Key Changes and Enhancements Resulting from UCPath

• Replaced UCSF's previous Payroll and Personnel System (PPS) as of June 2020.
• Replaced most functions previously provided by At Your Service Online (AYSO).
• UCPath online provides 24/7 online access to view and manage benefits, W-2s and earnings statements, personal information, and more.
• UCPath Center in Riverside is a shared services center for UC systemwide that issues paychecks, completes/approves many transactions, and provide support for UCPath online. 

UCPath introduces new concepts and data structures. Terminology changes, additional attributes, and new values are used to describe human resources and payroll elements.

• Position Management is the common thread that binds job, funding, and organizational details. An employee associated with a Position creates a unique Job.
  • Position
    • Represents a filled or vacant role in a department. 
    • Reflect department organizational hierarchy.
    • Has a unique Position Number.
    • Maintains attributes that define the nature of the work (department, job code, FTE, reports to supervisor, funding distribution, etc.).
    • Departments do not create Positions in UCPath directly; departments use PeopleConnect Management Actions to create and update Positions.
  • Person record
    • Maintains attributes unique to the individual (name, ID, contact information)
  • Job record
    • Stores attributes unique to the incumbent who is filling the position (compensation, expected end date, etc.).

To learn more about positions, take the 20-minute online course UCPath Position Basics and Funding Entry Concepts  . This course is intended for department managers, administrators, and anyone interested in learning more about key UCPath concepts. Users will encounter these concepts when submitting PeopleConnect Management Actions, performing funding entry and salary cost transfers in UCPath, or reviewing payroll and human resources data in MyReports and other enterprise reports.

UCPath introduces new terminology. Terminology changes, additional attributes, and new values are used to describe human resources and payroll elements. Use the UCPath Glossary to look up common terms and acronyms.

The Bridge Center was established to provide temporary support for the UCSF community as we transitioned to UCPath. It leveraged UCSF subject matter experts from human resources, payroll and information technology to provide support for UCPath to the UCSF community. You could contact The Bridge Center if you had trouble completing a self-service action; you had a question about your paycheck, benefits, or something you see in UCPath online; or if hadn't received your paycheck or W-2. Help was available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except on University holidays.

Effective October 5, 2020, UCPath support for UCSF departments and employees transitioned from The Bridge Center back to familiar human resources, benefits, payroll, and IT channels. Refer to the Get Help page to find a contact to address your UCPath related question.  

All active UCSF employees will receive a new UCPath Employee ID number.

• Your UCPath ID number is displayed in UCPath online, on paychecks and earnings statements, and on enterprise reports.
• Your UCSF ID number (begins with '02') is not being eliminated.
  • Continue to use your UCSF ID number for local identification and system access.
  • Continue to use your ID badge; a new badge with your UCPath ID is not needed.

The UCPath Center will issue paychecks for UC employees systemwide.

New look for paychecks and earnings statements

You can view your earnings statements (online paystub  ) since go-live in the UCPath online portal; statements are available at least one day before pay day. Job aids are available that explain how to read your biweekly  or monthly   UCPath earnings statement.

• Your new UCPath ID number appears in UCPath online, and on paychecks and earnings statements. 
• More and different earnings codes are displayed on your paycheck, earnings statement and in UCPath online.
• Calculations and deductions have been standardized across the UC system. UCPath uses industry-standard, automated calculations for payroll deductions and withholding. This may result in minor differences in some cases for gross and net income totals, tax withholding, or voluntary deductions. Read the Paycheck Calculation Differences Between UCPath and PPS   quick reference guide for more details. 
• Year-to-date totals for 2020 will reflect only what has been processed since UCPath implementation. To determine your true year-to-date totals for 2020, add the year-to-date totals in UCPath to those shown in your last 2020 pay statement available in At Your Service Online (AYSO). 
• Leave balances are no longer displayed on your pay statement. You can view leave accrual and balances   in HBS or in UCPath online; viewing leave in HBS is recommended. Leave accrual rates have not changed.

Direct deposit

You can add, change or delete direct deposit in the UCPath online portal.

• With UCPath, you have the added flexibility to create up to three financial institution destinations to distribute your pay. All U.S. banks/credit unions participating in the ACH Network are available for direct deposit. You can disperse funds using percentages (e.g. 60% in Acct A, 40% in Acct B) or by sequencing (e.g. 10% in Acct A, $500 in Acct B, balance in Acct C). Wage garnishments do not count as one of the three direct deposit designations.
• Earnings statements will be available in UCPath one day before pay day. 
  • Earning statements for pay prior to go-live are available in At Your Service Online (AYSO).
• Email notification and mailing of printed earnings statements for direct deposit will no longer be provided.
• Direct deposit arrangements established in PPS prior to April 24, 2020 were migrated to UCPath at go-live.

