city of fort worth peoplesoft payroll assessment

City of Fort WorthPeopleSoft Payroll Assessment

March 8, 2011

Agenda

• Background

• Scope and Deliverables

• Approach

• Areas of Review

• High Priority Issues

• Other Issues Captured

• Questions

2

Background

CFW implemented PeopleSoft 9.0 HCM Suite including:

• Core Human Resources, Benefits, Benefits Administration

• Absence Management, Time and Labor, Payroll

Go live October, 2010

• Five payroll parallel tests executed

Self Service

• Deployed for 800 City employees for Time & Labor and Absence Management

Pay Check Issues Escalation• Pay check errors reported by the Police Department initiated the request for an

independent review of the payroll process and PeopleSoft system

• Initial assumption was that the PeopleSoft system was the root cause of the problems

3

Scope and Deliverables

Scope• Perform a functional and technical assessment of the current state of the PeopleSoft payroll

business processes, system configuration and technical environment

• Provide a summary review and assessment of the payroll environment including all key aspects related to gaining a consistent successful production payroll system and process

• Review appropriate HR, Benefits, Payroll, Absence Management, Time and Labor business processes limited to ascertaining root causes to the identified payroll issues

Deliverable• Findings and recommendations report that will:

o Identify any problems or issues discovered

o Provide a remediation plan listing measurable, relevant and actionable steps to make the necessary corrections

4

Approach

5

Conducted or participated in interviews• Interviewed 49 people across 13 City of Fort Worth departments

Reviewed documentation and configuration• Received and reviewed 65 separate documents

Analyzed Findings• 6 high priority related to project scope

• 7 issues additional issues related to project scope

Documented Findings and Recommendations• Documented 19 recommendations

Areas of Review

PeopleSoft Application• Human Resources and Benefits – no reported system issues

• Time & Labor – 1 issue reported to Oracle confirmed as a system bug (Daybreaker)

• Absence Management – 1 issue reported to Oracle, but not confirmed as bug (leaves)

• Payroll – no reported system issues

System Configuration• Information Technology team continues to refine the system configuration as part of the

stabilization process

Internal Business Processes• HR Processes

• Time Entry

• Leave Management

• Payroll

6

City Wide Assessment Overview

• CFW Accomplishments Through the Stabilization Period

– Information Technology Solutions (ITS) made significant improvements to the performance of the system to reduce the time payroll processes run

– Continuous review and alignment of configuration to ensure payroll results are correct

– Rapid identification and development of a workaround for the recent Daybreaker issue

– Continuous reduction of number of issues reported due to data entry error

– Large departments processing time with low error rates (Transportation and Parks)

7

City Wide Assessment Overview

• Challenges Still Remain

– Police Department had the highest error rates and issues logged• 1675 inquiries received to‐date

• Of the checks produced for correction, 52% were issued to members of the Police Department

• Police backlog of inquiries is not being reduced

– Departments across the City provided feedback on opportunities for improvement

8

Implementation Planning

• City has requested implementation plans– Implementation planning is not included as part of this assessment

– Recommendations and suggested times to start will need to be reviewed by the City for feasibility in terms of staffing, time and funding

9

High Priority Issues

10

Issue Areas Impacted

Police Department Data Entry & Backlog Police Department Only

Paycheck Clarity / Communication Police and Fire Departments

HR Process Improvements City Wide

HR Business Process Documentation City Wide

Leave Balances City Wide

Entering and Approving Absences All Departments Using Self Service

The following represents the 6 high priority issues documented by MIPRO• Identifies if issue is City‐wide or department specific

• Subsequent slides will discuss the issue, recommendations, benefits, suggested timeline and measurements

Centralized Payroll Processing Team (CPPT) Data Entry and Backlog

ISSUE OVERVIEW Police Issue Only

Paper‐based manual time entry process• Prior to adding 5 contract timekeepers– 10 resources entered time for 2,000

employees per pay period in Police

• Police time reporting is more complex

High level of submitted issues creates work related to research and correction

• Corrections backlog has not decreased and is over 2 months in arrears even with the CPPT staff working 6+ days/week

11

CPPT Data Entry and Backlog

12

Recommendation Benefit Timeline to Start

Measurement

Additional 5 time entry specialists are recommended.

Adds resources to:

•Address backlog.•Run and analyze exception reports.•Perform quality audits.

Immediately Backlog reduction.

Data entry error rate reduction.

Collect metrics on individual errors.

Identifies training reinforcement needs.

Immediately upon adding staff to reduce resource constraint

Data entry error reduction.

Accelerate the implementation of Employee Self Service to enter time.

Increases the accuracy of time entry.

Real‐time data entry.

Eliminates errors due to illegible timesheets.

Begin within 30 days with absence project

Decrease in paycheck error rates.

Decrease in backlog of correction requests.

Clarity on Paycheck Amounts

ISSUE OVERVIEW Police and Fire Issue

Communication to the employee regarding prior pay adjustments• The step to proactively communicate prior period adjustments will affect the employee’s

next check is not being executed

• Second page added to paycheck shows prior period adjustments, but after‐the‐fact

Abrupt policy enforcement of overtime, FLSA and Workers Compensation calculations without adequate communications

• Creates a high level of “false positives” that result in research and adds to backlog

• Causes frustration and perception that PeopleSoft is broken

13

Clarity on Paycheck Amounts

14


Measurement

Proactively communicate prior pay adjustments.

Employees can anticipate and plan for what their pay amount will be for the pay period.

Immediately Number of corrections that have been processed and communicated.

Communicate City’s compensation policies.

Eliminates the perception that the payroll system is incorrect.

