The purpose of this document is to provide a foundation for discussion, decisions, and definition of your system This document defines the current Time and Labor business practices of the Client along with ideas for the forthcoming implementation.
Question and Answers
Time Collection Process, Time Period and Time Reporting Code
1. Do you electronically track employee time worked? If so, what technologies are used to enter time?
Internet
Intranet
Electronic Timesheets
Clocking systems (Kronos)
Swipe card (i.e. Employee Badges)
Other (please describe)
2. Do you have employees or groups of employees who record time on paper-based time sheets? If so is there a need to print new timesheets?
3. Is employee time entered centrally or is time entry decentralized?
4. Does the time collection system allow time entry for groups of employees or for one employee at a time?
5. Do you have staff, such as timekeepers, who collect and post time? Please provide details of the process of collecting time and who collects and posts time.
6. Is there a restriction on who can enter hourly employees’ time versus salaried employees’ time?
7. Can employees enter their own time?
8. Can employees inquire and view their entered work hours?
9. Is time approved? If so who approves time? What is the procedure for approving employee time? Can time be approved electronically?
10. How is time capture for both electronic and paper timecards: hours per day or punch time ins and outs or are employees paid a standard schedule and only exceptions are captured or all three depending on the employee?
11. Currently, where is time entered corrected if there is an error? At the data entry level or is it corrected in the payroll process?
12. What is the input of incremental time, such as half days for vacation, etc. currently allowed?
13. If standard hours are used, what are your employees’ standard hours?
14. If time capture differs for different employees, explain the business process on what determines how the employees’ time will be captured.
15. Can retroactive time and labor adjustments be made once a time period has ended? Describe any situations that require you to pay employees hours and/or amounts from the prior period.
16. How are new employees set up for reporting time? Please describe the business process for “enrolling” your new hires in your existing time management system.
17. What are the beginning and end days of the time period? How does this relate to the payroll cycle?
18. What are the beginning and ending times for a 24 hour period?
19. Describe all of the specific time codes that are used in recording time in the current system, including any recorded hours for unpaid time, such as Unpaid Sick, Unpaid Vacation. Does the present system track absences or tardiness?
20. What are the Public Holidays offered to the employees? Are the same Holidays offered to all employees’ or are there different Holiday Schedules for different employees.
21. If more than one Holiday Schedule, what determines which Holidays are offered to an employee?
22. What are the specific business processes that must be adhered to for time reporting, such as Education leave must have at least 1 hour keyed to a maximum of 8 per year?
23. Aside from capturing hours, do you also record data elements such as dollar amounts or units? Such as flat dollar bonus amounts or units like 30 cents per mile.
Cost Allocation, Schedules and Shifts Processes
1. Is your timekeeping system used for allocating costs? Do you define how and/or where an employee time is spent? Are there certain tasks that are grouped together? Please describe how your costs codes are structured and how they are assigned to the time reported by employees.
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2. Does the organization use Work Orders to capture information about labor costs? How is the information used?
3. Do your employees work shifts? What are they?
4. Is an employee assigned to one shift or are they allowed to work multiple shifts? Can they work multiple shifts in a day and/or in a week?
5. How many shifts make up a workday?
6. Are shift employees paid a differential? How is the differential calculated?
7. Describe your FLSA processing requirements? What days constitute the definition of your workweek? (E.g. Mon – Fri, Sun – Sat). Are FLSA requirements union driven?
8. Do all employees work the same schedule or are they flexible work schedules? Please describe all the different schedules that employees work.
9. Are employees allowed to work several jobs in the same week? In the same day?
10. If an employee is working out of his/her job classification, is their different rate of pay and how does the timekeeper or payroll representative determine the rate of pay?
11. Are employee’s represented by Unions/Bargaining unit(s)? If so, how many Unions/bargaining units?
12. When do these unions bargain? What are the bargaining seasons?
Time Administration Processes
1. What are the time processing rules currently used today? For example: How is Overtime calculated, only hours worked or does the calculation included Vacation, Holiday etc? Is it overtime after 8 hours in a day or after 40 hours in a week? Are these rules the same for all employees or different for each class of employee? If so, please describe each rule being used.
2. Are leave balances maintained at time entry level? If so, list all types of leave that are maintained.
3. If leave balances are maintained at time entry, describe what happens when the employee’s leave requested is greater than the employee’s leave balance or are the employee’s allowed to carry a negative balance?
