Network Computing | ||
Issue
41 - September 2004
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With
the recent implementation of the new Banner Payroll and Personal
Data Enquiry System, we have reached a major milestone in
enhancing the user experience in accessing payroll and personal
information as well as improving the inter-departmental workflow
efficiency, such as the Human Resources Office (HRO) and Finance
Office (FO), among others.
The HR Banner System is a purchased package developed by SunGard-SCT, which is targeted at all major universities and colleges in US as well as internationally. As such, it is an integrated, features-rich system providing unmatched functionalities which are not available in most other standalone systems. Specifically, some of the major benefits that we are able to realize are:
The project was kicked off back in August 2003 with the first visit of the consultant from SCT. The first phase of the project is to replace the old Full Time Payroll System, plus several other major productivity enhancements. The target is to develop and set up the system for a three-month parallel run starting April 2004 such that it can be cut-over to production in July 2004, coinciding with the new financial year. In order to rollout a system of this magnitude in such an aggressive timeframe, significant amount of effort has been dedicated to its successful implementation by the HRO, FO and Enterprise Solutions Unit (ESU), under the guidance of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Since Banner is a purchased system, it imposes certain limitations on how we can adopt the system for our use. We have encountered quite a number of challenges during the course of implementation, most of which have been overcome by great teamwork and close collaboration among the three offices. Below are some of the issues / challenges that we have faced and addressed:
In order to address some of the areas which are not well-covered by the Banner System, we have also developed some additional modules supplementing Banner's functionalities. They are:
We have also streamlined the workflow between the offices, which was originally based on the old systems and paper flow, using the functionalities of the new system as well as our in-house customisation and development. During the later stage of the implementation, we have spent a lot of effort in the synchronization and cleaning up of the HRO and FO data. Adding to its complexity, we have also included the newly setup "Community College of City University" into our scope, which was unforeseen at the beginning of the project. Fortunately, our good teamwork pays off and we are able to rollout the system on time. Now that the first phase is behind us, we are now concentrating on the hourly rate payroll and research modules. With the experience gained in the first phase of the project, we are confident that the implementation of the remaining project, although equally challenging, will be smooth and on time. |
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