Azores Human Resources Shared Services

Transcription

1 Vice-Presidency of the Government, Employment and Competitiveness of Organisation and Public Administration Azores Human Resources Shared Services Azores Regional Government The Regional Government is the executive and superior body of the Azores regional administration, has regulatory powers and manages regional heritage, fiscal revenues and expenditures. Furthermore, it defines and implements financial and regional policies, adjusts national fiscal policies and participates in the development of national plans, among other activities. The challenge Considering the geographically dispersed islands and the need to comply with national guidelines and regional legislation, the Regional Government required a solution covering all employees working in the public sector. Previously, the Regional Government worked with different concepts and applications. Decision makers lacked access to centralized real-time information and many employees were performing ineffective tasks. Thus, the overall objective was to automate and transform human resources management processes granting comprehensiveness, accuracy, global coherence, productivity, readiness and improved quality. The solution The implemented Information System (SIGRHARA), developed specifically for the Regional, manages all human resources processes of the archipelago of the Azores. In total, it manages employees from different Regional Government Agencies spread over the nine islands. It was necessary to align the information system with this complex and hierarchical organizational structure. Azores Island S. Miguel Terceira Faial Pico São Jorge Santa Maria Graciosa Flores Corvo Total *Information according to census 2011 Population*

2 AZORES Azores Regional Government Organizational Chart (2013) The XI Presidency of the Government General Secretariat of the Presidency Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations Vice-Presidency of the Government, Employment and Competitiveness Regional Secretariat for Education, Science and Culture Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Transport Regional Secretariat for Social Solidarity Regional Secretariat for Health Regional Secretariat for Natural Resources for Communities Azores Regional Statistics Institute for Education for Transport for Housing for Health for Agriculture and Rural Development for Organisation and Public Administration for Sport for Energy for Social Solidarity Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service for Forest Resources for the Budget and Treasury for Youth for Tourism Institute for the Social Development of the Azores for Sea Affairs for Planning and Structural Funds for Employment and Vocational Training for Culture for Public Works, Technology and Communications for the Environment for Fisheries for Support to the Investment and Competitiveness Institute of Food and Agricultural Markets 02

3 HR Databank The first steps of the SIGRHARA project were focused on centralizing information concerning personal and professional employee data from different agencies into a single database. Payroll Management This solution allows to easily manage all personal and professional information (identification, gender, birth date, academic qualifications or job positions), and supports staff planning and payroll management. Currently, the solution manages payroll of around employees, including members of the Regional Government, staff of offices, top and intermediate directors, and all employees that belong to direct and indirect administration services of the Regional Government. Besides, it centralizes information about other employees (such as employees working in hospitals and regional companies, which are covered by national accounts) Web Interface In order to share information between agencies and departments within the Government it was necessary to develop three web based portals with different user access levels. Employee Self-Service Portal This portal is the direct contact point between employee and the human resources department. Among other features, employees can create holiday schedules, consult individual processes, make requests for statements or check their pay check. Manager Self-Service Portal Intended for Intermediate and Top Managers, this portal supports managing HR processes and improves the communication between the employee and his manager. For example, this can concern holiday approval or other requests. The manager has instant online access to all relevant employee data, which improves decision-making processes. HR Management Portal The portal includes the decentralization of the human resources management carried out by different agencies and departments of the Government. It allows them to manage all HR processes, such as information on travel and subsistence expenses, new employees, allowances and discounts, employee absence, statements and reports, among others. Shared Services and Communication Different services use a single application, share resources and HR processes. The solution exchanges information with other systems and platforms including the online contacts directory of the Regional Government, the Azores Public Employment Pool (BEP Azores), the public accounting system, the performance appraisal system, or the systems installed at the Institute for the Social Development of the Azores and Financial Management Institute of Azores Social Solidarity. Time and Attendance Time and attendance management and subsistence allowances management are also covered by the solution, and this type of information is directly reflected in the payroll. Payroll & Budget Management Organizational Structure Management Employee Self-Service Portal Information System for The Regional Manager Self-Service Portal Portal Communication and shared services Time & Attendance Management 03

