Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Shared Services?
Shared Services is the consolidation and streamlining of an organization’s administrative support functions, such as payroll, benefits and accounts payable, into a “Shared Services Center” to ensure the most efficient and effective service delivery possible.
What is ADP?
ADP is Automatic Data Processing, Inc. and is the company that the Board of Regents has contracted with to implement a system wide payroll, benefits, and time and labor system.
How does this affect me?
Beginning in August 2009, all payrolls will be processed using the ADP system. We will be using their time & attendance system, the change management process for payroll, and all other payroll processing functions. All faculty, staff and students will be assigned a new employee number. There will be a new way to record time worked and vacation and sick time.
Many services that required a visit or phone call to the payroll/benefits office will be available online such as change of address, and benefits. However, there will continue to be help available in the payroll offices at One Park Place.
When is the ADP/Shared Services model going live?
The Shared Services office for the University System of Georgia is located in Sandersville, Georgia and should be open for business in August 2009.
When are the training classes for this project?
We are currently in the “parallel” testing phase of the project and have given training to the College of Education, Facilities Management Services and Police employees. A calendar of training times, open forums, and open classrooms will be sent to you the week of June 22, 2009.
The new payroll system brings with it a new vocabulary. A few of the acronyms that you will hear on a regular basis are:
BOSS Benefits: The BOSS (Benefit Outsource System Solution) module allows employees to enter or update benefit specific data. It will allow the employee to electronically make elections, add and delete dependents, and other family status changes. We anticipate that Open Enrollment will be “online” this year.
ESS (Employee Self Service): This module is the part of the system that will allow the employee to view their benefits, make changes to their home address, review their on-line pay information, and W-2 printing at the end of 2009.
EV5: This is the actual “Enterprise Version” software that is used for processing of the payroll.
MSS (Manager Self Service): This module will allow the manager the options to hire, make data changes on an existing employee, initiate retirement, and terminations. It is controlled by a security table and has workflow associated with it.
What is eTIME?
eTIME is the module in the ADP system that provides a way for an employee to record time and attendance electronically. We will use eTIME to replace paper time sheets. The data will be stored electronically. Timesheets remain available to be viewed for any date range that was captured in the system.
The eTIME system will also be used by monthly (exempt) faculty and staff to record their sick and vacation time.
How will the time recording for police be handled?
For the police department, schedules will be used and overtime will be added as required.
Explain floating holidays.
In the police department there were police personnel who had to work an actual holiday when the university was closed. The employee was given a year from the date of the holiday to take off an alternate day. In the new system, there will be another way to handle those who work on a holiday. The way that it will be handled is that the person will be paid for the holiday 8.0 hours and paid 8.0 regular hours. In essence, the employee will receive double-time for the holiday worked. This will not be overtime. Employees will have until the end of calendar year 2009 to take any accumulated floating holidays.
How will students record their time?
Students can be set up to record their time worked via the computer time stamp, bio-metric time clock, typing the time on an electronic time sheet. The manner in which the employee will enter their time is based upon departmental specifications and the job(s) the employee works.
There will be six different groups of employees categorized on how they record their time.
1) Non-exempt benefited “time sheet” people will access a pre-populated time sheet that will display 8 hours for each day. The employee will only have to record exceptions (including when they work over the pre-populated 8 hours for that day) and approve the sheet.
2) Time clock employees are those employees who actually use the bio-metric clock to record their time.
3) Timestamp employees, also known as Kiosk employees, are those who use a link on a secure web site to record their clocking “in” and “out” time. Some employees may also have the ability to transfer between departments, view, edit, and/or approve their time card. Only computers that have certain IP addresses will be allowed to record the time punch.
4) Hourly View employees will manually type in their in and out punches in their time sheet.
5) Exempt employees are those who are automatically paid each month. This group only has to use eTIME to record vacation and/or sick hours.
6) Faculty members are paid automatically each month that they are contracted to work. They only need to use eTIME to record vacation and/or sick hours.
During ESS registration, I am asked for my Social Security number. Is the ADP site secure?
Yes, ADP is a secure site. It uses encryption to ensure that your information is safe. During the ESS registration process the information entered by the employee is secured through Netsecure. Netsecure is the technology underlying all ADP NAS Portal applications and it combines with Internet Security Infrastructure known as “iSI”. The “iSI” ensures that our client's sensitive information, such as payroll data, associate data and report data is protected from those who should not have access to it.
Who puts in the initial schedule for people? How do I get a schedule changed once it is in the system?
The ADP-GSU implementation team in consultation with GSU departments set up the initial schedules. If a change is needed, an employee should contact their supervisor who can notify the payroll department of the required change.
Please explain the rounding rules.
The payroll system is set up so that when employees clock “in” and “out” they will be paid in quarter hour increments. This means that if you came in at 7:07 a.m., you’ll be paid by your time either rounding back to 7:00 a.m. or rounding forward to 7:15 a.m. You will be given a 7 minute “grace period”. When your punch falls within the “grace period” your pay rounds back to the beginning of that 15 minute period. However, if your punch does not fall within the “grace period”, you’ll be paid by the punch rounding to the next 15 minute increment. These rounding rules will apply to “in” and “out” punches.
Will the timeliness of payroll deposits be the same? Will I receive an email to notify me that my money has been sent to my bank account?
If an employee is enrolled in direct deposit, they will continue to receive an email prior to the payroll date to notify them that funds have been deposited into their account.
For employees who are not enrolled in direct deposit, their paychecks will be mailed from the Alpharetta ADP office on the day of payroll.
How will I receive my paycheck if I do not have direct deposit?
We encourage all employees to use direct deposit. If direct deposit is not used, the paycheck will be mailed to the employee’s address on file from the ADP-Alpharetta office on the date of pay.
Can a manager edit and review the time entered by an employee on a regular basis?
Yes, an employee’s manager can review their employee’s time whenever they would like by entering the ADP portal and eTime.
How long will I continue to have access to “easyview”?
Easyview is part of a software product for Georgia State University that will continue to be used for disbursement of non-payroll deposits to employees. It will remain available for employees to view information about their payroll deposits for at least through the end of fiscal year 2010 and possibly longer.
Will I use the same employee ID number?
No. All employees will be assigned new employee ID numbers through ADP.
What date will leave accruals actually accrue for biweekly and monthly employees?
Leave will accrue for the 28th of the month for all employees.
What are the deadlines for approving and submitting time?
Supervisors should approve time by 9:00 am Monday for Bi-Weekly Employees. This will give PBH enough time to verify all approvals have been recorded before pulling the time into EV5.
How will extra compensations be processed?
Extra Compensation will continue to be processed using the Extra Compensation Form. We will look at automation options in Phase II of the project.
How do I handle making corrections after the payroll has been run?
If a time period has closed and adjustments need to be made, departments must submit a Historical Edit in writing. For non-exempt employees, the documentation submitted should be a Revised Timesheet. For exempt employees, a Revised Report of Absence form is needed to make any corrections.
