UB2020 Projects Update Newsletter
January 11 2007
- Recruitment Management System planned to go live on January 29th, 2007
- ePTF has replaced Renaissance for a pilot group
- SIRI working on an action plan to achieve approvals
Introduction
This series of UB2020 Transformation Project Update Newsletters is designed to keep the campus community informed, and to give you an opportunity to get involved in transforming how we work at UB. UB2020 IT Transformation Projects have bold objectives which aspire to address key academic support issues for specific areas identified by previous UB2020 Strategic Transformation Teams. A desired outcome for all of the projects is to obtain flexibilities, economies and efficiencies for the campus so that resources can shift to support projects that lead to University excellence. Every opportunity to conserve resources will help in our concerted University effort.
What follows is a project by project report from the IT Transformation Projects Leader meeting of HR projects with IT components held on January 10, 2007.
Recruitment Management System
Nancy Kielar, project co-leader and Assistant Vice President, CIO Administrative Operations, displayed UB’s new recruitment management system, which is expected to go live January 29th, 2007. Plans to link from UB’s main web page, UB Business and MyUB are in progress. The project is very close to completion, with only one last round of changes left to be done by the vendor, PeopleAdmin. PeopleAdmin is adding a set of qualifying questions that will pre-screen applicants. Training on the system is scheduled to begin during the week of January 16th, and an applicant tutorial is expected to be completed within a similar timeframe. HR will provide additional training sessions on as as needed basis.
Communication efforts to the recipient audiences are in progress. The project team plans to reach out with an informational brochure both to UB employees, and to local libraries and other Western New York entities that are resources for career services. Also, letters targeted to important audience groups, such as IT professionals and UB leadership will occur shortly before the system goes live. The team is planning to present the system to the Deans and Vice Presidents, and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee as soon as can be arranged.
Electronic Personnel Transaction Form (ePTF)
Scott Morris, Executive Director for Strategic Planning and team leader for the ePTF project reported that ePTF entered into a new phase of its pilot roll-out this week. This phase marks the first time that the new ePTF system will completely replace the previously used Renaissance System. The groups involved in the pilot are from the Business Services HR Division, a new entity created as a result of the HR Transformation. Currently human resource professionals from the Office of the CIO (including the University Libraries), and University Facilities are using the system; and the pilot will soon be expanded to include, the Office of the President, University Business Services, the Office of Sponsored Programs, Athletics, and External Affairs.
The implementation team is actively working to populate the system with data validation and business rules, which will allow for a larger audience to use the system, as well as to improve on workflow effectiveness. Some ‘early wins’ and outcomes include a virtually paperless processing of many personnel transactions, the ability to search for current appointments to avoid unnecessary duplicate appointments, and the intuitiveness of the system. Early Adopters have reported that the ePTF system is very user-friendly. Scott commended the ePTF Project Team for all of their efforts and stated "they are doing a remarkable job of working with the people using the system."
To support and assist users, the project team has developed an active communication campaign that includes a weekly ‘Tip of the Week’ email distribution, an online FAQ (future plans are for a searchable FAQ), and a proactive set of training visits to members of the pilot group. Using the new VOIP telephone installation, also implemented through the UB2020 IT Transformation planning, a virtual call center has been established. ePTF users who call 645-ePTF(3783) during the support hours (M-F 8:30 AM — 5:00 PM) will be greeted by a team member.
Strategic Information Reporting Initiative (SIRI)
The Strategic Information Reporting Initiative (SIRI) project team is developing an action plan to obtain necessary approvals for recommendations presented to the SIRI Steering Committee. Elias Eldayrie, Associate Vice President for Information Technology, is making every effort to get the SIRI project on the agendas of the upcoming Executive Technology Advisory Group (ETAG), and the Deans &Vice-Presidents meetings, in an effort to move closer to approval. Once endorsements happen, the project is ready to proceed.
In the meanwhile, background activities to prepare for acquisition of the recommended business integration software are underway according to Joe Kerr, team leader and Assistant Vice President of Technology Services. Joe discussed the hardware and Oracle upgrade to version 10G that is currently underway as an improvement to InfoSource. The InfoSource upgrade will improve services to our campus customers now, update hardware and software at the end of its life, and provide the needed foundation for SIRI.
The next Town Hall is scheduled for Friday March 2nd, 2007 at 8:30am in 120 Clemens on the north campus.
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UB2020 Transformation Project Communication Team
Last updated: January 2, 2007 2:27 pm EST