4. If employees work flexible schedules, are the hours paid for vacation, holiday and sick based on the flex schedules.
5. How is the entered time validated? For example, if total time entered exceeds standard hours, does the current system provide red flags for the approver to review?
6. List any reports that are used to validate this time. Please submit an example.
7. Are control totals used to reconcile employee time entry? Describe the process. Please identify and give an example of any reports used for reconciling.
8. What are the mechanisms for correcting error data? Please describe the business process for correcting data that your time collection system has invalidated.
9. Do you have any audit needs regarding who has changed or approved time?
10. What employee information is available for time entry personnel?
Compensatory Time Management Processes
1. Are Client employees allowed to report Compensatory Time (Comp Time)?
2. How is Comp Time earned? Can the accruals be recorded in the existing time collection or payroll systems?
3. How do employees take their Comp Time?
4. Are Comp Time balances maintained automatically by the existing system?
5. Are Comp Time balances adjusted at the end of the year? How is that adjusting done? Manually? Electronically?
6. Can Comp Time expire? What are the conditions under which Comp Time would be considered to have expired?
7. Can Comp Time be bought, sold or donated? How are these transactions handled?
Time and Labor Integration with Payroll, Human Resources, and Projects
1. Is the timekeeping system electronically integrated with an automated payroll system? Please describe the process of integrating the two systems.
2. Which system calculates the time rules, such as Overtime, shifts and such?
3. How often is time collected and uploaded to payroll? Do the time periods, used for capturing time, follow the payroll period?
4. What is the current deadline that time must be entered and calculated so payroll can be processed in a timely matter
5. If time does not load to payroll, what are the procedures for investigating, rectifying, re-approving and paying for that time?
6. Describe how your Time and Attendance business process integrates with human resources and payroll? Does your existing T&A system interface electronically with your payroll and HR systems?
7. Aside from Payroll, does your current time keeping system interface to any other system (internal or external)? Such as a Project or Funds. Please list those interfaces and describe what they do.
Reporting/Outbound Data
1. Are there reports generated to balance and prove employee time entry?
2. Are time reports generated to be sent back to time originators/collectors?
3. Are time reports generated for managers to approve time?
4. Please list and describe all time reports that are generated from the current system. Please submit an example of all the reports.
Policies and Procedures
Please provide any policies and procedures manuals and desk references currently being used by your department for time management.
Some information that has been gathered includes some facts:
It is the third release since the acquisition
It has 1350 new features approximately
It has 28,000 or more page enhancements
It has Web 2.0 Capabilities
Approximately 300 new web services
And a large number of industry specific enhancements
Like many new releases, there is a new look and feel to the product. You still have the My Favorites area and in addition there is a recently used area on the menu. In addition the navigation menu is only visible when pulled down.
9.1 also includes mouse over functionality on the menus. In going through some of the changes and talking with clients one of the features they seem very happy with is the ability to use zoom grids for more working space with drag and drop, grid scrolling and column locking capability. The grids are also sortable.
Some of the other items include an updated style sheet, a rich text editor, mouse-over pop ups as mentioned previously and an instant message capability with Yahoo and Beehive.
Some other features include out of the box role-based dashboards and reports. The fact that it uses PeopleSoft security is not a change.
There are some nice HR analytics dashboards including: workforce profile, Recruitment, Leave and Absence, Learning Management (a favorite mine), HR Performance, Compensation, Retention and Workforce Development. Some of these are new and some enhanced.
So why would you want to upgrade? Well, if you are on 8.8 you are going to have to get extended support which certainly is a financial reason to upgrade. Others are increasing the effectiveness of your workforce by ensuring compensation rewards top performers and you have pay for performance capabilities. Making sure that you have a strong pipeline for key talent is critical to any organization and maintaining this internally is a cost saving for recruitment. Nine one will provide executives with the ability to make better informed decisions with metrics available. Eliminating interfaces could reduce IT expenses and eliminating customizations during the upgrade usually results in cost savings and additional efficiency.
Some links that will provide additional information include:
If you are interested in some great decision trees, read this article from Gartner, it is packed with good information and would be helpful in deciding if you want to go to 9.1.
