SHARP-Shooter December 2002

SHARP 8.0 Steering Committee Proud of Team Effort

By the SHARP Upgrade Steering Committee
Dale Brunton, Director, Division of Accounts and Reports
Bobbi Mariani, Director, Division of Personnel Services
Bruce Roberts, Director, Division of Information Systems and Communications

Greetings from the SHARP 8.0 Upgrade Steering Committee! We are pleased that the change management team has offered us the opportunity to send our thanks out to all of you readers of the SHARP-SHOOTER who attended the agency outreach meetings held over the last month, and to everyone who will be involved in coming months in making this project a success. We’d also like to congratulate the project team for an outstanding effort above and beyond their regular duties. Thanks to their hard work over the last six months, the upgrade project is on time and scheduled to complete the first cycle of System Test at the end of December.

As directors of the primary divisions in the Department of Administration that are providing financial and staff resources to the project, we have met on a weekly basis since early 2002 to discuss planning and strategies for implementation of the upgrade. Although you may not be aware of it, our staff has actually been evaluating the new software in one form or another since March 2001! However, in June of this year, our relationship to the project became more formal as we joined together to form the official steering committee for the project to upgrade SHARP to PeopleSoft v8.0.

The duties of a steering committee are varied. The State’s Information Technology Project Management Methodology (http://da.state.ks.us/kito/Rel23/) outlines the roles that a steering committee performs throughout the life of a project. During the current “execution” phase, these roles are outlined as: Regularly conduct executive management reviews/steering committee meetings, approve changes (if any) to the project plan, review risk mitigation plans and act on project manager recommendations, review/approve changes in contract commitments, and review/approve project deliverables.

In practice, we are involved in these tasks and more. Recently, we each presented at agency informational meetings, including trips to meet many of you in Salina and Wichita. We enjoyed getting the chance to hear your questions, and to witness our project team members in action as they presented the latest information about how the upgrade will impact agency HR/Payroll/IT staff and employees. These presentations were very favorably received, and we are all looking forward to another round of meetings next spring where we provide more specific information about the details of the implementation and gather more of your questions and comments.

Another significant role for us is in support of the project director, Duncan Friend. He works frequently with us both as a group and individually on everything from resolving project issues to scheduling a mid-project pizza party! But, most importantly, we are here to make sure that the decisions made are customer-centered, and result in the most successful implementation possible.

Of course, for the upgrade project to be a success, we’ll be depending not only on the project team members assigned from the Department, but on all of you as well. SHARP is a statewide system, and we are keenly aware of the importance of communication, change management, and training to make sure it meets the needs of all its customers, both here in the Department and statewide. Each of us brings a different perspective to the committee, but we all share in common a desire to enhance the services that this system provides, and to make the upgrade as smooth as possible. We appreciate your help in achieving this goal, and thank you again for being part of the team!

Discretionary Holiday for 2002 and 2003

Agencies should remind eligible employees who have not yet used their 2002 discretionary holiday they have until December 21, 2002 to use it. Since the majority of the state workforce is off on Saturday, for most employees, the last day to use this holiday is Friday, December 20, 2002.

The 2003 discretionary holiday balances for employees who are eligible to receive a discretionary holiday will be updated via a nightly batch program. The program will run once during the December 22, 2002 to January 4, 2003 pay period. As a reminder, the program will increase eligible employees’ balances by 24 hours in order to cover those employees whose regularly scheduled workday is longer than eight hours.

This does not mean the employees have three eight-hour discretionary days. An employee is still limited to using the discretionary holiday on only one day. The employee’s check stub will display a “DD” if the employee has a balance. Once the “day” has been used (whether 4, 8, 12, or any amount up to a 24-hour day), the “DD” is removed from the check stub and the balance in the SHARP system is reduced to zero.

Leave Accrual Schedule 2003

The Leave Accrual Schedule for 2003 can be found on the SHARP Customer Service web site: http://da.state.ks.us/sharp look for "Leave Accrual Schedule 2003" under the Documents section. Note: Dates are subject to change.

Paycheck and Advice Changes

Two significant changes affecting paycheck and paycheck advices will occur with the upgrade to SHARP 8.0. These changes involve the appearance and content of the paycheck and advice and the availability of paycheck information.

