EMPowerSF Updates

On March 12, 2024, the Board of Education approved contracts for SFUSD to transition from our current payroll, finance, and human resources systems – including EMPowerSF – to a Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, called Frontline, and a Human Capital Management suite, which is called Red Rover. Since then, we have taken steps to phase out development within EMPowerSF so that we can focus our efforts on successfully implementing our new systems, Frontline and Red Rover.

Yes. We remain committed to supporting our colleagues as questions and concerns arise. We will continue to ensure employees are paid correctly, that their retirement is reported accurately, and that their benefits are in place. However, we will phase out further development of EMPowerSF as we must be strategic and thoughtful about the time and expense it takes to make one-off changes for a product we are phasing out. Continuing to make one-off changes within EMPowerSF drains the resources that we need to put toward successfully implementing our new systems. 

Case managers will remain in place to respond to open tickets.

Our teams are working around the clock to continue processing day-to-day needs while simultaneously implementing the new systems. 

No. We will communicate directly with you if there are action steps that you will need to take. If you have an urgent issue, all escalation paths remain open and accessible.

During the week of April 15th, we are beginning our kick-off meetings for administrators and business managers at school sites and in central office. We will be working towards implementing new workstreams, facilitating trainings for employees, and consulting with other districts that use these systems to learn best practices. We will continue to keep you updated during the implementation of our new systems. Ultimately we will go live with full implementation in July 2025. 

9/12/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

8/8/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

6/20/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

6/6/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

5/9/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

4/11/23 - Payroll State of Emergency Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

3/13/23 - Update from SFUSD Leadership on EMPowerSF (Video)

3/13/23 - SFUSD Continues Effort to Stabilize Payroll System

2/22/23 - EMPower SF State of Emergency Superintendent's Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

1/24/23 - EMPower SF State of Emergency Superintendent's Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

12/13/22 - EMPower SF State of Emergency Superintendent's Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

12/8/22 - SF Board of Education Approves Expanded Services to Expedite Stabilization of SFUSD Payroll System

12/1/22 - Payroll State of Emergency Update

11/15/22 - EMPowerSF State of Emergency Superintendent's Update (Board of Education Presentation - Regular Meeting)

11/7/22 - SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne and SF Board of Education President Jenny Lam Shares Updates on Payroll Issues (Video)

11/7/22 - SFUSD Superintendent Declares Payroll State of Emergency Over EMPowerSF Issues (News)

11/2/22 - November 2022 EMPowerSF Update (Email)

10/25/22 - SFUSD Superintendent Announces Significant Addition to Support Services for Staff Experiencing Payroll Issues (News)

9/14/22 - EMPowerSF Update (Board of Education Presentation - Special Meeting)

9/13/22 - SFUSD Superintendent Seeks to Engage with Consulting Firm to Address Payroll Issues (News)

5/11/22 - EMPowerSF Update (Board of Education Presentation - Augmented Budget and Business Services Committee Meeting)

4/6/22 - EMPowerSF Update (Board of Education Presentation - Augmented Budget and Business Services Committee Meeting)

3/15/22 - Update Regarding Steps Being Taken to Resolve Payroll Issues from Superintendent Matthews (News)

3/15/22 - Update Regarding Steps Being Taken to Resolve Payroll Issues from Superintendent Matthews (Video)

3/15/22 - Statement from SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews Regarding Payroll Issues (News)

In January 2022, SFUSD transitioned to a new system for payroll, time and attendance, and other human resources’ functions called EMPowerSF, which replaced a number of workflows and processes that had been in place for 17 years. Despite extensive preparation, shifting from antiquated systems and processes to new workflows has resulted in issues that have affected payments for some employees.

As of fall 2022, SFUSD is working on two critical issues. The first is to fix long-standing structural payroll issues related to legacy systems and processes. The second is to address individual payroll issues as they emerge. Working to address both issues simultaneously is a complex undertaking that requires a substantial investment of resources.

Here is an overview of recent updates:

November 2022: The District has dedicated extensive resources to address all EMPowerSF issues. In November 2022, the District declared a payroll state of emergency and reallocated significant resources to fixing underlying and emergent payroll issues.

October 2022: The District launched a call center for affected employees to contact with any new payroll-related issues, or to receive updates on previously-reported issues. 

September 2022: The San Francisco Board of Education approved the District's request to hire consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) to help clear the backlog of critical employee payroll issues, stabilize the overall EMPowerSF system, and build the necessary capacity within SFUSD to provide ongoing support.

To enhance understanding of progress, SFUSD and A&M will regularly publish progress towards key goals via a public dashboard.

Status presentations will also be provided at every Board of Education meeting until issues have been stabilized. The public is encouraged to attend these meetings. All recordings and related public documents are available here.

Through the payroll state of emergency, the Superintendent reallocated significant resources to fix the EMPowerSF issues. This became necessary once new information was provided by consultants A&M, which made clear that the underlying payroll challenges were far more substantial than originally known. In response, the District has developed a Corrective Action Plan, which details the next aggressive phase of the District's response to fix payroll issues.

The true scope of the issue was not understood until a recent A&M audit update. This is when it became clear that additional resources would be necessary, which is when the District declared a payroll state of emergency.

The District's corrective action plan includes four key components:

1. Creating a new Command Center with a 60-person Corrective Action Team. This team includes reassigned SFUSD staff, additional A&M and Infosys staff, and additional contract payroll specialists. The Command Center will focus on clearing the backlog of tickets, and institute long term fixes to our payroll systems to prevent new issues.
2. Identifying Key Goals, which will include reducing the overall number of help tickets, reducing the number of impacted employees, and closing more tickets than are being opened each month. 
3. Tracking Progress towards these key goals by monitoring the number of new tickets, whether the overall backlog is increasing or decreasing, how long tickets are open, and the average number of days it takes to resolve tickets.
4. Creating a Public Dashboard that will be updated frequently with the District's progress towards meeting these goals.

While the full scale of the emergency is still being determined, SFUSD, with the support of A&M, will continue to investigate the root causes of systems failure and take preventative measures.

Please see the dashboard for updates on the current status.

Unfortunately, some of the problems related to payroll processing and posting pay have existed prior to EMPowerSF and were exacerbated by the system transition. The fixes are not simple and will require more time than the District would like given current staffing challenges. The District is working with A&M to institute a Corrective Action Plan to address individual employee cases and to permanently fix the root cause of widespread issues so that all employees are made whole. The District would like to thank the staff who are working diligently to address every support request that comes in as quickly as possible.

Please see the dashboard for information about impacted employees.

Employees can alert the District to any payroll issues by filing an electronic ticket or by reaching out to the Call Center. As soon as an employee ticket is received by the District, SFUSD prioritizes and triages the ticket to ensure those related to non-payment are addressed first. The District has added staffing resources by temporarily re-assigning District staff to ensure these issues can be addressed as quickly as possible.