Summer Update

We have now been using the HR Direct 9.0 application for the last few months. There continue to be ongoing changes and updates to improve operations and reporting.

Basic Self Service
The number of people who have logged into HR Direct is a bit disappointing, but I also understand that there is no real reason people currently have to log-in. The functionality of self-service is still very basic with the most tangible feature being the viewing of paycheck advice messages. So far about 29% of campusemployees have accessed the system at least once. Students do not yet have access and we’ve had to delay when access will be provided until the fall. By delaying to the fall we will be able to have students login using their campus student email accounts rather than issuing them new user id’s which was our initial plan.

Time and Labor Self Service
We have been piloting time reporting and approving using the new HR Direct and the general feedback has been positive. There are some enhancements that we are requesting (not sure if they will get made), but nothing too significant. Therefore, we are beginning a full campus rollout of this functionality. As there is a lot of setup required for each person, this won’t be done all at once. Instead there will be a couple departments added each payperiod and hopefully by the end of the year we will have everyone using this instead of paper timesheets.

Go Green — Get Advice Online
We will be launching a campaign to allow employees to stop receiving a printed pay advice. These pay advices are all available online and hence we can reduce the paper and distribution costs. If you would like to have your printed pay advice stopped, please just send me an email with your employee ID, name, and request to stop advice.

Closing FY09
Clearly the reports and integration with finance at the end of the fiscal year was disappointing, but hopefully those issues are resolved as we begin FY2010. I can attest to the fact that the consultants and President’s Office staff worked extensively on these issues, but in the end were just not able to make things work exactly the way we wanted. Much thanks to the campusdeparmentsfor their adaptability to this payroll encumbrancechallenge. In particular,kudos to theBudget Office for assuming added responsibility to evaluate true budget balances and make overrides as appropriate.

New Administrative Systems Integration website
We now have a new campus web page for the Administrative Systems Integration office. (who? — read more). We will be soon seeking input from all users on their experience using HR Direct and other systems. You are strongly encouraged to voice your opinion and help shape the future direction of these administrative technology tools.