The HR/Benefits offices at Office of the President are being combined into one organization. Similarly, with implementation of HRMI campuses have greater autonomy with respect to setting salary ranges and establishing job titles. What effect will these changes have on the work of the ESTF and how should they be accommodated in the work of the group? A series of principles is recommended for adoption by the ESTF in this area.

SUGGESTED GUIDING PRINCIPLES

1. The basic tasks to be performed at UCOP in the HR and Benefits areas will not change as a result of this reorganization, except possibly for the decentralization of the counseling function. Therefore, work to develop systems to enhance business processes should not be delayed while the organization is defined.
2. Campus benefits offices need easier access to retirement information and the projects resulting from the ESTF effort should support this goal.
3. With the implementation of HRMI, staff job titles and related salaries should be entered first at the campus level, rather than entered centrally at UCOP and later supplied to campuses. Campus salary and job title data should be provided by the campuses to UCOP frequently.
4. The Benefits Department, in conjunction with Information Resources and Communications, has developed a plan to upgrade systems to improve services to employees and annuitants and to streamline operations. The components of the plan should be reviewed to determine which can be undertaken immediately because they will not be affected by the reorganization. Those that will not be affected by the organizational changes should be reviewed for consistency with other projects to be undertaken as a result of the ESTF and begun so long as they will integrate with the other projects.
5. Systems which support functions that are candidates for outsourcing should be modularized to support possible future separation of functions.