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With the introduction of UCPath, the business processes of HR and Payroll will change. While many concepts will stay the same, such as hiring employees and associating them with a position, or paying an employee and tracking an employee’s leave, the way in which these concepts are recorded and tracked will change with the new UCPath business processes. These new processes will define what data is included in the UCLA ODS and the Data Warehouse/Cognos.

These changes will also mark a difference in the way PP QDB and Data Warehouse/Cognos users will think about and interpret data. What does this mean for the data model? How will it change? There will be a new model and new data elements representing the new UC Path naming convention. Some examples of the changes are:

  • Certain elements will transition to new elements. For example, title_code will transition to job code.
  • There will be many new concepts from UC Path, which means that users have access to new attributes about employees, their jobs, benefits, pay, etc.
  • Some elements and concepts will not be carried forward in UC Path, as they will be replaced with new concepts or were specific to PPS.

We encourage you to read through the model and mapping materials to see the specific changes.

New Subject Areas for UCPath

With UCPath, HR and payroll concepts are grouped into subject areas that gather related data based on usage and business process. The subject areas being introduced with UCPath are:

  • Person - Data that are unique to a person, such as employee ID, name, citizenship attributes, etc.
  • Job - Data about an employee’s position(s) with the University as well as attributes that describe the job itself.
  • Benefits - Data about employees and their dependents' benefits elections as well as data about plan types and deductions.
  • Absence Management - Data about any absence from an employee’s job.
  • Payroll - Data about the pay process from a point prior to funding to actuals.
  • Commitment Accounting - Data about the costs associated with an employee, including budgeting and cost distribution.
  • Labor Ledger - Data about payroll transactions at an employee level, including associated accounting unit, earnings and deductions. Also includes summarized data as posted to the General Ledger.
  • Identity Management - Data about an employee's association with various UC identity management systems (e.g. UID/Employee ID).
  • Budget Export - Data to determine the amount it will cost to operate if current obligations remain consistent for the current year, how much it would cost to operate next year if currently open positions are filled or subsequently eliminated, or new positions are created.
  • Job Profile Management - Data that track attributes of a person such as Honors and Awards, Degrees, Licenses and Certifications.

Get more information, including data models.

When is it changing?

When UCPath goes live, the data stored in current PP QDB and the Data Warehouse will be frozen and PP QDB will cease to be updated. The data in PP QDB will continue to reside in the current database tables for a time period to be determined.

Historical Data in UCLA ODS

The UCLA ODS will not contain historical information from PPS prior to UCPath. Where mapping is possible, historical data will be made available in the UCLA Data Warehouse/Cognos. The data retention policies for the UCLA ODS will be determined for all UC by UC Path.

What does this mean for PP QDB and UCLA Data Warehouse/Cognos users?

The method in which users and applications access data will change with the new environment. Ad-hoc users may transition to COGNOS immediately. Applications using PP QDB data will need to be retrofitted to use the new data model within COGNOS. Daily downloads of data will need to transition to the UCLA ODS.

Environment Data Availability Data Retention Ad-hoc users applications daily data download
PP QDB Prior to UCPath Go-Live No updates after UCPath Go-Live. Data to be available for a time frame to be determined. x x x
UCLA ODS Current data starting after UCPath Go-Live A rolling period of data will be available for a timeframe to be determined.     x
Data Warehouse/Cognos Select elements from 1995 to current. History to be carried forward. x x  

Individual Data Consumers

For current UCLA Data Warehouse/Cognos users who consume Personnel and Payroll data, the change will consist of: getting familiar with the new HR and payroll concepts in UCPath and learning how to interpret the new data elements. The new elements, as well as a suite of centralized reports, will be made available to Cognos users.

For those who have created individual Cognos reports, a team of report experts will be on hand to proactively contact you regarding converting your reports. A timeline for this conversion will be released closer to UCPath implementation.

Users who query the current PP QDB using tools such as Access, Excel and BI/Query must transition to Cognos.  Additional workshops will be held and the curriculum will begin to include UCPath concepts as more information becomes available. Any reports created prior to UCPath will be converted with the help of the Campus Data Warehouse (CDW) Team.  

Applications/Daily Download

For reporting applications, the change introduced with UCPath will be comprehensive. The environment, technology and database for the UCLA ODS will be entirely new.

The CDW team is in the process of conducting outreach to the developers and stakeholders of applications to determine how their applications will move forward into UCPath. Our team is available to provide information about the impact of UCPath on campus applications as well as recommend transition options. Units that maintain such applications are encouraged to contact support@qdb.ucla.edu for more information. You can find more technical documentation here.