PZ Cussons is a major manufacturer of personal healthcare products and consumer goods with a global reach, though its main focus is in Africa, Asia and Europe. Headquartered in England, PZ Cussons has been operating for over a hundred years.

Why PZ Cussons started looking for an org charting tool

With such a widespread organisation and many different products and departments, the HR team has invested in an Oracle On Demand HR system to manage its HR data for all personnel. The HR system provides an easy-to-use central repository accessible by all of the HR services teams.

However, although the system provided a powerful relational database, it did not provide charting capabilities. Org Planning, the cloud based org charting tool, complements Oracle On Demand and has helped PZ Cussons to maximise on its investment in Oracle’s HR system.

“We wanted to be able to display our organisation in visual charts, not just for the managers and the HR team, but also to provide an overview for employees across the organisation. We selected…Org Planning following a recommendation from Oracle,” said Sally Knill, Global Reward Director.

“…Org Planning exactly met our requirements, both for charting and for HR modelling, and talent and succession planning. It gives us the flexibility to change things easily and offers excellent value for money.”

Implementing Org Planning

PZ Cussons initially started using Org Planning in the UK and has since rolled it out across its locations in Nigeria and Indonesia.

All employees are able to view the organisational charts via the intranet. Those that are not full-time PC users are provided with secure login details so that they can use kiosks, which are available for all staff to use.

By highlighting data from Oracle, Org Planning enables HR managers to validate data accuracy and ensure that the correct staff member is shown as reporting to the right person in the organisation. The charts have also helped HR teams identify “orphans” where the data shows that individuals are not recorded as reporting to anyone.

“When we first implemented the system we had over 20% of staff not linked. Now we find that as new staff are employed across our locations we have only about 2% identified as orphans. The transparency and visibility that it gives us of the organisation is fantastic.”

As well as position in the organisation, contact email addresses are displayed and provide an immediate link for employees to connect up with others.

The results

The HR team is delighted with the system so far, focusing on using Org Planning to validate and capture accurate HR data and making data widely available to its managers, wherever they are located.

Org Planning provides the managers across the company with head-count information and department structures that help with resourcing and planning. Managers in different areas are able to view other departments, using knowledge sharing for adopting best practices on team structures and positions.

According to Sally, the next steps are to start using Org Planning at a strategic level to support the HR team to identify key roles, then develop succession and talent management plans to address business continuity risks.

“…Org Planning is a practical tool that delivers real benefits across the company, both at the employee level and also for our managers. It is flexible and as an HR tool enables us to respond at different levels.”

To find out more about Org Planning, schedule a free online demo today.