New position management software saves time, reduces errors
Lamar HS business manager Brad Weber is a big fan of the new system.
A new PeopleSoft tool is saving HISD principals, department managers, and support staff a lot of time – more than a week in some cases. The pilot period for the Online Position Management (OPM) software that launched April 30 has ended, and everyone involved agrees that it was a huge success.
“Position requests that used to take a week or more to be processed are completed in as little as two hours, or in one exceptional case, 17 minutes,” said long-time Lamar High School business manager Brad Weber. “I simply go online and open an OPM form, fill in the job details, and submit it. The system emails my principal that it is ready for review. After he signs off on it, it goes to a budget analyst for approval.”
“Unless the position requires another approval, that’s all there is to it,” said HISD Budget Analyst George Perez. Under the old system, the requestor would fill out a paper form and get it signed by the principal or manager. The form would then travel by inter-office mail to district headquarters, sometimes getting lost or delayed along the way.
“The OPM pilot was tested on HISD high schools and Construction Facilities Management, and it significantly reduced the time it took to create new positions, close old positions, and make other necessary changes,” said Senior Budgeting Manager Tony D’Angelo. “Based on the results and feedback gathered during the pilot, OPM will be implemented in all HISD schools and departments over the next few months.”
“Getting the software up and running has been a lengthy process,” Perez said, “but overall, the new system is saving us a ton of time. In addition, it prevents errors – if something is incorrect, the system won’t accept it. In the past, it might take a week or more just to figure out you had made a mistake.”
The OPM launch has been a collaboration among three HISD departments — Budgeting and Financial Planning, Information Technology, and Human Resources. See this story for additional background.
OPM training can be accessed by logging into eTutor and clicking on the PeopleSoft tab.
