Why should several hundred departments have to figure out independently how to apply the same set of pay rules to 16,000 people each month? Or hire their own staff to apply the pay rule changes that inevitably occur in our policies and collective bargaining agreements? Why should our student employees, who fill out timesheets before they can be paid, have to worry about getting the paper to their supervisor for signature? There are better, cheaper ways to report our time that are easier for students, staff, and supervisors.
Timekeeping is a routine process that has not received much attention until budgets tightened and we looked for ways of making more effective use of technology. We estimated the amount of time needed to fill out paper sheets, collect them, approve them, manually enter them into a payroll system, and correct errors.
We learned that by standardizing and automating timekeeping we could reduce the cost of this business process, improve the efficiency, and reduce errors.
Thus, as part of Operational Excellence, this month Berkeley launches its campuswide timekeeping standardization project. The major part of this effort is in moving all departments off of the myriad paper, home-grown, semi-automated, and various Excel timesheets and onto a new Kronos system. It will take approximately five months to fully develop and test the new system. During this time, departments will be assisted with preparing their current records for the transition. Training will also be available prior to rollout.
We anticipate that by this time next year, the campus will be transitioned to a standardized, automated tool.