Stanford Report, June 15, 2005

Upgraded Kronos time, leave reporting system debuts in August

Stanford's time and leave system of record, Kronos, will be upgraded on Aug. 1 and be accessible through the Axess portal. Kronos is used by regular staff—both exempt and non-exempt—temporary, casual and part-time and hourly student employees to report hours worked and/or leave taken. Faculty do not use Kronos, nor do postdoctoral or graduate students with assistantships, or students receiving financial aid who don't work an hourly, part-time, paid job.

Associate Controller Karen Craig, who oversees the business end of the Kronos system, is working with Payroll, Human Resources, Internal Audit and Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS) to ensure the upgrade is seamless.

"The new version of Kronos is a significant improvement over what we have today. It offers a more user-friendly interface, enhanced reporting capabilities and increased functionality," Craig said. "Users participating in the upgrade project have been very pleased with the ease of use."

The project team has been working with school and department representatives for many months to solicit input and understand their requirements for the new version of Kronos.

University policy requires all exempt and non-exempt employees, as well as temporary and casual employees, to report hours worked and/or leave taken on a pay period basis (Administrative Guide 22.4). By using Kronos to enter time and leave online or via a time clock, the employee's virtual or electronic signature verifies that the time has been accurately reported.

After the upgrade, employees who use the online timecard will find drop-down menus, easy navigation and print options via the browser printer icon. The new version of Kronos will be web-enabled and require the one-time download of a Java plug-in. ITSS staff are working with local network administrators and desktop support staff to ensure all employees who need access to Kronos are set up correctly. There is no change to the time clocks used by some areas.

Next month, employees can expect to hear more about Kronos and any impact to current practices for reporting hours and leave. Employees are invited to review online tutorials or attend a live demo in July and early August. To see a schedule of the training and to bookmark the site where tutorials and new step-by-step instructions will be posted in July, visit http://kronostraining.stanford.edu. To review project information, including the names of each school or area's user representatives, visit the project site at http://kronos5.stanford.edu.