A leading healthcare institution in Central Massachusetts, providing an extensive array of health services across numerous sites and renowned for its commitment to delivering state-of-the-art medical treatment, this organization serves as a stalwart in the community's health journey. With a workforce of over 16,000 dedicated individuals distributed throughout its facilities, the customer upholds values of quality, compassion, dignity, opportunity, and fairness in every aspect of patient care.
An unconventional solution for organizational needs
The customer recently completed their organizational transformation journey with a Workday implementation for all front office operations. However, a crucial component missing from the solution was a versatile HR Case Management system for handling the intake and management of employees' HR inquiries and requests. Initially, the customer considered leveraging their existing ServiceNow IT Service Management (ITSM) implementation for managing HR cases.
Though, prior to proceeding with the identified approach, the customer sought consultations from experts in implementing ServiceNow Human Resources solutions. INRY, a ServiceNow Elite Partner with over a decade of experience in implementing Human Resources solutions, was the preferred partner to advise on the path forward.
Optimal solution: ServiceNow Human Resources Service Delivery (HRSD)
After understanding the customer's use case and assessing multiple options, INRY concluded that the customer's proposed solution of customizing the ITSM application for HR Case Management would be suboptimal. This approach was deemed to pose security risks and upgrade complexities, potentially resulting in technical debt and a host of usability issues. Therefore, INRY advocated for the implementation of ServiceNow’s Human Resource Service Delivery (HRSD) solution.
The HRSD solution offers a suite of benefits for organizations aiming to optimize their HR processes. Firstly, HRSD offers built-in functionality tailored for HR tasks such as case management, employee self-service, and service delivery. Moreover, it continuously evolves, integrating new features in each release, owing to ServiceNow's rapid pace of innovation.
In addition, HRSD prioritizes security by incorporating features to meet HR data privacy and compliance requirements, thus reducing the risk of data breaches. Furthermore, it ensures streamlined upgrades, simplifying the process of staying current with the latest features and security patches. By avoiding the complexities associated with customizations in ITSM, HRSD mitigates the risk of technical debt, ensuring easier maintenance and updates over time.
Finally, HRSD prioritizes usability, offering intuitive interfaces and workflows aimed at enhancing the user experience for both HR professionals and employees, ultimately improving adoption rates.
Hence HRSD was deemed to be the optimal choice for meeting the customer's needs.
PASS Methodology for a Rapid 10-Week Implementation
The customer's HRSD implementation journey began with collaborative sessions facilitated by INRY, including requirements gathering, design workshops, and solution reviews throughout development and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
INRY’s ServiceNow implementations are guided by our project delivery methodology, known as Process Area Specific Sprints (PASS). This approach swiftly configures, deploys, and introduces ServiceNow functionality tailored to meet the customer's needs. Rooted in a blend of Agile and PRINCE2 methodologies, PASS ensures an efficient and user-centric implementation process.
During the initial solution development cycle, the project team activated essential plugins, configured core features of the HRSD application, and imported foundational data. This phase laid the groundwork for subsequent developmental activities, ensuring a scalable solution.
In subsequent development phases, the HRSD application underwent configuration to leverage the benefits offered by the following features:
- Case Management: Utilizing case assignment rules, case transfers, email templates, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to streamline the handling of HR-related inquiries and requests.
- Knowledge Management: Establishing knowledge bases for providing HR teams with access to the latest information for resolving employee inquiries effectively.
- Automated Workflows and Notifications: Implementation of automated workflows and notifications for HR services to expedite the fulfillment of employee requests, such as General Inquiry, Pay Discrepancy, and Benefits Enrollment Inquiry, among others.
- Agent Workspace Enhancement: Introduction of a unified view for HR Teams using the Agent Workspace, facilitating collaboration for faster resolution of employee requests.
- Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Implementation of a uniquely built configuration enabling cross-departmental collaboration between HR and IT teams, allowing both teams to work on employee requests simultaneously for quicker resolution.
- Reports & Dashboard: Existing application dashboards were updated to provide insightful reporting on customer specific key performance indicators (KPIs) such as critical cases reported in the last 30 days, service satisfaction metrics, and adherence to SLAs.
Following the User Acceptance Testing and deployment of the solution for the customer, the Business Go-Live marked the final stage of the implementation journey. INRY conducted user training sessions as part of Enablement & Adoption to ensure HR Teams were proficient in utilizing the solution. Post business go-live, INRY's Hypercare support for a two-week period ensured continued assistance for the customer during the critical transition phase, promptly addressing any issues and offering guidance to system administrators and IT teams, thus ensuring a smooth transition to the new system.
In conclusion, through collaborative efforts with INRY and the adoption of ServiceNow's HRSD solution, the customer has optimized its HR operations in a rapid 10-week timeframe, demonstrating the expertise of INRY’s Project team. Overall, the organization has successfully embraced ServiceNow HRSD to meet its HR service delivery needs, further establishing its commitment to excellence in healthcare and employee well-being.