ADP SmartCompliance® vs. OSV
See why Workday clients prefer ADP SmartCompliance over OSV.
- 75+ years of enterprise compliance expertise
- Modern API-based integrations
- Comprehensive compliance capabilities from hire to exit
- Proactive regulatory insight with deep agency relationships
- Integrations with most payroll and HCM systems beyond Workday
ADP SmartCompliance vs. OSV capabilities comparison
See how ADP SmartCompliance and OSV compare across key compliance capabilities and where ADP goes further.
| Capabilities |  ADP |
OSV1 |
|---|---|---|
| Over 75 years of enterprise payroll and compliance leadership |  Offered |
 not offered |
| Regulatory expertise across payroll and HR, not just Workday | Offered |
not offered |
| Capabilities | ADP |
OSV1 |
|---|---|---|
| No outside staff working inside your Workday system | Offered
|
not offered |
| AI purpose-built for compliance risk, not just workflow automation | Offered
|
not offered |
| Compatible with payroll and HCM systems beyond Workday | Offered
|
not offered |
| Capabilities | ADP |
OSV1 |
|---|---|---|
| I-9 & E-Verify | Offered |
not offered |
| New hire reporting | Offered |
not offered |
| Capabilities | ADP |
OSV1 |
|---|---|---|
| Business tax credits (WOTC, R&D, federal/state/local) | Offered |
not offered
|
| Automated employment and income verification | Offered |
not offered
|
| Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance for federal and state requirements (Eligibility, IRS Forms 1095-C, state employer reporting) | Offered |
not offered |
| Flexible wage payment solutions (direct deposit, checks, paycards) | Offered |
not offered
|
| Wage garnishments (set-up, processing, medical support orders, automated deductions and disbursements) | Offered |
not offered
|
| Wage garnishment agency portal with 24/7 access to order status, payments and documentation | Offered |
not offered |
| Vendor-provided paycard, with financial wellness offerings and native infrastructure | Offered |
not offered
|
| Dedicated support model — not a general support/ticketing queue | Offered |
not offered |
| Capabilities | ADP |
OSV1 |
|---|---|---|
| Offboarding and outplacement support for employee separations | Offered |
not offered
|
| Unemployment claims management and appeals support | Offered |
not offered
|
What sets ADP apart from OSV
Expertise
Compliance is our focus
ADP is widely recognized for the massive scale through which it addresses compliance and payroll for organizations of nearly every type and size. That experience is built into ADP SmartCompliance to help you catch issues sooner. You can:
- Draw on 75+ years of enterprise compliance leadership
- Stay ahead with proactive federal, state and local regulatory insight
- Rely on deep relationships and secure connections to federal, state and local agencies
Integrations
Complete compliance without the intrusions
Get enterprise compliance capability without giving anyone access to your systems. ADP SmartCompliance does the work through secure data exchange, so control stays with your team.
- Protect your data with advanced APIs, not a third-party inside your systems
- Keep full control of the Workday environment your team owns
- Get a system purpose-built for compliance, without having to rely on a patchwork of providers
Lifecycle Coverage
Compliance for every stage of employment
Your compliance obligations follow every employee from their first day to their last day. ADP SmartCompliance spans the employee lifecycle, leaving you with fewer gaps to cover yourself.
- Handle onboarding obligations, including I-9, E-Verify and new hire reporting
- Manage the everyday, like ACA, employment verification, garnishments and payments
- Support exits with offboarding, outplacement and unemployment claims
Flexibility
We work with your tech today and what you might use tomorrow
The systems you run today may not be the systems you'll use forever. ADP SmartCompliance works across not only Workday, but other payroll and HCM systems you might also have, or use in the future. You can change or add systems — without losing coverage.
- Connect ADP SmartCompliance to the systems you use beyond Workday
- Sustain your compliance approach as your HR or payroll systems change
- Avoid getting locked into a Workday-centric provider
Service
A team that understands your priorities
You want support from people familiar with your business so you don't have to keep explaining. With ADP SmartCompliance, you'll have consistency and continuity — not an unfamiliar voice who is just answering support tickets.
- Work with a designated service contact who knows your business
- Experience consistent support through a dedicated support model
- Get service grounded in your specific compliance obligations
ADP SmartCompliance reviews
What Others Say
ADP SmartCompliance is used by the Payroll Department to distribute and report our Tax filings, Tax payments, Wage Payments (both FSDD and Checks) and to distribute our garnishment payments. We are a small payroll department and process payroll in house using Workday, but prefer to outsource the tax filings, wage payments and garnishments. We previously used another partner for these tasks and were very dissatisfied with their services.
Janet Dye Payroll Manager, Bioventus
What Others Say
SmartCompliance gives me all the information I need to handle the payroll taxes. The integrations with Workday work without incident and I can balance the files by easily accessing reports. The email communications let me know that everything is fine or that attention is needed. If something needs to be corrected, in just a few clicks I can have it completed. Huge timesaver!
