Welcome back to part two of our journey! Since our last article, we have been busy working on the successful introduction of our new iTrent HR solution. This is a web-based system for talent management, workforce management, HR and payroll from MidlandHR, and for us it’s a significant investment, both financially and in staff resources.
iTrent has five modules: absence and case management; recruitment; learning events; people development and performance management. iTrent is now managing some of our old paper-based processes, such as holidays and sickness absences. Preparing for this was a very useful exercise because it gave us the opportunity to review what we do and how we do it; consequently we’re now much smarter and more effective in using detailed staff data to support the business.
We will be using the people development module to ensure that we can manage and develop the talent we already have; this will all be part of our approach to nurturing and developing the team of the future – something we’re really excited about.
The performance management module will enable everyone to have online conversations about how they’re progressing in meeting not just their objectives, but those of the entire business. This is a further building block in realising our vision in having a public sector ethos with a private sector commercial focus.
Everyone will therefore be more assured about the part they play, both as an individual and as a team member.
iTrent is part of a whole range of initiatives in our ‘All Systems Go’ project which will be transformational for The Barnet Group. One of our key challenges has been to win ‘hearts and minds’ as to how iTrent and the other packages we have bought (Clearvale for the intranet; Aareon QL for housing management and CRM; and Covalent for business intelligence) will transform our working environment.
Barnet’s HR team have all been to our demo and training sessions in order to become ‘super users’ on the new system so that they can eventually train all of our 500+ staff.
The first test for our support strategy was the ‘go live’ of the self-service absence in July 2013. One of our major teething problems was ‘lock outs’ and the creation of new passwords, but floorwalkers and a dedicated hotline helped resolve the issues quickly. So far iTrent has met all our expectations and the overall verdict is “we love this system.”
Mandy Dunstan is head of business transformation at The Barnet Group.
