BUworks Upcoming Communications & New Online Community User Forum
Business Owner Leads, Readiness Leaders and Power Users This is a follow-up to...
BUworks Upcoming Communications & New Online Community User Forum
Business Owner Leads, Readiness Leaders and Power Users
This is a follow-up to keep you posted on the upcoming release of the new BUworks Online Community Forum.
What is it?
This tool is being implemented in response to requests from the Readiness Leader and Power User Community. The BUworks Online Community Forum is an online discussion board for users to be able to share questions and knowledge with other users related to BUworks/SAP. Like most online forum tools, it will start with a set of initial posts and grow as the community contributes.
The technology framework used to provide this online forum is an application called Get Satisfaction. It has been customized for BU by adding classification categories users can utilize when submitting questions/posts for easier organizing and information access.
This online forum will not be a substitute for IS&T help or BUworks support requests through ServiceNow tickets. Nor is it an exclusive BUworks forum to be administered solely by the BUworks support team. It is also not intended to replace BUworks led training, workshops, reference materials and detailed transactional work instructions. This is a tool for all users to be able to share questions and knowledge.
What is your role in support of this new communication tool?
We hope that in your role as a business leader, Readiness Leader and/or Power User, you will assist in monitoring activity on the board and contribute when appropriate. Over time, the BUworks Online Community Forum will help us collectively identify knowledge gaps and keep a pulse on the needs of our community.
Who will have access?
This tool will be available to all users across the University –Users of Employee Self Service and all current BUworks functionality.
When will it be available?
- Soft-Launch/Pilot – Feb. 23, 2012
For BUworks team, Business Owner teams and a representative sample of Readiness Leaders and Power Users to test and initial start the information flow. - Available to all Users – Feb. 28, 2012
How will I access and use?
- On Wed. Feb 22nd Soft-Launch participants will receive a link and instructions closely aligned with the soft-launch forum opening
- All Users will receive a link and instructions for the full opening on Tues Feb. 28th, 2012
The online forum tool is intuitive and organic in nature –as users submit questions/posts and other users respond the content and community knowledge sharing will grow.
Questions Prior to Launch?
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have on this new communication tool. Thank you!
OM Form Enhancements Training with Integrated OpenHire Functionality
Payroll Coordinators and Managers–
BUworks will be implementing several enhancements to the Create/Maintain/Delimit Position forms in early March. The BUworks Training team will conduct webinars and instructor-led labs on both the CRC and BUMC campuses. These training sessions are intended for employees who complete Organizational Management (OM) forms today via the Manager Self-Service and Payroll Coordinator tabs on the BUworks Central portal.
What Will Be Covered:
The training sessions will cover:
- Organizational Management form enhancements – changes to the Create Position and Maintain Position Changes tabs
- OpenHire functionality is integrated into the OM forms (i.e., option to post to HR website with position description information). If the candidate is hired through the posting and online application, information will be imported into the Hiring form.
- Relabeling of existing fields and additional new fields for improved usability
- Adding attachments to the create, maintain and delimit position forms
Register Today:
Webinar and lab sessions will cover the same material. Register for one session only. Space is limited.
Note: Please register for one session only.
Webinars: (90 min.)
Register for OM Form Enhancements Webinar
Instructor-led Labs: (2 hours)
Register for OM Form Enhancements Lab (CRC)
Register for OM Form Enhancements Lab (BUMC)
Reference Materials:
Online reference documents will be available when the enhancements are implemented:
- An overview and description of the changes to the OM forms
- Specific, step-by step “quick reference guides” on how to complete the forms
Questions:
If you have questions regarding the registration process, please contact Victor Botvinnik at 617-358-6850.
February-March: Upcoming Activities and BUworks Community Forum
Readiness Leaders and Power Users—
This is a note to provide you advanced notice on a few of the communications being worked on for February and March. Based on a number of inputs from the Power User Community, a few new tools for communication are being prepared for release this month. We are collaborating with BU Marketing & Communications on these communications, including the new BUworks Community Forum highlighted below.
Coming Soon….
February:
- Email from BU Today – You will receive an announcement for an live video event scheduled later this month (Live Video Event: Community Q&A with BUworks). This email will be sent to all University Users. (2/13/12)
- Enhanced BUworks Homepage– Enhancements are being released to the BUworks homepage to provide information in a more user friendly format. (2/27/12)
- Live Video Event: Community Q&A with BUworks– This is an online panel discussion that will be moderated by Dean Kenn Elmore. The online discussion will give the BU Community an opportunity to get questions answered and to introduce the new BUworks Community Forum. (2/28/12)
- New Online BUworks Community Forum–This new online forum is being released to provide a way for users across the University to ask questions, easily share information, and provide one another with useful tips and techniques for using SAP and understanding business processes. (2/28/12)
March:
- BUworks Progress Report– This report will provide an up to date status of BUworks and progress expected in the near future. (3/6/12)
- March CRC Summit Update Meeting (Agenda and schedule will be forthcoming) – As with previous summits, this event for Readiness Leaders and Power Users will provide updates and information to help you stay current and be prepared for the future.