Credit union deductions

The previous PPS practice which allowed credit union members to have payroll deductions for a specific purpose is no longer available. This is not the same as a direct deposit into a credit union account. If you previously had credit union payroll deductions, you must create a new direct deposit within UCPath and you may want to consult with your credit union.

Paper paychecks

Elections to receive paper paychecks were maintained at go-live, but receipt of paper paychecks will take longer.

• Paychecks are distributed by the UCPath Center. Paper paychecks cannot be picked up locally.
• Paper paychecks will be mailed to the employee's home address.
• Receipt of paper paychecks will depend on delivery by the U.S. Postal Service and may take several days.
• All employees are encouraged to sign up for direct deposit to avoid mail delivery delays and have your pay in your bank account on payday.

Form W-2 and 1095-C for 2020

Most employees will receive two W-2s and two 1095-C forms for 2020 earnings; one for earnings before UCPath went live (available in At Your Service Online) and one for earnings after UCPath went live (available in UCPath online). Form 1095-C for benefits received after the UCPath transition will not be available electronically and will be mailed. 

Employees who retire during 2020 will also receive a 1099-R for retirement income and retirement plan distributions.

The deadline to sign up for electronic delivery of 2020 W-2s for pay received through UCPath is January 15, 2021. Sign into UCPath and navigate to: Employee Actions > Income and Taxes > Enroll to Receive Online W-2. All 2020 W-2s for pay received prior to UCPath implementation will be delivered following your elections in At Your Service Online and can no longer be changed. 

Overtime Pay Calculations

Some employees who work overtime will see a change in shift differential pay amounts. UCPath correctly applies a blended rate to calculate premium overtime. An additional shift premium will no longer be calculated and paid.

Off-Cycle Pay

Off-cycle payroll processing refers to payroll paid on a cycle different than the employee's normal pay cycle.

• Processing of off-cycle payments will occur more frequently in UCPath and are not limited to the supplemental ("XX") pay compute as they were in PPS.
• Off-cycle payment defaults to an employee's standard method of pay (direct deposit or paper check).
• Off-cycle payroll requests must meet criteria established by the UCPath Center for off-cycle payroll processing. Eligible for off-cycle processing:
  • Employee missing significant portion of regular pay. 
  • Time not submitted due to department oversight.
  • Hire transaction not been entered into UCPath.
  • Final pay for represented employees and for involuntary termination of non-represented employees.
  • Situations requiring expedited payments due to legal contract or agreement, or financial hardship.
  • Other items are considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Items paid on next regular pay cycle (not off-cycle): retroactive pay due to promotion, mass wage increase, or lump sum payment.

Terminal Pay

Separated employees are not guaranteed to receive final pay within 72 hours and may receive it as part of their next regular pay date in their chosen pay method. Represented employees will receive final pay in accordance with their collective bargaining agreement.

Timekeeping

Timekeeping changes are minimal. You will use the same timekeeping systems (e.g. HBS, MedHub, paper timesheets, etc.) as you did before UCPath to submit timesheets, and to request leave and record leave usage. Managers continue to use the same systems to approve timesheets and leave requests.

• Biweekly timesheet submission and approval deadlines have changed. 
  • Deadline for employees to submit timesheets is midnight Sunday following the pay period end date.
  • Deadline for timesheet approvers is midnight Monday following the pay period end date.
  • Refer to the calendars and schedules   on the Controller's Office website for additional timekeeping schedules.
• Some HBS timesheets have minor field changes.
• Some HBS Pay Codes map to new UCPath Earn Codes
  • HBS Pay Codes that mapped to DOS code REG in PPS use Earn Codes in UCPath.
  • Different Earn Codes for salaried vs hourly employees, and for productive vs non-productive time.
• Employees with multiple positions need to select the correct position when entering time.
• UCPath will replace HBS as the official system of record for leave usage, accrual, and balances.  
  • UCPath will send leave accrual details and balances to HBS; some timing differences will occur.
  • Although you can view your leave balances in UCPath online, UCPath online will not include future committed leave and UCPath does not have the capability to correctly report leave accrual and balances for employees who receive their full accrual upon appointment. Leave balances shown in UCPath online for residents and clinical fellows will be incorrect.
  • Recommendation: view leave balances in HBS and MedHub or contact your department administrator.
• HBS reports for managers, management group owners and timesheet group owners have been updated to reflect UCPath data.

Leave, including extended leave, is automated and standardized in UCPath. 

