Pitt Worx team getting program ready for its January debut

By MARTY LEVINE

Pitt Worx, offering revamped and integrated processes to handle human resources tasks, is debuting on Jan. 4, but trainings have already begun, and a data freeze on HR’s old systems, such as PRISM at 5 p.m. Dec. 18, will allow the Pitt Worx team to transfer the old system to the new over the winter break.

The Oracle Cloud-based Pitt Worx has five modules: Talent Center (which already debuted in 2018 for recruiting and hiring), Payroll, Core HR, Benefits and Time & Labor.

“We have a lot of paper processes right now at the University,” said Michelle Fullem, strategic project manager for Pitt Worx in HR. Her department was determined to not simply take the 20-year-old system and move it to the cloud; instead, they would start from scratch.

On Jan. 4, she said, employees who use PRISM and other HR processes “are going to see a more modern look and feel” for all HR tasks. Each module will communicate with all the others, and users will have accessibility through smart devices. Responsibility center and department heads who manage faculty, staff and students will no longer have to wait for paper confirmations of employee information, but instead will have readily available access to it in the cloud.

“As an employee, I can do my timecard from my phone,” Fullem added. Pitt Worx also will allow employees to check and make certain their personal data is up to date, including new gender designations.

Overall, Pitt Worx will put in one place employee access to time cards and pay statements, direct deposit and tax choices as well as benefit enrollment, while supervisors will make and track employee record changes in a single spot too.

“It’s not going to take us 20 years again to update these systems,” she emphasized. Oracle will provide quarterly updates, and HR plans to ask for employee feedback to institute improvements.

“It will enable us to keep up with technological change, keep it fresh, keep it relevant as we move forward,” added David DeJong, vice chancellor of Human Resources. “If people are open to the change, they’re going to be very happy with what they discover, and we’re going to provide as much support for people as we can.”

Trainings will be offered to administrators, and training material will be available for everyone to consult for these intuitive programs, said Fullem, including training guides on timecards and other employee processes.

Pitt Worx long ago recruited “champions” from all responsibility centers to try out the programs, learn the processes and become resources for colleagues.

“We’re going to be counting on champions to help the employees understand all the processes they need to understand,” DeJong said. A quick-reference and how-to guides, as well as online demonstrations, will be available long past December.

The three-year process of bringing Pitt Worx to the University has involved multiple departments as well as partnering with the outside firm of Deloitte, which has expertise in developing cloud-based systems, including those based in higher education institutions, Fullem said.

Of the Pitt Worx team on campus, DeJong said: “It’s hard to overstate how hard they’re working. They are going to be working right through the holidays, right through the winter recess, and they’ve been doing that for three years.

“Change is sometimes hard,” he said, “but we are confident, having people embrace this new system, that they will see the value in it.”

Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.

 

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