Health payroll system 'stabilised', QLD claims

Queensland Health has claimed that its problematic shared SAP HR/payroll system is finally under control.

The system caused more than 35,000 payroll errors after being introduced on 8 March 2010.

It was criticised heavily by the state’s Auditor-General in June of last year, and later underwent a series of external reviews that led to the long-term abandonment of whole-of-government shared services strategies in the state.

In the meantime, Queensland’s Health Minister Geoff Wilson yesterday announced that the state was on track to deliver a stable, optimised environment as per an 18-month interim blueprint announced last November.

Rather than replacing the malfunctioning system, blueprint author Ernst & Young recommended that Queensland Health reconfigure the SAP system to resolve issues and improve usability (pdf).

The goal was a stable payroll system that featured electronic forms processing, improvements to leave and termination processing, enhanced reporting and self-service capabilities.

As of this month, the system was expected to support automated payments, simplified payslips, new penalty rates and enterprise bargaining agreement changes, as well as vendor-supplied upgrades.

The State Government announced that payroll enquiries had decreased by more than 80 percent since last March, to less than 500 calls from Queensland Health’s 78,000 employees.

It also claimed to have eliminated its backlog of outstanding pay adjustments, reduced the number of staff who received an incorrect pay to 243 in January, and the number of staff receiving no pay to 31 in the last pay cycle.

“I know 2010 was a tough year, but I want to reassure our staff that 2011 will be different,” Wilson said.

“As a Government we won't rest until our health staff have the modern, efficient and effective payroll system that they deserve.

“We are well on the way to delivering this, and I am committed to continuing to drive this improvement for our staff,” he said.