The appearance of paychecks and advices will change and more detailed information will be included than is currently provided. A copy of a facsimile check is shown on the next page. The following summarizes the changes:

The number of earnings lines displayed will increase from 7 to 12. A more complete description of each earning type will display. If there are more than 12 earnings lines, excess lines will roll up and display as “other”.
Taxes will be displayed separately from deductions.
Deductions will be split into before tax and after tax categories with each category displayed separately.
Up to 12 deductions will be displayed. If there are more than 12 deduction, excess deductions will roll up and display as “other”.
Employer paid benefits (contributions) will be displayed. These currently are not shown.
A maximum of 4 leave types will be displayed. The order in which leave types will be displayed is: vacation, vacation overage, sick, comp time, holiday comp time, discretionary day, and military leave (displays only when used).
New data fields are included: pay group, business unit, location, job title, and rate of pay.

Paycheck information and leave balances will be available on the Internet through the SHARP self-service functionality. Employees, except those at the Regents’ Institutions, will be able to view and print this information on Monday of payday weeks. Through this process, employees will be able to see this information several days prior to receiving their paycheck or advice. Unlike the printed paychecks and advices, there are no limitations on the number of earnings, deductions, and leave balances that can be displayed on-line so all will be displayed. Paychecks and advices will continue to be printed and mailed under the same schedule that is currently used.

Agency Meetings

In November, the Change Management Team sponsored agency meetings in Topeka, Salina and Wichita. More than 400 people attended the meetings, which discussed the SHARP upgrade from PeopleSoft 7.0 to 8.0 in June of 2003.

The team presented information on various topics. The audience heard about many of the changes they can expect in the upgrade, such as terminology and page names, paychecks will contain more detailed information, and that Personal Data will become effective dated. The Agency Readiness Checklist was reviewed and employee self-service features in PeopleSoft 8.0 discussed. A new portal page was also previewed.

Since SHARP 8.0 will be via the Internet, security was emphasized and new technical requirements described. Each session ended with a demonstration of the new computer-based training (CBT) being designed for the upgrade. The new CBT’s will be easier to read with improved navigation and links to reference documents. The presentation, handouts, and CBT demo are posted at
http://da.state.ks.us/sharp/documents/UpgradeMeetingNov7-20.htm.

The Change Management Team will present another round of agency meetings in the spring. Look for information about these meetings in future issues of the SHARP-SHOOTER.

Recently Issued Informational Circulars

The Payroll Section of the Division of Accounts and Reports has recently issued several informational circulars that may affect your agency or your employees. These circulars are as follows:
03-P-018 Change in 2003 Social Security Base Rate
03-P-021 Employee Taxability of State-Owned Vehicles
03-P-022 2003 Federal Withholding Tax Rates
03-P-023 2002 Calendar Year-End Processing Schedule
03-P-026 Deduction and Earnings Information

The informational circulars can be accessed on the Division of Accounts and Reports web site at http://da.state.ks.us/ar/infocirc.

Readiness Checklist Reminder

The first submission of the Agency Readiness Checklist is due by January 10, 2003. Agencies should return the completed form to Doug Quinn. The completed form can be emailed to SHARPCM@da.state.ks.us, faxed to (785) 296-1168, or mailed to DISC, Attention: Doug Quinn, Landon State Office Building, Room 751-S, Topeka, KS 66612.

A copy of the checklist can be found at http://da.state.ks.us/sharp/

Notice:

If your computer is set up with the State Outlook e-mail, you can select SHARP Change Management from the Global Address Book and send any questions about the upgrade there. Otherwise send e-mail to SHARPCM@da.state.ks.us .

Attention:

Stay up-to-date on the latest information about the SHARP upgrade by signing up for the SHARP information list at: http://da.state.ks.us/sharp/infolist.htm .

Please inform all SHARP users about this important list!

SHARP Customer Service Web Page:

http://da.state.ks.us/sharp

PeopleSoft 8.0 Free Pre-Class Tutorial

http://www.psknowledgecenter.com/af/peoplesoft/my/preclass.html