4 Main benefits achieved after project implementation The developed solution tailored to the needs of the Regional allowed: The Centralization of information regardless the modality of public employment relationship established; Shared Services implementation with a centralized payroll; Estimated cost saving of 1 million euros in computer software acquisition and developments after solution implementation; Reduction of 30 days in time lag between attendance records and their effects on the payroll, for services without autonomy; Standardization of administrative and accounting procedures. Automatic Data update; Interoperability with other systems; Elimination of redundancy in procedures; Reduction of costs with human resources and time spent on processes; Possibility to extract management indicators and other KPIs; Reliable and updated information for a better decision making; Improved budget management and cost planning; Development of consistent HR policies for the region s growth strategy; Dematerialization, normalization and process automation; Integration of legislative initiatives in a short time period ,25 in 5 More than Departments using the software User s average satisfaction level Software users HR Management Portal users Manager Self-Service Portal users Employee Self-Service Portal users Payslips processed (2011/2012) Total Records (2011/2012) New Records (2012) Monthly Visitors Average (2012) 04

5 Around employees working in the public sector Processed Payslips for the Regional Government Unspecified Lisbon Oporto Azores - Santa Maria Azores - São Miguel Azores - Terceira Azores - Graciosa Azores - São Jorge Azores - Pico Azores - Faial Azores - Flores Azores - Corvo Total Number of users Unspecified Lisbon Oporto Azores - Santa Maria Azores - São Miguel Azores - Terceira Azores - Graciosa Azores - São Jorge Azores - Pico Azores - Faial Azores - Flores Azores - Corvo Total Estimated cost saving of in computer software acquisition and development 05

6 Users reviews Sérgio Ávila, Vice-President of the Regional In 2006, the Regional has set as one of its key strategic objectives the organizational redesign of the regional administration, which has been in force since 1976, year of establishment of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. Thus, in rupture with the traditional organizational structure, Island Regional Boards were created and civil servants of the regional administration were assigned to these boards, according to their island of residence, and not according to their service. This initiative intended to ease mobility of regional public servants, considering services needs, as well as to enable the creation of common shared service centers, optimizing available resources in order to improve service quality provided to citizens and companies. The Vice-Presidency of the Regional Government of the Azores was assigned the centralization of Human Resources Management, considering their responsibility over Public Administration and Finance areas. To achieve this objective, the need for new support tools to manage these processes was assessed. Therefore, the Azores Public Employment Pool (BEP Azores) became active on the 1st of March This is the only legal space required to announce public employment offers, transfer requests and offers within the regional administration, from start to process conclusion, available 24/7, free of charge to users, contributing to greater transparency and accessibility and with a major impact on reducing public spending. Four years later, the Government of the Azores (SIGRHARA) was implemented. It is the only application responsible for central processing salaries and other allowances for all employees of the regional administration of the Azores and the management of the Island Regional Boards, with significant gains in efficiency, administrative effectiveness and a great impact on reduction of public expenditure. SIGHRARA solution is the key tool that improves decision making, given the amount and quality of information available in the system. It allows diagnosis and prognosis analysis in the context of human resources centralized management. Given the specificities of the region, an archipelago of nine islands with very different realities and requirements, the Regional Government is proud of having been able to implement, in just 8 years, a human resources management model, based on pioneer (and unique, to date) support tools, which is leading Azorean Regional Administration to a new organizational model. Victor Santos, Director, for Organisation and Public Administration As leader of the Regional Organization and Public Administration Directorate, the organization responsible for the development of the information system, I can say that after 2 and a half years of implementation, the impact of the solution in accounting and administrative procedures has been clearly evident, as well as legal concepts. The use of this tool, replacing more than 150 software licences for personnel records registration and payroll management, resulted in a substantial reduction in public expenditure with an estimated value of 1 million euros in licenses, computer hardware, applicational developments, among others. 06

