Think Green

Payroll Services Staff Assistant 2 Roseann Bratek looks for a personnel folder document in the basement of Jacobsen Hall. Electronic versions of personnel files may eventually eliminate the need for paper copies.

Upstate Payroll Services Department's Shift to Electronic Records

The savings generated by the Upstate payroll services department's shift to electronic records are hard to measure. But create a mental stack of paper based on these numbers from director Sandra Delaney, and you'll get the idea.

• Replacing paper timesheets with the Self-Serve monthly electronic system saves 73,488 sheets per year.
• Fully implementing the Kronos time and attendance system (completion scheduled by the end of 2010) will save 162,552 documents per year.
• Electronic management of records of non-Upstate employees (voluntary faculty, public safety officers, food service workers, student nurses, etc.) saves "tens of thousands of pieces of paper a year."

Delaney said the gradual shift from paper generates other savings that are hard to measure. Those include employees' time spent checking accuracy and correcting mistakes on paper timesheets; toner and printer use, mailroom employees' time sorting and delivering paper copies, etc.

With Self-Serve, employees who have a question about accrued sick time, vacation time or paycheck information can check it at their computer, rather than digging through paper records or calling Payroll Services.

"The customer-service side of that is huge," Delaney said. "How do you quantify that? I don’t know."

Delaney hopes the future brings more time- and paper-saving changes, including the acceptance of PDFs and other electronic forms that now require a paper backup copy.

"We're getting there," Delaney said. "We're making strides."

For more information on payroll services at Upstate, go to http://www.upstate.edu/payroll/.