Dear Colleagues,
For the past few years, UCR Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology Solutions (ITS) have worked to strengthen our partnership and engage key stakeholders to identify comprehensive solutions to the challenges faced by those delivering HR services to campus.
Today, we are pleased to introduce Avanti, a campus-wide journey to strategically transform HR services through the collaborative and phased implementation of common, centralized, and automated technology solutions. We also invite you to view the Avanti HR Roadmap to learn more about UCR’s journey to a unified HR ecosystem. By enhancing security, compliance, and standardization, the Avanti initiative will streamline processes, provide efficiencies to better support HR staff, and ultimately elevate the UCR employee experience.
Decisions Centered on People and Data
UCR leadership commissioned Deloitte, a prominent technology and strategy consultant, to conduct a thorough assessment of the HR landscape. Key assessment findings from the 2022 report highlighted the need for process standardization and automation, improvements to both the employee and HR provider experience, and the importance of greater compliance and scalability. In the last year alone, incredible progress has been made toward these outcomes. However, there is still much important work to do. The recommendations from the Deloitte report serve as the drivers of Avanti.
Outcomes to Be Achieved
Guided by the ETHOS principles and inspired by the spirit of "Avanti” (Italian for “to move forward” or “to advance”), the key objectives of this multi-year effort to transform HR are:
● Elevate and enhance the employee experience
● Streamline HR operations and enhance efficiency
● Provide data-driven insights for strategic decision-making
● Improve security, compliance, and data integrity
A Collaborative Transformation
Avanti is a strategic partnership between campus and central HR, Campus Support Center, and ITS, involving stakeholders from the outset. The initiative places emphasis on shared solutions, process mapping to ensure a tool is built for the need, proactive change management, data-driven decision making, and continuous improvement.
To learn more about UCR’s journey to a unified HR ecosystem, visit the Avanti webpage and check out the Avanti HR Roadmap.
Should you have any feedback or questions, please contact hrpolicy@ucr.edu.
We hope you share in our excitement as we move forward together with HR transformation at UCR!
Samuel A. Najera
Chief HR Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor
Matthew Gunkel
Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor