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Self Service – Gaining Benefits from ESR

September 28, 2009 in Corporate Services, Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

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Photo:Bitterjug, flickr

Photo:Bitterjug, flickr

During 2008-09, NHS organisations deploying ESR (an ORACLE-based human resources and payroll solution) worked to address early challenges with initial deployment.

Most are now in the process of refining practice to gain benefits and many are at the early stages of planning to deploy self-service.

Organisations should not dismiss lightly the effort needed to address stakeholder concerns and revise business processes when implementing self service. Nor should the ongoing challenges of systems management, user administration and support be ignored.

It is possible, though, to address these challenges effectively and there are some large prizes availble for those who do so successfully. Read the rest of this entry →

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Oracle Self Service Payroll Errors leads to Qualified Accounts

September 3, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

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Photo:rracy o, flickr

Photo:rracy o, flickr

The MOD has recently received a qualified opinion from the National Audit Office on its 2008-09 accounts - due to weaknesses uncovered in payments to Armed Forces personnel.

The Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system, an Oracle-based pay system delivered by EDS, uses self service to allow personnel to enter pay details relating to over £8.9 billion of staff costs per annum.

A sample taken by auditors revealed 14.7% of sample transactions exhibited a payment error, which amounted to 10.1% of the sample by value. An estimate of total errors using the sample showed £140m of net overpayments (including £30m from expenses).

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NHS and HR Self Service Benefits

August 5, 2009 in Our Track Record

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A trust had deployed a number of self service transactional tools for communication between line managers and back-office functions in HR and Payroll and wanted to assess the benefits of the solution. Attractor was asked to evaluate the changes delivered by the trust implementing new tools.

Using a combination of focussed interviews (with front line and back office teams) plus detailed process analysis with impact assessments, Attractor was able to demonstrate significant benefits in relation to customer service, information management, workflow and process cycle times plus reductions in transaction cost.

Time savings on tasks generally freed up time to focus on operational and strategic issues – for both line managers and backoffice staff. A limited amount of the time saved was capable of translating easily to cash savings from organisational budgets.

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ESR Self Service Review

March 11, 2009 in Our Track Record

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The new Director of Workforce of an acute teaching hospital in London invited Attractor Consulting Limited to provide an external review of the business case, implementation approach and organisational readiness for ESR self service. The trust had completed pilot work but wanted to ensure governance arrangements were robust, systems dependencies were clear and benefits plans were comprehensive.

Attractor’s review confirmed that implementation preparations had been well-handled and business processes had been designed in a manner that would suit the features of ESR self service. It highlighted the need to ensure the strategy; vision and ownership for ESR were clear and coherent and address a number of specific operational and strategic business risks related to issues such as –

  • human resources engagement
  • benefits delivery
  • cultural change for managers and human resources

 The review provided significant assurance on governance, implementation and organisational readiness, which were well-advanced. Attractor was able to identify additional benefits, some cash releasing, that ESR self service would enable.

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NHS and Strategy for Manager Self Service

January 10, 2009 in Our Track Record

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A London-based mental health trust had identified the need to move to a “self-service environment” for line managers and employees. While the desire was clear, neither the technology that might enable the transition, nor its implications, were well understood. The trust needed someone to facilitate discussion and decision-making by HR, Line Managers, Finance and IT professionals.

The Director of Human Resources invited Attractor to clarify options, benefits, drawbacks and ramifications. A review workshop facilitated by Attractor provided stakeholders an ideal opportunity to –

  • identify potential benefits for the organisation
  • clarifiy and agree local objectives and priorities
  • explore key features and implementation challenges for self service

Analysis of results revealed administrative cost reduction was significantly less important to stakeholders than empowering line decision-making, improving HR services and improving workflow performance. From conclusions drawn, the trust adopted an integrated HR portal as the most suited tool for to its strategic requirements.

A development path having already been identified, work to implement new tools commenced quickly after the workshop. The trust retained Attractor in a programme assurance capacity during the implementation phase and, following development and communication efforts, the first new transactional tools were used by managers within 6 months.

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