DALLAS, TX – The beginning of each semester is always a busy time for SMU’s HR office as they work to process large volumes of hire/rehire transactions for Adjunct Faculty and Students. The launch of the University’s Hire eForm in 2016 allowed processing of hire-related transactions in a fraction of the time that their manual processes had required.
Created with GT eForms, SMU’s PeopleSoft-based Hire form automates the University’s hire and rehire processes for students, faculty, and staff. The form manages the complex rules for each employee group, conditionally hiding and displaying the fields/segments required for each type of hire. Key elements of the form include conditionally-displaying the compensation fields relevant to each group such as “Contract Months” for faculty or “Hourly Wage” for students, then calculating the compensation based on the information entered. For example: for a faculty member who is paid $100,000 annually and selects to be paid over 9 months, the form automatically divides the annual salary by 9 to determine the monthly compensation and enters that in PeopleSoft. No need for the user to perform any of the calculations.
Other examples of built-in functionality for SMU’s Hire form include:
- Earnings distribution within the form allows the user to enter one or multiple distributions and automatically performs an edit check to ensure the distributions total 100%.
- For Adjunct Faculty, the form collects Course information that is used by the department approvers but isn’t updated in PeopleSoft.
- A File Load feature allows a user to upload an Excel template with hiring information for a group of employees which then auto-creates hire forms that route for approval and automatically update PeopleSoft in order to process large volumes of employees at the beginning of a semester.
In early 2018, SMU added a Separation form to their ePAF (electronic personnel action forms) solution to automate their employee separation/termination processes. The Separation eForm simplifies and manages a process that can include up to three discreet paths based on the actions required for the employee being separated. The first path (Separation) initiates the separation action, routes for approvals and triggers email notifications. If the employee owes any money to the University or requires corrections to their leave balance, the form automatically triggers a second path (Clearance) once HR authorizes the initial form request. When this path is completed, Payroll can manually update the employee’s last paycheck as necessary. The third path (Rehire Eligibility) records the employee’s eligibility to be re-hired. Again, when the initial approvals on the Separation Form are complete, the form will route to the Associate Vice President and CHRO for review and approval of rehire eligibility.
Screenshot of SMU’s Separation eForm
