Future State Vision

The future vision for Human Resources is shown below in four sections:

1. Definitions of the major functions
2. Employee self-service point of view
3. Unit-level user point of view
4. MSU Human Resources/Payroll Division point of view

Definitions

• Benefits includes employee enrollment for benefits and retirement, information updates based on work/life events and open enrollment, and billing services for participants who are not processed through the MSU payroll system such as retirees.
• Human Resources includes recruiting/hiring, processing personnel changes, training/development, performance evaluations and salary forecasting as they relate to all employee types.
• Payroll includes payroll calculations for all employee types for wages, benefits, deductions and taxes.
• Time and Labor is the reporting and collection of paid time, (actual hours at work or time periods) and may be supplemented by paid leave programs and a leave accrual provision for eligible employees, to calculate and maintain appropriate leave accruals/balances.

Improvements to human resource processes are expected to be realized through the implementation of a new integrated Human Resources/Payroll system. The new system is anticipated to expand functionality, support accuracy and facilitate use. It is also expected that the new system will enable document and transaction creation to occur at the user level allowing relevant information to be captured at the source. It is anticipated that the system will permit reports and queries from various views such as project, department, college, university, etc. Reduced processing time, minimized manual data entry and reconciliation, increased ease of reporting and minimized need for shadow systems are all likely advantages of the new system. Together these advantages would result in more accurate and timely information.

The software architecture is planned to be an integrated, modular approach with an anticipated phased implementation. This approach will allow the MSU community to gain understanding of the functionality of the new system; analyze and identify essential job skills related to the new system; assess the need and then arrange for any additional instruction and education necessary to use the system to its fullest extent; rebuild processes and procedures; and successfully integrate the human resource and financial systems. At this time it is expected that a commercially available vendor package will be selected to provide the base upon which the broad set of Human Resources requirements will be implemented.

Employee Self-service Point of View

In the future, employees could access, create and maintain their own personal information through one location using a web browser and select from among the following areas:

• Benefits to review, enroll, initiate or update benefit information. The intent is to maintain the present services such as online benefit statements, enrollment for work/life events, open enrollment and retirement plan enrollment while eliminating the need to use paper forms to identify beneficiaries or update over-age dependents. The intention is to provide employees with the ability to enroll with multiple retirement investment vendors for each type of plan (base, supplemental, 457, etc.) they select.
• Human Resources to provide, update and maintain personal employment information such as home address, telephone number, emergency contact information, educational background and training or professional development accomplishments on a timely basis. Employees would receive online confirmation of these status changes with electronic access to applicable historical information. Employees would also be able to apply for employment opportunities/jobs online.
• Payroll to inquire, update information and initiate activities related to benefits and payroll related matters. The intention is to keep the services currently available to employees such as updating direct deposit and tax information and obtaining the employee's payroll earnings and W-2 statements.
• Time and Labor to report/view time worked and /or paid leave used, make paid leave requests and view available leave balances. This information would be updated regularly and assist employees in managing leave accruals and usage.

Unit-level User Point of View

It is anticipated that unit-level users will continue to have broad responsibilities in managing their human resources and associated information. The intent is to establish a system that would support alternative ways of costing and allocating benefits. The ability to access, create and maintain information through one location using a web browser is being planned. Also, direct access to the status of all transactions, appropriate employee information, and relevant employee and transaction history is anticipated. This could mean the following:

• Human Resources processes, where appropriate, would be consolidated and standardized. It is anticipated that having data entry at the source (the employee or unit-level user) and business-rule edits in the system, processing time would improve. These improvements would likely result in faster turnaround of transactions and provide access to more accurate and timely information.
• Payroll, in an integrated system, would support a consolidated time reporting and attendance system. This would streamline and automate the collection, management and distribution of employee time information for leave balance usage, and would also accurately report time for payroll calculations. An integrated system would also provide the information and tools to customize reports for hiring, budgeting and payroll distribution.
• Time and Labor, in an integrated system, would contain consolidated leave time balances, accruals and usage information. Unit-level users would be able to view and approve time-off requests, pay exceptions, overtime, etc. and be able to retrieve and access information for customized reporting needs.

MSU Human Resources/Payroll Division Point of View

The intention is for MSU Human Resources and the Payroll Division to be able to access information from an integrated system using commonly available web browsers. The anticipated outcome is reduced processing time. This could:

• Minimize reconciliation of conflicting information
• Reduce duplicate data entry
• Support transaction review and the handling of exceptions through the use of online reports
• Reduce time spent on transaction/processing tasks
• Provide the opportunity to devote more attention to:
  • consulting services such as career and succession planning, other unit-level needs, and strategic planning
  • analyzing overall and individual time and leave usage patterns
  • projecting/costing liabilities on balances
  • assisting units with exceptions
• Provide more efficiency, consistency, flexibility and the ability to support best practices
• Enable compliance with university policies and procedures, and federal and state laws
• Assist in the monitoring and complying with legal and regulatory requirements