I personally don’t care what system the U of MN uses but the problems

being created by this system is unreal. I resent the fact that Yudof sends a letter via email saying what a great job was done when if fact many students are very dissatisfied and many departments are extremely burdened by the demands put on them by this new people soft system. It seems like our educational facility is moving towards big business instead of remaining focused on education.

I have been satisfied with the info I have received, although I have no

clue how/if it will affect what I do on a day-to-day basis. Maybe I will get it when it affects me or maybe it won’t affect me. I guess I will find out.

The only problems I have encountered are getting corrections made. When I fax correction sheets to HR (5-2574) I usually have to wait weeks for the change to show up. This won’t be acceptable once payroll is running!

Don’t really know job implications — how fast or slow will WEB be as related to ESP and everyone working on it. Security — more people needing access to sensitive information.

On the HR side — I wish there was a more convenient and timely way to do corrections in history.

I think PeopleSoft is a waste of time and money. The system is far too cumbersome and very time consuming. Not a good match for the U of M.

The communications you do send out are great. However, I still see too much working in "silos" and not enough looking at the "big picture" of how everything works together. I’m not an end-user (at least as far as data entry goes), but have responsibilities for implementation of systems, evaluation of business processes, utilization of data for management reporting, etc. For my job responsibilities, I feel there hasn’t been enough communication or information available with which to make informed decisions.

I’m very confused with the process. I am told to wait for training by CLA—which is fine with me—and they have been great about keeping us informed—but the peoplesoft emails themselves are terribly confusing.

The HRMS pieces of the system seem much better defined than the student pieces. We have no clear overview of what the parts of the student system are, how to determine which ones we will need to use, or what training we will need to gain access. We feel like we are at the mercy of some unknown decision-maker who decides what training to offer us, instead of knowing where the things we will need to do our jobs will be located

and having the opportunity to request it.

We need some kind of flow chart of the system, and an organizational chart of the administrative structure of people responsible for the student side of the system.

This whole process has been very confusing especially since I needed the information and training for the student applications. Even tho I was approved for the student side, authorization took way too long for the HRMS side.

There was too much information for my level of involvement—academic dept. accounting and some h-r. Hard to know what to pay attention to and what to ignore and way too much information overall. The training was good but too much of it for what I do. Maybe there’s no way to zero in on user needs. It’s a great system though.

The HRMS project staff have been very helpful, but a follow-up session on entering info would be very helpful.

This department has access to this for student data, though it is not often needed. Staff are in the process of being trained to data enter the human resources side of the world. A concern for how much additional staff it will take to perform this function. It will become obvious as it evolves. I’ve been informed that we will begin to use it late

November.

Thank you for asking these questions, even if they are about 6 months to a year too late.

If central administration is not going to recommend (1) how units should implement PeopleSoft, (2) how units should organize themselves to efficiently handle the new workload, or (3) how to better support PeopleSoft users from a business process perspective, then they should outwardly communicate that fact to all Deans so that colleges can start making decisions that they need to and get resources in place

to do the work. This should have been done well in advance of the previous budget cycle. If they didn’t plan for it last Spring, how are they supposed to handle everything that is happening now and will happen in April-June 2000? Central has missed a golden opportunity to bring uniformity and standardization to how we do business across all areas of the university. Now all we can do is let the colleges know what they are up against and hope the inconsistencies of how the work is done are not so great that we will be unable to take advantage of what the PeopleSoft system has to offer.

What provisions are being made to keep employee private data secure? Currently anyone with access to PeopleSoft production can view any other employee’s private data. I put a block on my name for the student/staff directory precisely to keep another employee from finding out where I live. If he had access to PeopleSoft, he could have found this out. what do you plan to do about this?

I REALLY need to be able to correct changes in the current pay period! I had someone change their termination date to 3 days later. I found out after I had entered her termination date in, but before her new date. I could not correct it because it was history.

I am not directly involved in any PS activity and feel very much out of the loop and would like more info. Most of my PS information is received through my participation with the HRMSAC and through the AHC-HR/IS units. I would like to see more info coming to the departments through the Project staff.

The program in general is too slow and needs to be a lot faster. It takes me eight hours to do the same amount of work that it used to take me two hours to do. So I am getting less done.

Not all info I need is available. If available not usually up to date, particularly term dates. 4+ wks behind.

PeopleSoft info has been good. EGMS info has been too vague, meetings scheduled w/o alternate dates. Too much all at once to get on top of it, especially with the staff shortage.

I do payroll for a department of seven people. This comprises of about 2% of my job. I don't feel I will ever use this enough to become proficient at it. I'm unhappy with the cumbersome system we are being saddled with.

I feel this whole process would go smoother if all the high ranking "powers that be" would cooperate, and work for the improvement of the entire University , not just for their pet projects (Budget e.g., IDEA, PAY ACCT, financial reports on the Web, UM Reports, Nirvana, EGMS, HRMS, CUFS, Clarity?) We have plenty of tools, just too many duplications of the same thing -- each with its own leader (budget) and team members. Why not work together?

HR is not making corrections that we send them. I sent things over in July that are not corrected yet. Data sync reports are in question.

I know this is an old old story! But I hate this mostly because I don't have enough time to adequately learn or use PeopleSoft. I think the info should continue to be entered by payroll and HR. The are generally expected to be the experts -- that's their jobs -- not ours! In fact, I resent still another decentralization of responsibility. Kind of like expecting a high school sophomore to perform brain surgery. I do think our access to the info will be wonderful and long needed!