On Nov. 25, the University of Louisville began using web-based time sheets. The process to switch to digital began in June, when the work group first met, and took about 6 weeks to develop and launch.
It was soft launched initially with the College of Education and the offices of the Provost and Finance/Controller. There were some hiccups, but they’ve been worked out relatively quickly, said Melissa Long Shuter, executive director of Business Operations.
UofL had planned to move to a web-based time sheet system in the winter, but the effort was expedited because of the new FSLA regulations issued by the Obama administration.
“We were going to do this anyway, but we escalated it out of respect for all of the employees affected by the FSLA transition (which took place earlier this month),” Shuter said.
However, the move to a web-based system was a necessity for reasons beyond this change, Shuter said.
“We’re a $1.2 billion institution. We need this because it improves consistency and availability of time worked by our hourly employees,” she said. “It’s a huge improvement to what we had before, when people would lose their time sheets or get involved in a long email conversation about their time sheet.
“More importantly, this is far more secure of a system in regards to sensitive data.”
In the first official biweekly cycle of being live, more than 1,900 time sheets were submitted via the new system. Since Dec. 8, more than 2,300 time sheets were created.
Business Operations has so far conducted about 30 information sessions to get employees, supervisors and time keepers up to speed on the new system. Shuter said they’ll continue to host these sessions as needed, adding that the reaction has been “very positive.”
“This solution is even mobile-enabled, so our student assistants appreciate it too,” she said. “It’s a huge improvement across the board.”
By the numbers:
- As of 10 a.m. on Dec. 8, there were 2,342 timesheets created.
- 86 percent of regular staff created web-based timesheets in the first biweekly cycle.
- Seven VP/Dean units had above 95 percent participation by their regular staff: Advancement, SVPFA, Community Engagement*, Law School*, University Libraries, College of Business, and Dental School. (*achieved 100 percent regular staff participation).
