What was unique about the Bridge Center supporting UCPath?
The operational functions of UCPath span multiple departments in human resources, payroll, and IT, and The Bridge Center provided some “glue” for this cross-functional group to work together. Subject matter experts assigned to The Bridge Center represented all groups involved in UCPath and had the hands-on operational experience needed to solve problems. Our afternoon huddles included 80 participants. It was eye-opening to see the whole process end-to-end, from recruiting through payroll. The Bridge Center team did a remarkable job adapting to changes and working together to resolve critical issues while supporting each other throughout the process.
What was challenging?
UCPath is big and complicated. We were prepared for that. But COVID threw us a curveball. All of the staff at The Bridge Center were going to be located together in one space at Mission Center Building (MCB), making it easy to problem-solve on the spot with all the subject matter experts in one place. Shelter-in-place forced us to find new electronic ways to bring this online. IT worked with us to quickly transition to a remote environment, with chat and phone systems to stay connected and to be available to the UCSF community without interruption. And even with years of planning and the lessons learned from other UC locations implementing UCPath before us, we still experienced challenges. COVID also impacted the UCPath Center organization in Riverside that supports all of UC. There are still delays in processing and backlogs impacting all UC locations.
What's next?
On October 5, The Bridge Center support phase officially ended, and UCPath support contacts transitioned to the primary unit that supports each service. Subject matter experts across human resources, payroll, and IT continue to meet several times a week to collaborate and problem solve. We are all dedicated to serving the UCSF community, and we hope the relationships we built will continue to help us improve our work environment and the customer experience.
