Implementing Phenom is a Team Effort at University of Missouri Health Care

Are you thinking of pulling in a couple of recruiters on your team to implement Phenom by yourselves? Easy-peasy, right? Before you go down that road, go down this one first. 

Watch this Customer Obsession Day session on demand, or keep reading for the highlights!

University of Missouri Health Care (MU) is mid-Missouri’s only academic health system, so talent plays an important role in keeping patients healthy and on the go. MU has more than 8,000 employees who personify the organization’s key values of respect, service, discovery, responsibility, and excellence.

There are currently more than 400 open positions for pharmacists, occupational therapists, nurses, and many others, but there’s a challenge.

“We have an aging, complex tech stack,” admitted Bryan McCarthy, Talent Acquisition Manager at MU. The stack includes a separate Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Human Capital Management (HCM) system. MU launched Phenom in October 2024 to modernize its recruiting operation with Applied AI and an experience-first approach. McCarthy oversaw the integration and adoption.

He added two roles to his team since going live with Phenom — an HR systems and branding analyst who serves as an administrator for Phenom and Taleo, and a dedicated developer to provide back-end support for both platforms. The roles oversee the internal ticketing system, requiring daily collaboration to determine who will handle an inquiry when it comes in.

It's important that the team has a united front to troubleshoot, strategize, and implement changes in real time, McCarthy explained during Phenom Customer Obsession Day, an annual event designed to show organizations how to extract maximum value from Phenom’s AI and automation technology. Here are some lessons learned that can benefit other organizations that are thinking of unilaterally incorporating Phenom into their HR tech stack.

How Do You Structure a Successful Implementation Team?

1. Build a team. Invest in structure and delegate clear lines of responsibility and ownership, advised McCarthy. Involve everyone — tech support, subject matter experts, and other change-ready change champions. “That mindset is so important because Phenom is constantly evolving at a pace that is sometimes overwhelming to keep up with,” McCarthy said. “You can quickly fall behind if you don't have the right team structure in place.”
   
   In addition, MU provides their team with scheduled Phenom-specific learning opportunities. "We try to be really proactive in how we deliver system education," revealed Rachel Newman, MU’s HR Systems & Branding Analyst. "We host hour-and-a-half Phenom learning sessions every other month for our recruiters so that they can engage in continuous learning about the system, since Phenom is always changing and improving."
   

2. Collaborate across roles and functions. Having a system admin, a developer, and a strategic lead all collaborating on decision-making is crucial. Throw the best ideas against the wall and come to an agreement on which ones are sticky. “Being on the same page is so important,” McCarthy said. “It makes all the difference for us.”

3. Give your ATS integration team a stake in the process. One of the keys to MU’s integration success is having hands-on ownership in maintaining its product suite. Developing a strong partnership with the ATS team (or whatever team manages the suite) has been a huge plus, said Newman, who’s strengthening her own expertise through the Phenom Credential Program. "I'm currently completing the admin credential program for the talent acquisition path to deepen my knowledge," she noted.
   
   The implementation was no small feat. McCarthy and Newman conducted nine in-person training sessions for hiring managers, followed by multiple weeks of office hours to support adoption. Now, these roles oversee the internal ticketing system, requiring daily collaboration to determine who will handle an inquiry when it comes in.

4. Think of Phenom’s Global Customer Care team as your colleagues. “They're responsive, thoughtful, and genuinely committed to finding a solution that we're aiming for,” Newman said. Ask follow-up questions and be persistent until there is a shared understanding of what’s possible, she added.
   
   Structure and collaboration lay the groundwork, but having a smart process for handling issues is equally critical.

What Should You Know About Managing Support Tickets?

Many of MU's defect tickets are related to the Talent CRM and recruiter experience — not surprising given these are the tools recruiters use most heavily day-to-day. Since going live with Phenom last fall, the organization developed triage levels to get necessary insights before submitting a ticket to GCC.

Level 1 — MU trains recruiters to ask if other CRM users are experiencing issues via a dedicated chat channel. The HR IT team is also in that channel, giving everyone visibility into the issues being raised.

Level 2 — MU guides recruiters to submit an "Ask HR" ticket to officially log an issue and launch further internal troubleshooting efforts.

Level 3 — Newman has a daily huddle with the HRIT developer to stay aligned on anything that requires joint problem-solving. “We want to put all of the brains that we have behind what we're noticing internally before we ask for time from our GCC colleagues,” she said. MU has a similar triaging process for hiring managers using Phenom Hiring Manager.

If the issues still aren’t resolved, and the next step is to engage GCC, Newman advises formatting tickets into four sections:

• Give the issue a clear name

• Provide a clear description

• Detail the impact the issue is having

• Make clear what kind of support is being requested

Newman also creates short screen recordings to include with her ticket descriptions. "I think GCC finds that very helpful," she said, noting that issues can evolve or candidate profiles can change between when a problem is identified and when support reviews it.

One lesson she's learned: be strategic about urgent flags. "I have become careful about not marking every ticket as urgent, even when it's very tempting to do that," Newman admitted. "I've learned that overusing an urgent flag can make it harder to prioritize what truly needs immediate attention."

Combining McCarthy’s team structure with Newman’s attention to detail, MU receives quicker turnaround times to resolve technical challenges with a simple phone call. “A year ago we had emails,” said McCarthy. “Now we leave understanding exactly what Phenom is going to do, what date they're going to deliver things, and what testing we need to do on the back end. We're in a better place.”

Learn more about Phenom Global Customer Care and the different support packages available