Career development insight
actually know what they are looking for. It is only a giant journal of debits and credits that have to balance to zero, but because the way it’s set up depends on the finance system and internal operations it all takes a lot of time to agree a way forward. Our first nominal interface from the new payroll involved a number of uploading and reversal operations where transactions would not process or we had historic extra lines written to our old internal process which nobody seemed able to understand or change. The parallel running of the nominal ledger between the old and new systems and revisiting the setup of the pay elements to work out what was happening, was one of the most time-consuming tasks in the implementation process that we really underestimated. By the time we had got it right we were well in to the second month of processing and nominal two was run just a few days after nominal one.
The most important learnings from my first system implementation was about the knowledge building. Don’t be worried about all the information being thrown at you as you won’t need it all; instead, spread the knowledge out amongst many. One of the mistakes from implementation is to create a single point of failure that stops you from being self- sufficient. I also learnt that you need to have technical knowledge in the team and really transition the skills base of the team from data entry to optimisation roles in order to maximise the system. You also have to remember that often the reason you need to upgrade the system is that you haven’t done anything to optimise it so you’re off the pace and out of step. I always make sure that every time we have a new release we are looking at what has changed and which features are available to see how we could use it.
So, I lived to tell the tale of my first system implementation and of course the nature of payroll is that you get very little time to take stock and celebrate before you set off into ‘business as normal’. Looking back I wish we had taken more time to celebrate what we had achieved as it really is a monumental team effort to migrate to a new system. Of course, like all good reward professionals I now find myself actually looking forward to a new system launch as once you have learnt the process they are one of the most exciting pieces of work to get involved in – and experience goes a long way! n implementing a payroll system, that is? It’s a great and career formative experience, one which lingers long in the memory. The editor invites you to supply copy of up to 2,400 words providing an account of your first time so that readers will enjoy and relate to – and learn from – your experience. Please email editor@ cipp.org.uk to confirm. Another example can be found online here at http://bit.ly/2IRR0tU. Your first time Do you recall your first time –
...I wish we had taken more time to celebrate what we had achieved as it really is a monumental team effort...
Hear from the experts at our national forums Exclusive to CIPP members * , the national forums are a perfect opportunity to hear from the policy team, as well as other key speakers on developments in payroll, pension and reward legislation. This event will also provide an excellent chance for you to network with other CIPP members.
Available dates:
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18 March (pm)
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 56 | December 2019 - January 2020
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