Improved STAR Award Process Helps Recognize More Employees

Integrating DocuSign with Smartsheet Streamlines the Process and Saves Time for HR Employees

It may sound like a minor improvement, but updates to a nomination form are making it easier for FOA employees to be recognized for their great work with STAR Awards (which come with a cash bonus), resulting in more staff members receiving that recognition.

Watch this story's video from the FOA Efficiency Series

You can watch Carlee Gnos's presentation on STAR Award nominations on YouTube.

Explore slides and other resources from the FOA Efficiency Webinars, hosted by the Administrative Innovation and Technology team.

Since the updated process launched, the FOA Human Resources team has issued 171 STAR Awards to FOA employees who have gone above and beyond in their work. The awards are part of the UC system’s Staff Appreciation and Recognition plan, which provides cash recognition awards for individuals and teams.

Those STAR Awards so far represent 47% more nominations than last year’s total. Additional nominations for STAR Awards can still be sent in for the June 30 deadline.

The improvements to the nomination process were led by Carlee Gnos, FOA’s associate human resources business partner, in close partnership with Kim Stephens of Administrative Innovation and Technology. 

Gnos shared during the FOA Efficiency Series webinar on DocuSign, back in March, how they worked to integrate DocuSign with Smartsheet to create a more efficient, transparent system. Gnos has been with UC Davis since December 2024, and she was honored earlier this year with an FOA Innovation Award for streamlining another process for the FOA HR team.

Using Smartsheet to route reviews saves time and increases transparency

Nominations for STAR Awards require multiple levels of review depending on the award amount, sometimes including supervisors, department heads, FOA HR and the vice chancellor. Historically, that routing process created delays.

Gnos explained that the process originally began as a hard-copy form, requiring nominators to manually gather signatures. Around 2018, FOA transitioned to an online form in DocuSign, significantly improving efficiency. However, FOA HR still had to manually prepare and send each nomination around for reviews.

For this three-person HR team that supports the whole FOA division, that manual work remained a challenge.

“We’re a small, but mighty FOA HR team,” Gnos said during the webinar. “So we’re always looking at ways to make it more efficient.”

The latest iteration builds on the DocuSign improvements by adding Smartsheet to automate the intake and routing process. Nominators submit requests through Smartsheet, which then determines the correct approval path. DocuSign handles the signatures, routing nominations to supervisors, department heads and vice chancellor leadership as needed for approvals, before returning them to FOA HR to finish issuing the award.

The updated system has significantly reduced processing time. What previously could take about 30 days now averages about five days from initial request through approvals and submission for payment — an 83% reduction.

It has also improved transparency. Automated notifications now keep nominators and approvers informed about where each award is in the process.

Gnos noted that the “coolest thing” was how this change has affected employee recognition.

“When you have a really manual process, people are less inclined to do it,” she said. “By automating this process and making it so easy … it’s directly impacted our usage.”

More STAR Awards in less time

Last year, FOA received 116 STAR Award nominations. This year, that number has already been surpassed, with more than 171 submitted and awarded, before the end of the annual cycle.

The improvement is also saving time for FOA HR — about 80 hours annually, or six to seven hours per month — in addition to saving time for nominators and approvers.

“I love seeing 80 hours saved annually,” said Alicia Webber, a process and change consultant with the Office of Business Transformation who facilitated the webinar. “For a small team, it can make such a big difference.”

Gnos also shared practical tips for others looking to streamline similar workflows, including:

• Consider creating separate DocuSign templates for different approval paths.
• Clearly define which fields are editable – and which ones should not be changed. 
• Build a test environment before launching updates.

The work is already drawing attention beyond FOA.

“This improvement has been noticed across campus,” said Kim Stephens, who works with teams across campus on DocuSign projects. “Other campus divisions are interested in how we’re managing the STAR program … and how this works.”

For FOA, the streamlined STAR Award process is both an operational win and a cultural one — making it easier to recognize employees for outstanding contributions while reducing administrative burden across the division.