Fujitsu Australia Limited

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Fujitsu automates its HR processes with i-Flow BPM technology

When Fujitsu Australia Limited identified the need to streamline its Human Resource (HR) management processes and improve access to information, it decided on an intranet solution based on its own i-Flow Business Process Management (BPM) technology.

Not only has the initial implementation increased productivity and reduced costs by enhancing internal communications and automating paper-based HR processes, but it has also helped to positively impact customer service.

Fujitsu has implemented i-Flow as part of its Employ-eVision project, which will eventually give staff access to a wide range of HR-related information via a corporate intranet that links directly to the company's Teamwork HR/Payroll system. The first stage of the project went live in late May 2002, with a complete staff contact list and search engine including organisational data, skills and line-of-report information as well as a self-service function for personnel to update their own details.

Fujitsu's HR General Manager, Rob Carroll, said the initial rollout of the directory and associated Skills Register provides the foundation for on-going developments that leverage i-Flow's advanced workflow capabilities to enhance processes.

"Staff can now easily locate and communicate with other employees throughout the organisation and employee data is always current because each individual is now responsible for maintaining their own information," he said.

"The Skills Register lets us search for individuals based on their skills, area of responsibility, geographical location or various other characteristics. This will be an important tool in putting together project teams. Importantly, it will also allow us to connect our customers with the right person to meet their needs.''

With a headcount in excess of 1,700 people, the self-service capability has significantly reduced the administrative workload for HR staff, with on-going additions to the project expected to further improve efficiency by automating various HR processes.

Project Manager, Jacquie Turner, said the Employ-eVision system will ultimately provide a single point of contact for all HR requirements. "In addition to the corporate directory, staff will be able to access a range of useful information including the HR manual and other policy documents, useful links and news, as well as a staff Bulletin Board. They will also be able to fill in a range of digital forms for things like expense accounts, leave requests and so on, check their remuneration and benefits details, make career development requests and more," she said.

"All the forms will incorporate embedded rules so it will be impossible for them to be filled out incorrectly, which will eliminate one of the biggest headaches facing our HR staff under the current paper-based system with its manual checking processes,'' she said.

``The BPM capabilities enabled by i-Flow will ensure all forms are automatically routed to the appropriate person for further input and/or approval, as well as enabling us to track the status of any process that has been initiated,'' Turner said.

"Employ-eVision will enable our HR team to operate more efficiently, with all staff having far greater access to HR-related information through the self-service capability. This was a key driver for the intranet system.''

Fujitsu Australia identified i-Flow as the enabling component of the new HR system after rejecting an external product because of the integration issues it presented, and then discovering the ideal solution already existed within the wider Fujitsu organisation.

"We had very clear requirements for the project, but i-Flow was so functionally rich it actually widened our scope. We're constantly discovering new potential applications for BPM and will expand it into areas outside HR once the initial project has been completed," she said.

Fujitsu plans to complete the initial stages of the Employ-eVision solution by the end of this year and has established a multi-disciplinary steering committee to field and consider requests for additional functionality.

"We've had a number of useful suggestions from Finance to workflow processes for capital expenditure approvals and travel authorities, and are looking at the possibility of integrating the system with our General Ledger and CRM applications in the future," Ms Turner explained.

"i-Flow's integration capabilities represent a key differentiator over competitive products. For example, we're currently developing a Leave Application module which will not only allow entry and approval of leave applications, but once the leave has been approved, the data will flow into the time recording system as locked records.''

"This alleviates the problem of any potential mismatch between the two systems as well as avoiding the duplication of data entry," she said.

Mr Carroll said a recent global meeting of Fujitsu HR Managers discussed the value of the Australian-developed HR Solution which is being actively considered by the US operation.

"The Employ-eVision system is being integrated with the HRIS used in our New Zealand operation and will be rolled out there during the next few months, further enhancing our ability to service customers across the Australasian region.

"As we extend the workflow functionality into other areas of the organisation, I am sure the advanced capabilities of the i-Flow engine will continue to deliver new benefits for Fujitsu, enabling us to operate even more efficiently and cost effectively," he said.