When customers are planning a new installation of PeopleSoft, Gartner suggest to implement version 9.0. “Gartner believes that v.9.1 will be released during 2H09, but most customers will not want to be the first to take on a new release. If you need the newest functionality right away (such as compensation management or succession management in HCM), then implement v.9.1 as soon as is practical for your organization. If you don’t need the new functionality, then implement v.9.0 until v.9.1 has more market traction and proof points, which Gartner expects within 12 to 18 months of release.”
This year Oracle released new versions of PeopleSoft (8.50) and Applications (9.1). Will customers start upgrading to 9.1 in 2010? If customers follow Gartner they will wait. My opinion is that the evolution steps between the PeopleSoft versions aren’t that big. Loads of fixes, patches, bundles and maintenance packs from previous versions have been included in this new release. Big functional changes haven’t been made in 9.1. The risk between upgrading to 9.0 or upgrading to 9.1 isn’t that big. If your customers are multi language users, you might want to consider the upgrade to 9.1 as it is unclear when the language pack will become available.
Do you have the Deltas? Have you started implementing 9.1? Add Comments or follow RSS.
Projects need to have a governance model and the project team needs to understand the model and agree to work within it’s construct.
How this activity works:
By reviewing the standards of the methodology you are using. Will it be Compass, Rational, or some similar project methodology. Many groups are looking to Agile to implement or upgrade faster. This might be a good methodology if your technical team is also solid in understanding the functionality associated with the application.
Reporting relationships will be identified and how status reporting will take place is important to the success of your project. Do you have a status report template so all reporitng is consistent.
Determine status reporting responsibilities
How often will you require status reports? Daily? Weekly by team rolled up once a month by Project Manager? Discussed at weekly meetings?
What is the format or template that will be used for your status report? How can you determine at a quick glance the status of the project.
Who should receive the status reports? How will they be distributed, posted?
• Define project filing system/repository or project diary to maintain all information in a central location.
• Determine meeting schedules and format
• Determine issue resolution procedures
• Determine change request procedures
• Determine configuration management procedures
• Determine quality review procedures
how often
who will perform
what will they review
Management Procedures
Objective
To determine the tools for tracking the project and how we will measure progress and budget
Overview
How this activity works:
This discussion is about the collection of input, processing and reporting of project information and what tools will be used for these activities. Examples such as Excel, Project, Word, Powerpoint for progress presentations (standard project template, logos etc..
It begins with the your methodology standard as a “straw man”.
Additional Materials
Distribute methodology standards
At the conclusion of this activity the team will develop the five to ten performance measures that they will recommend to management as the criteria by which this project will be measured. These measurements should support the project’s objectives and provide high level direction to all project activities and tasks.
How this activity works:
This activity is done as a single group. The group will discuss which factors are critical to the success of the project. Using the 10 to 15 factors that were developed in the discussion, have the team evaluate the pros and cons of each of the proposed measurements.
The team needs to explore the possibility that for any existing project measure its value may be different now than it was when it was first used due to changing business conditions.
Once the initial performance measures have been compiled in a list, the activity leader will give each person a copy of the compiled list.
Each team member will rank the performance measures as to its importance to the company. Once everyone has completed the activity, the totals and averages should be calculated for each measurement. The top five become the team’s performance measurements. Then ask the team how they feel about the top five as it relates to their own function and provide opportunities for small group and large group discussion. Each team member should be prepared to rank the team’s priorities and to establish how that fits with their priorities for the project or the priorities of their department. Ask each team member to discuss how the measurements will relate to their function on the team, and in the organization.
What will a deliverable look like?
Project Measurements Questionnaire
Importance to YOU
Measurable Factors
Importance to Bus. Unit
None>>>>>Great
None>>>>>Major
1
2
3
4
5
Deliver project completion faster than competition
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Increase sales productivity by 15%
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Reduce cost of inventory stored in warehouse by Date
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Decrease accounts receivable days to 48 by a certain date
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Deliver self-service access for all HCM activities by a certain date
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Increase on-time deliveries to 93% by Date
1
2
3
4
5
I am sure you can think of many more items for this list and your teams will surprise you with their contributions.
Let’s talk about some of the roles that you might want to consider for your project. Depending on the size of the project, you may or may not need all of the roles but someone will have to assume the responsibilities.