• Vacation accrual maximums for some part-time employees are capped by the system at pro-rated limits. 
  • In alignment with policy and applicable labor contracts, part-time employees will no longer be able to accrue vacation in excess of applicable maximums. 
  • Employees will not lose any vacation they have already accrued.
• When an employee reaches their vacation accrual maximum, the department will continue to be charged VLA even if the employee does not get to take the time. 
• Departments and employees continue to use established methods for reporting extended leave (HR Umbrella, email, phone, etc.).
  • Extended leaves are recorded using the UCPath Absence Management module.
  • Extended leave transactions require entry by UCSF Human Resources, approval by the UCPath Center and data entry by the UCPath Center in Job Data to change payroll status. 
  • Timely communication of leaves to Human Resources is critical for processing in UCPath and to avoid overpayments.
    • The employee's ability to report time in HBS is linked to the employee's leave status in UCPath. Employees on unpaid leave cannot add hours to timesheets.  Their status must be updated upon return from leave to reactivate time reporting.
  • FMLA eligibility, including balance tracking based on FMLA leave usage recorded in HBS, is automatically determined in UCPath. Employees must select the correct pay codes. FMLA pay codes should only be used when an employee is on a Human Resources approved FMLA leave.
  • Benefits billing for extended leave is handled by the UCPath Center.

Routine benefits administration is now handled by the UCPath Center in Riverside.

• Routine activities include welcome kit distribution, enrollment, claims submissions and notifications.
• Employees will log into the UCPath online portal to enroll in benefits, review their benefits elections, and initiate a new life event.
• During an employee's Period of Initial Eligibility, once benefit elections are submitted, they become final and can only be changed by contacting the UCPath Center
• More complex benefit transactions will continue to be handled locally. Our local benefits office will still provide healthcare facilitator functions and disability coordination. 

Advance will continue to be the system of record for tracking sabbatical leave credits. Sabbatical leave credit balances were not migrated to UCPath. As a result, sabbatical leave credit balances displayed in UCPath online will be incorrect. 

Information prior to UCPath implementation

• To view information prior to implementation of UCPath at UCSF:
  • Use At Your Service Online (AYSO)   to view;
    • W2s for earnings paid through May 31, 2020.
    • Earnings statements for pay issued prior to June 1, 2020.
  • Use the new UC Retirement At Your Service (UCRAYS)   to:
    • View service credit and UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) benefits.
    • View and update beneficiary designations.
    • Review retirement estimates.

You will continue to initiate Management Actions in PeopleConnect.

• Management Action Forms have been modified to reflect new processes and to include new data elements required by UCPath.
  • New fields added for UCPath position management.
  • Changes in field names and values to reflect UCPath terminology: Earn Code replaces DOS Code, Job Code replaces Title Code.
  • Academic compensation relocated from Faculty Salary Calculator (FSC) worksheet to PeopleConnect forms.
  • Funding entry managed directly in UCPath. Funding fields related to salary, Funding Change Management Action Form, and Faculty Salary Calculator (FSC) Worksheet have been retired.
• Certain transactions require approval and processing by the UCPath Center before updates are committed to the system. 
  Some processing times have changed.
  • Submission deadlines are firm; there are no provisions for local exceptions.
  • Proactive advance planning for hiring and employee changes is necessary.
  • To mitigate onboarding delays in access provisioning, UCSF human resources will leverage the local identity management system (Hitachi ID) to establish UCSF employee ID number, facilitate door access requests, and enable creation of email address and processing of system access requests.
• Funding entry processes are streamlined using UCPath. 
  • Campus departments enter funding entry directly in UCPath. 
  • UCSF Health Human Resources will enter funding in UCPath based on PeopleConnect Management Actions submitted by UCSF Health departments. 
• A new salary cost transfer Management Action form   is available for use by UCSF Health. This form replaces the current Payroll Expense Transfer Uploader (PETU) form and process for UCPath generated salary and benefit expenses. 

Funding entry is the process of entering chartstring(s) into UCPath to indicate how to distribute costs for earnings and benefit expenses.

Campus

Campus funding entry processes have been streamlined using UCPath and are performed at the local department level.

• UCPath Funding Entry replaced the Magical PAF Machine (MPM) and PeopleConnect funding entry forms and fields for campus academic and staff funding identification.
• Funding Entry requires a department Initiator and Approver to complete all transactions.
  • Training is required for employees designated as a department Funding Entry Initiator and/or Approver.
• Chartstring validation during Funding Entry and the use of default distribution chartstrings will reduce the number of payroll suspense items.

UCSF Health

• UCSF Health managers will continue to identify funding source chartstrings on PeopleConnect Management Action forms.
• UCSF Health Human Resources will complete Funding Entry in UCPath.
• Chartstring validation during Funding Entry and the use of default distribution chartstrings will reduce the number of payroll suspense items.

