Question

XYZ Federal Agency has multiple locations in different parts of the United States. It is going to start a BPM project for its Office of Human Resource (OHR/HR) functions.

The Human Resource system is currently on a thirty-year old mainframe that is shared by another large user. The other user of the mainframe is in the process of redesigning to another platform. That will leave the huge cost of the legacy system to be paid by the HR function.

A cost-benefit analysis was completed that determined it was not cost efficient for the HR function to pay for the entire mainframe. It will cost them the same amount of money to move to a different platform that is more agile, and can provide more reliable real-time metrics for managers to make decisions.

Here is some background information you need to better understand the hiring and onboarding processes in OHR:

? Executives are complaining about the length of time it takes to fill positions when an employee leaves, however, reliable metrics are not available to determine where the delays are occurring. It is probable that there is joint responsibility for the delays. On average it takes 4 months to fill a position.

? In some instances, employees do not have provisions such as computers, passwords, and identification badges when they begin work.

? Applications are accepted either electronically or through the mail. Sometimes the same application comes in through both channels.

? On an annual basis the finance office is given approval for a certain fill level (head count of employees) for each functional area of the agency. This targeted fill level does change unless there is a budget cut, or unless a division reaches its target and has extenuating circumstances allowing them to exceed their target. OHR accomplishes filling above the target by“borrowing” an unfilled position from a different unit.

The process

There are multiple steps required to hire and onboard an employee.

The hiring manager in the functional area must request replacement staff after a current employee gives his two week notice. The position cannot be filled by two employees at the same time. Once the hiring manager requests the staff, the head of the functional area must sign off on the request. The request must include the current job duties, and set up interview questions. The hiring manager must show how he/she is going to score the interviews prior to having the request approved.

Once they place the request, finance reviews and approves the request based on the targeted fill level for that functional area by checking the current number of employees plus outstanding fill requests and comparing it to the

target at the time of the request. They currently keep track of this information in a spreadsheet.

Once finance approves the request, OHR must approve the request for control purposes. They check the information about the position to make sure it agrees with the current job duties.

Once all of the approvals are received they can recruit for the position by posting it for a minimum of 2 weeks. This is a civil service requirement for the federal positions at this agency. They are unable to hire prior to the end of the posting period.

Once the posting period is complete, OHR staff review the candidates’resumes and other supporting documentation to verify they meet the qualifications of the job.

The list of verified candidates is provided to the hiring manager so they may contact the candidate for interviews. The hiring manager must choose a minimum of 3 candidates to interview.

Interviews are held using previously-created criteria for scoring. Once a selection is made, candidates are nominated, and OHR reviews the nomination to ensure that all of the hiring documents are in order. They also run a background check to determine if they misrepresented themselves on their application.

If OHR approves the nomination, the hiring manager can call and offer the position.

The position may be declined, in which case, the hiring manager can choose his second choice or start the process over.

If the position is accepted, an email is sent to Information Technology Assistance for a laptop request and system passwords. Another email is sent to the Office Services Department to request an employee identification badge. For the purposes of this assignment, you may assume that all offered positions are accepted.

The employee is required to complete information on his first day of work related to employee benefits and mandatory tax forms. An orientation session is held where the employee must complete the forms.

Question:

Propose a set of changes in the process. For each change, you should provide:

? A brief description of the process change

? Which issue(s) are being addressed by the proposed change

? How feasible is this change? In other words, how likely it is that the change can be implemented in a way that the benefits of the change exceed the costs in the medium-term (six months to one year timeframe). If the change requires an upfront investment, describe what investment is needed and how likely it is that this investment is justified given the impact of the issue that is being addressed.

Answer 1

Proposed set of changes in the process:

• OHR shall pre-define roles & responsibilities of the employees along with their designations and pay-scales. Interview questions or interview procedure shall also be fixed for a particular designation.  
• There is a need to implement an HRMS(Human Resource Management System) in place of existing mainframe system. This would bring about the following changes by automating some of the steps:

1. Resignation should be submitted to hiring manager via the HRMS, which in turn shall be forwarded by him/her to the head of the respective functional area.
2. Once head approves the resignation, an automatic notification by the system shall be sent to Finance and OHR Department. Since fill no. of each department is already fixed on an annual basis, there is no need of approval every time. Similar is the case with OHR. SInce job duties will have been already fixed, there is no need of approval every time.
   Once the notification reaches both these departments, they should verify with their data and revert within next 5 working days.
   In case Finance Department raises a fill no. exceed issue, then propper approval method should be defined,
3. There should be only single mode of application for candidates i.e electronic mode only to remove redundancy. No application via mail shall be accepted.
4. Reviewing of application is started by OHR staff after the posting period i.e 2 weeks. Instead keeping the posting period fixed to 2 weeks, but reviewing shall be started 1 week after the start of posting period so as to reduce the overall reviewing time.
5. In case position is accepted, an automatic Employee Identification no. should be generated along with a request to Information Technology Assistance for a laptop request and system passwords and also to the Office Services Department for an employee identification badge.

The major investments required are here in terms of:

• HRMS system which has been already done under the cost-benefit analysis.
• Time of OHR staff to define role, responsibilities, designation, payscales, etc.

The main benefits would be in term of time saving and convenience.

• With above-mentioned procedure, time of recruitment can be reduced to as short as 1-1.5 months in place of 4 months.
• Multiple departments could be linked by single system thereby reducing redundancies, cost of re-working and unnecessary approvals.