HCM Cloud Discovery Project

TU is embarking on a Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud Discovery Project.

October 2024 Update:

TU's Office of Human Resources recently announced that we partnered with Huron Consulting Group on the HCM Cloud Discovery Project to assess our university's readiness for upcoming technology changes. This initiative aimed to evaluate our current HR processes and systems, including getting community feedback and participation. Below are exciting findings that we are happy to share:

Survey Highlights:

  • Response Rates: 334 faculty and staff participated in our survey, representing a 35% response rate.
  • Diverse Representation: Our survey responses represented a wide range of experiences. Responses came from faculty and staff with less than one year at TU to over 25 years.
  • Ready For Change: Over 80% of TU faculty and staff believe changes at TU will succeed.
  • Valuing Change: Many employees see value in updating our HR technology and are eager to contribute to making this change a reality.
  • Supervisor Support: Nearly 90% of respondents feel that their direct supervisors understand the potential impacts of these changes on employees.

Opportunities For Growth: The survey also highlighted areas for improvement including:

  • Resource Allocation: Ensuring adequate resources (people, funding, and training) for successful change implementation.
  • Change Fatigue: Recognizing overall perspectives and feelings of change fatigue among staff and faculty.

Our team is committed to a collaborative approach that includes:

  • Ongoing Feedback: Regular feedback forms, focus groups, and open communication with the campus community to understand how these changes will affect faculty and staff across TU.
  • Transparent Communication: Providing clear, and easily accessible communication as the project evolves.
  • Shared Goals: Clearly communicating goals of future HCM projects while working to remove any barriers to adoption.

Thank you for your engagement, input, and feedback as we navigate this transition together!

Discovery Project Overview

A discovery project involves activities designed to gather information, clarify objectives, identify potential challenges, and develop a clear action plan. It’s essentially the homework you do before starting any major project, ensuring you have a solid understanding and strategy. It's important to note that the discovery process does not guarantee the implementation of the project. Instead, it provides information to determine whether or not the project is feasible and viable based on the gathered data.

By the end of this project, we will clearly understand potential challenges, required resources, overall feasibility, and a projected timeline for completion. This will enable us to decide whether to proceed with the project or consider other options and alternatives.

Key Activities

  1. Stakeholder discussions
  2. Research
  3. Requirement Gathering
  4. Feasibility Study
  5. Risk Assessment
  6. Prototyping or Mockups
  7. Project Planning

In alignment with TU’s strategic plan, the HCM Cloud Discovery Project evaluates TU’s opportunity to streamline, automate, and simplify how TU manages systems, information and data to support how we attract, recruit, train, develop, manage and retain employees.

We want your feedback, which will be crucial during the discovery project. We will continue to post updates and resources to this page, so please check back periodically to see our progress.

Benefits of a Human Capital Management Cloud System

Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud is a modern, cloud-based solution that connects HR and payroll processes and data across an organization. It helps streamline HR and payroll operations, improve employee engagement and drive institutional success through effective workforce management. HCM Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features to address various HR needs, including talent management, payroll, workforce planning, benefits administration, employee data management and more.

Some of the key components of HCM Cloud include:

  • Talent Management
  • Workforce Planning
  • Payroll and Labor Distribution
  • Time and Attendance
  • Employee Self-Service
  • Manager Self-Service
  • Analytics and Reporting
  • Mobile Accessibility

Value of the HCM Cloud Discovery Project

PeopleSoft Human Capital Management has been utilized by Towson University since 2003. The benefits of moving to an HCM Cloud product include flexibility and scalability; increased security, reliability and accessibility; and cloud applications enable more effective collaboration.

The discovery project aims to:

  • Engage TU staff and faculty in discussing opportunities for improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of HR and Payroll processes
  • Openly communicate about the potential of moving to a new cloud solution, including specific areas of improvement
  • Provide opportunities for TU staff and faculty to participate in providing feedback, concerns and questions

We want your input, and your feedback will be crucial during the discovery project. Be on the lookout for opportunities to engage with our team and share your ideas and feedback.

Who Benefits from the HCM Cloud?

All faculty, staff and student employees will benefit from HCM Cloud.

  • Employees will have access to more intuitive self-service functionality for a more personalized experience.
  • Managers and Supervisors will have greater access to streamlined HR processes and functionality, including employee data, to support decision-making.
  • Leaders can make more informed, data-driven decisions and align people and business strategies.
  • Human Resources, Payroll and other departments across campus will be able to offer improved services and employee support by leveraging an integrated system rather than manual or external forms and processes and duplicative data entry.

Key Discovery Project Stakeholders 

  • A 75-plus member team is assessing the university's HCM readiness for cloud migration. The team includes representatives from Administration and Finance, the Office of the Provost, Campus Operations, including Human Resources and the vendor, Huron Consulting Group.
  • Huron Consulting Group, an external vendor selected by TU, has worked with several USM campuses on cloud transitions. They'll analyze our current processes and TU's readiness for adopting the cloud and recommend a future state strategy. Huron brings a foundational understanding of USM and State requirements critical to this project.

Discovery Project Timeline

April – August 2024

The TU HCM Cloud Discovery Project team is currently conducting the Project. TU is working with the consulting firm Huron to assess HCM Cloud solutions and determine their alignment with TU’s core business processes. This initial six-month phase began in April 2024 and is set to be completed in August/September 2024.

The deliverables:

  • Huron will create recommendations and identify actions, risks, dependencies and resources necessary to successfully implement HCM Cloud.

More About HCM Systems

An HCM system adopts best-practice business processes that utilize employee data and aligns them to an integrated suite of technologies to help organizations manage, recruit and develop their workforce.

How a Cloud Environment Helps Users

Cloud-based applications eliminate the need for TU to provide additional resources or support to manage much of the infrastructure. Because the solutions are hosted by the vendor, we can take advantage of new features and capabilities more quickly to help us adapt to the changing needs of campus and end users.

The Difference Between PeopleSoft HCM and Cloud HCM

HCM Cloud is a modern, cloud-based solution, while PeopleSoft is an enterprise-grade solution deployed on-premises.

When will the HCM Cloud become available to employees? 

TU is currently conducting the HCM Cloud discovery project. We are working with a Huron for this project to assess TU’s readiness to transition from Peoplesoft HCM to HCM Cloud. This includes identifying the actions, risks, dependencies, and resources needed. As the Discovery Project progresses, this webpage will update with a timeline for the implementation project.

Contact Information

For all questions, comments, or feedback, please fill out the Cloud HCM project feedback form.