What's New?

The AZ360 HRIS Modernization Project team is driving toward a major project milestone, beginning Integrated System Testing (IST) in late October. Up till now, the team has been doing unit-level testing, where various individual functional and technical workstream transactions have been tested in isolation within the newly configured To-Be-Processes (TBPs). In IST, each workstream team will test TBPs from beginning to end. IST runs through late February 2024. There are nearly 400 IST paths to be tested in this four-month window involving various business roles and entry and exit points along the workstream paths.

Functional Pages on the AZ360 Website
We've created a Business Processes page on the AZ360.az.gov website with links to the Functional areas to explain AZ360 features and improved functionality. The Position Control and Personnel Management pages have been published with convenient links to the video recordings for your power users and SMEs. As the Functional Team leads continue offering sneak peeks and business process demos, we will continue to publish pages for additional functional areas.

AFIS Upgrade to AZ360 FIN
A significant upgrade of the AFIS central accounting system is nearing completion. System cutover is scheduled for the Columbus Day holiday weekend and with go live on Oct. 10. Going forward, AFIS becomes AZ360 FIN, part of one comprehensive and integrated Financial and HR/Benefits/Payroll system on a single AZ360 platform. 

The AZ360 Financial (formerly AFIS) upgrade is less than 60 days from the projected go-live date. Project team members are adding the finishing touches to the application environments and finalizing the cutover plan. Cut-over training will begin soon. 

The HRIS Modernization Project has reached the mid-point of Sprint 7, which started in late July. The delay in completing the work necessary to begin Integrated System Testing has pushed the start of IST to late October. (IST involves testing of full business processes, including business roles, workflow, security, and technical functionality.) Mitigation activities, including team reassignments and improved tracking tools, are underway as project leaders continue to closely monitor the schedule and resources.

The AZ360 Project’s Configuration & Development Phase, begun in February 2023 and slated for completion in August 2024, is where the project teams are building out the proposed enterprise standard business processes of the new AZ360 HR application. The work proceeds in four-week sprints, with teams learning capabilities of the new system’s functionality as they go and configuring the system for the standard business processes.

Much of the activity is extremely detailed and exacting; teams build, test, and adapt various test cases until they ensure everything works like it is supposed to before moving on. There are hundreds of these processes to be worked through, and the near-term goal is to complete a sufficient number of configurations by early September to enable Integrated System Testing to begin.

During IST, multiple test cases in a given functional area - complete with business roles, security and workflows - are strung together and tested to surface gaps or other issues so they can be corrected.

View a video of our Personnel Management “sneak peek” demonstration, presented at the July 18, 2023 Agency Captains’ meeting.

VIEW SNEAK PEEK

If you’ve been waiting for a chance to see what AZ360 HR is going to look like, you’re in luck!

The AZ360 HRIS Modernization Project team has begun sharing sneak peek demonstrations of the new platform’s features and functionality. The sneak peek demos focus on business areas and highlight main processes and features.

The AZ360 Position Control workstream was featured at the June 13 Agency Captains meeting, with future sneak peeks planned: Personnel Management at the July Agency Captain meeting; Benefits and Deductions in August; Time and Leave in September; and Payroll in October. More detailed looks at each business area are planned to begin with Position Control in September with a broader audience.

Click HERE to view a recording of the AZ360 Position Control sneak peek.

VIEW SNEAK PEEK

As per the Project timeline, Phase 1A is a third of the way complete. All three work streams - Functional, Technical, and Organizational Change Management (OCM)/Training - are engaged in four-week sprint cycles to complete their work. The Project's Align Phase ended May 5, with a few of the more complex business areas wrapping up remaining Align activities.

The overall project is in Yellow status due to resource and scheduling considerations, which project leaders are working to resolve. The Instructor Led Training development schedule is completed and early development activities are underway. The Testing Plan is in progress and is scheduled to be completed next month.

Check out the Training Plan!

The Project's Organizational Change Management Team finalized the Project’s Training Plan on March 31. Click here to check out what is in store for training! 

Developing "To Be" Processes

The HRIS Modernization Project Functional Teams (Position Control, Personnel, Timekeepers, Benefits, Deductions, Payroll, Payroll Accounting, Time & Leave) are building out business functionality for the AZ360 HRIS application in a production environment.  Currently, all Functional teams are expected to have designed the “To Be” process flows for their respective business areas by the end of April. This work is focused and extremely detailed. They are basically building a new system from the ground up as part of Configure and Develop activities.

Designing for User Experiences

Meanwhile, the Project's Technical Team is designing forms, interfaces, reports and analytics, as well as assembling the system security plans. They also are creating the testing environments for the Functional Team sprints.

What are Sprints? 

The Project Team is using a Hybrid Agile Project Management Approach, where the teams work in chunks of time called “sprints.”  For the HRIS Modernization project, each sprint lasts four weeks, during which the Technical, Organizational Change Management (OCM), and various Functional teams complete sets of defined tasks according to State specifications, test those configurations against the specified requirements, and then adapt as needed until standards are met. Sprints allow them to build a piece of the system, test it, and confirm it is working as expected before starting the next sprint. 

The Project’s first sprint ended on March 10. The sprint focused on the process and function of Position Control which includes activities like creating a requisition for a new position, making changes in position status, and completing other position actions.

The Project's second sprint began March 13 and will continue progress in the functional area of Position Control as well as introduce configurations for Personnel Management.

Introducing the AZ360 Website! 

On March 1, 2023, the AZ360 Project Team launched this website - AZ360.az.gov - to keep State employees informed about what’s happening with the both parts of the AZ360 System Implementation - AFIS  Financial System Upgrade Project as well as the HRIS Modernization Project. Eventually, this site will become the portal from which employees will login into the new AZ360 Financial and Human Resources System. In this meantime, this website is designed to help employees understand the changes to come and how those changes will improve the way to work and use the new system. The website offers many features, including ways to learn more and ask questions about what’s ahead. 

Project Status 

Overall, the AZ360 HRIS Modernization Project is on track to complete the overall Align phase activities in early April with some team members already working on Configure and Development activities.