Longwood is currently adopting a new payroll system that will alter when students are paid through student employment and track the hours worked with the conversion of payroll in process, according to Reggie Marsh, human resources information system and administrative services manager.
Additionally, according to Marsh, Longwood has already implemented the change to the Cardinal system for student accounts, and is adapting its payroll.
Marsh explained that students will now be paid every other week, instead of monthly, after receiving feedback from the student programs.
These changes will affect roughly one in nine students directly, as 514 out of Longwood’s approximately 4,600 students are employed by the university; the largest group being the approximately one hundred and forty students employed at Aramark Dining through Dorrill Dining Hall.
Additionally, the current payroll system, the Commonwealth Integrated Payroll Personnel System (CIPPS), is being replaced by Cardinal, according to Marsh.
According to Marsh, Cardinal is the system currently used by the government of the state of Virginia and it’s agencies.
“There was a massive system conversion effort sponsored by the Department of Accounts (DOA) for all Commonwealth agencies (including Longwood University) to convert to an enterprise financial administration and reporting system,” Marsh explained, “this was complete in February 2016.”
The payroll conversion started this semester and is currently underway and expected to be completed by Fall 2018, Marsh stated.
According to Grant Avent, general manager of dining services, the changes have already been completed within dining services, which is run through Aramark.
“I think it’ll make them a whole lot happier. I know I would be happier getting paid every other week instead of once a month,” Avent said.
“The bi-weekly pay is beneficial to the students,” said Derek Robertson, student program manager for student dining services.
Robertson added that there has been one small drawback with the new system.
“The only problem with the change is since we don’t have the timesheets to sign they have to put all their times in through myLongwood,” Robertson said. “Sometimes students forget and they won’t get paid for that period.”
According to Robertson, the dining hall student staff workers have been paid three times thus far with the new system.
“On average, out of the one hundred thirty, one hundred forty students we have maybe five to ten have made a mistake and not submitted their timesheets,” Robertson noted.
According to Marsh, there are additional benefits to changing over the systems.
“The main reason for the conversion is due to CIPPS will lose vendor software support in May 2018,” Marsh said. “Other benefits include robust financial management processes, improved data capture, powerful financial and operational reporting capabilities.”
The new system will also be paperless and operate through myLongwood. Physical records will no longer have to be kept and stored, according to Marsh.
Students will be able to record their hours worked in a new tab in myLongwood, and supervisors will be able to virtually verify those hours, Marsh said.
“The student web time entry and approvals are utilized through the myLongwood website and captured in the Banner INB system tables,” Marsh noted. “A process runs in the Banner system to export the data into a file which can then be loaded into the Cardinal system.
The Cardinal system integrates the financial and payroll data within itself where in the past they were separate.”
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