Timework Overview

Timeline of Events

December 11, 2021: UKG informed clients of a ransomware incident affecting the Kronos Private Cloud.
December 12, 2021: UMass Memorial Health became aware of the outage and began assessing its impact on payroll operations.
December 16, 2021: With no access to current timekeeping data, UMass processed payroll by duplicating the previous period's data, making adjustments for known changes such as new hires or departures.
January 4, 2022: The SHARE union, representing some UMass employees, reported over 11,000 paycheck errors and advised members to manually track their hours.
January 27, 2022: UMass resumed using Kronos for timekeeping, though discrepancies in payroll data persisted.
February 3, 2022: UMass processed its first accurate payroll since the outage began.

Quantitative Impact

Employee Count: Over 16,000 employees were affected by the payroll disruptions.
Duration: The outage spanned approximately 54 days, from December 11, 2021, to February 3, 2022.
Payroll Errors: More than 11,000 paycheck errors were reported by employees during this period.
Settlement: In response to the disruptions, UMass Memorial Health agreed to a $1.2 million settlement to address back pay claims, with affected employees receiving an average of nearly $375 each.

Challenges and Responses

The outage revealedseveral challenges in UMass's payroll system:

Complex Payroll Structures: UMass's payroll included various components such as shift differentials, overtime, and bonuses, making manual adjustments difficult.
Manual Timekeeping: Employees resorted to manually recording their hours, leading to inconsistencies and errors.
Communication Gaps: Initially, there was a lack of awareness about the outage's broader impact, leading to employee dissatisfaction.

In response, UMassimplemented several measures:

Interdepartmental Collaboration: Finance, IT, and HR departments worked together to address the crisis.
System Upgrades: Plans were made to upgrade the ERP system to include a backup timekeeping feature, reducing reliance on third-party systems.

Timework Conclusion

The Kronos outage atUMass Memorial Health underscores the critical need for robust contingencyplans and diversified systems in payroll operations. Security and theapplication platform security are often overlooked. The incident not onlydisrupted employee compensation but also highlighted the importance oftransparent communication and interdepartmental cooperation in crisismanagement. Workforce Management systems are just as vulnerable as the rest ofthe technology stack, how are you tracking security in your solution?

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Full Article Discussed:

(https://www.hrdive.com/news/the-kronos-outage-disrupted-UMass-Memorial-Health-health-payroll-for-more-than-a-month/620652/)

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