How can we create our org charts, faster?
The Bank of Queensland’s tired old process for constructing org charts was too time-consuming to keep pace with the organisation.
The HR team made the switch to Org Planning to create their org charts quicker, have greater access to workplace analytics, and have improved visibility of the organisation.
By doing so, the Bank of Queensland (BoQ) made its first step towards being a value creation centre for the business and is now looking for opportunities to automate other HR processes. The HR team can implement more value creating strategies as more ongoing processes are automated.
Here’s how they found and implemented the right org charting tool for their situation.
About Bank of Queensland
BOQ is one of Australia’s leading regional banks, and one of the few significant bank brands not owned by a larger financial institution. They’re an independent alternative to customers looking for a full range of banking services.
The Bank of Queensland have grown from being the first Permanent Building Society in Queensland, in 1874, to a network of over 250 branches spanning every state and territory in Australia.
The Bank of Queensland have grown from being the first Permanent Building Society in Queensland, in 1874, to a network of over 250 branches spanning every state and territory in Australia.
One of the Bank of Queensland’s key differentiators is a reputation for superior customer service. As a regional bank, flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs are paramount to future growth.
BOQ’s principal activity is the provision of financial services to individuals and business. BOQ acquired the Professional Finance and Asset Finance & Leasing businesses of Investec Bank (Australia) Limited and have since rebranded the acquired business BOQ Specialist Bank Limited (“BOQ Specialist”). BOQ continues to grow with a focus on putting customer needs first and showing it is possible to love a bank.
Org charting before Org Planning
Megan Shields, HR Systems at BOQ, had previously used Visio for org charts. Visio, whilst being a great workflow planning tool, does not automatically create org charts. Data had to be manually dumped from Chris21 and organise it into an org chart through Visio.
The manual process was time-consuming and only provided the visualisation of BOQ’s org structure. Megan was missing out on the analytics that come with a dedicated org charting program, which was sitting in Chris21 unused. Org charts took the HR department so long to create that they were often out of date before they were completed.
The delay in relevant data caused the heads of other departments to create their own org charts for reference. Megan and the rest of the HR department had more problems to deal with when these ‘rogue’ charts did not contain the true hierarchical structure of the organisation.
With the number of changes that occur within the Bank of Queensland, the size of the business, and the considerable time it took to manually to do, it made sense for the HR department to move to automated org charting software.
“It was extremely manual. We would have to pull data out of our payroll system then manually create charts – so, manually drawing boxes on pages and writing names on charts etc. So the time involved in that was pretty outrageous. It would often take us months at a time to create an org chart.”
Megan Shields, on the challenges of manually creating org charts.
The biggest challenge HR needed to solve
The Bank of Queensland’s primary problem was time. It took HR too long to export data from Chris21 and create org charts. The process was so time-consuming, charts were only generated every 3-4 months.
The second problem was keeping data relevant. Data on org charts were too static to keep up with the pace of the Bank of Queensland. Org charts were out of date as fast as they were made. Small adjustments couldn’t be made to org charts on the fly as the structure of BOQ was constantly changing.
The third pain point was the lack of analytics. Current org charts were basic. Megan could only extract the most rudimentary data from their org charts.
Charting on in-depth information such as succession planning and diversity were not possible. The HR team wanted greater insights into their workforce as well as up to date org charting.
Why Org Planning?
Org Planning was the first choice for the Bank of Queensland. They were already Navigo customers, being users of a single user version of Org Planning, and went straight to a more powerful version when they recognised the opportunity.
No alternatives were considered, as the Bank of Queensland knew the potential of Org Planning, and trusted the expertise of the Navigo team. Using another program meant dealing with a different set of consultants, and the Bank of Queensland wanted to maintain their relationship with the Navigo group.
Implementation
Implementation was a fluid process. The Navigo team went to the Bank of Queensland to set HR up with Org Planning. Megan and the HR department were up and running with the latest org charting software in no time.
