12 November 2009

In 2000, as part of its corporate information management strategy, Barclays decided that it was time to overhaul its decentralised human resources function.

Barclays Bank in the UK broke new ground when it established its first financial services office in the heart of London’s financial district more than 300 years ago. Today, Barclays continues to expand its territories with innovative services and a footprint spanning 60 nations and 2,120 branches. In 2000, as part of its corporate information management strategy, Barclays decided that it was time to overhaul its decentralised human resources function. This was spurred by internal requirements for increased employee flexibility, improved control and cost containment, with the objective of improving responsiveness and overall quality of service to its 80,000 employees.

Before 2001, Barclays processed employee-related files on a regional basis with offices located throughout the UK. These processes revolved around paper documents, forms and applications, with information technology assisting some background operations. Barclays’ HR system struggled to efficiently manage the high volume of employee documents it processed.

“The decentralised HR system was creating operational difficulties and it became clear to us that we needed to move information into a safe, central repository, so that employee information was secure, accurate and quickly accessible to those who needed it,” says Simon Wheeler, service performance manager team lead, Barclays. “We also needed a solution that would enable us to move from hardcopy filing to electronic document storage.”

After evaluating a number of solutions, Barclays selected the Open Text ECM suite, alongside the document scanning services of digital mailroom specialists Optical Record Systems (ORS). To ensure that the solution was implemented correctly, Open Text provided Barclays with full training on its enterprise content management (ECM) technology before it was rolled out to all HR employees. ORS scanned all the back archive of nearly ten million documents and today provides continued scanning of all HR documents at point of entry on a daily basis. Once scanned, the electronic documents are uploaded by ORS into the ECM database.

“Human resources now have the flexibility to react to changes more quickly,” says Wheeler. “For example, when Barclays took over Woolwich, the transformation of files was easy and almost instantaneous. We simply took 11,000 employee files from Woolwich and transferred them into our back-office, so all files remained accurate. This was also vital for the accurate management of both contractor and non-contractor documents.
“We have now been able to hammer our document error rate down to 0.1 per cent. This helps HR staff work even more efficiently with a large volume of documents while reacting quickly and effectively to any queries. As HR deals with sensitive HR documents including sick pay and payroll items, Open Text’s solution has provided us with the capability to ensure that all employees and accounts are kept up-to-date and accurate. In having a centralised enterprise content management system, Barclays can now meet the needs of both its employees and the public, and provide the most efficient service possible.”

This article first appeared in the 2009/10 edition of the Finance on Windows Partner Guide.

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