Application Lynx provides Self Service solution for London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Application Lynx ñ a provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) and payroll solutions is pleased to announce the completion of the implementation of an Oracle Self Service suite for London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD). The solution provides Employee and Management Self Service, plus the Oracle Learning Management (OLM) Application, allowing the HR department at this Borough to improve and enhance infrastructure costs and organisational processes. The phased roll out of the project commenced April 2006, with subsequent phases culminating in the roll out of the OLM application.

The LBBD has approximately 9,000 employees supported by a centralised HR service of which around 15 are involved in the delivery of Learning and Development activities. In order to reduce cost of infrastructure, ownership and operations whilst streamlining organisation processes, the LBBD opted for Oracle HRMS Self Service.

Christine Shepherd, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development ìAt LBBD we pride ourselves on providing an effective HR service which is ultimately reflected in the service we provide to our stakeholders. We constantly strive to incorporate value-for-money improvements that will enhance this service and with Self-Service for example, we can allow a level of self-determination for users and essential support for staff development and leadership strategy. We have a wide-ranging Learning Programme to support and enhance staff and Member development at LBBD. With the OLM solution, we can track all aspects of our training programmes quickly and efficiently which results in effective departmental savings. It is also a great way for staff to see at a glance the current range of training opportunities and to allow them to express interests in courses that are not currently running.î

The implementation of HR Self service has allowed LBBD to improve productivity in a variety of areas. These range from the reduction in calls and routine administrative tasks, through to reducing its highly paper-based Learning Management administration system. Previously, late notification of non-attendance for a course/workshop meant that arrangements could not always be rescheduled in a timely fashion. LBBD can now make savings on approximately 15 courses per year through faster notification and re-scheduling of courses affected by non-attendance.
Throughout the project, Application Lynx rolled out a range of products and services to include re-architecting key processes such as:

ï Teachers Pensions reporting
ï Annual Leave Calculations
ï Payslips on-line
ï Sickness absence and personal information recorded via self service
ï Implementation of HR Daily business Intelligence
ï Oracle Learning Management (OLM)
ï Job & Position Management

Mark Pulling, Managing Director at Application Lynx said, ìLBBD expressed a clear intention to increase accuracy and timeliness by providing employees a single point of entry to all their HR information and processes. Weíre delighted to support LBBD in increasing the accuracy of reporting performance indicators and to allow HR more time to serve staff more strategically. This has helped to make it one of the Local Authority rising stars in terms of service delivery.î

Ian White, Public Sector Industry Director at Oracle UK, said: ìThe London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a testament to how technology can play a key role in transforming the way public sector businesses operate. Human Resources, in particular, is where modern systems can have a major impact by improving both the efficiency of day-to-day operations and the quality of service provided to internal customers. We see self-service as a key enabler of such improvements and we are pleased that it has been introduced with such success in LBBD.î