Everyone was given instructions on using Org Planning from a HR perspective – not from a technical, IT perspective. The HR team were run through the processes they would be required to perform on a regular basis.
Our team even set up talent management profiles at the Bank of Queensland, so Megan could plot the growth and succession plan of every employee. HR can now identify the needs of top performers and cater to their needs.
“We had a one day training session with Jonathan from Navigo. He came in and helped us set up the charts we would like to use in our organisation. He showed us how to use the whole entire system. It wasn’t even a full day training session and we were up and running, ready to go.”
Megan Shields, on the training and support provided by Navigo.
Using Org Planning day-to-day
The Bank of Queensland can now feed data from its payroll system, Chris21, into Org Planning to create an org chart. Org charts display a wealth of information previously unavailable to HR, and the ease of creation means org charts are generated every week with one click instead of being constantly created every few months.
The biggest benefit Org Planning brought to HR is their ability to deliver more insights into the business and its people. Megan can now deliver org charts updated on a weekly basis, reducing the pestering from other departments for relevant data.
The time saved creating org charts has also given HR more time to focus on higher payoff activities, like improving employee engagement, developing the culture and recruitment. Megan creates org charts at the press of a button, saving her hours previously spent ordering charts in Visio.
The structure of the company has also become more open. Live org charts are now accessible on demand via secure login. This visibility has cut down the number of queries about org charts and lets every employee know their place in the organisation.
Rogue charts created by other departments are a thing of the past. Department heads always have access to the latest company data, which has made strategic planning easier.
Departments now know what talent is available to them across the entire organisation. Developing long-term, multi-departmental projects has become a simple process; the availability of employees is always current.
The greater detail available in Org Planning makes it easier for the Bank of Queensland to create progressive teams. Megan is able to use a diverse range of metrics based views to ensure full visibility over future teams to ensure they are balanced and inclusive and offer multiple perspectives on any given project.
The readability of Org Planning org charts has increased the value of HR metrics to other departments. Anyone can glance at the layout of Bank of Queensland to draw useful information and insights.
The flexibility of Org Planning org charts make transitioning between metrics based views easier; people draw more from a single org chart than previously.
The talent management profiles have also made the performance of employees easier to track. Megan now has the ability to track the performance of employees in the organisation, seeing who is performing well and who needs further development.
“Now that we have a more automated way of building the charts. We basically load the information into Org Planning and it builds the charts for us. We’re no longer spending months building charts – we click a button and we’ve got the chart the same day.”
Megan Shields, on the automation of org charts through Org Planning.
The future of org charting with the Bank of Queensland
The Bank of Queensland’s HR department has caught on to the benefits of automation software, and now Megan is looking for every opportunity to streamline their process.
The auto-generator for chris21 is going to be implemented soon. Org charts are auto-generated daily, giving everyone in the organisation the most recent data on the organisation.
The Bank of Queensland are also considering the dedicated succession planning module. The succession planning module goes beyond the talent management profiles by tracking the performance and potential of every employee within a chart.
Megan will be able to track which employees have the most to offer the organisation, and can plot their development so they will deliver the most value in the future.
“The ease of just clicking a button and having an org chart ready to go is definitely our favourite feature.”
Megan Shields, on the features of Org Planning.
How has it paid off for HR?
The payoff of Org Planning has been immediate. The Bank of Queensland’s HR department has gone from a business support function to a value creation unit in the organisation.
Megan has more data to be able to make strategic decisions in the organisation, and the scope of projects HR can undertake has increased. The time afforded to the HR department at BOQ has made implementation of new initiatives easier.
Departments are no longer making their own org charts. HR has become the go-to data source for workforce and talent based needs. Teams are able to plan strategically with more knowledge on their talent resources.
Up to date org charts let team leaders know what employees they have on hand to complete projects, without getting caught out making planning decisions with old data.
Try Org Planning out for yourself
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