On-line human resources system goes live

By Kathleen Phillips Satz, Human Resources

05 June 2002 | The campus will add a new system to its growing array of online business applications in July, when the Human Resources Management System is launched. The web application will include employee data on faculty, staff and student employees, replacing the current paper-based process for transmitting personnel transactions.

The system will work in tandem with the universitywide legacy payroll system, which produces paychecks and tracks time and leave accruals. Personnel transactions such as hiring, promotions, reclassifications and separations will be entered directly into the Human Resources Management System and will pass overnight to the payroll system.

In the past, these transactions were recorded on paper forms that traveled around departments and central offices — sometimes for days or weeks — before the data was entered into the payroll system.

System features
With the new system, departmental personnel staff and managers will have access to comprehensive online employee data for the first time and will be able to produce summary reports through the campus reporting system, BAIRS II. System security will ensure that only authorized administrators have access to the data.

The system will assign employee numbers immediately when administrators enter hiring information — thus eliminating a major roadblock to new employees getting e-mail accounts, enrolling in benefits and taking advantage of training opportunities.

The July rollout will include most transactions “from hire to retire.” Additional features to be added over the next year include online recruitment and job applications, case tracking and additional options for faculty. A self-service feature will allow employees to update personal information such as their home addresses and tax deductions.

Rollout schedule
Payroll, academic personnel, human resources, the budget office and the work-study office, along with ten “early adopter” departments, will begin using the system after the June 30 payroll has been completed. Remaining departments will be added to the system through the late summer and the fall.

Campus departments have spent several weeks cleaning up inaccurate data in the payroll system and determining which administrators should have access to the new system. Staff from the early-adopter units have joined the project team for final user-acceptance testing and to begin learning about the system in preparation for the July launch. Staff from departments that go live after July will attend training beginning in August.

For information about the development process, campus users who have participated in the project, tips to help departments prepare for the new system, and user training, see the project website at hrweb.berkeley.edu/hrms/hrmsmain.htm. Instructions for subscribing to an information e-mail list are posted on the site.