Career development insight
My first time
Ian HodsonMSc ChMCIPPdip, head of reward / deputy director of human resources, University of Lincoln, remembers his participation in a payroll software implementation project – recalling the suffering and the pleasure
E very good payroll manager has had two experiences they have survived. Firstly, that they have managed to retrieve the impossible and get out of the sticky situation of a BACS failure. Secondly, that they have been through a major system implementation and lived to tell the tale. I am fortunate – or unfortunate – to have been through both. I remember the first time we undertook a major system implementation. But let’s not forget what had gone before just to get to this point: twelve months of meetings, moaning, business cases, costing proposals, tenders, presentations, contract negotiations etc. Nobody ever really wants to change the payroll system. It is one of the few times payroll actually gets respected by the senior leadership team who get nervous at the fact that the monthly cycle we live in leaves very little time for change. It is always quite ‘funny’ how at every other event payroll’s operation is sometimes dismissed as not that technical or difficult. The case on this occasion was simple but probably one of the most common
that you see. The in-house payroll system had been developed over time to keep it just about compliant, but this was increasingly difficult as legislation became more and more complex. What was worse was that other systems in the business had moved on to being based on more modern operating systems, which meant that there were only a couple of individuals who still had the knowledge to support the payroll application. In itself this was a risk. ...in-house payroll system had been developed over time to keep it just about compliant... The old system was also struggling to keep pace with the changing ways of delivering payroll. It was a long way from offering any employee self-service and it seemed paper payslips were becoming a dated way for people to access their information. The options were ultimately to
keep tinkering with what we had, or to be bold and brave and face starting all over again but with the promise that it could set the team up for the foreseeable future. The big aspect that you don’t always realise is that when you align yourself to a major new supplier you are actually buying in to a very different relationship. We would move from a system where change occurred only when you decided it was needed, to one where we received constantly information about a new release and mandatory patches that we had to take. You suddenly realise when looking at the impact the change will have on the team, that to get the most out of the system and deal with some of the terms that get thrown up including – server load balancing, sql coding and the formidable codeburst – you really need somebody by your side to offer interpretation skills. One of my abiding memories is our very first meeting with the system. We had assembled a team of eight ‘super users’ from the department who we decided would go on an intensive training programme to get to know the ins and outs of an integrated human resources
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 56 | December 2019 - January 2020
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