by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
UNM will manage payroll for all university employees through a Web banner system beginning in January.
The current system uses paper time sheets that employees fill out. Then their departments send the sheets to Human Resources and Payroll, said Josie Abeyta, manager of the UNM payroll department.
The time sheets are then turned over to ITS for processing,
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she said.
With the banner system, most payroll information will be entered online, said Duane Arruti, associate vice president for human resources.
"One of the biggest changes with the new banner payroll system is LoboWeb, which will eliminate a lot of paper pushing," he said. "It gives the employee a lot more control over the time when they can view their info and the ease with which they can
access it."
The online system was scheduled to be implemented in January 2007 but was delayed twice, Arruti said.
"Banner underwent a major upgrade from version six to version seven, so a decision was made to postpone our go-live to July," he said. "I did a full assessment of the project and recommended that we go-live in January 2008 instead of July."
Once implemented, the banner system will give employees online access to pay stubs, tax withholding changes and direct-deposit account management, Arruti said.
Processing hours and employment status changes will also be submitted online and approved via LoboWeb, he said.
Banner will make the University's payroll system more effective, Abeyta said.
However, she said the system will be strict with deadlines because payroll will be processed by computer.
"At 5:01 p.m. on the Monday, that payroll is due - banner shuts down," she said. "If you miss your deadline, it doesn't matter if you bring me biscochitos and a bottle of wine - there's nothing I
can do."
Abeyta said banner reopens after four days, and hours that were not entered on time can then be submitted.
Employees will be paid two business days after late hours have been submitted, she said.
In order to prevent breakdowns, the project's team will have two trial runs in October, said Antoinette Willis, a team leader for the project.
"The key component is paying people, paying them accurately and paying them on time," she said. "The trial runs will test the system out to make sure that all that happens."
The first trial requires departments to enter payroll information into the current system and the banner system to analyze banner's performance, Willis said.
The second trial will test banner for security and employment status changes, she said.
Arruti said the system will have problems, but developers will make it work.
"We will have issues," he said. "This is an ongoing implementation. Even after we go live, we are committed to making improvements to make this system work for the University of New
Mexico."
