Automating HR Workflows to Deliver Better Service

and Increase Cost SavingsPresenter – Patrick Acheampong

September 2011

1.Why2.What3.How

1. Start With The Why

Optimise economies of scale – platform for growth Flexible capacity planning Risk management -Business continuity Inconsistency in process - repeatability Error reduction – less manual intervention Regulatory management Time zone agnostic Reduce rate of HR headcount growth- scalable Accountability through KPI's Cost reduction – if done properly!

What problems need to be solved?

Define your desired outcomes upfront

Decrease processing time Productivity – ease of use More time to focus on value added tasks Better job satisfaction Higher quality service Empowerment – self service, do it yourself

What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)

Do more work, faster, more accurately, with less people

Create a Movement

New Hire Example

 Workflow participants can be a single person, a list of people or a list of people with a coordinator.

When each of the process steps is completed, the Workflow Management System sends automatic notifications to the relevant people.

Lead-times can be specified for each process step, and the Workflow Management System will automatically send overdue notifications to the relevant people

During the process, HR can view the status of the process steps to check the progress of the onboarding process

Information about when each process step was viewed, completed and saved can be monitored by HR.

Once the process is complete, the information in the various eforms can be automatically exported to the HRIS or other corporate systems

From an audit perspective, if HR is asked to show the steps taken when hiring a specific employee, they can refer back to the history data stored for the workflow.

The prospective employee, even though external (outside the corporate firewall) to the organisation, can be added to the workflow, without having to be given access to the corporate intranet. This allows the employee to complete tasks before commencing work.

New Hire Example -The Benefits

2. What

Depth Intelligent Completeness Empowering Elegant

Roll the DICEE – Don’t make me think!

Enduring

Metrics – Dashboard Example

The Importance of Metrics

Source: Gartner

Example Success Metrics

Support –engage fast. Assistance – show users how to use the workflow

system optimally Deliver bad news early – proactive Deliver on user change requests

Creating Enchantment

Enchanted, happy users

3.How

Avoid these project stages Enthusiasm

Disillusionment

Panic

Search for the guilty

Punishment of the innocent

Praise and honours for the non-participants

Pre Vs Post Mortem

Make The Case For Automation - Build The Business Case A business case is an analysis of the overall business benefits that justify the initial

commitment of time, resources, and funding for an investment project or any on-going investment.

It uses a set of methods and techniques to determine the economic potential and practicality of projects

“Any business activity that can't be measured is a waste of resources” - Jack Welch What does success look like?

Strategic – New capabilities

Technical – Benefits to the

technology infrastructure

Operational – Expected improvements

to processes,and other intangibles

Financial – costs and benefits

Payback Period

What are the most severe problems◦ Cost Vs Service

Low hanging fruit ROI. Can you make the business case? Who is impacted the most?

◦ Entire firm◦ Large number of junior employees◦ Small number of senior employees◦ Profitable or unprofitable business unit

Client perspective. Is the issue being raised by clients? Can it be done with existing resources? Do you have the right project management skills

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Prioritising

Six Sigma Total Quality Management Business Process Reengineering Lean systems In-house concoction

Define Your Methodology

▶ Technology is an enabler, NOT a creator of good process

▶ Use technology to underpin re-engineered process, not to replicate badly engineered processes

▶ You cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant

▶ If possible have HR business/technology analysts on your team

Define Your Requirements

Common approaches Get visio or excel put them down on paper

put it in front of everyone and expect everyone to follow dilligently - manual

Use a process documenting application,create process flow charts using proper BPMN notation - semi-automated

Build an in-house application using .NET or other programming language - automated

Use a BPM product - automated

Design your Workflows

Possible Approaches HR tell I.T what they want – Abdication

HR put together process maps and hand over to I.T to code – Client relationship

HR business analyst defines the process and works with I.T on technology side – Partnership collaboration

Build Your Solution

Consider soft launch Hands on training where possible Forum for feedback and improvement Rollout communications Regular ongoing communication and

user engagement

Deploy Your Solution

Some Conclusions

You must add value to the way things are already being done otherwise there is no point

It’s a new way of working, make sure you know what the impact of that is, BEFORE you try to sell it to your clients

You can’t change everything at once – Prioritise Don’t be afraid to change, but don’t just change for the sake

of change Continuous improvement. Don’t stop at the first change. Don’t just throw technology at existing processes. If you

automate an inefficient process, you just get bad data quicker Listen to your customers and create a DICEE product Be creative – think outside the box! This is an opportunity to

not only improve what exists, but also to create what doesn’t

1.Why2.What3.How

One more thing…

Celebrate Success!!!!

Q&A