Ruth Arnone Payroll Manager, Citi Trends, Inc
What Others Say
SmartCompliance is well suited for my needs with upkeeping and tracking tax credits with how easy it is to navigate the system. It lets me know of any tasks that I need to complete, which is usually obtaining a document. Once I have the document, it's easily uploaded in SmartCompliance without having to send secured emails. I am able to retrieve multiple reports that I provide to my supervisors.
Johnny Mirador HR Processes and Practices Manager, Big 5 Sporting Goods
What Others Say
The use of the ADP® Health Compliance module is invaluable for managing the employee data. The task of analyzing the hours and ensuring we are compliant can be daunting. ADP eliminates any ambiguity and provides the results of the analysis in a clear and concise manner.
Thasha Sams Director of Benefits, Belmont Village
What Others Say
We have been using ADP SmartCompliance for multiple years and the processes are starting to change for the better as ADP has continually updated SmartCompliance. We are now able to resolve exceptions for accounts that need to be registered through SmartCompliance and use the Registration Services via SmartCompliance. Quarter Amendments are also easier to handle now as we can see the QTD and YTD info by employee through the QTI tool. Or we can send a quarter file from our system for a previous quarter that ADP can process as an amendment.
Joshua Brooks Payroll Tax Accounting Manager, PPG Industries, Inc.
What Others Say
We pay over 23,000 employees across the US and submit payroll tax returns to over 1,500 taxing authorities. The ADP SmartCompliance platform is the reason we can accomplish this with a small staff.
Mary Kuchle , Roche Diagnostics Operations
What Others Say
I have used ADP SmartCompliance for several years and have watched it grow and expand. It is constantly changing and upgrading. There is so much you can accomplish on just this one site. With using Workday for payroll, we need the ease of using ADP SmartCompliance integration. Once set up, it is smooth sailing to provide our tax data to ADP.
Ginger Javor Payroll Supervisor, Armstrong Group of Companies
What Others Say
We just started using ADP Smart Compliance when we moved to Workday from ADP's full service. We use it for wage payments, garnishments and taxes. I was very nervous that somehow our taxes would not get paid using this service. I am very happy with this system and how easy it is to use and having my own tax specialist to reach out to really helped in the transaction.
Amy Reich , National Securities
What Others Say
ADP helps us keep our data accurate and simplifies the process. We do not have to wait until year-end to validate errors.
Naleenee Dharry Senior Benefits Specialist, FactSet
What Others Say
ADP SmartCompliance has been instrumental in our move to Workday payroll software. The daily periodic files with details are easy to reconcile and the reports are thorough and accurate.
Jade Lougee Payroll Tax Analyst, US Foods
What Others Say
I feel that SmartCompliance is a wonderful means to maintain the control of tax notices and the status on them. This offers a much better organization of these notices rather than searching through emails. I also appreciate the ease of setting up the Wisely cards and the ordering of new ones as needed.
Janett Stout , Intercambio Express Inc
What Others Say
In my opinion, the benefits of [ACA] data management are accuracy and dependability. Databases must be continually audited for correctness and missing data, etc. Once assured of correctness, we can depend on and use the data to make sound business decisions.
Jennifer Crosby Benefits Manager, Destination XL Group, Inc.
ADP SmartCompliance awards
Reviews by real users on TrustRadius and G2 have earned ADP SmartCompliance top ratings and “best of” awards.
2025
2025
ADP SmartCompliance
2024
ADP SmartCompliance
2024
ADP SmartCompliance®
2023
FAQs about ADP SmartCompliance vs. OSV
Why do organizations using Workday choose ADP over OSV?
Organizations using Workday turn to ADP because of (a) ADP’s approach to complementing Workday’s compliance capabilities through ADP SmartCompliance versus an in-tenant model, (b) the breadth of capabilities supporting statutory and regulatory compliance provided by ADP SmartCompliance, and (c) ADP’s longstanding reputation for trusted business outcomes.
Approach. ADP approaches compliance as a strategic discipline adjacent to Human Capital Management, providing ADP SmartCompliance technology and designated specialists to collaborate within workflows across the employee lifecycle in Workday. ADP SmartCompliance is a purpose-built compliance system — unlike OSV, which is third-party individuals completing regulatory tasks via direct access to your Workday system.
Breadth. ADP SmartCompliance capabilities span the entire worker lifecycle — from the day of hire through employment, and even separation. ADP SmartCompliance even identifies opportunities to offset tax liabilities. OSV simply can’t offer the same breadth, with limited ACA compliance, wage payments and wage garnishments capabilities in comparison to those offered through ADP SmartCompliance — and no I-9, tax credits, new hire reporting, employment verification, offboarding, outplacement or unemployment claims capabilities.
Reputation. Organizations of every type and size know they can rely on ADP’s 75+ years of enterprise payroll and compliance leadership, award-winning information security architecture and 24/7 global protection.
How is ADP's approach different from OSV's model?
