THE NEWS INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Spring 2012 | VOLUME 23

Program Update

Maximizing Self Service with CGI Advantage HRM

Organizations that currently use CGI Advantage™ HRM have the ability to decentralize common human resources and payroll related business functions so that employees and line managers can now initiate online inquiries and updates to system information.  This allows essential HR and payroll staff to focus on more strategic organizational initiatives rather than responding to routine requests for information or personal data changes that are often initiated directly by employees or their immediate supervisors.

  • For employers, implementing self service features provides the benefits of convenience, reduced organizational costs, improved procedural efficiency, and up to date information accuracy.
  • Managers utilizing self service also have immediate access to key information for their direct reporting employees allowing them to increase their performance and that of their team.
  • For employees, self service provides immediate access to and ownership of their own personal information.

In addition to gaining multiple efficiencies by implementing self service processes, organizations can also demonstrate return on their investment through the elimination of costs related to generating and distributing multiple paper based forms and by reducing the number of days required to complete the entry and approval of routine employee information changes processed through the system.

CGI Advantage Employee Self Service (ESS) along with CGI Advantage Manager Self Service (MSS), new with the 3.9 release, can be implemented by organizations already using CGI Advantage HRM.  All three applications are tightly integrated and even share the same database.  This means that as soon as updates in one of the self service applications are initiated, the changes are immediately available in CGI Advantage HRM.  Conversely, as soon as a business rule change has been implemented in CGI Advantage HRM, like a benefit rate change for example, this information is immediately available in the self service applications.   Additionally, the CGI Advantage self service applications are flexible and can be implemented as part of a phased implementation approach allowing organizations the option of rolling out components of the self service applications to their employees or managers.

Highlights of Employee Self Service (ESS) features and benefits

The following CGI Advantage ESS features highlight the capabilities that enable employee access and ownership of their personal information:

Key FunctionalityBenefits
Online Access Secured employee facing web browser based applicationEmployees can access their own information outside of the workplace and on their own schedule
Online inquiries across all main business areasPhone calls to HR and payroll departments can be avoided because detailed information is available online
Alerts, Broadcasts, and Upcoming EventsIndividual notifications and group announcements can be distributed online as soon as they are generated by the system
Elimination of Forms and PaperElectronic versions of direct deposit advices, W-2s, and W-4sPaper copies no longer have to be generated and distributed – saves paper, printing, and postal costs
Electronic timesheets and leave requestsEmployees can initiate their own timesheets while having access to their scheduled hours and the status of requested time off
Forms and Websites catalog Paper forms no longer have to be produced and stored – employees just select and print the forms they want when they need them
Online personal data changesChanges to personal information can be submitted by an employee as soon as they occur and can update the core HR/payroll system immediately

Highlights of Manager Self Service (MSS) features and benefits

The following features simplify setup and processes, and provide efficiency, effectiveness and usability by empowering the end user:

Key FunctionalityBenefits
Online Business ProcessesOrganization TreeSimplifies navigation by providing managers the ability to see their direct reports and allowing them to select a specific employee
Employee ProfilesEssential employee information is immediately available without having to pull paper based files
Employee Change WizardSpeeds up basic processes that a manager must initiate for common employee personnel action and reduces the need for paper based forms in order to initiate common employee updates
Actions and Alerts inquiriesProvides online notifications that keeps a manager up to date on useful employee information
Performance ManagementOnline Employee Calendar and Timesheet historyImproves a managers ability to identify trends with employee absenteeism and monitor the status of submitted timesheets and leave requests
Current and Historical Employee EvaluationsProvides a manager the ability to see how an employee is performing and responding to feedback while also preparing current evaluations
Online Organization ChartProvides a graphical representation of an organization based on supervisor and position structures established in CGI Advantage HRM while also identifying under and overfilled positions

Transition your site to a more paperless environment

It is now becoming more common for organizations to implement initiatives targeted at adopting more efficient and cost effective business processes.  While saving money, organizations can also implement processes that are more environmentally friendly.   Sites currently using CGI Advantage ESS are allowing employees access to their own information for the purpose of submitting address changes and to submit timesheets which for many sites was almost entirely a paper based process in the past.  Other sites are providing online access to electronic copies of paycheck PDFs and W-2 forms. By eliminating paper in strategic areas, Advantage customers can not only save production and postage costs, but can also easily calculate their Return on Investment for implementing self service components of the CGI Advantage suite.

If you would like more information on the employee and manager self service capabilities of CGI Advantage, please contact Dan Bruetting at daniel.bruetting@cgi.com.