Bringing a big problem to a simple solution
When it comes to resolving a large problem, there is nothing like reaching a solution that produces a simple-to-use easy fix. That is exactly what our edocument system provided for one client with a team spread over multiple locations.
The problem presented
When it comes right down to it, the purpose of technology is to make life easier for the people who use it. When we were presented with this particular difficulty, we used our edocument solution to do just that. Here, in a nutshell, was the scenario:
The client had just expanded via multiple acquisitions. That meant they now needed to integrate their preferred working practices across multiple sites. Not only that, but these sites were spread over office and home locations depending on the team member and, to complicate things further, over different countries. Human Resources had a particularly difficult problem to resolve. It needed to not only standardise the employment contracts and other important documents across the whole workforce, but it also needed to include all kinds of employees, from single site-based, full-time team members, through to those currently on long-term leave from the company. In addition, each document was personalised with specific paragraphs and content to reflect their working environment and location.
This is quite a challenge considering they were looking at doing this for over 8,000 employees. All of whom needed a contract that would not only meet the legal and the processing needs of the client but also be securely delivered, go through a process of authorisation and approval, and returned. It would also need to be monitored to ensure completion of the rollout. As you can see, this was potentially a logistical nightmare and, to add a further dimension to the issue, there was time pressure to complete the process to ensure all the employee data was processed in a timely and secure manner.
What that all meant was ideal they would be able to:
- Monitor the rollout of the new documentation from a central location
- Ensure every employee was informed of the contract being issued
- Deliver a personalised, very bespoke document to everyone
- Have every employee approve the document and return it to a central resource centre
- Then store the information securely and safely while being able to easily check who had and had not completed the process
Clearly, doing all this was not going to be a simple paperwork exercise. Apart from the sheer volume of paperwork and man hours involved with arranging for the physical delivery of over 8,000 contracts, the monitoring of the process would be laborious and time-consuming. Crucially, the manual delivery of the contracts also meant distribution would need to be handled by multiple agencies outside the organisation, which raised potential security and logistics issues.
Where we could help
The simplest, shortest route to resolving the client’s problem was to move the whole contract process online. We knew this would not just hit the time-related targets but also ensure the documents were delivered consistently and accurately while maintaining the security of the personal information and data.
The client provided us with two templates that met the multi-country requirements of the workforce. We then took the spreadsheet-based text and conditions they provided and created a system that placed the right data and information into each individual’s contract, in the right place. These contracts were then converted and reformatted to produce a personalised pdf file for the employee.
Delivery was the next step. We made sure that every recipient of the contract could create their own secure, private login. Once this was created, the team member could then log in and approve the documentation with a single click. At that point, the reviewed and accepted contract was reformatted as a single document with a page containing vital data such as date, timestamp and even the device and browser information. Both the employee and the HR department now had secure access to this as a single, easy-to-download or view document.
Finally, there was the question of non-standard processing, such as an employee without a work email address. This was also resolved. Firstly, because the system now identified any employee not covered by the standard process via a central admin dashboard. Secondly, because, in these cases, the hard copy could be generated, then scanned and uploaded on return. This completed the circle and ensured consistent record-keeping.
We had successfully converted what was a potentially huge, time-consuming and resource-heavy workload into a fast, simple system. We had solved the client’s problems and had done so in a way that took months off the potential rollout schedule and provided full monitoring, and increased security to the highest standards. Not only that, the HR departments had an onboarding process for new employees that guaranteed consistency.
I think we can afford ourselves the luxury of being a little proud of what we achieved with our edocument solution for this client. They were delighted with the solution to their immediate problem and with the ongoing usefulness of that solution.
