The software stores and manages all information and documents relating to an employee in a single digital file, so that all personal data is directly and fully accessible online for employees. Access to the digital personnel file can be secured by granting rights to different user groups and restricting access to certain files and document types. The simple handling makes it easy for HR employees at Thales to work with the solution. Preview images, for example, allow simple, virtual browsing through the documents, and a list view provides quick orientation and an overall impression of the employee.

Detailed authorization concept
In January 2017, the web-based and therefore cross-location personnel file went live - including the interfaces to Escriba and SAP. "SAP plays a very important role for us, including in terms of time management and payroll - everything is fully integrated," explains Richter. For example, the onboarding process takes place in SAP, which triggers the creation of employment contracts and information letters to managers. The adaptation effort required to implement the new digital personnel file was minimal. "Apart from one or two additional fields for an internal Thales identifier or personnel number, we use Forpeople as standard," says von Lenthe. "The only thing that differs is actually the interface to the document creation solution." Thales Germany hosts the digital personnel file itself, but thanks to the browser-based software, access is available across all locations. Around 40 users from the HR department are currently working with the solution. "But there are also access rights for line managers in some cases, for example when it comes to references or questions about further development," says von Lenthe. The authorization concept makes a very precise distinction according to which company and location an employee belongs to and which HR people are responsible for them. "Temporary access is even possible for employees if they want to take a look at their own personnel file for reasons of interest," says Richter. "And these employees, who get to see our solution, also appreciate the digitalization in HR."

The archive room is out

Von Lenthe is delighted with the success of digitization: "Our HR processes have definitely become simpler. There's no more running to the archive rooms or filing paper files. We now do a lot of things simply by scanning them in." The desktop integration of the new digital personnel file also pays off. "For example, we can now store relevant emails directly in the digital file without any media disruption," says Richter. The new solution has to map a huge range of different employment contracts: "There are normal employees, employees covered by collective agreements, employees not covered by collective agreements," explains Richter, "the number of variants is really large." Nevertheless, the training requirements were manageable. "We provide our users from the HR department with presentations and comprehensive user guides," says Richter, "but that only takes two times two hours." Von Lenthe agrees with him: "Basically, it totally runs itself." On the whole, Thales Germany manages without support. It can happen that the storage memory fills up, and rarely there may be a problem with document formats, says von Lenthe. "If we still have contact with Forcont, it's more because of the Escriba interface, because of volume orders," she says. According to Richter, it is a great advantage not to be pressed into tickets: "We feel that we are in very good hands - we don't experience this with other external service providers."

The next stage of digitization reached

In any case, the HR department at Thales Germany has taken its first major step towards digitization: Most everything has now been digitized. "We now have scanned electronic signatures under many documents," says Richter. "The only thing an employee still has to sign by hand is their employment contract."

In the meantime, von Lenthe and Richter have already reached the next stage of expansion. In summer 2018, the cloud-based human capital management system Workday was introduced in the Thales Group worldwide, which employees and managers can access to view their personal data or initiate processes. In order not to affect existing processes in connection with the digital personnel file, in-depth integration between Workday and SAP was necessary. In the future, all processes associated with document creation are to be migrated to Workday so that generated employee documents can flow directly from Workday into the existing personnel file. However, this will only be possible in further expansion stages.

"But one thing is certain: after our positive experiences, we will definitely be keeping our digital personnel file," says von Lenthe.

Thomas Möller, freelance editor from Offenbach / ag