The Impact of Monarch Data Pump on the State of Michigan's HRMN Project:

• Time required to implement complex new statewide HR/Payroll system was slashed using Monarch Data Pump, by automating the testing of payroll reports produced by new system versus reports from legacy system, identifying errors immediately
• Monarch Data Pump used to automate payroll balancing and other mission critical tasks, saving time and money on ongoing basis

The State of Michigan's Human Resources Management Network (HRMN) Project is an ambitious statewide effort to streamline State human resources (HR), payroll, and benefits processes using new state of the art technologies. The HRMN Project will standardize a wide range of complex personnel processes, allowing human resources managers to focus on value-added activities.

The core technology selected by the State of Michigan's HRMN Project team to fulfill the project's primary objectives was the INSIGHT Human Resources Suite from Lawson Software, a leading ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software vendor. One of the key complimentary technologies the HRMN Project team also selected was Datawatch Corporation's Monarch Data Pump, to combine and customize report output for auditing and other uses.

The HRMN Project team first utilized Monarch Data Pump to aid in the development and migration to the new Lawson system. For example, once the Lawson databases were populated with employee data, the HRMN Project team had to audit and verify its payroll processing functionality. "Our Human Resources and Payroll system conversion involved data for 65,000 state employees," says Richard Huneke, HRMN Project Director. "We used Monarch Data Pump to help automatically confirm the accuracy of payroll data conversions during our Lawson implementation.

"We wanted to run both the Lawson system and legacy Personnel/Payroll Information System for Michigan (PPRISM) using the same payroll data, compare payroll registers from each, and audit the results," Huneke explains. "With 65,000 employees, we knew the audit process itself would be challenging. The payroll registers for each system present the data very differently, with multiple lines of data for each employee. We were looking at a manual comparison process that would take a number of days each time we performed a payroll-comparison audit. Monarch Data Pump became the tool that helped us automate and minimize the comparison/audit window."

Payroll output files from the new Lawson and legacy PPRISM systems were directed to Monarch Data Pump and automatically ran through a series of Data Pump Processes, which "read" the two payroll print files and then extracted, combined, and sorted relevant data for each employee from the source files. This process included automatically performing calculations using PPRISM system data to derive necessary payroll figures, based conditionally on the presence of certain legacy payroll codes. The end result was a new "report from reports;" a single, consolidated audit report identifying, in detail, any variances between the Lawson and PPRISM payrolls.

"Monarch Data Pump delivered what we needed to complete our comparison process with a minimum of effort by the project team," says Huneke. "By automating this process, we were able to pinpoint variances and resolve them quickly. Monarch Data Pump reduced the time needed to process the comparison and audit, resulting in more time to resolve any variances identified."

Now, having successfully implemented the HRMN system, the State continues to use Monarch Data Pump to balance the payroll system with the State's accounting system. As a part of the bi-weekly payroll cycle, gross expenditures, deductions, and net pay are summarized to verify calculations and confirm transactions have successfully interfaced to the accounting system. Exceptions are easily identified for resolution. "This balancing must occur prior to the release of net payroll warrants and direct deposits," says Huneke. "Monarch Data Pump has assisted us in efficiently completing this task within the necessary timeframe."

The State of Michigan's HRMN Project team is meeting its stated goals of streamlined HR, payroll, and benefits processes, increased availability and access to information for managers, improved service to all state employees, and the flexibility to manage the dynamic State workforce of tomorrow. "We are encouraged by our choices of versatile solutions like Datawatch's Monarch Data Pump with the Lawson INSIGHT HR suite," concludes Huneke. "These solutions will continue to be instrumental in meeting our objectives for superior business practices across the State of Michigan."

With Monarch Data Pump, State of Michigan Expedites ERP Implementation, Adds Automated Data Analysis (PDF)