The Client Profile

University of Alabama Health System is a large, multi-entity academic healthcare system. UABHS is renowned for quality patient care, cutting-edge medical education and research, and internationally recognized physicians. UABHS programs are consistently listed in the U.S. News and World Report annual “America’s Best Hospitals” issue. With over 13 acute care and ambulatory facilities, and over 10,000 employees, UABHS is clearly a leader in healthcare and research.

The Challenge

The challenge faced by UABHS is common across the healthcare community, as a healthcare system grows a number of different and sometime conflicting Human Capital Management Strategies exist. In most cases these strategies are products of legacy systems and processes in need of update. Substantial grow experienced by UAB had created a healthcare system with over 9000 employees that utilized three time and attendance applications running on DOS, Windows, and Oracle. Two of the systems were in need of upgrade, and the DOS system, in need of replacement, required constant maintenance. Also, several hundred employees worked outside the University network, forcing them to use manual timecards. UABHS selected Kronos Workforce Central Suite to replace all three existing time and attendance systems. UABHS also understood that combining three operationally different organizations with competing HCM strategies and systems would have risk. Strong leadership and expertise with the Kronos Workforce Central in a healthcare environment would be needed to guide the teams, forge new policies and processes based on best practices, and to ensure the goal of “one system, one HCM strategy” would be achieved. The IT, HR/PR, and nursing resources were already stretched by other projects. Recognizing the need for a ‘trusted partner,’ they turned to ISH, Inc., of Fairfield, NJ, a certified Kronos consulting partner and healthcare professional services firm, to take the lead through the technical and operational optimization required to deliver a Kronos Workforce Central implementation that realized the goal of “one system, one HCM strategy”.

The Solutions

ISH, armed with the knowledge of the healthcare environment, the capabilities of the Kronos Workforce Central Suite, Human Capital Management Strategies, and an understanding of best practices, organized and led teams from each organization through a review all policies, procedures, reporting, data collections methods, system integration, interfacing, and employee concerns. A foundation for organizational change and acceptance was facilitated through conversations with process owners, regardless of department, which provided a common understanding of the project purpose.

Three time and labor applications and several manual systems made labor reporting for the entire enterprise complex, time consuming, and represented activity several weeks in the past. Hundreds of hours were spent each month by nursing directors, managers, and finance to create reporting used in a number of planning and management matrixes. Kronos Workforce Central installed on an Oracle database replaced all existing legacy systems and was configured for the labor tracking needs of each division and UABHS. This addressed the need for access to consistent and more accurate data across the entire operation, while allowing enough flexibility to address the unique requirements of individual entities.

The central challenge of implementing a new HCM strategy at the University Hospital centered on a legacy DOS system responsible for the time and labor collection and calculation for almost 6000 employees. A propriety database made access to important data difficult, if not impossible; managers had no direct access to employee timecards to review punches or to control overtime, all edits to employee timecards were made to a printed report and sent to a central payroll office for entry, and the system required constant maintenance. Kronos Workforce Central using an Oracle database, new system hardware, a re-designed process for time and labor reporting, and new state-of- the-art data collection methods and devices gave the managers the tools needed to move forward and removed these challenges. All punches arrive in the timecard within seconds of the punch, giving managers the tool needed to manage staffing issues, attendance, and overtime. Great attention was given to the hardware and system setup to ensure proper system performance. Managers are now able to make quick edits, even on payroll Monday. Anytime access to the data, a process that manages by exception, and a responsive system has reduced overall cost, improved reporting, provided better control on overtime, produced a more accurate payroll, and created high levels of satisfaction with the managers.

UABHS works closely with other area healthcare systems to provide the highest level of patient care possible to the people of Birmingham. In one case, this cooperation created a situation that required over 200 UABHS employees to use paper timesheets because their physical workplace was outside the UABHS campus and the legacy system had no solution. Using web access, employees now use workstations located in areas outside the normal campus network to clock in, out, and transfer. The HTML version of the Employee Timestamp was deployed to eliminate possible Java client issues that would be outside the control of UABHS. This addressed the dissatisfaction employees had with the manual timecards and produced savings in processing time and labor costs.
Using Workforce Connect a new interface process was implemented. New interfaces expanded the process from payroll interfaces that sent hours to different payroll systems to an integration process that shared employee demographic information, time and labor data, and benefit accruals between Kronos Workforce Central, Lawson, Oracle, and ADP.

An accurate and timely access to data, central to a HCM strategy, was hampered by a lack of data links between HR/PR and other systems. Some existed, but different interface strategies had developed over the years to export pay information to the diverse payroll systems within the organization. Interfaces to Lawson, Oracle, and ADP using different tools and maintained by each area were executed during the payroll process by the individual payroll departments. This caused support issues of existing interfaces and creation obstacles for access to data for other systems. In fact, the hours interface to payroll was the only interface in regular use. All interface maintenance and creation was centralized and Kronos Workforce Connect was selected as the interfacing tool. Bi-directional interfaces were designed between Kronos and Oracle/Lawson/ADP. Interfacing employee data from the HR/PR systems allowed a single point for hiring and changing employee data. This saved time and reduced errors. Importing employees into Kronos from the HR/PR systems also eliminated a process created to ensure the employees who were hired were entered into the HR/PR system to be paid. Accrual balances were imported into Kronos Workforce Central to facilitate validation the balance upon request. Central ownership for maintenance and new interface creation has created a superior support model providing quick issue resolution and a process to facilitate modifying existing interfaces and requesting new interfaces when needed. Important Time and Labor data is now available to other systems. This design also preserved the need for each area to maintain complete control of when and how often the interfaces would run.

Benefit time had become a source of concern and dissatisfaction for both employees and UABHS leadership. Accurate benefit time balance information did not exist in the legacy systems causing employee request for time off to be rejected as part of the payroll process. This would produce short paychecks and dissatisfied employees. Another need was to accurately track the benefit time balances of their exempt employees and create a seamless process for requesting time off. Using a combination of Workforce Accruals and interface connections to the HR/PR systems, accurate balances exist in Kronos Workforce Central for validation during the request/edit process. The elimination of the over-drafting of vacation or sick, or an employee receiving a short pay check because the payroll system did not pay for lack of balance, has improved operations and increased employee satisfaction. Employees can also view accrual balances anytime at the 4500 Timekeeper or at their desktop. Benefit time is accrued and tracked in Kronos Workforce Central for over 500 exempt staff as well as 1500 non-exempt staff at one location. This location also uses the Kronos Process Manager utility for time off requests to be submitted by employees using their workstation of a kiosk.

The legacy technology and procedures had created a complex and labor-intensive payroll process. This process for producing payroll was successful, but it required enormous human effort to maintain accuracy. To achieve significant reduction in processing time and to reduce the amount of human effort needed to produce an accurate payroll updates in process and technology was needed. In one payroll department a redesign of the entire time and attendance process from centralized edits to de-centralized edits, and improved interfacing scheme saved 2 days of processing time, 3 FTE’s, and has reduced the number of supplemental checks needed to correct payment errors from an average of 225 per pay period to 40.

UABHS realized the normal reactions to replacing the legacy time and attendance systems with Kronos Workforce Central would be fear, uncertainty, and doubt. These reactions would cause resistance during the implementation, problems during the rollout, and lack of acceptance moving forward. Utilizing existing training and communication resources within the healthcare system a customized plan was created using communication, knowledge, and training to answer the fear, uncertainty, and doubt. To ensure high acceptance and that managers had proper training and understanding of any changes in policy or practice, training plans were designed for each division that reflected the overall HCM strategy of UABHS as well as to accommodate the individual needs of the entities. Custom training materials were created for each division and classes were held in their respective training areas to give managers a high degree of competence with the application and to create confidence in the process. Demonstrations of the new 4500 Timekeeper Terminals were held over several days to let the employees see the new clocks, learn how to use them, and to relieve the “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” generated by the change. A communication plan was created that used several avenues to deliver a constant message throughout the organization. This combined effort created an atmosphere of anticipation of the changes, not dread.

Anytime new systems are implemented in the process area of payroll and time calculation a proper amount of concern is generated. The paycheck is basic to employee satisfaction and any disruption in delivering accurate and timely paychecks is catastrophic to any organization, large or small. A large organization such as UABHS would have few viable options to accommodate a failed “go live” simply because of the number of employees involved. Therefore, extensive testing, parallel, and pilot programs were designed for each of the three rollouts to ensure a smooth transition to the new systems. In each case, the payroll process produced an accurate payroll on time, with fewer supplemental checks than normal.

The key to creating a cohesive Human Capital Management Strategy across the many diverse organizations at UABHS in a 10 month timeframe was planning, direction, and communication. Each entity viewed ISH as a part of their organization because of the time spent to understand each of their processes, what those processes were designed to deliver, and listen to the areas that concerned them most. In this position we were able to create teams and committees, and then lead them through the process planning and change by applying experience and best practice solutions. With proper communication and cooperation the separate teams became one team with the same goal. ISH knowledge of the healthcare environment, the capabilities of the Kronos Workforce Central Suite, Human Capital Management Strategies, and an understanding of best practices supplied the needed direction for this team to reach the goal of “one system, one HCM strategy”.

Benefits Summary

The benefits were a project completed on time; employees paid correctly, and reduced cost of ownership. The UABHS had a broader vision of laying the foundation for a cohesive Human Capital Management Strategy across the many diverse organizations at UABHS and to facilitate future growth. Utilizing the partnership between ISH and Kronos, UABHS is now in position to fulfill that vision. A proper implementation has provided UABHS with a centralized database and reporting structure, supplied front-line managers with the tools to manage their departments and lead their employees, and created a system for tracking labor hours to allow for more efficient use of valuable staff.