HRMS Electronic Documents at Indiana University

EDUCAUSE Midwest Conference Track 3Friday – 9:45 -10:30am

Dan McDevittHRMS Project Manager

Indiana University

Copyright Dan McDavitt, 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright appears on the

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Indiana University Electronic Documents

• Indiana University overview• Objectives of HR Electronic Documents• Demonstration• Issues encountered • Integration with PeopleSoft • Wrap up – questions/answers

Indiana University

• 8 Campuses• Annual budget $2.2 billion• 40,000 active employees• 47,000+ 2003 W-2s issued • 58,000+ active job records• 99,000 students

Indiana University – Environment Complex environment with:• Eight geographically dispersed campuses• Each campus has independent campus HR, Academic,

Payroll offices• Academic HR, Staff HR and Payroll oversight

administered separately• Hundreds of departmental units process HR

transactions• Approval/review process includes multiple steps that

vary by personnel group, department, campus, etc. • Many employees with multiple (concurrent jobs)

Indiana University – HRMS Project • HRMS Project -Live since December, 2002

– PeopleSoft version 8.0 SP1 - Components • Base HR• Payroll Process• Benefits Administration • Customized accounting/funding model – (not using PS financials)

– HRMS Data Warehouse – Time Keeping – HRMS Electronic Documents

• Student project currently in Phase V of VII

Objectives of IU Electronic Documents

• Replace paper forms with electronic documents, including workflow

• Provide 1200+ departmental users with friendly interface to conduct Human Resource business activities

• Provide alternative to distributing robust “native” PeopleSoft pages to departmental users

• Documents must stay in “pending” state until final approval

IU Electronic Document Design Principles

• Documents intended to facilitate initiation close to the source

• Present only necessary data attributes required to complete selected document type

• Indicate fields that must be updated• Enforce policy & accuracy by providing filter

valid values based on pre-selected attributes

Types of Electronic Documents22 Document Types

Grouped by four categories

Additional Pay • Create Additional Pay• Maintain Additional Pay

Employee Activities - 16• Hire• Maintain Job Data• Transfer • Maintain Funding• Administrative Posts

Person • Add New Person • Maintain Person

Position Management

•Create Position

•Maintain Position

Electronic Document Architecture/Dependent Components

• HRMS (PeopleSoft)– Extract data upon document initiation – Documents made official or “saved to PS” upon

final approval

• IUs OneStart Portal • IUs “EDEN” Workflow • HRMS Electronic Documents

– Considered “pending” transaction until final approval

OneStart Portal Key Features• Standard Portal Features

– Central Authentication– Role-Based Access– Personalization– Information and Application Service

Delivery

• OneStart’s Distinguishing Features– Persistent Navigation– Built-in Enterprise Workflow Engine

Workflow: Automated Routing of E-docs

True workflow…routing E-docs from initiation to completion resulting in a business transaction– A single place for all IU action requests– Assignable routing paths with status tracking– Automates IU’s business rules– Digital signatures on transactions– “Stop the paper/email insanity”

IU HR Electronic Document Workflow/User Roles

• Document Initiators – 1200 + • Three level of approvals

1. Required approval – 300+• Based on specific roles assigned to each department

2. Optional approval/reviews• Rules based Document Type, Employee Type• Individuals or Workgroups

3. Campus office level “final” approval – 40+

• FYI notices

Electronic Document Features

• Individual document bridges multiple PeopleSoft Components, i.e.;– Job data & Administrative Post – Job data & Additional Pay– Position & Job Data (update incumbent)

• Workflow path for each document is logged and available for inquiry

• Ability for users to add and view notes at each routing stop

• Changes are logged as document is routed

Demonstration • Initiation• Approval Process

– Action List

• Final Approval – “Save to PS”– One document updating multiple PS

components

• Document Search

Overcoming Electronic Document Issues

• Subject & Document locking– ensures data integrity by limiting updates on same

person/job/position by two documents

• Open validation – validates “pending” document data against matching

PeopleSoft data each time document is open

• Security– Careful to eliminate sensitive data attributes – Rely on workflow

• Adding new people – decentralizing Search Match?

PeopleSoft Integration Plan/Issues

• Plan– Collect data using custom written application in Java– Data collected may cross multiple PeopleSoft

Components– Data saved to PeopleSoft using Component Interface

(CI) API for Java

• Issues – Discovered CI’s work well with simple components– Encountered issues when using CI’s with

complex components requiring a change to customized approach

Plan Revision Pros & Cons

• Positives of custom approach– We are in control, not dependent on PS Fixes – PeopleSoft business logic executed– User can see PS errors and correct easily– It works

• Negatives of custom approach– Customizations to maintain– Multiple steps for end user– User can change data during the save

Electronic Document Statistics

• Avg. 11,000 docs per month– Highest number of transactions:

• Hire • Terminate • Maintain Pay Rate• Maintain Funding • Create Additional Pay

• 3.5 days = Avg. timeline from initiation to final • 3 stops = Avg. number of routing stops

Operational Issues• Training/Support - power users versus

infrequent users

• Disapprovals/Corrections

• Pairing up supporting documents– Transmittal sheet

• Workflow troubleshooting

• Managing expectations

Requested (future) Enhancements

• Updating multiple employee records via one document/transaction

• Improving usability – primarily related to approvals

• Ad Hoc Routing• Electronic Document Reporting

Summary • Elimination of duplicate efforts – one point

of entry• Improved data integrity• Optimal turnaround time – automated

routing path• User access to transactions at any point

in time – electronic file cabinet• Transaction prioritization – ability to

organize work list

Questions?