Immediately Reduction in the number of corrections requested for non‐issues.

HR Paper-Based Processes

ISSUE OVERVIEW City wide issue

Paper‐based process inefficiencies causing inaccurate employee data, some of which can impact pay

• Number of handoffs causing late submittal of employee data to PeopleSoft (e.g., a worker’s compensation change ‐ 5 handoffs)

• Inter‐departmental transfers are input into PeopleSoft ~48 hours from the time the Personal Action Request (PAR) is submitted

15

HR Paper-Based Processes

16


Measurement

Establish a team to identify areas of inefficiency.

Employees will receive the correct pay amounts in the appropriate pay cycle.

Immediately Reduction of paycheck errors due to late entry of employee‐ level data.

Deploy the automated Personal Action Request form.

Timely and efficient processing.

Reduced risk of lost or damaged paper forms.

Immediately in conjunction with documenting business processes

Reduction of time to process PAR requests.

Reduction of paycheck errors due to late entry of employee‐level data.

All Other HR Paper-Based Processes


Optimization of business processes is hindered because of the lack of business process documentation as it relates to the new PeopleSoft system

• Process and policy documentation exists, but needs to be updated to reflect the usage of the PeopleSoft system

• Creates a barrier to effective development of training or desktops aids

17

All Other HR Paper-Based Processes

18


Measurement

Establish a team to bridge the gap between existing processes and PeopleSoft.

Provides an opportunity to streamline processes.

Supports the development of training materials and desk aids.

60 – 120 days Establish current metrics on employee data processing.

Measure against that baseline to indicate processing of employee data is faster.

Implement automated workflow or Employee Self Service.

Timely and efficient processing.

Reduced risk of lost or damaged paper forms.

60 – 120 days in conjunction with documenting business processes.

Establish current metrics on employee data processing.

Measure against that baseline to indicate processing of employee data is faster.

Leave Balance Reduction


Leave balances are periodically reduced• After leave requests are submitted, the absence calculation is run and randomly reduces

leave balance which can cause a reduction in pay if the employee has taken leave during that pay period

• Information Technology is reviewing the issue and has made some progress towards resolution with configuration changes, but the still issue exists

• This is one issue with incorrect leave balances – other issues are being investigated or addressed by Information Technology Solutions• Leave balances print incorrectly on checks (correction in process)

• Leave balances that were incorrect at go‐live are identified and being corrected

19

Leave Balance Reduction

20


Measurement

Create a systematic approach to identify employees whose leave balances are incorrect.

Proactively identify the employees with leave balance issues.

Immediately Reduction in incorrect paychecks due to leave accrual issue.

Reduction in off‐cycle paychecks.

Entering and Approving Absences

ISSUE OVERVIEW Employees using self service issue

Entering and approving absences is cumbersome • The number of steps and clicks is cumbersome and time consuming to enter or approve

absence time causing frustration for the end user

• Use of the PeopleSoft Absence Management Module for absences and Time & Labor for time entry forces the user to go to two different modules for time management

• Employee dissatisfaction with the absence management experience is causing a delay in deploying Self Service to the rest of the City

21

Entering and Approving Absences

22


Measurement

Establish a team to review the absence management requirements and determine what alternatives, if any, would be beneficial to CFW, including a review of the Leave Accrual functionality.

Using the leave accrual means the employee would input time & absences into Time & Labor as opposed to entering time in one module and absences in a separate module.

Immediately Establish current metrics on time to enter and approve absence requests.

Measure against that baseline to indicate processing of absence requests is faster.

Create a project, in conjunction with the Time and Labor Self Service rollout, to enhance the user experience and efficiency.

Reduces user frustration with the system.

Decreases the time spent entering and approving absence requests.

Immediately after the team finishes the evaluation of the Leave Accrual module

Establish current metrics on time to enter and approve absence requests.

Measure against that baseline to indicate processing of absence requests is faster.

Summary of Recommendations for High Priority Items

23

Recommendation Software Error

New Functionality

Software Configuration

Training/ Document

Business Process

Add additional staff for data entry X

Reinstitute collection and analysis of individual metrics on recurring data entry errors to reinforce training needs

X X

Deploy PeopleSoft Self Service for time entry X X

Utilize feedback mechanism to inform Police of prior period adjustments before receipt of their paycheck

X

Clearly communicate City policy on pay calculations X X

Prioritize, review, document and optimize the HR business processes that can have an affect on payroll

X X

Deploy automated Personal Action Request X X

Review and update documentation for other HR business processes to align with usage of PeopleSoft

X X

Automate HR business processes through PeopleSoft workflow and/or Employee Self Service

X X

Create a systematic approach to identify employees with incorrect leave balances

Create a team to determine best approach to self service leave entry and approval

X X X

Other Issues Captured

24

Issue Software Error

New Software/

Functionality

Software Configuration

Training/Document

Business Process

Level of access to payroll and employee data hinders time entry staff’s ability to process time adjustments

X

Absence Management module is not designed to allocate absence time to more than one accounting code – affects reporting on time and leave to grants

X

Manual workaround to meet K9 officers unique pay opens up a risk of for keying errors

X

Additional training was requested across departments to enhance end‐user knowledge of the system so that they could better perform their duties

X

Help Desk records PeopleSoft issues incorrectly or routes issues to incorrect resources. Employees have no visibility or have limited feedback on status of issues

X X

Due to delays in providing paperwork, new retirees may experience a delay in receiving their first retirement payment from the outsource provider.

X

Payroll controls documentation needs to be created/completed

X

City of Fort WorthPeopleSoft Payroll Assessment

March 8, 2011

city of fort worth peoplesoft payroll assessment

Documents