Minutes, September 25, 2009
ATTENDANCE: Gad Perry, Barbara Hahn, Bill Gelber, John Howe, Cal Barnes, Alan Barenberg, Abby Swingen, Neale Pearson, Walter Schaller, Trenia Walker, Leann DiAndreth-Elkins, Janet Froeschle, Daniel Nathan, Sandy River, Janet May
1.Introductions and reminder to pay dues.
2.Summer Issues: : A letter was sent to President Bailey expressing concern about process in a tenure review case from last year. The President’s Chief of Staff recommended that the case be sent on to the Tenure Appeal Committee and that is expected to happen. The second matter concerned the number of faculty who didn’t get paid or got paid the wrong amount during the summer. A letter was sent to the President about this as well, and the matter was discussed with HR staff. Janet May was invited to today’s meeting to answer questions about HR and payroll.
3.Janet May, Asst. Vice-President for Human Resources Administration
May has been with Tech HR for 3 years after seven and a half years at New Mexico State University. She arrived at Tech after the Banner contract was signed. Our Banner installation is for the TTU campus, HSC, and the system, but not Angelo State. May had experience with Banner, having been at NMSU for their Banner conversion. The move to an integrated system was necessary because our previous systems were homegrown and expensive to maintain, and there were federal compliance issues with some of what we were doing. With Banner, you are only one person throughout the system (represented by R number), each part of the system – HR, finance, budget, payroll – “talks” to the others, and ePAFs, timesheets and leave reports are created, routed for approval and uploaded electronically. In our legacy system (also known as legacy system) HR transactions were entered manually. It normally takes 2-3 years for everything to settle in with a new system.
With the Banner implementation many policies could be retained, but procedures/proceeses had to be changed. HR was told by the executive steering committee not to make programming changes to the baseline code because Banner often issues upgrades and patches that wouldn’t load if the code was changed. They are looking at additional web applications, including a multipurpose one-time payment form. The self-service features of RaiderLink are a major gain in functionality. Staff can change addresses, report work and leave time online, and see their budgeted salary. Web-time entry has gone pretty well. There is a group that meets to make decisions for TTU, HSC, and the system, asking “what is the right decision for now?” A major upgrade, Banner 8, is coming, but for HR it is not anticipated to have a major effect on end users.
Regarding the payroll issues during the summer, May said that about 407 employees were not paid in a timely way. 374 of the non-payment issues were due to late paperwork or other paperwork problems. All 9-month faculty, GA, GPTI, RA and TA were placed on in-between term leave in order to maintain their benefits during the summer. Instructions for summer sessions had been issued in May. Since this is the first fall with Banner HR, there may be additional problems due to paperwork.
President Perry commented that it appeared that the system had worked properly, but more education of the staff using Banner was needed. May said that in preparation for the September payroll (checks issued October 1), sevaral steps have been taken. HR payroll staff have met with staff in each college. The colleges can run a report that will show everyone on the payroll; anything strange can be reported to HR. The payroll process has been run and sent to the departments to see if everything looks okay. There have been no system-wide problems, but May can’t guarantee that everyone will get paid in October. HR works closely with the Provost Office and with Chief of Staff Grace Hernandez.
May responded to a number of questions.
Q: There is a problem with everything being electronic in
that you don’t get a paper pay stub, and sometimes you need one.
A. HR is working on that. In the meantime, if you need proof of your pay,
contact HR and they will provide it.
Q: Couldn’t pay stubs be sent by email?
A: HR looked at that, but there was concern that stubs might get sent to the
wrong address and might not display correctly when viewed.
Q: New employees didn’t get put into the system until their
9/1 start date and couldn’t do anything like get parking or email. That doesn’t
happen at other institutions.
A: May has asked for a meeting with IT about this. As soon as a person has an
R-number, it is suggested the system should pick them up being a new employee.
Q: Why isn’t there a culture of accountability? Why don’t
people get fired for mishandling the paperwork?
A by Cal Barnes: People don’t get fired because it’s very difficult to find
people to do the jobs. He also commented that at some institutions in Europe,
there is a central pool of staff who can do HR and payroll tasks, and they have
their own professional track.
A by May: Some departments did let people go. They are working on more
training for business managers. She noted some of the problems stem from the
increased workload for the same size staff.
Q: Is there a troubleshooter -- a person or number that
can be called when there is a problem?
A: People can contact HR Services and Payroll Services – probably best by
email. If people feel that they have not gotten adequate assistance, they may contact May directly at
janet.may@ttu.edu.
Q: Could a one-page information sheet with terminology be
created for people who don’t work with Banner?
A. The upper right corner of RaiderLink provide access to a list of problems
and content.
Q: Talk about the new ID cards.
A: In the past HR would issue a paper ID card to faculty and staff. With the
move to the new system, the question was why is HR issuing IDs and why is there
no picture on the IDs. No one is required to have an ID unless you want to use
the library. At HSC staff must have an ID that acts as a swipe card to get into
secure areas.
Comment by John Howe: After the current business administration building
becomes general classroom space, there may be a need for swipe card IDs there to
protect equipment that will be used in that building.
Q: Has the move to Banner affected any OPs?
A: Because Banner displays so many kinds of leave, May wants to break OP 70.01,
which enumerates the various types of leave, into several OPs, each dealing with
a particular type or group of leaves. HR is also be looking at OPs dealing with
the classification of employees and faculty new hire background checks.
Background checks on all staff hires began in May. OPs related to military and
family leave have had to be revised. Most staff OPs go from HR to the CFO of
the system, Grace Hernandez, and possibly the police or the CIO. Once all have
given their okay, the OP is posted and announced on TechAnnounce.
Q: The word is that the Banner 8 upgrade will take place
the week before Spring Break and that the system will be down for a week. Is
that true? That’s when mid-term grades are due.
A: The March 11-15 schedule was chosen to coordinate not only with running
payrolls, but also with other finance and student processes. . At this time, it
is not anticpated there will be access to ePAF, Web Time Entry or Web Leave
Reporting during March 11 – 15.
Q: One of the people who didn’t get paid during the
summer was told that he might be in a different tax bracket because of getting a
physical check. If true, it would be nice to find a way to pay people back.
A: May said that it could happen. That person should contact her directly.
Q: Are decisions regarding what is included in insurance
made by Tech?
A: No, those decisions are made by ERS.
President Perry thanked Vice-President May for her comments.
[Following the meeting, May sent the following web links.
http://www.texastech.edu/ConnecTech/asst_ttu.aspx is the direct link
to the Banner Assistance page.
http://www.texastech.edu/connectech/ provides information about the
ConnectTech (Banner) project.]
4.Next Meetings:
October 30: discussion of by-laws
November 20: invited speaker, Provost Smith
December 11: invited speaker, President Bailey
5.Announcements:
Walt Schaller: There are 102 signees to the Gonzales petition. It will be sent
to the Chancellor next week. If anyone else would like to sign, they should
contact Schaller ASAP.
President Perry asked the officers to remain after the meeting for a short discussion.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandy River, secretary