Initiatives
HR Experience Transformation
The ÐÜèAVÃâ·Ñ is undertaking a focused initiative to improve the HR service experience for managers, employees, and HR staff across USF. Led by USF Administrative Operations, this effort partners with four pilot units: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, the College of Nursing, and the USF Library.
Improving HR service delivery requires two complementary views: understanding how managers, employees, and HR staff experience HR interactions today, and mapping the operational workflows that underpin those interactions. Insights from these pilot units will inform broader optimization across all USF colleges and administrative units.
Findings from this work are the foundation for a phased transformation of how HR services are delivered at USF, one that progressively shifts routine HR transactions toward a modern, guided, and largely self-service experience.
Why This Initiative Is Important
Routine HR transactions, such as hiring actions, position changes, and employee data
updates, touch every unit at USF. This initiative was launched to better understand
where managers and HR staff encounter friction in completing these transactions, so
that USF can shift from a reactive service model to a proactive, experience-driven
one that makes fuller use of Oracle HR's self-service capabilities and also improves
service delivery.
Discovery work is surfacing the root causes of that friction through direct conversations
with unit representatives, and will deliver prioritized, iterative improvements designed
to measurably reduce effort for managers, employees, and HR staff alike.
Scope
This initiative covers HR transactions and service requests originating from unit representatives across USF. Discovery work began with four pilot units, the USF Library, College of Nursing, College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS), selected to represent a cross-section of academic and administrative unit types before findings are applied university-wide.
What This Initiative Includes
The work is organized into two complementary areas:
- Customer Journey Mapping (the experience layer): understanding the lived experience of managers and employees as they navigate HR services. This includes mapping the end-to-end HR service journey, identifying moments of friction through stakeholder interviews, and establishing a baseline Customer Effort Score across key HR interactions.
- Business Process Mapping (the operational layer): diagnosing the operational workflows behind those experiences. This includes documenting current-state HR workflows, identifying opportunities for self-service and automation, and recommending Oracle HR configuration improvements.
Insights from both areas are synthesized into prioritized, actionable recommendations delivered iteratively, so improvements can be put in place throughout the engagement rather than only at its conclusion.
Governance Framework
This initiative is guided by the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, which serves as executive sponsor and oversees both University Human Resources and USF Information Technology. A Steering Committee supports the CAO in setting priorities and guiding key decisions across the three delivery streams described below. The Steering Committee is an advisory body: it reviews program progress, helps resolve issues that need leadership attention, and confirms priorities.
Five principles guide decisions across all three delivery streams:
- Standard Configuration First — USF will use Oracle HCM's built-in functionality wherever it meets the business need, configuring before customizing. This protects the university's platform investment and keeps USF aligned with Oracle's supported upgrade path.
- Regulatory Compliance — All decisions must respect applicable state and federal requirements, including Florida Board of Governors policy, USF HR policy, FLSA, FMLA, and ADA. Compliance takes precedence over efficiency preferences.
- Data Integrity — HR data must remain accurate, consistent, and traceable at all times, particularly for payroll, position management, and employee records.
- Customer Experience Findings Drive Prioritization — Work is sequenced according to what unit representatives and employees actually experience as friction, so that improvement efforts address real, documented needs.
- Continuous Improvement — The initiative does not end at go-live. Ongoing measurement and unit representative feedback feed into future waves of prioritization.
Three coordinated delivery streams carry out the work and change management strategy, all continuously informed by findings from customer experience discovery:
- Stream A — Oracle, internal IT team augmented by external consultants: addresses the highest-priority Oracle HCM improvements identified through discovery related to payroll and key design structures (KDS) redesign
- Stream B — Oracle, internal HR/IT team: addresses other Oracle HCM improvements identified through discovery
- Stream C — Non-Oracle delivery: covers service desk workflow redesign, self-service and knowledge base improvements, and intake and communications redesign
Progress to Date
Customer experience discovery follows a three-stage approach: Listen, Map, and Pilot.
- Stage 1, Listen (complete): Structured interviews with unit representatives were completed across all four pilot units. Findings were cross-checked against Oracle HCM transaction data and service desk history, and a baseline of unit representative effort was captured for each unit.
- Stage 2, Map (in progress): Discovery findings are being synthesized into journey maps and a prioritized list of opportunities, which is directed to the appropriate delivery stream.
- Stage 3, Pilot (upcoming): Targeted improvements will be tested in the four pilot units, with results measured against the Listen-stage baseline.
What to Expect Next
As the Map stage continues, unit representatives, particularly in the four pilot units, may be asked to validate findings or participate in additional working sessions. Updates will be shared with unit representatives through [HR communications channel] as milestones are reached.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is USF undertaking this HR optimization work?
To make it easier and faster for managers and employees to complete HR transactions, and to make sure USF's Oracle HR system reflects how units work today.
How does this relate to the Oracle optimization?
Customer experience discovery findings, gathered directly from unit representatives in the four pilot units, are used to prioritize which system improvements get addressed first, and by which delivery stream. This ensures the work addresses real, documented needs.
What should unit representatives expect during this work?
Some unit representatives may be asked to participate in interviews, working sessions, or pilot testing to share how they currently use Oracle and central HR services, and to validate proposed changes. Participation is typically brief and directly shapes the redesigned service model.
How will the results of this work be used?
Findings guide prioritization across all three delivery streams, as well as training materials and ongoing service metrics like Customer Effort Score and process cycle time.
Questions
For more information about this initiative, please contact Sidney Fernandes, CIO and Vice President Digital Experiences.