ADP's strategy is to bring enterprise compliance capabilities into Workday while leveraging the scale, regulatory expertise, agency connectivity and processing infrastructure of ADP SmartCompliance: Advanced, AI-powered technology along with designated compliance experts working on your behalf.
OSV's strategy is to perform compliance work inside Workday. With OSV, you’ll face OSV staff working directly within your Workday tenant. You may be left uncertain over what’s been done and the reasons why. You’ll have only a limited scope of compliance capabilities — forcing you into inefficient manual steps or a complex web of multiple vendors.
We are an employer which uses Workday. Why isn't OSV a better fit for Workday?
OSV's dedicated focus on Workday doesn't necessarily make it an ideal choice for your organization.
OSV's "in tenant" approach might not align with your organization's security best practices and data-protection standards.
OSV's limited scope (in contrast to the breadth of compliance capabilities offered by ADP SmartCompliance) might not fill the entirety of your current or future needs./p>
OSV’s Workday-centricity limits their insight and experience. ADP by comparison offers knowledge, insight and best practices built the varied experiences of serving thousands of clients on numerous HCM, HR, workforce management and payroll platforms.
Why will we have better visibility and more insight with ADP SmartCompliance?
With ADP SmartCompliance, you'll have confidence from knowing exactly what's being done on your behalf — through transparent yet secure Workday integration designed to collect the essential data, without putting other sensitive Workday information at risk.
ADP's Workday-certified integrations bring your organization peace-of-mind through defined and controlled integration points. You will know precisely what data is being accessed, when and by whom, and then have an audit-trail through ADP SmartCompliance showing how the data is used in tasks supporting regulatory compliance operations.
OSV provides visibility to activities completed in-tenant only upon request, sometimes taking as long as two weeks to generate and potentially requiring additional manual auditing work to reconcile actions taken versus live production data.
What happens if we move away from Workday? Or if we add other non-Workday solutions?
OSV's Workday-centric technology — designed and built to work exclusively with Workday — might not work well with non-Workday solutions, which your organization could encounter via mergers/acquisitions or future migration to a different HCM.
Your organization may have to build interfaces unsupported by OSV (or pay OSV to build them) — or handle compliance tasks through manual workarounds or entirely separate technology. Leaving Workday could leave you with a payroll-compliance operating gap — with little support or capability for required tax deposits, filings, amendments, garnishments, reconciliations and recordkeeping requirements.
What capabilities does ADP SmartCompliance provide that OSV does not?
ADP SmartCompliance capabilities span the entire worker lifecycle — from the day of hire through employment, and even separation. Unlike OSV, ADP offers capabilities for I-9, tax credits, new hire reporting, employment verification, offboarding, outplacement and unemployment claims capabilities.
ADP SmartCompliance offers ACA and wage garnishments capabilities that far exceed those available in OSV — and unlike OSV, ADP offers its own native paycard (Wisely® by ADP.)
Why do organizations using Workday put their trust in ADP and ADP SmartCompliance?
Workday clients of nearly every type and size rely on ADP and ADP SmartCompliance because of ADP's unmatched reputation over 75+ years providing various solutions to 1.1M clients worldwide — and our longstanding relationship with Workday.
For nearly 15 years, Workday has joined forces with ADP SmartCompliance — collaboratively connecting workflows through Workday-badged integrations, serving more than 2,200 mutual clients across practically every industry segment.
Employers rely on ADP’s deep compliance expertise — with dedicated compliance professionals who monitor legislation and regulatory changes across federal, state and local agencies.
How does ADP SmartCompliance connect with Workday?
ADP SmartCompliance provides compliance expertise without requiring operational access to your Workday tenant.
ADP SmartCompliance connects via secure, Workday-certified API's — the standard architecture used by leading enterprise platforms because they provide strong data governance, security, traceability and scalability.
Unlike direct access to your Workday tenant, API's provide control over security roles, permissions, and sensitive employee data — along with enhanced auditability through defined and controlled integration points.
What are some potential risks and concerns with OSV's "in-tenant" model?
Workday is your system of record for employee identity, payroll, benefits, tax data, garnishments, unemployment and financial controls, so granting access to your Workday tenant could introduce operational, security, compliance and audit risks.
Although Workday's recommended security model is least privilege, external providers working on your behalf within your Workday tenant may require broad or elevated role permissions to initiate payroll or compliance workflows. Such elevated privileges could lead to accidental changes to core configuration or misconfigured business processes.
With OSV, will our organization need to use and maintain other integrations?
Your organization might need to use additional providers and other Workday integrations to address its full scope of compliance needs.
Since Workday lacks various compliance functionality, there's simply no way for OSV to complete them "in tenant." OSV doesn't offer services for I-9, tax credits, new hire reporting, employment verification, offboarding, outplacement and unemployment claims — so your organization may need to rely on other providers, any of which could require yet another integration (interface) to Workday.
Despite claims of working "in-tenant," OSV completes various tasks outside of Workday. Workday's marketplace shows 18 integrations to OSV for various compliance and other business functions.
- As of August 2026 and is subject to change.