Reporting Trusted HR Data and Predict Employees Behaviors with MS Power BI
About Our Customer
Our client is a prominent name in the Consumer-Packaged Industry. This organization became international in the ‘40s by establishing production sites and confectionaries on international sites. They are among the most successful producers, and distributors of some of the iconic products recognized and beloved by the masses.
About the Project
The project started in 2016, intending to develop a single powerful HR reporting dashboard to collect collective Human Resources Data.
With time, the project evolved, and we were required to develop a much more diverse system for HR data collecting dashboard accessible to our customer’s stakeholders across the globe in a single source of truth. We created a suite incorporating 20 more reporting areas in the dashboard as time went on.
In addition, we gathered this organization’s historical data, which was scattered due to manual recording. Then, we incorporated a system to use the data as a predictive tool to analyze behavioral trends for multiple purposes.
The Challenge
HR information is a crucial resource of any organization that has to be organized to utilize it in time for further actions and make critical organization and management decisions. So, we needed to develop a solution covering critical HR processes at a global and regional scale. These processes included:
- Personnel Administration
- Training and Talent Management
- Compensation and Benefits
- Time management
- Employee safety
The incoming data was substantial from various sources like on-premises and even cloud platforms.
Scattered and unorganized HR information in the form of excel files was the biggest challenge for which this organization collaborated with us. At that time, they were relying on individual reports and long manual processes, which was time and resources consuming. Our experts identified that this business lacked an integrated system understandably presenting integrated and intuitive HR data and processes. Our system collected and organized the global and local data and presented it more comprehensibly.
The Goal
The primary objective of our work at this organization was to design, develop and deliver an HR dashboard accessible to the upper management of our customers. Moreover, the goal of this project was to integrate a system gathering information from many sources. With time, we aimed to provide a completely integrated platform to assemble the collective HR information of this organization.
Methodology
In the beginning, not all the systems were integrated, so the information was present, however, in a scattered form. To address this situation, we adopted an Agile Methodology while defining modular solutions. This allowed us to attach and detach the systems without losing any information during the dashboard integration.
The Solution
This organization operates from multiple locations, so we decided to develop a unified platform as a central storage of information. With this HR dashboard, our customer intends to boost the effectiveness of the HR processes for each country.
This dashboard is like a suite where much information is integrated time by time. It can be evolved by the requirements.
I. The Analysis Phase – Building a Common Model
We assembled a competent team of functional advisors in data warehousing, modeling, visual designers, HR systems, etc. Due to the diverse nature of our team, we were able to deliver our promise with excellent efficiency.
Our customer is a multinational company with offices in more than 20 countries, and so, we needed to define a common platform having the same KPIs. Moreover, we needed this platform to work on the same methodology to define a standard process across all the operational units that consider local requirements.
Specifically:
- Our team thoroughly analyzed the already present system from the spreadsheets provided by this organization.
- We analyzed all the data sources to design a dashboard catering to their needs.
- We collaborated with a team of our customers to define KPI collection and common vocabulary to be used in the HR Reporting Dashboard.
II. Building Common Database
The SAP Age
After analyzing the data and its cloud and on-premises sources, we designed the proper data architecture and system integration landscape to build a common database. This step was taken so that our team could retrieve the information we needed from one single place.
Designing the Application:
In the beginning, we used SAP technologies to develop the unique dashboard:
- SAP HR module: Automated record-keeping module
- SAP BW (Data warehouse): A centralized analytics repository for data
- SAP Design Studio: For creating advance level dashboards
- SAP Lumira and SAP ROAMBI: To improve HR Dashboard presentation and usage on Mobile Devices
We collaborated with a digital agency to enhance the visual features of the application. We started designing the application for content organization visual and navigation features. Since this application was meant for the stakeholders, we focused on enhancing its efficiency as a performing tool.
III. Migration to Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence)
Power BI Evolution
By the end of 2018, we discovered a scope of improvement in our pre-existing work, which made us adopt the new technology, i.e., Microsoft Power BI. It is a cloud-based business intelligence service with excellent data warehousing capabilities. This technology visualizes data and helps create personalized reports according to KPIs.
In late 2019, we enhanced the reporting dashboard, also retrieving information related to Training Process from a cloud source as SAP Success Factor.
How we helped
Preparing a Monthly Group Report used to be a tedious task taking around 20 days to complete. The Dashboard sped up the digitization of HR processes by integrating and automating all existing processes in near real time, and so, it reduced 99% of time and effort spent on them.
Reporting processes related to the acquisition of new companies also benefit from a pre-prepared template and dataset structure from the dashboard. Here, they just have to bring data into the reporting dashboard and share a plug-and-play corporate-aligned reporting.
We have developed a dashboard handling more than 20 different processes and monitoring (such as Diversity & Inclusion, Performance, Reward, etc.) included in the HR activities.
Lastly, our dashboard proved to be a handy tool at the time of Covid, when everyone was working remotely. It provided employees with a platform to collaborate and share information effortlessly.
From Reactive to Predictive
The dashboard led to growing competence in terms of data collection and storage. Such good quality data transformed the reporting nature of the company from reactive to predictive. Having consolidated trusted historical data, we began thinking of Predictive Analytics in early 2020. This means, today, C-level can use this information for predictive specific HR purposes.
Predictive results can be presented and discussed using the HR dashboard to provide crucial insights which can be used for actions like retention, compensation, etc. Besides, they are designed to implement proper turnover, which will ultimately help retain talent by identifying personal behaviors affecting the performance of the employees.
Business Value Added
This project was a unique one, as it evolved according to the ongoing situation with time. We began working with the development of a dashboard but later transformed it into a tool for several purposes. Even after the first three months of ongoing developments, we collected early adopters’ feedback on the dashboard’s reporting features, which were used to improve our solution and meet practical needs.
This organization has a large employee base resulting in a humongous amount of HR data. With our scalable HR reporting dashboard, today, they have become able to organize and access this data more effectively. Moreover, Microsoft BI empowered the stakeholders with quick access to the information they need in real-time, which will help them to make data-driven decisions.
Our solution provided them with what they needed, a tool with great possibilities. In a way, our solutions revolutionized this client’s whole HR data collection system and have driven them towards more operational efficiency.
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