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November 10, 2003

Staff forum focuses on HR transformation project; second forum to take place Nov. 17

By Louise Donahue

Staff members will have a second opportunity on November 17 to ask questions about ideas for restructuring human resources and payroll functions on campus, one of the many budget-driven "transformation" projects under way.

View the slide show of the HR transformation project, discussed at the November 5 forum.

A forum organized by the Staff Advisory Board (SAB) will include representatives of the administration and working teams studying human resources and payroll procedures. The forum will take place from 12:30 to 1:40 p.m. at Stevenson 175.

The session is a follow-up to a November 5 forum where ideas for restructuring these activities were outlined. Among the proposals being discussed are consolidation of Staff Human Resources functions to gain efficiencies. Instead of the current service-center setup, three divisional human resources organizations would be created: one for administration, one for student affairs, and one for the academic divisions.

Under this plan, the administration category would include Business and Administrative Services, the Central Business Office, and Information Technology. Student Affairs would include Student Affairs and the Colleges and University Housing Services. The Academic Divisions category would include the five academic divisions, the library, University Extension, and the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC).

Changes in time-and-attendance systems were also discussed at the November 5 forum. In addition to saving money, the redesign effort is considering ways to enable employees to engage in the "real-time" processing of data, eliminate shadow systems, avoid duplicating efforts, and reduce errors.

The forums are part of a series of monthly sessions to keep staff members informed about the campuswide "transformation" initiatives overseen by the Executive Budget Committee. Twenty transformation projects are under way across campus. By transforming business practices and maximizing efficiency, campus leaders hope to avoid across-the-board budget cuts and protect the campus's academic mission.

All sessions normally are scheduled to take place on the first Wednesday of the month. But the November 17 session was added as a follow-up to the November 5 session.

On Wednesday, December 3, the subject will be workers' compensation and purchasing. That forum will be at 10 a.m. in Bay Tree Conference Room D. The topic of the January session has not yet been decided, but the forum will be at noon, January 7, in Bay Tree Conference Room D.

"My goal, as chair, is to get information to staff--as much as I can, as fast as I can," said Staff Advisory Board chair Rachel Huff.

"There are no easy answers, and the topics are hard," said Huff, who herself is serving on a transformation working group considering retirement issues.

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Related Stories/Links

Currents article: Forum on budget process November 5

Currents article: Chancellor says budget planning will yield strategic cost cutting

Slide show on October 21 transformation projects update to managers/supervisors

Currents article: Campus "transformation" begins with info technology consolidation

Executive Budget Committee

UCSC Budget Update site



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