Online payroll system comes another step closer

Changes to paychecks will come quicker as clicks on a computer take over some of the tedious payroll and personnel paperwork.

Starting this month and continuing through September, about 400 payroll coordinators on campus will be trained to use the new online version of the pay distribution portion of the Personnel Action Form—the main document that keeps track of such items as start and end dates for paying a person and what percent of an employee’s time is charged to each budget.

By fall quarter, all payroll coordinators are expected to be using the new system to make any changes to the form, said Patti Kimpton of the University Services Renewal (USER) project, which is working to put more of the University’s business process and information online for easier and quicker access.

Testing of the new online process started in April. The departments of mechanical engineering, social work, psychology, pharmacology, anesthesiology as well as the Primate Center and the arts and sciences dean’s office have been using both the current and new method for changing payroll information and providing weekly feedback to USER.

“After having one Personnel Action Form take five weeks to go through the system—and it’s not done yet—I’m really looking forward to streamlining the system,” said Joan Pierce, manager for medical genetics and hematology. “Even though new appointments are not affected at this time, since the routine distribution changes won’t have to go through the signature process, it should free some of these areas from having to process all that paperwork and leave more time to take care of new appointments, title changes, salary changes, etc.”

“It is an elegantly designed program that has exceeded my expectations,” added Diane Schulstad of pharmacology.

The new online system eliminates multiple signature hassles and the errors and extra work caused by late entries into the Payroll/Personnel System. In fact, trained departmental staff will be able to make all changes online with no approval. Changes are effective immediately but will be monitored by reviewers for any problems.

This change is just one of many that are coming to help cut down on procedural paperwork.

In the upcoming months USER plans to create informational Web pages on leave policies, salary tables and classified job descriptions. Departments already can access online a guide on hiring classified staff and templates will soon be available for creating job descriptions and advertisements.

The USER Project also is working with Computing and Communications on speeding up the assignment of e-mail accounts for new employees, who sometimes have to wait up to a month after they start for an e-mail account.

For more information about USER and the changes planned, see the Web site at http://www.washington.edu/user/ ¶