June 2024 bulletin

News and updates

Details of upcoming Main and Casual payroll deadlines can be found on the Payroll website.   

Visit the Payroll deadlines and cycles page to learn more about the monthly payroll cycle, including the key monthly payroll dates for People Management users. 

Visit the Payroll website

Please click the links below to download the invites as a calendar reminder for the upcoming payroll deadlines and ‘no user input’ days:

As of 21 June, we are pleased to report a downward trend in data errors, with a decrease in appointments with errors across all divisions since April.

We'd like to extend a special 'thank you' to the Medical Sciences division for reducing their total error count by 52% and now having the fewest erroneous appointments, as shown in the chart below. Congratulations also to the Social Sciences and GLAM divisions for reducing their total error counts by 42% and 41%, respectively.

While this progress is encouraging, and despite clearing 2,573 data errors since April, 3,938 errors still remain, with a deadline of 9 July. We have contacted all departments for their second progress check-in and are following up with anyone who has raised queries or concerns.

For general queries, please contact us at hris@admin.ox.ac.uk. For specific data quality queries or help, email hris.dataquality@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Overview of data quality, by division 
HESA statistics by division visual 21 June

We are currently updating a range of documents generated from PeopleXD. Here is a summary of the changes, which will be available in the system in early July.

Document Update
- Offer letter
- Change in hours
- Promote to substantive grade
- FTC extension letter
- Change in place of work
- Change in funding
- Additional increment
- Additional duties
- Change in job title
 
  • Updated to remove references to ‘enclosed copy’; eliminating the need for departments to edit letters before emailing them. Where applicable, ensure you receive a signed copy from the employee to confirm their acceptance of the change.
  • Minor formatting updates.
- Academic related contract
- Support staff contract
- Apprenticeship agreement
- Casual teaching contract for services
- Casual letter of engagement
 		 Updated to comply with recent legislative changes relating to holiday pay, as well as other minor updates. Off-system templates have also been updated, including for E82 clinical fellows, student ambassadors and Marie Curie Fellows.

 

We have analysed the impact of launching Onboarding on new starter data completeness for diversity, comparing data from March to May 2023 with the same period in 2024. We were pleased to observe a significant improvement in data completeness across all items, as well as a considerable increase in the disclosure of data items that individuals historically chose not to disclose. 

The table below shows the completeness rates for the three month period in 2023 and 2024.

Data 2023 2024 % Increase
Citizenship Data Completion 73.4% 81.5% 8.1%
Disability Status Data Completion 71.3% 79.8% 8.5%
Ethnicity Data Completion 73.7% 82.0% 8.4%
Gender ID Data Completion 16.5% 47.7% 31.2%
Transsexuality Data Completion 9.3% 40.1% 30.8%
Religion Data Completion 67.6% 78.4% 10.7%
Sexual Orientation Data Completion 67.6% 78.6% 10.9%

 

Improved diversity data quality extends beyond our internal projects and objectives and helps us better understand our staff and their needs. Additionally, external bodies, such as HESA and various research funding bodies, now require us to return summary diversity information. 

  • HR Systems briefing – 27 June 10.00 – 11.00 
  • Clear all data errors for the HESA 2023-24 staff cohort - 9 July (Main Payroll deadline)
  • HESA data quality check-in with departments - w/c 22 July
  • Review and record academic titles for the HESA 2023-24 cohort - 23 July
  • Review Athena Swan data (before next data refresh) - 31 July

Reminders

Please note that you should only ever enter a 'To Date' when ending an UDF record to add a new UDF. Entering a date in this field results in the UDF data not being returned in reports.

Please note that the new data extract for the Athena Swan dashboards (in Tableau) will be taken on 31 July 2024. Therefore, please ensure that you review the data in the HRINFO02_AthenaSWAN Potential Staff Data report and make any necessary corrections before this date. Refer to the May 2024 bulletin for more details.

For help with any data queries, email hris.dataquality@admin.ox.ac.uk
 

New and updated guidance

Guide Update
Make appointment and pay changes Updated to include further guidance on which Action and Reason codes to use in certain scenarios, including staff who have had their right to work status changed, eg to indefinite right to remain.

 

Guidance on clearing 'Apprenticeship Type Missing' and 'Academic Teaching Qualification' has now been added to the Data Quality Clearing Errors | HR Systems (ox.ac.uk) web page.

We have updated the 'New Appointments' webpage, to streamline the guidance and make it easier to follow. Read the description at the top of the page for more details about the guidance layout.

Key changes:

  • Streamlined dropdown boxes: We have reduced and simplified the dropdown boxes. Each dropdown will now link to the next step in the process. Each page linked from the dropdowns will provide a link back to the subsequent step on the 'New Appointments' webpage.
  • Consolidated links within dropdowns: To avoid overwhelming users with numerous links, we have incorporated relevant links into their respective process steps. Notably, the People Profiles Matrix and the Staff Request and Contract Decision tool are now part of the 'Pre-appointing' step in the Appointing guides, found at:

These documents and other key guides are also available on the A-Z page.

Project updates

Details of current, in-scope projects under the HR Systems Programme can be found on our dedicated webpage. This includes latest updates and timelines, where available. Note: These pages are updated regularly.

HR Systems Programme projects