CASPA Impacts

The CASPA project is not simply an automation of current manual processes. The opportunity has been taken to redesign existing processes in collaboration with representative business users to deliver an improved, streamlined process. CASPA will also address some gaps in existing processes and significantly improve compliance and controls.The key impacts of the CASPA project on University staff are summarised below.  

Technology

CASPA will introduce the following new technology components:

• Casual Contract Portal - will be accessed from Unified (staff portal) and enable the generation and approval of casual contracts 
• Timesheet Entry portal - will also be accessed via Unified and enable the entry and approval of timesheet data 
• Workflow engine - will automate the flow of tasks for the contract approval and timesheet approval processes in a similar way to leave request creation and approval via SSO
• Oracle web spaces -  will allow staff involved in contract and timesheet approval to view and action tasks assigned to them

 CASPA will also interface with new PeopleSoft components as follows:

• User List framework - will enable positions/people to be assigned to CASPA functions to control who receives tasks via workflow
• Casual Contract Component - will enable HR staff to view/maintain casual contract data as stored in PeopleSoft
• Time and Labour Component - will enable HR staff to maintain rules associated with casual pay calculations

Processes

The major changes that the implementation of CASPA will bring to existing business processes are as follows:

• Elimination of paper-based contracts and timesheets with generation and approval performed online and documents stored electronically in TRIM
• Removal of the requirement for casual employee to provide a signed acceptance of the contract, with contract acceptance performed online
• Removal of the requirement for delegated authority to approve timesheets with timesheets able to be approved by a nominated validator
• Elimination of HR check of paper contracts to ensure they are correctly filled out and appropriately authorised as these checks will be performed via CASPA
• Elimination of HR check of timesheets to ensure they are correctly filled out, consistent with information on the contract and appropriately authorised, as these checks will be performed via CASPA.  

People

As with any change, it is expected that there will be a learning curve for University staff to become familiar with the new processes and technology. Over time, the manual effort involved in contract and timesheet administration is expected to reduce significantly, which will free up school/branch admin staff to work on more value-add activities. Heads of School/ School Managers currently approving timesheets will experience immediate time savings as this task will become the responsibility of a nominated validator.

There will also be changes to the tasks that HR Admin, Payroll, Service Centre and WIU staff perform. It is anticipated that HR staff will be able to concentrate on more value-add activities once CASPA has been bedded down.