Client Executive: The client executive is responsible for the overall relationship with the customer. This is the role that would address and resolve issues that cannot be resolved at the vendor level. They keep the customer aware of new products, services, and software updates as they become available. They are also the ones who look for opportunities where they can add value to the customer’s business.
Program Manager: The Program Manager may support the Client before and after their software acquisition, especially on large complex projects. Sometimes called the Enterprise Manager, they would be a part of the Client’s Steering committee and should help shape the project success through the use of best practice, project and business practice.
The Enterprise Manager participates on the Steering Committee, and helps drive the project through to success. They use industry best business process and practice. They provide advice that will minimize risk and accelerate the implementation or upgrade. Many organizations use the engagement manager and project manager interchangeably, however, their responsibilities re significantly different.
Project Manager: The individual in this roles provides the leadership for the project team and produces the status reports, plans, budgets and formal methodology (such as CSC, Compass, Rational) and resourcing. The Engagement Manager supports the Project Managers both client and consulting in all aspects of project planning and control, and supports the design,development and deployment of a strong quality program. The Project Manager is responsible for the “care and feeding” of the consulting and client project team members and for supporting the client Project Manager.
Process Specialists (Functional and Technical)Functional specialists are charged with guiding the project team through those steps that require detailed applications functional knowledge and related industry best practices. This consulting-sourced role is usually a full-time member of the project team.
The Technical Specialist executes the technical steps by providing support in the design and management of databases and in tuning the system and architecture. This is a consulting sourced role working in lock step with the client role.
System EngineerThe System Engineer designs and creates technology solutions in response to business requirements. They are brought into a project when the solution requires some specific knowledge in the emerging technologies. Skills include: Workflow, Electronic Commerce; Security including OLAP, Multi-dimensional modeling, compare report decisions, eApplications and solutions to customization requests.
Education RepresentativeThis person is responsible for working with the customer to make sure they use the education resources available to them in the most effective manner.This includes executing training plans, setting up on-site classes, and making the customer aware of alternate training formats including stand up training, interactive training, webinars and other venues.It is also the responsibility of this role to have a clear understanding of the business processes used and reflect those processes in User Productivity Kit or Tutor development.
As we move through the discussion on Day 2 and looking at the project scope, constraints will be identified. Be sure to provide your client and consulting team with examples of what might be a constraint. A constraint is something that limits your degree of freedom. Limited development resources might be a constraint. Constraints might be economic, political, functional, technical and even environmental. Be sure to document the constraints and work with the project team to ensure they are identified.
Second to constraints would be assumptions. You make assumptions regarding many aspects of the project. Assumptions represent opinions that have not or cannot be readily or easily proven; yet they are expected to be true. An assumption that is often made in organizations is that the executive team is on board and giving total support to the project. Sometimes an assumption is made that the organization has a specific requirement, only to find out in the fit/gap that the system cannot support the requirement.
So far we have covered many discussion topics in Day 2 and it is important to facilitate interaction and participation by the team. The one week workshop packs a great deal into the first week that not only sets the stage for the project but also ensures the success of the project. Think about the deliverables that will be produced as a result of the workshop.
Planning is so critical for a project and what makes a project successful is in the way you approach the first few weeks. I have conducted these strategy and implementation workshops in a week but the work of the team goes well beyond that. The first few weeks, however, are what can determine success or failure for a project. So far we have discussed how important it is to get a project right the first time, the importance of scope, and organizational impact or change. Another important factor that needs to be addressed in the first week is how you will handle issues that arise during the project and what the process will be for resolving those issues.
If you are working with a standard implementation methodology there is probably a process for issue resolution. If not, develop a database, excel spreadsheet or similar method for tracking issues. It is important that you establish what an acceptable time frame is for resolution and what will be done if the issues are not resolved in a timely manner. What are the roles involved in the resolution process, who identifies, who assigns, who tracks, how high up in the organization will you have to go to find a solution, and finally who determines if an issue is closed.
Issues should be addressed on a weekly basis at meetings. If critical you might have a process in place to identify them on your project website, or even use twitter to get information out to your team in a timely fashion.
Of course, there is a deliverable that would be associated with this part of the workshop which would be a template for tracking issues.
So we have now addressed one more small part of what would happen in Day 2 of your implementation/upgrade workshop.
Looking forward to any additions you might provide via comments.