7 José António Gomes, Director, for the Budget and Treasury SIGRHARA, centralizes relevant information such as human resources information, therefore it is fundamental for the regional administration. It provides centralized payroll management and consistent and standardized processes. This project integrates and coordinates perfectly with the competencies of this regional direction, namely at the budget execution level of public spending. The solution enables also a fast and transparent administration towards citizens. Bruno Pacheco, Diretor, for Public Works, Technology and Communications The administrative modernization process of all modern states is based on the use of intensive and widespread information technology and communication with society and among the public services as a way to promote cross-departmental processes automation. The Regional has set ambitious targets in order to achieve mature stages of E-Government. SIGRHARA is a project that covers the entire Regional Government, which was consolidated in the field with a fully integrated solution implementation. According to the competencies conferred for the information systems area of this Directorate, investments have been made in order to establish sustainable basic conditions that allow linking SIGRHARA with the entire structure of the Regional Public Administration. These efforts were performed according to the technical standards, especially in terms of communication. Rosa Matos, SAUDAÇOR, SA, President of the Board of Directors The partnership established between Saudaçor, SA and the for Organisation and Public Administration concerning SIGHARA project aimed for an effective human resources management in the primary health care sector. This partnership has been innovative and integrative and achieved the centralization of all information, and enables a comprehensive knowledge of the sector and costs reduction. 07

8 Paula Ramos, President of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Social Development of the Azores The recent implementation of the Human Resources Management Information System for The Regional in this institute has improved the centralization of information process of our human resources as well as payroll management. Since the rules are defined according to the specific legislation of this region and the detected problems are similar for the different departments it also allows to share experiences. Rui Rodrigues, President of Regional Employment Fund Implemented by Regional Legislative Decree Law nr. 32/2010/A, of November 17th, the Human Resources Management Information System for the Azores Regional Government is the key tool that supports HR management in the region. It is based on four fundamental vectors: interactivity, dematerialization, systematization and generalization, that are complementary. Interactivity, because it provided an electronic platform of undeniable quality in terms of consulting, treatment of data and "workflows". Dematerialization because it introduces technological concepts in administrative procedures and legal reporting obligations; Systematization because it is an integrated way that allows maintaining the departmental management autonomy, the standardization of legal operations with undeniable productivity gains that can be estimated around 75% in terms of time expended; Generalization because each employee is supposed to have a login. For instance, regarding this last point, it was very simple to use the option schedule holiday (this reveals that the tool proves to be intuitive and easy to manage) or to authorize the process that was created by myself on the platform. Obviously this type of features leads to gains in efficiency. Anabela Pereira and Graça Melo, 2nd degree middle managers, Office of the government's Vice-President, Managers of the Social Protection to Employees and Public Administration Agents Information System "The integration of the information about the beneficiaries into the general human resources management solution via webservices allowed to keep information permanently updated. The existence of a module with specific information concerning the social protection beneficiaries that shares updated information with the main system enables this service to focus on their core business. The connectivity between the two systems is an example of interoperability in public administration. The system shares common information for different purposes, using sharing technology, common standards and semantic rules and avoids database duplication containing identical information. The way the system is designed, using typified terminology in the public administration and its usability, are the main advantages." 08

9 Francisco Tavares, IT Manager, for Public Works, Technology and Communications SIGRHARA is a Human Resource Management software, besides incorporating all business related tasks, it has the merit of harmonizing transversely a very sensitive area providing a friendly and intuitive interface to both administrative teams connected to the area as well as all employees (by means of the Employee Self-service Portal), thus contributing to transparency and standardization. In addition, and relevant for the area I am operating in(information Technology), this integrated system came at the right time because it is a repository of reliable data for all employees of the Regional Administration. It unites all users in a single platform across the Regional Government. Obviously, given not only the number of employees but also the dynamics between departments, this was and continues to be an asset in terms of quality and data collection. This solution allows indirectly to reach a level of quality that inevitably reflects on the services provided to citizens. Ana Mendes, Eunice Silveira, Fátima Gomes, Graça Nunes, Guida Dias, Lucília Fagundes, Maria João Rosa, Nélia Lopes and Umbelina Nogueira, members of the team that accompanied the implementation of SIGRHARA at the Public Schools of Azores Autonomous Region. Besides reducing spending on license fees of previous software applications, the advantages are obvious. It simplifies both, the procedures and personnel management processes. The resources used in this type of processes became available to perform other duties thanks to huge savings of time and energy. José Humberto Farinha, Financial Services and Equipment Director, for Education In the last two years, implementing the SIGRHARA solution in the education field, enabled the centralization of human resources information and provided updated and consolidated information. The support and professionalism of the BackOffice team, was of great importance, facilitating the transition from the previous to the current software. José Humberto Farinha, Financial Services and Equipment Director, and Filomena Vieira, Head of Financial and Planning Management Division, for Education The SIGRHARA software application has brought many benefits for the Education sector, as it provides access to all information relating to human resources. However, the commitment of the BackOffice team was essential to implement SIGRHARA successfully at schools. 09

