Human Resources updating software, directory

A new computer program is allowing Human Resource Services to begin work on a new faculty and staff telephone directory.

Banner HR, implemented this fiscal year, allows university employees with a "need-to-know" to view information in their departments rather than going through Human Resource Services, Jim Stephens, director of Human Resource Services, said.

The software was purchased in 1992, but "we really started stoking this and using it in earnest last year," Stephens said. The program should be fully implemented by the end of fiscal year 2001.

"Migrating (to Banner HR) is a complex undertaking," Stephens said. Difficulties arise when old work processes are applied to the new system. "It's a big change for us, and we've had to study each new kind of implementation and make sure we understand it properly and that our customers understand it properly," Stephens said.

Stephens said implementation of Banner HR has been a slow process. There is no unit solely devoted to working on Banner HR and instructing employees in the use of it.

The distributed system can meet needs more quickly and be more accurate than the legacy processes of the past, Stephens said.

Banner HR "eliminates the need for paper forms," he said.

Human Resource Services plans to replace the Personal Action Requests currently used with Electronic Personal Action Forms (EPAFs) supported on Banner HR. The first EPAFs are expected to be available by the end of the calendar year, Stephens said.

"We're... revising work processes so that they're more efficient, so that people get the help they want or the answers they need in a more rapid manner," he said.

The change to Banner HR allows Human Resource Services to publish a new faculty and staff telephone directory, hopefully by the end of September, Stephens said. The new directory will include all permanent university employees alphabetically and by department. With Banner HR, he said Human Resource Services hopes to avoid leaving out any people or departments which has been a problem in the past.

Stephens outlined the steps Human Resource Services is taking to produce the directory. Before publication can take place, all the data has to be loaded into Banner HR. A data audit is now being conducted.

Stephens said data for the directory will be sent to faculty with an invitation to verify their information.