Revised Mosaic launch dates released

McMaster’s new human resources system will launch beginning in October. The announcement was made Friday by the Mosaic Steering Committee.

Human resources (HR) functions scheduled to launch in three parts between July and January will now launch in two parts in October and January. All of the major HR modules — including payroll, benefits, time and labour, pension, and self-service view access — will launch in October along with the recruitment module.

A few additional HR modules, including employee self-service update capabilities, will launch in January 2015.

“The team learned a lot from the project’s first launch and has adapted its remaining phases accordingly. The steering committee feels this modest change will improve quality and reduce the amount of disruption to University operations,” said Fred Hall, chair of the Mosaic Steering Committee.

The project team will use the extra time to conduct additional pre-launch testing and to enhance support capabilities, including training more super users. The extra time will also allow for enhanced parallel testing. During parallel operations, the new system will shadow the legacy system and be given the same payroll data each week to confirm that the pay it calculates for employees matches the pay calculated by the old system.

“Ensuring that all employees get paid properly and on time is our highest priority,” said Wanda McKenna, Executive Director, Human Resources.

“Busy times vary among units and departments, but by extending our preparations the entire University will have additional time to get ready.”

The project has tweaked additional launch dates. The research pre-awards launch has moved a month to June. The admissions portion of the new student administration system has moved a month to November.

The registration portion of student administration remains scheduled for March 2015. While timing for some parts of the project has changed, the overall duration of the project will remain the same.