CAREER DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
and payroll system and to be the experts. Although we all went into the training room with excitement and enthusiasm, I remember at the very first break everybody sitting in the coffee area in stony silence. It was like we had been hit with a whirlwind of change and the fun had left the room. The modern systems are beasts that offer to do everything from your sickness absence, to leave management, to appraisals, to case management, to international payroll, to equal pay audit… it goes on. It actually felt like receiving a full set of encyclopaedias for Christmas and after only an hour being expected to answer questions on any matter. Not going to happen. In hindsight what you learn is that all of this functionality is possible, but first you have to set it up. A little like before cooking a fine meal allowing for going to the shops to get some ingredients. We sat through day after day of training without it ever really getting easier and with the team having to reassure themselves that it would be ok. Suddenly the looming cloud of being able to set up the system, parallel run and get people paid seemed to be ominously hovering above our heads. As the training continued, back at the office we started to get the data ready for uploading. Who would have thought we had this much data? It was like clearing out the attic or moving home – the challenge as ever is what to leave behind. Your natural instinct is to try to take everything but then you realise that the chances are you don’t really need it and bringing all that past data with you is really complicated as it doesn’t map directly to the data fields in the new system. We fundamentally decided that what
we needed was a clean start and it would be a mistake to have our system build dictated by trying to squeeze in the format of the old one. We also realised how much time it would take that while wanting to focus on exploring the exciting functions of self-serve we could spend too much time on data manipulation. Our option in the end was to archive the old legacy system and to gradually turn it off as the data became no longer needed for enquiries. As we carried on with our system build there seemed to be some enlightening moments when we suddenly realised that much of the super-user training that had made us feel so nervous was actually not needed, and the real skill was to be able to absorb the knowledge and recall the parts that we do need. A little like when you buy a car and they show you what lots of buttons do on the dashboard even though you won’t use the features on a daily basis. We started to build different modules with our rules in the background. On starting the process of testing, particularly the parallel running of payslips, everything feels a little more familiar – or whether there is a right or wrong answer, rather than not knowing if areas were set up correctly. It is surprising how quickly parallel knowledge and recall the parts that you do need ...the real skill was to be able to absorb the
running trains you for using the system. You soon stop having to think which menu an option is on and instead start clicking through the drop-down options and setting up your favourites like it is second nature. It is also often quite enlightening during parallel running when you realise it was actually the old system that was doing the calculations incorrectly or when you have to try to understand exactly how the system had been working to replicate it. The joy of hitting the recalculation button and the net pay matching always gives a sense of hope; there were a few ‘tricky’ employees where it took a little longer while we worked out how to get their pay to match. I am a big believer in trying to time an implementation with the commencement of the new tax year. Bringing over year to date totals and passing the baton mid tax year is never the best idea if it can be avoided – and a month-1 launch means that you start at a zero base. It also gives you a little more time to work on closing the tax year on the old familiar system when time is tight as you know there will also be a big commitment in time with setting up month-1 payroll on the new system. That first month of processing on the new system is always a little bit of an energy rush. Lots of the team asking how to do things, lots of others shouting out their thoughts, and the occasional tears between the hysterical laughter. Being a manager in these situations is never easy. You are expected to be the positive messenger for everyone and calm down the operations to ‘business as normal’; however, inside you are feeling more nervous than the team as to how this is ever going to work out. I always remember the words of one of my earlier managers: “walk slowly and smile” – in other words, there is no panic and we are all having a good time. Sometimes easier said than done. Implementations also seem to come in phases. No sooner do you start celebrating that the payroll data has all been uploaded and input then you move on to the next challenge of processing the first BACS, running the real time information returns and then, worst of all, the nominal ledger interface. The problem with setting up this interface is primarily that you are dependent on some other colleagues to
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2019 - January 2020 | Issue 56 10
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