New HR system will meet user needs

This is the first story in an ongoing series about the people behind HRS.

For anyone concerned about the transition to a new state-of-the-art human resources system, Cheryl Sullivan is here to say that everything will be all right.

It may take those using the system a bit of time to massage the kinks, but in the end, people will be happy with the system and how it works, says Sullivan, who is leading the work process analysis team for the new Human Resources System, known as HRS.

With HRS expected to launch between April and June 2011, Sullivan and others working on the project will travel to campuses across the state in the coming months to train people on how to process payroll and benefits using the new system.

Once it’s in place, HRS will handle a more than $2 billion annual payroll for UW System employees and improve how data about employees are entered, as well as how employees sign up for benefits, account for their time and leave, and view work records.

It’s a tall order. For example, the various campuses use about 2,700 different types of forms for collecting data to process payroll and benefits, Sullivan says. She and others from the HRS team have narrowed the number of key forms down to about 120.

Sullivan’s 24-year career at UW–Madison, which started with her working in food service at UW Hospital and scooping Babcock Hall ice cream, puts her in a good position to understand all sides of the existing payroll and benefits processes and how the new system will change how human resource services are provided at UW–Madison and other campuses.

Before joining the HRS team, Sullivan spent nearly 20 years at UW–Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health as human resources manager and payroll and benefits supervisor and specialist. Before that, she was a payroll and benefits specialist for UW–Madison’s College of Letters & Science and a payroll and benefits assistant in the UW–Madison processing center.

But the opportunity to be part of the HRS team, and ultimately help shape a fundamental change in how the university operates, is thrilling, Sullivan says. She has spent the last two years developing the human resources module, or the part of the HRS system that will be used for setting up people, positions and hiring employees.

“When you talk about doing payroll or benefits, all the people on the HRS team are doing something really cool, big and exciting,” she says. “It will replace the legacy system — which we definitely need to do — and it will give us some new tools to do the required business.”