CUNYfirst is Coming Soon!
 
As the signs posted at your office or campus say, “CUNYfirst is Coming Soon.” I want to take this opportunity to provide some information about the CUNYfirst Project and the effect it will have on every CUNY employee in the coming months.
            
What is CUNYfirst?

CUNYfirst is a University-wide project designed to upgrade our business practices and tools to create a modern integrated university that will better serve our students, faculty and staff in the areas of finance, human resources (HR) and student services.

What impact will the new HR system have on me?

The new HR module is going live this spring.  It will affect our CUNY community in four ways:

• Our core HR functions will be handled differently;
• Every CUNY HR professional will have new tools to assist managers and supervisors in the hiring process and to manage the college’s human resources more efficiently;
• Managers and supervisors also will have new tools for managing staff and recruiting new hires; and
• When fully implemented, the system will allow employees to review their personal information for accuracy.

How will it be introduced?

Our plan is to implement our core functions this spring and give our HR professionals a few months to get comfortable utilizing their new tools.  Then, CUNYfirst will go live to the faculty and staff of the entire University, and all employees will have the opportunity to review their own employee information and contact their HR office if it needs editing or updating.
   
We are truly excited about the changes and tremendous opportunities that come with CUNYfirst.  In addition to the functions that will roll out this spring, in the future we’ll
have new processes for benefits management, for integration with New York State and City payrolls and for Time and Leave.

How will I learn to use it?

Training for the University’s HR professionals is set to begin in March.  Nearly 60 CUNY employees are learning the new system so that they can teach the courses to other employees.  This training will ensure that employees learn the new processes from people who understand both the new and the old applications.

Every person learning new tools for his or her everyday jobs will be enrolled in classroom and/or online training.  We are in the process of identifying these persons and finalizing enrollment lists, and the CUNYfirst Project Core Team will contact individuals directly via e-mail to let them know how to sign up for the classes they need to take.  Classes will be taught at the following Borough Training Centers:  in the Bronx, at Hostos Community College; in Manhattan, at City College and at 555 West 57th Street; and at Queens College, Brooklyn College and the College of Staten Island.

There are two key things to remember about training.  First, no one will be allowed to use CUNYfirst’s new functions until s/he has received training.  Second, when individuals are notified that they need to be trained, they should work closely with their managers and supervisors so that their training can be scheduled with minimal disruption to their office’s operations.  Courses will be offered multiple times, so it should be fairly easy to create manageable training schedules.  However, we can’t get around the fact that this is going to take some extra time and effort on many of our parts, so I would ask everyone to be extra-supportive of staff who are juggling their regular duties while learning the new system.

Next steps

Creating and modernizing business practices across the University has been an enormous undertaking, one that has been highlighted by a spirit of cooperation and the mutual goal of creating common standards and practices that can serve our students, faculty and staff for years.  Hundreds of you have played key roles in helping us get to this point, and I personally want to thank each of you for your talent, dedication and hard work.

We are truly excited about the tremendous opportunities that come with CUNYfirst.  In addition to the functions that will roll out this spring, in the future we’ll have new processes for benefits management, for integration with New York State and City payrolls, and for managing time and leave.  I look forward to sharing those details with you as the project goes forward.