Aqua America Inc. Strengthens Workforce Management Operations Through Long-Term Support with HRchitect

Client Background

Aqua America Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater, and natural gas providers in the United States. With nearly 3,000 employees across two dozen union groups, as well as hourly and salaried staff, the organization operates in an exceptionally complex labor environment. Managing compliance, pay rules, accruals, and frequent policy updates requires a flexible and deeply configurable workforce management solution.

To support their business needs, Aqua uses WorkForce Software and relies on HRchitect as its long-term system optimization and support partner.

The Challenge

Aqua’s internal team manages constant policy changes driven by union contract updates. Each update can require new pay codes, modified accruals, revised time-off structures, or even splitting and restructuring union employee groups.

Because WorkForce Software offers extensive customization, the company wanted assurance that its system remained fully aligned with evolving labor rules.

However:

• Maintaining consistency across dozens of union configurations was challenging.
• Policy Editor complexity and certification requirements limited the internal team’s ability to manage changes independently.
• Some internal changes required expert review or correction.
• Processing overtime still relied on significant manual effort.
• The team needed a reliable, transparent way to submit support requests and track progress.

These challenges prompted Aqua to seek HRchitect’s ongoing support and expertise.

Client Profile

• Aqua America Inc. is a United States-based water, wastewater, and natural gas provider
• Headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
• Approximately 3,000 employees
• Partnered with HRchitect, utilizing system optimization and support services for WorkForce Software

The Project

Aqua partnered with HRchitect more than three years ago. Since then, the relationship has expanded into a collaborative, high-touch support model. Thus far, the support engagements have included 11 separate Statements of Work (SOWs) covering enhancements, optimizations, training, and support work.

HRchitect regularly provides the Aqua team with the following:

• Dedicated WorkForce Software support and consulting.
• Monthly (formerly weekly) check-ins to review requests.
• Ad-hoc meeting availability as needed.
• Centralized Smartsheet submission process that provided full visibility to the entire team on outstanding requests.
• Policy configuration, troubleshooting, and optimization.
• Dedicated test environment built by HRchitect for safe validation of
  changes.
• Automated solutions to eliminate manual overtime calculations.
• Strategic guidance on prioritization and system governance.

HRchitect acts as both a subject-matter expert and a proactive partner, identifying issues, suggesting improvements, and helping Aqua use its contracted support hours wisely.

Key Benefits

• Reduced Manual Work: Automated overtime processing and pay policy configuration eliminated spreadsheet-based tasks and reduced processing time.
• Improved System Governance: A curated priority list and weekly insights helped streamline the request process.
• High Transparency & Responsiveness: Smartsheet request handling ensured no issues fell through the cracks—even if consultants were out of office.
• Empowered Internal Team: Training from HRchitect enabled staff to confidently make select system changes independently.
• Consistent, High-Touch Support: HRchitect’s White Glove Service provides direct consultant access, rapid turnarounds, and zero ticketing queues.

The Results

The long-term engagement has produced measurable, high-value outcomes. Aqua has seen notable gains in efficiency, especially around overtime management and union-related rule changes. HRchitect’s support model ensures every policy update is implemented accurately and consistently across all employee groups. User adoption continues to rise, strengthened by a relationship built on trust, transparency, and proactive communication. The client expressed high satisfaction with HRchitect’s work, including a 5-star review on Raven Intelligence:

“HRchitect was very responsive, very professional, and listened to and understood our objectives.”

– Project Lead, Aqua America Inc.

Aqua’s ongoing partnership with HRchitect demonstrates the power of strategic, high-touch support for complex WorkForce Software environments. With proactive communication, consistent transparency, and expert system guidance, HRchitect has helped the organization evolve, automate, and take greater ownership of its workforce management system, all while ensuring every union group remains compliant and properly configured.