In its business strategy for 1999-2000, BT made a commitment to pushing an e-business philosophy throughout its organisation. Every division was challenged to increase on-line transactions and the amount of internal administration work conducted over the intranet.
For the HR department, this was an opportunity to further its strategic intent of devolving processes to individuals and managers and to concentrate its own work on supporting business managers in the delivery of people and organisational strategies.
The scope of the eHR initiative was wide. Here was a system which, once implemented, would create and hold employee profiles covering information such as personal details, competencies and skills, mobility and performance. The system would hold information for recruitment and succession planning, and individuals would have the ability to update their own personal records. Managers could access “data cubes” of information on their teams to plan and develop their work.
The team worked together closely, using e-technology to communicate and share ideas. Focus groups were organised with internal customers to ensure needs were met and roll-out achieved efficiently.
The system is integrated with BT’s other major business systems – finance, store management and BT fleet. This approach ensured commonality of people and information and helped to minimise manual input.
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One early result for the new system was to speed up the recruitment process for the 1999-2000 graduate milkround. HER sifted more than 5,000 applicants and was able to move from receipt of application form to offer letter in only 72 hours.
Runners up:
Churchill Insurance HR and training team
Ford Motor Company HR online project
