Work-flow project positions UW for HRS success
When the UW System’s new human resources system is implemented this spring, a cross-campus collaborative effort will have prepared UW–Madison academic and administrative units to take full advantage of the new software.
Between April and June, the UW System will put in place the new system, known as HRS and powered by PeopleSoft, to replace the system’s current appointment and payroll systems.
But making the change to the new system will require some work, because the diverse appointment and payroll business processes currently in place don’t necessarily coincide with how things must be done in HRS.
Because these process changes will have a major effect on how UW–Madison will handle appointment activities across campus, the Work Flow Project is engaging units across campus to determine how their organizations will successfully implement the new system.
HRS implementation provides the campus the opportunity to adopt more standard business processes.
This consistency will improve overall business process efficiency by reducing data entry errors and subsequent corrections, allowing staff to provide campuswide training, offering a smoother transition for staff moving from one unit to another and minimizing the complexity of implementing future HRS system changes.
A core team of staff with extensive knowledge of payroll, human resources and financial activities involved with hiring and position maintenance has been working on the Work Flow Project since July.
The effort is being led by Mark Walters, director of classified human resources, and sponsored by Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration.
The team first learned about HRS and how it will work, then took that solid foundation to work developing a planning guide for distribution to UW–Madison deans and directors.
The planning guide includes:
- Process flow charts and corresponding organizational structure models for the future HRS state based on type of organizational structure
- Information on how work responsibilities will be changing due to activities either added or eliminated in HRS
- HRS user roles identified based on the organizational model structures.
The planning guide was finished and distributed in August, providing a framework for the second phase of the project, which is still under way.
In the second phase, campus organizational units are using the planning guide to determine what business process model (centralized or decentralized) they will use; identify each employee needing to use HRS and related systems; and identify the roles employees will perform.
All campus units will provide this information to HRS leaders by Nov. 15. The information will be used to assign the appropriate security roles in the HRS system and develop training plans for users of HRS at UW–Madison.