- March BUMC User Forum Update Meeting (Agenda and schedule will be forthcoming) – Similar to the update provided in the February 1 Forum, information previously covered in monthly summits will be included as part of the weekly forum and workshop series at BUMC.
Best Regards,
Rich Janis DBA, MBA, MEd
Boston University
BUworks Organizational Change Management
1010 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Office: 617-358-6065
2011 W-2 Statements to Mail January 31, 2012
All employees who have been on the University payroll during 2011 will receive a W-2 Wage and Tax Statement listing their 2011 earnings as reported to the Internal Revenue Service. W-2s will be mailed to employee’s home addresses (as listed in Employee Self-Service) no later than January 31, 2012.
In the future, we plan to have W-2 statements online and easily accessible through the BUworks Central portal. If you have questions or need assistance on W-2s, please contact BU Payroll at 617-353-2270 or e-mail bupay@bu.edu.
Sam Arcidy
Boston University Payroll
Update on the Effort Certification Process
A brief update on the status of the Effort Certification process for employees working on Sponsored Programs/Grants.
- Update on the status of the Effort Certification process - A. Horner/K. Weeden January 27 2012
BUworks Update: Changes to Leave of Absence (LOA) Form
We will be implementing relatively minor enhancements to the Leave of Absence Form on Wednesday, Jan. 25. The form field specifying the type of leave has been modified to make it easier to indicate leave status. The form changes are illustrated below.
After Jan. 25 changes
If you have any questions on the LOA form changes, please contact Paulomi Joshi at 8-6063 paulomi@bu.edu.
Sincerely,
Shridhar Kulkarni
Director, Human Capital Management
BUworks
Installation Of Support Packs Completed Dec. 29
The testing and installation of support packs has been completed as scheduled and both the BUworks Central portal and SAP GUI are available for use. Support packs are cumulative sets of software updates provided by SAP on a regular basis, and the majority of users will notice no change.
After installation and testing, we are now able to provide compatibility with the most current versions of web browsers; Mozilla Firefox 9.0 and Internet Explorer 9. Although you are not required to upgrade your browser, we do recommend you upgrade to one of the above versions to take advantage of enhanced security features. The IS&T website has up-to-date information on web browser requirements for BUworks SAP.
We do not expect any system responsiveness issues as a result of the support pack implementation, However, if you do experience problems, please contact the IT Help Center at 617-353-4357, or submit a ticket online.
SAP will be Off-line Dec. 26-29 for Scheduled Maintenance
SAP will be off-line Monday, December 26, 5:00 p.m. through Thursday, December 29, 8:00 a.m. as BUworks completes the installation and testing of support packs. The BUworks Central portal and SAP GUI will be unavailable during this time. This work has been scheduled over Intersession to minimize impact on the University.
Additional information on support pack implementation, system availability, and benefits to you, is included in the Dec. 21 BUworks Update.
Enhancements to MSS Request Tracking Application
Based on feedback from managers, payroll coordinators, and financial administrators who use the MSS Request Tracking application to monitor the status of HR, Payroll, and financial transactions, BUworks will release enhancements to the MSS Request Tracking application on December 21. These changes, noted below, are designed to improve performance and usability.
Previously, all BUworks transactions that were submitted since July 1, 2011 (go-live) were displayed in a user’s tracking window at login. This often resulted in slow response times and cumbersome scrolling for specific, recently submitted transactions.
- Request Tracking will now display all transactions for a rolling 30-day period. Only the transactions initiated in the last 30 days from the user’s current login date will be loaded and displayed.
- Users will still have the ability to search for transactions that are older than 30 days by entering a tracking number or by searching by dates and/or request type.
Please note: Open searches with no dates, tracking number, or request type are not recommended, because this may slow down system performance when a user has many historical transactions available. - Also, ten rows of transactions will be displayed in Request Tracking instead of the five rows that were previously displayed.
If you have questions about these changes, please submit a Help Desk ticket and a BUworks representative will respond as soon as possible.
Scott Forrester
Director, HCM Business Process Support
BUworks
Thank You BUworks Focus Group Participants
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you to everyone who participated in the BUworks Training focus groups last week. We believe that in your role as Power Users and Readiness Leaders, you have unique insight into the specific training needs of your organization. We had strong support, with 75 people participating. Both focus groups were engaged and provided valuable input on our plans to streamline online work instructions and courses, improve online help search capabilities and enhance Power User development.
Your input was captured and is being shared with Program Leadership. We also plan to share outcomes of the focus groups with you and other Readiness Leaders and Power users in January. Many of the suggestions provided are in process and you can expect to see improvements released beginning this January. Once again, thank you for your time and continued support of BUworks.
Sincerely,
Rich Janis
Director, Organizational
Change Management
BUworks
Cleon McClure
Training Lead
BUworks