By Jay Wee

The first thing that came to mind when I saw “Cloud Human Resource System” was a mental image of a person sitting in the clouds, managing humans from above.

Just… Nope… that’s not it.
(Image Source: https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/50804894/Family-Guy-God-Cmon)

So, What Exactly is CHRS?

Just imagine a one-stop shop for all staff-related matters. CHRS is an online platform solution for HR and payroll functions. That includes your personal records, salary payment, vacation and medical leave, performance management, compensation and talent management etc. – all processed on this online platform. In other words, it supports the full lifecycle of the staff’s engagement with NUS, from recruitment till the time the staff leaves or retires from NUS.

The New CHRS Logo

Why Did We Upgrade to CHRS? Isn’t the Old System Still Functioning Properly? Why Fix Something That Isn’t Broken?

Well, to start, the old HR system was built on the SAP system which was first implemented in the year 2000. 20 years ago! The world just got past the Y2K bug panic at that point in time – let that sink in!

While the old system serves many basic HR functions, it could not offer a good and modern end-user experience. Leave application for National Service (NS), marriage and maternity/paternity were not possible and it also lacked a talent management suite that could help NUS manage, develop and retain its talent pool effectively.

New mobile features, built-in HR processes and self-service functions are next to impossible to implement and integrate in SAP. And customised modules built into the older system over the years have now become liabilities as customisations made it even more complicated to upgrade the system.

What is the Best Thing About This New System?

New Look for the CHRS Home Page… Simple and Clean!

Modern-looking, easy to use with intuitive screens and layout on all platforms. By adopting the best HR practice worldwide and having multiple access channels, it sure is easy for staff to connect to and manage their own portfolios on-the-go. It is indeed a paradigm shift in user experience with our new HR system.

Upgrades and new features are expected every 6 months; and with a cloud-based system, SAP is able to get feedback and suggestions from their customers worldwide to help them constantly improve their product functionalities. So, watch out for new additions which might make your day!

As integration with other NUS systems and 3rd party products are imperative, CHRS, being a packaged cloud solution, will be able to provide a seamless integration experience for all the users throughout campus.

Sample Org Chart Page

It Seems Like a Pretty Huge Project With Many Components. Was the Development Process Challenging? What Were Some of Them?

This project started back in 2017 with the project team inspired to provide the best-of-breed product solution to overhaul the archaic user experiences and limited HR functionalities of the old system. Thus, for close to a year between 2017 – 2018, the project team studied, consulted, reviewed and evaluated many HR product systems that could prove to be the best fit for the university’s needs and landscape.

It was no easy task as the ever-evolving HR business and technical product landscape complicate the evaluation. Choosing the wrong platform could yield catastrophic results! Eventually, the team pulled through after they identified and negotiated for an equitable licence deal with SAP opening the full suite of HR system to all NUS staff to access and experience.

The delivery phase of the project started in July 2019 after a comprehensive tender process. With the chosen vendors onboard, a formidable partnership was formed. With only 9 months to spare and 20 years’ worth of staff data to review filter, consolidate and integrate into the new system, the delivery timeline was unbelievably tight!

Without a flinch, the passionate team managed to roll out its first module: Goals and Performance for E&A staff, in March 2020 and more core HR modules within one year.

The CHRS project team. You can see the joy and relief on all their faces!

Amid the tight deadline, another challenge surfaced in Feb 2020, when Singapore went into a lockdown during the COVID19 pandemic. Naturally, all the upcoming plans of planning, meeting, discussions and development were severely impacted. Despite the difficulty of getting together, the project team never gave up. They met the challenge head on and continued to work together remotely;, determined not to let this Circuit Breaker (CB) derail their project commitments and timeline.

With the team working from home, dwelling into late-nights and burning the weekends were the norm. It was amazing to witness how a single goal like this could bring so many different personalities and companies to work together cohesively – Simply spectacular!

Riding on the wave of success from the first rollout, the next phase was the release of the core HR modules comprising Employee Central and Payroll modules. It was completed recently in early July 2020; with much fanfare online while the physical landscape remained quiet.

Another big challenge worth mentioning was the alignment of all the HR processes implemented for various faculties throughout campus according to the best practices offered by CHRS. Migrating data of 16,500 staff (some of them even dating back 40-50 years!) brought up complexities while integrating with third-party products. All these were done while the project and business teams maintained compliance with the constraints of the COVID19 guidelines.

Team and our Deputy President (Admin & Finance) – Mr John Wilton (before COVID of course) on the launch of CHRS.

Feedback from Users and more good things to come!

An initial survey launched by OHR when Employee Central went live in early July garnered a rating of almost 4 out of 5 points, indicating that user satisfaction with the system.

Do keep a look out for new and exciting features in the coming edition of CHRS, with the remaining HR modules slated to go ‘live’ over the next few months.

Together let’s embrace the new system!