Task summary:
The people & culture team at a well-established Australian water company recently completed a process optimisation review of their HR Technology. When they realised hours could be saved every week by automating their utilities org charts, the business case almost wrote itself and quickly became a priority.
They began their journey with Navigo using the workforce visualisation software, org.manager. With a seamless implementation and launch, the project management team were overwhelmed with positive feedback from the business. The automation eliminated hours of manual work, connected the business with the payroll ‘source of truth’ and delivered a range of unexpected quick wins.
Goals & requirements:
- Real-time accurate org structure with a consistent design
- Up-to-date roll up HR metrics (headcount, span of control, etc)
- Corporate directory so everyone knows ‘who’s who in the zoo’
- Clearly identify employment status (FT, PT & casual)
- Highlight problem areas using workforce metrics
- Chart nominal & acting roles
- Improve continual data cleansing
- Reduce unnecessary manual HR admin
The challenge:
Before exploring an org charting solution, this organisation managed their org charts manually using PowerPoint. This org charting method is common and creates issues for organisations in Australia, including:
- Difficulties accessing workforce insights from a single source of truth – siloed data
- Inconsistency of chart branding & design across departments
- Charts are out of date pretty much as soon as they are published
- Hours of manual HR data admin each week to maintain charts
As the focus shifted to process optimisation, the a-ha moment came as the team decided it was time for a better solution. Once the leadership team knew they needed a dynamic org chart, the business case was easy to get over the line.
The decision:
When their team began assessing potential vendors, they consulted their project team for recommendations. Navigo’s track record of successful HR technology implementations, agile working style and org.manager’s chart design flexibility made it a clear winner.
HR Digital Systems & Business Insights Manager, People & Capability
They then assigned a dedicated project manager to take the lead on the implementation. They had lots of great ideas for dynamic conditional formatting, which made things very easy for Navigo’s technical team to design really useful charts.
The utilities org chart solution:
The key drivers for fast delivery were the clear direction around requirements, IT being highly engaged and great collaboration across all teams. The implementation structure was extremely organised, making each task throughout the project seamless. org.manager had positive impacts across the entire business, the key users being HR, payroll, managers, contractors and all employees.
Feature favourites:
- Photos against every employee in a chart, making learning names & faces easy for new starters
- Everyone gets access to accurate, real-time HR data (no need for payroll to manage)
- State-of-the-art chart look and feel, much more professional than PowerPoint
- Publish feature for a quick download so you can share a copy of any charts if someone is having access issues, which couldn’t be done previously
The results:
This utilities org chart project was delivered in 6 weeks from demo to launch, an exceptionally quick turn around for HR tech. Once org.manager went live, there was overwhelmingly positive feedback from the business. An added benefit came from employee feedback to correct errors in the data, an encouraging start to crowd sourcing HR data cleansing from an engaged organisation.
HR Digital Systems & Business Insights Manager, People & Capability
The big wins of using org.manager:
- Visualising workforce metrics in an easy to digest format
- A scalable solution they’ll be able to use strategically over time
- Access to high level HR analytics & the ability to quickly drill down into more detail. No more one dimensional data
- Self-serve access to data that was previously painful to request – reducing work for payroll & IT
- Consistent data source & design for all departments to collaborate on HR metrics
- The ability to accurately visualise current & secondment roles
Another highlight of the project was that as soon as employees started to use org.manager, they were finding new uses to share the charts the project team never expected. A great example included better compliance practices (flagging who needs to be allocated training).
What’s next?
The phase 2 project will focus on financials. Navigo’s technical consultants will work with the utilities org chart team to scope the most useful way to visualise total cost and salary data. These charts will shift the use of org.manager for more strategic purposes, enabling data-driven decisions without the need for a degree in analytics. Watch this space.
To learn more about how our workforce visualisation software, org.manager, can help your organisation, book a demo today:
