March 5, 2020

To: UCPath Users
From: David Marshall, Executive Vice Chancellor
  Garry Mac Pherson, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services
Re: UCPath Users Desk Manual

 

In September 2018, the campus launched UCPath to replace its former Payroll and Personnel system (PPS). The new system centralizes business systems and administrative operations of payroll, academic personnel, timekeeping, and human resources across the UC system. UCPath introduced a new way of conducting business, changing practices that had been part of the UC Santa Barbara culture for more than 35 years. The transition to UCPath has presented many challenges, and we are grateful to colleagues across the campus for helping to improve our performance with the UCPath system through a program of training and continuous knowledge sharing. To assist in this effort, Administrative Services has released a new resource: the UCPath Users Desk Manual.

An ad hoc committee of staff administrators and analysts, chosen from diverse areas across the entire campus, created the UCPath Users Desk Manual. Committee members brought to this project a knowledge of the former PPS system, experience with the functionality of UCPath, and an in-depth understanding of our payroll practices and policies. To create the UCPath Users Desk Manual, the committee collected existing resources, wrote new step-by-step job aids, and shared checklists they developed which outlined departmental processes that address UCPath actions and departmental processes.

The UCPath Users Desk Manual is intended to be an ever-changing resource that can supplement the primary training and other resource materials provided by UCPath and our central offices. It is designed to serve as a primary portal combining resources found on various campus websites and an assortment of tools where users may look up unfamiliar procedures or refresh their command of more complicated multi-step processes that may be infrequently performed. Users also will find solutions for problems with common pay issues as well as less frequent challenges, such as default account errors.

We believe that the UCPath Users Desk Manual will help to enhance the proficiency of UCPath users, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of campus business processes. We encourage you to explore its contents and to share any job aid, step-by-step instruction, or checklist that your department has created so that the UCPath Users Desk Manual will continue to evolve. We are grateful for the dedication, determination, and beyond-the-call-of-duty contributions of the committee that came together to provide this important resource for the campus community. Thank you.