Frequently Asked Questions

The HESS (Higher Education Systems & Services Consortium) Collective was established in 2021 and is comprised of a group of private, non-profit colleges and universities working to:

1. move to a common, modern, affordable cloud-native enterprise solution;

2. move to world-class, multi-institutional contracts for software and services;

3. develop a shared archive to ease migration and implementation costs; 

4. create a network of program schools to share both staff resources and expertise to lower operational overhead costs and increase efficiencies.

5. In the future, provide additional shared services for functional areas

The HESS Collective did an intensive review that included gathering requirements from 33 different HESS schools.  The Collective chose the Oracle platform based on functionality, scalability, long-term affordability and contract terms and conditions.  The program names Drivestream as the implementation partner due to their commitment and ability to work with the HESS Collective schools as a community, sharing resources and expertise freely among the participating institutions.

The program has a 15-year pricing path so Seton Hill can calculate and anticipate ROI from the start. Over the long-term costs, it is expected this program will reduce the costs of using disparate systems and maintaining the necessary integrations.

Drivestream has developed a common, cohort implementation approach for the HESS Collective.  This approach is aligned with a shared services vision, beginning with sharing “assets” developed during and following implementation.  All integrations, reports, etc developed by or for Collective schools become property of the HESS Collective and are available at no additional costs to Collective schools.

Additionally, the HESS Collective provides an active community of implementing institutions through an online platform, weekly subject matter expert calls and annual conference events.

We need to go live at the close of business on June 13 so that our non-exempt (hourly) staff can begin recording their time and so that we can pay them on time, according to our current biweekly schedule, on July 3.

•   Employees accrue a fraction (1/12 or 1/26 based on pay period) of their full annual allotment each pay period.

•   Employees may use accrued vacation time at their discretion. Vacation time is subject to supervisor approval based on department needs.

•   Employees may use accrued sick time for illnesses, injuries, doctor's appointments or to care for a family member’s (spouse, children, parents, siblings) medical condition.

•       Employees may not use more sick or vacation time than they have accrued.

•   Accrued vacation and sick time are permitted to rollover from one calendar year to the next.

In July 2025 when we transition from Paycom to Oracle, employees’ unused vacation and sick time will be transferred to the new Oracle system. 

Employees will begin accruing vacation time (based on 1/12 or 1/26 annual allotment depending on respective payroll cycle) beginning with the first pay in July through December 2025.

Employees with 20 Days (Up to 15 years of eligible service):

o   1/12 annual allotment = 1.67 days/pay for monthly payrolls

o   1/26 annual allotment = 0.77 days/pay for biweekly payrolls

Employees with 23 Days (After 15 years of eligible service in the preceding calendar year):

o   1/12 annual allotment = 1.92 days/pay for monthly payrolls

o   1/26 annual allotment = 0.88 days/pay for biweekly payrolls

Employees with 25 Days (After 20 years of eligible service in the preceding calendar year):

o   1/12 annual allotment = 2.08 days/pay for monthly payrolls

o   1/26 annual allotment = 0.96 days/pay for biweekly payrolls

Note: estimates are subject to rounding.

Accrual will be pro-rated accordingly for the following: 10-month, 11-month employees, employees with a ¾ time appointment and those consistently working 30 hours or more per week accruals.

•   Employees will be permitted rollover up to ten (10) vacation days from one calendar year to the next.

•   Employees will be permitted rollover up to ninety (90) sick days from one calendar year to the next.

•   Yes. In 2025 the accrued time from July to December will allow employees to have the full 10 day rollover, if not used, and will provide employees with vacation time in early January 2026 until vacation time is accrued.

•   For long tenured employees with allotments of 23 or 25 days the accrual from July to December will be as follows however the rollover limit for all employees will be 10 (ten) days.

o   Employees with 23 days will accrue 11.5 days

o   Employees with 25 days will accrue 12.5 days

Accrual will be pro-rated accordingly for the following: 10-month, 11-month employees, employees with a ¾ time appointment and those consistently working 30 hours or more per week accruals.

•   Yes, employees that give ten (10) working days’ notice of voluntary termination will be paid for accrued unused vacation time, up to a maximum of ten (10) days upon termination.

    Employees will begin accruing sick time (based on 1/12 or 1/26 annual allotment depending on respective payroll cycle) beginning with the first pay in July through December 2025.

•       Employee’s accrual will not exceed 90 (ninety) sick days.

•       Accrual will be pro-rated as follows:

o   1/12 annual allotment = 0.83 days/pay for monthly payrolls

o   1/26 annual allotment = 0.38 days/pay for biweekly payrolls

Note: estimates are subject to rounding

Accrual will be pro-rated accordingly for the following: 10-month, 11-month employees, employees with a ¾ time appointment and those consistently working 30 hours or more per week accruals.

•       Yes. In 2025 the accrued time from July to December will allow employees to have five (5) days, if not used, and will provide employees with sick time in early January 2026 until sick time is accrued.

•   Yes. Employees that have ninety (90) sick days will not accrue until their balance is below ninety (90) days.

•   Employees will not be permitted to go into a negative balance (use sick time before they accrue it).

•       Yes. Employees may use up to three (3) days of sick leave as personal days.

•   The personal days may be taken to fulfill family responsibilities such as childcare, pet care and/or personal appointments.

•   No matter the amount of sick leave carried over each calendar year or accumulated, only three (3) days of sick leave may be used as personal days annually.

•       No additional personal days will be granted with carry-over.