

• Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper
• Zhenya Kirova, Controller (CPA)

“As a bookkeeper, I've seen programs that are integrated before — and having it integrated just makes sense.” - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

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Challenges

Like many growing companies, AEP had a simple problem with a massive ripple effect: disconnected systems.

AEP was running payroll in Sage while manually transferring HR data to a separate web platform. But sometimes, the data didn’t match up, creating a lot of confusion for employees.

“There was a disconnect between what the employees would see on their pay stub compared to what they were seeing when they logged in to book vacations and such.” - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

Payroll processing was even more tedious. When the time clock didn’t work properly, bookkeepers had to manually calculate hours, overtime, and sicktime — then key everything into Sage by hand.

AEP’s multiple subsidiaries and locations made payroll and HR incredibly complex. Each acquisition brought new time-off plans and unique employment standards for every province.

At the same time, finance teams struggled to keep records straight, chasing down information from HR and bookkeepers across Canada to complete standard audits.

AEP needed a system to connect HR and payroll to streamline work and reduce errors.

Solution

AEP began the search for a solution in early 2022. Their IT manager vetted several HCM vendors, but Criterion quickly stood out for two reasons:

1. The ability to configure the system to AEP’s complex structure
2. The seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics

In January 2023, AEP went live with Criterion fully tailored to their unique processes.

“We wanted to … have the HR combined with the payroll. I've been working in payroll for 35 years, and having that key component, that key connection is really important.” - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

Today, AEP uses Criterion’s Payroll, HR, and Talent modules to connect employee data directly to payroll, with plans to expand into recruiting and onboarding features later on.

Employee access is tailored to their multi-entity structure to balance privacy with control. A handful of leaders hold admin roles, while HR managers oversee their own regions and bookkeepers view only the entities they support.

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Results

Since using Criterion, AEP’s day-to-day work has become faster, simpler, and more connected.

Streamlined Multi-Location Management

AEP manages nine entities (and counting) across Canada. Criterion allows AEP to manage permissions by user to maintain controlled data visibility across teams.

• Bookkeepers only view the companies they support, while senior leadership payroll stays private and confidential.

• HR managers log in directly to the HR module, where they can set up new positions, view the organizational chart, and onboard new employees.
• Finance staff can focus on payroll data, while HR teams concentrate on people management.

“The data's all there. I log in, and primarily go to the payroll module — but I can still call up all the employees. I can still see their documents. I can see their benefit plans, their payroll history, everything like that!” - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

This has also made it easier to cover employee absences. In the past, vacations had to be planned around payroll cycles. Now, with centralized access, one bookkeeper can step in to keep payroll on schedule when another is out of the office.

Microsoft Dynamics Integration

Integrating Criterion with Microsoft Dynamics has given AEP greater control over payroll and finance.

With one click, each payroll run generates a journal entry that flows directly into Business Central as an open item. Bookkeepers can review and post immediately, saving time and improving accuracy without double entry.

AEP also uses this integration to map employee costs by department. Criterion automatically categorizes employees (sales, executives, finance, etc.) into the correct labor groups and directs wages to the right accounts in Dynamics. This provides deeper visibility that enables leadership to calculate margins and variance with more precision.

“We do analysis related to cost to revenue, which helps to actually determine which [product] line is profitable — because we allocate these costs to the particular line and we can determine the margins.” - Zhenya Kirova, Controller/CPA, AEP

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Smarter Payroll & Compliance

Most of AEP’s teams now track time directly in Criterion. Because that data feeds straight into payroll within the same system, managers can more easily review and confirm hours before payroll is finalized.

Criterion has also made it easier to manage the unique complexities of payroll across divisions and provinces:

• Pay rates for Ontario-based drivers are configured to only trigger overtime after 44 hours in a week (according to local rules).
• In British Columbia, the system recognizes when an employee crosses the 12-hour threshold and automatically applies double time.

Leadership payroll used to require excessive manual checks, but now takes only 30 minutes to complete.

“It's super quick. I'm able to go in and run payroll in about half an hour.”  - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

Data Access and Reporting

Unlike many HCM platforms, Criterion runs on a unified database. All records connect to the same core, so updates between modules happen instantly.

With Criterion, AEP’s finance team can reach the data they need in seconds. Audits that once meant chasing down files from HR and bookkeepers across Canada are now handled with a single login.

“From an accounting perspective, now it's way easier for me … I have access to all the companies. Before, I needed to request all that information from different people — from HR, from bookkeepers, from all over Canada. Now I don't even need to ask them. … I can log in and get the information I need.” - Zhenya Kirova, Controller/CPA, AEP

Candace notes the reporting tools are “overall quite good” and easy to customize. Teams can build flexible reports from almost any field in the system (including custom fields) and adjust them to match business needs. Some of the team’s go-to reports include:

• Payroll Summary by Employee
• Paycheck by Employee
• Income Tax Remittance Report

User Friendliness and Support

Beyond the core features, AEP has found Criterion easy to use day-to-day. Many customizations can be quickly handled in-house.

“I'm able to resolve a lot of issues for other bookkeepers before we actually go to help. So that's been quite encouraging for me as a user. [When things need fixed], we're able to move on really quickly without even involving support.”  - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

When extra support is needed, Criterion’s team is always available to configure new features or make adjustments.

“The support's been great from my end … we always know they’re there.”  - Candace Koelewyn, Senior Bookkeeper, AEP

The combination of self-service control and responsive support has given AEP exactly what they need to grow and adapt with confidence.

Experience Proficient Payroll and HR With Criterion

For AEP, Criterion’s unified, configurable HCM made payroll and HR faster and more reliable at scale.

With a connected system, they eliminated the problems caused by siloed data and gave leaders the visibility they needed to make smarter decisions across a growing network.

If you manage HR, payroll, or finance in a manufacturing context, Criterion is well-suited to improve your workflows and scale confidently.

Want to see Criterion’s unified HR platform and Dynamics integration in action? Book a demo to see how it could work for your teams.