UC Davis employee identification numbers will be changed from Social Security numbers to nine-digit random numbers in a mass one-time process scheduled for this weekend.

In response to growing concern over privacy and confidentiality issues, employee identification numbers will be converted from Social Security numbers to randomly generated numbers. The Payroll/Personnel System will be un-

available during the conversion process, expected to run through the weekend and, possibly, through Monday.

"Federal law says that Social Security numbers are private," says Stan Nosek, assistant vice chancellor for administration, "and we have been working for the past two years in preparation for this conversion."

Nosek sees the conversion as a minor change with the major benefit of reducing the unnecessary exposure of individuals’ Social Security numbers.

"People are especially concerned with so much occurring electronically," he says, "that it is even more important now to protect the privacy of Social Security numbers."

In an effort to safeguard confidentiality, all reports issued from the Payroll/Personnel System will reflect the change.

Nosek says the impact of the change is expected to be minimal. Access to most employee systems such as bencom.fone, UCbencom, UC for Yourself and the Open Enrollment Action Line will be unaffected by the change.

The most common use of the employee identification number is for inquiry purposes into the Payroll/Personnel System, which will continue to be accessible using employee names or Social Security numbers.

The new employee identification number conversions, as well as a report for Payroll/Personnel representatives detailing the new random numbers, will be distributed by mid-November.

The PPS Data Warehouse support team can be reached at paysys-support@ucdavis.edu and can help in preparing for these changes. For more information, go to http://sysdev.ucdavis.edu/banner/cid/.