More projects fail because of poor change management than probably any other factor. People do not like change and it is important to develop a change management and communication plan. Identify that person in your group who loves to lead the charge on change. Then develop a group discussion on how this project will impact the organization. Draw an organizational chart on the board and circle the stakeholders. Look at how the project will impact end users, customers, managers, executives. How will that change be communicated to each of those groups.
Identify the leader who will begin to develop the change plan. How will the team be structured to complete this deliverable. A draft should be completed by the end of the week and a group will need to work on the content and strategy for that deliverable. You can facilitate discussion in the large group and then assign a small group to work on the deliverable. Or you can have several groups assigned to change and communication items for the plan. Don’t hesitate to assign homework so this is completed and ready for presentation by the end of the week.
What are some of the creative ways to communicate to the organization? Do you want to develop a web page? a newsletter, tweet program, blog, regular program for sending emails? Will the communication look different for each group? Let the group help stimulate this discussion and get a feel for the culture of the organization and how it communicates. My experience in organizations demonstrates how communication differs, a small organization may communicate only by email, others may have formal presentations and still others may have comprehensive web sites. Stimulate the group to come up with all the venues that they think will work for their organization and then assign a small group to incorporate the ideas into the plan.
One more step in the starting week of implementation/upgrade planning.
So what should you have completed at the end of the Workshop on the first day. A Goal of the workshop has been established and there is a solid understanding of how to implement or upgrade “right the first time”.
A template with a rough draft of some of the Charter information will be complete with time for review. It is also important that team members understand they may have homework such as reading through draft documents and making comments or edits.
So what do you think should be included in a project charter? I would suggest the following:
1. A mission statement for the project
2. Project Objectives and measuresments to establish when those objectives have been met.
3. A strategy for the project
4. A critical element is the Scope statement. More projects fail from scope creep than probably any other factor.
5. An Issue Resolution methodology with initial issues identified
6. A Risk Resolution methodology with initial risks and level of risk identified.
7. The resource plan with roles, responsibilities and rules.
8. Constraints, Assumptions and a plan for next steps
9. An initial project plan at a high level which identifies critical milestones.
So at the end of the first day the team has started to develop the deliverables and resolve some of the issues that are open. This is the time when the Project Manager should schedule a time for a presentation to the steering committee or management team.
Communication with the team and leadership is critical and the fourth day should be used for that communication with a sold presentation in place. We have discussed the first day and what will be addressed. The timeline for the workshops may vary depending on how extensive in terms of modules and functionality the implementation or upgrade is determined to encompass.
Please make additional suggestions or comments to enhance this program.
The leadership and participation of a project manager or workshop facilitator is critical in the first week of the project. It is important that every team member contribute with all the knowledge and creativity they can bring to the project. Every person MUST contribute as this is truly a team effort.
To be successful it is important to:
1. Create a baseline for the project that includes scope, schedule and resources as well as resource changes throughout the project.
2. Validate the team is working toward a common goal on the project.
3. Ensure everyone develops an attitude of responsibility and focus.
4. Ensure the client provides insight into the organization’s objectives, requirements and operations.
Organizations would be wise to bring in an outside facilitator for the first week of the project to lead the implementation or upgrade workshops. As an outside expert with optimal skills in training, facilitation and presentation, the team can focus on generating the project charter documents. The facilitator can also act as a resource and provide expertise as appropriate.
The team should have significant “buy-in” and “ownership” of the project. This means not only being willing to make decisions but to take responsibility for those decisions as well. Take some time to share experiences with the team and ensure the time in sessions is well spent.
What are some key points to remember in project implementations?
1. Projects will always be a challenge and it will take full participation of the team along with understanding, problem solving, working together and assuming responsibility for decisions that are mutual.
2. Projects have very long term impacts and the results of what a team does or does not accomplish will impact an organization for many years to come.
3. It is critical to have a cohesive team, and a strong leader driving the project.
4. Communicate to management on a regular basis and communicate results not all the details. They will want to know what is happening on a project but on a high level. Bring issues and risks to their attention immediately.
5. Projects are typically very visible in organizations and the team will success will result in awareness throughout the organization of the quality and performance of the team members in achieving their goals.
6. Keep the project on track. Scope tends to creep and it is the responsibility of the team and the Project Manager to monitor very carefully the deliverables expected and the scope as identified in the Charter document which was signed by all of the executive management and presented to all the stakeholders.
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