A salary cost transfer is a reversal of payroll expenses (salary and benefits) charged to an original chartstring and a re-posting to a new chartstring. The UCPath salary cost transfer process will replace the Payroll Expense Transfer Uploader (PETU) form and related salary cost transfer processes for payroll expenses processed through UCPath.

• Departments will continue to be responsible for identifying and initiating salary corrections. You should continue to follow all pre-submission policies and guidelines for authorization and concurrence.
• Exceptional approvals required for high-risk transfers will be routed using UCPath.
• UCPath salary cost transfers will be posted to the general ledger more frequently than PETUs.
• Data will be visible in MyReports after posting to the general ledger.
• UCPath salary cost transfers can be completed up to the third business day of the following month to be reflected in the current open period.
• Corrections to salary for the months prior to go-live will continue to be submitted through September 2020 using a PETU and will be processed in PPS.

Campus

• Campus departments will enter salary cost transfers directly into UCPath.
• UCPath salary cost transfers will require a Department Initiator and Approver to authorize all transactions.
  • Training is required for employees designated as a Department Salary Cost Transfer Initiator and/or Approver.

UCSF Health

• UCSF Health departments will submit the new PeopleConnect Salary Cost Transfer Management Action form.
• UCSF Health Human Resources will enter the salary cost transfer in UCPath.

BrassRing will become the unified applicant tracking system across UCSF Health and campus.

• Campus departments will continue to use BrassRing.
• UCSF Health will implement BrassRing following the implementation of UCPath.

The campus Magical PAF Machine has been retired.

• UCPath replaces the Magical PAF Machine (MPM) for entry of funding distribution information.
• Additional MPM processes and reports have been relocated.

You will continue to use HR Umbrella to view compliance reports, and to manage rosters, leaves, and employee requisition forms (eRF).

Human resources, payroll and financial reports were modified or retired, and new reports are available that display new data from UCPath.

MyReports

• Two new reports are now available: Employee and Position Roster Report, and Employee and Position Distribution Report.
• MyReports Distribution of Payroll Expense (DPE) Report was retrofitted to display both historical data and new data from UCPath.
• Award/Parent Summary Report, Faculty Portfolio Monthly Report, MyPortfolio Report, Payroll Detail by Month Report, Program Portfolio Report, and Project Summary Report were modified to remove projections. 
• MyReports HR Event Report is now a historical data report displaying data only from PPS.
• MyReports Employee Lookup Report, Employee Appointment Report, Employee Distribution Report, HR Monthly Review Report, Faculty Monthly Rolling Projects Report, and Faculty Portfolio Projections were retired and are no longer available.
• Other financial reports, including the Transaction Detail Report and the Alt Account Detail Report, will display new data from UCPath.

HR Monthly Reports (HRIS)

• Reports have been retrofitted for UCPath changes.
• New web-based format provides expanded options to retrieve reports (previously emailed on the 6th day of each month).
• Authorized users can access the HR Monthly Reports from MyAccess and PeopleConnect (MyAccess login required).
• An access administration module allows users to add or remove access (within a user’s span of control) to department reports.

Controller's Office Finance/Payroll Codes & Data Lookup

• Lookup tool displays codes, values, schedules, and contacts commonly used across UCSF systems.
• New searches were added for UCPath Earnings (ERN) Code and Job Code values.
• Users can search by department or name for Initiators and Approvers for Funding Entry and Salary Cost Transfers.

Local data needs

• A new Operational Data Store (ODS) contains UCPath human resources and payroll data for authorized data needs.
• Retrofits of local data applications were managed by the Integrations workstream. Contact your local application manager for more information.

Composite Benefit Rates (CBRs)   have been implemented in conjunction with UCPath. Rather than charging departmental chartstrings for the employer contributions to employee benefits based on the actual individual benefits costs of each employee, UCSF will charge a fixed percentage of an employee’s salary. 

• Percentages (CBRs) will be determined by employee groups (faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars, etc.) and are an average of all eligible benefits applicable to a group.
• Employees are assigned to an employee group based on job code and benefits eligibility. 
• Detailed breakout of individual benefits charges will not be visible in MyReports.
• The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) began applying CBRs in proposal budgets effective October 15, 2019. 
• Employee-level planning in UPlan and PLUS systems uses CBRs.
• Use of CBRs does not affect the amount individual employees pay for their benefits. 

To learn more about CBRs (including proposed rates  ), see the Budget and Resource Management CBR website  . Submit questions about CBRs to Budget and Resource Management at [email protected]  .