10 Isabel Carvalho, Head of Instruction and Legal Support Division, Regional Inspection of Economic Activities SIGRHARA software is an essential tool for the human resource management in the public administration. It allows real-time and easy access to information relating to payroll, time and attendance management, personal data of staff, development of human resources organizational structure, and management of allocation, recruitment or retirement of staff. The solution is accessible, reliable and provides overall or more detailed information. It is a management tool that would certainly pass the Troika" (European Union, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund) exams with distinction, and that they would adopt to any government. It is transparent, verifiable, and contains reliable real-time information. I use it daily and I can highly recommend this solution to other organizations. Carla Martins, working in the area of in João José da Graça Public Library and Regional Archives "The Integrated for the Regional Administration of the Azores, brings a number of advantages, both for the João José da Graça Public Library and Regional Archives and for the employees related to the management of information. About the system we can highlight the following: Existence of a unique solution with a single central database with information concerning all the human resources; Standardization of procedures related to information processing; Improved access of workers to their own records (consulting them or printing documents); The possibility to update specific personal or professional data; Information sharing with other bodies of the Regional ; As a user of this program, some advantages are: Centralized payroll management; Process acceleration and direct monitoring; Automatic access to the network of the Regional ; Ability to extract various documents and files, such as files for pensions, for Social Security or for the Department of Finance; Possibility to update data. 10

11 Carla Freitas, employee in the Human Resources department, Social Solidarity Regional Secretary) The SIGRHARA project started two years ago and aims to centralize all human resources data of Regional Administration. Furthermore, it allows rapid access to information contributing to the optimization of the use of knowledge available through the portal crucial for increasing the department efficiency. Although, like all "machines" they have "support tools" behind them. In other words, technologies and a team called "BackOffice SIGRHARA, which are responsible for a steady improvement and solve daily small issues that might occur. Carla Maria Duarte Rosa, Department employee, in Faial Island. "Bearing in mind that human resources management is an essential component in any complex organisation, and it is by adequate and efficient means that you can control, supervision and coordinate them and adding our archipelago s condition, in my opinion, the integrated system allowed grouping all the information related to human resources in a single database, replacing the existing applications. It is an intuitive platform, easy to use by the common user. This application, on an initial approach, came to improve our organisational performance, with immediate repercussions in economic growth. 11

12 Patrícia Bairos, employee at the Human Resources department, Regional Tourism and Transport Secretary Office The SIGRHARA implementation at the various Azores Regional Government agencies resulted in an increase of efficiency and costs reduction, without a doubt. Efficiency is achieved by reducing the number of employees assigned to these functions, as well as eliminating duplicated tasks. Operational costs reduction was achieved by eliminating several computer and software contracts, undertaken independently by different departments. Indeed, we achieved our objective, thanks to the creation of a single database with information relating to human resources previously dispersed in several software applications used by the Regional Administration, including a central employee records, and centralized human resources management, payroll and staffing plans management. We collected and processed professional and personal data, as well as dissemination of statistical data. In parallel, SIGRHARA integrates with both the Management and Accounting System of the Regional Directorate for Budget and Treasury, and the Health Management subsystem for Public Administration Employees Social Protection, and proved its importance as it introduced innovations in relationship between the departments of the Regional Administration and the for the Budget and Treasury, as well as with the office providing regional social protection services to civil servants. With this integration the personal and professional data of the beneficiaries subsystem are provided by SIGRHARA through the upload of information received from the different departments. Employees now have access to their personal and professional profiles through the employee self-service portal, and may request, if necessary, the rectification of any inaccurate data as well as upgrading or eliminating useless information. At a later stage, employees can access their account through a portal for the Azores regional social protection services for civil servants, consult expenditure documents delivered, view reimbursements made, issue statements to complement reimbursements, among others features, thus making exchanging information more rapid and effective. The departments were allowed to update payroll information and other allowances, overtime, night shifts, etc. This maintains a uniform file including functional and professional activities and all the elements involved in payroll management, enabling information sharing and best practices between different departments of Azores Regional Government. 12