Benefits Compensation Management for Communications Leader
overview
A leading provider of communications, high-speed Internet and entertainment services in small-to-mid-size markets delivering advanced communications services through its broadband and fiber optics network in more than 33 states. The customer’s work force consists of approximately 6,000 employees of which, over 1,000 are eligible for bonus compensation beyond their annual salaries. The human resources department is required to maintain detailed information for each employee. They are also charged with providing the supervising managers with processes to set goals for and ultimately evaluate direct reports. The bonus goal-setting and evaluation processes must be accurate and secure.
challenges
The challenges faced by this company included:
- The legacy system was incapable of synchronizing data with the SAP system;
- Salary adjustments and bonus compensation processing required extensive manual input and maintenance;
- The existing legacy GUI interface was unpopular with users;
- The legacy system utilized a proprietary programming language, which few staff members were trained to use;
- No system reporting tool existed to provide analysis driven reporting.
- The legacy solution did not allow for querying by specific criteria;
- Business rules and logic existed in multiple locations, posing significant risk to accuracy; and
- The existing system was inflexible, un-scalable and could not accommodate company growth.
scope
The Benefits Compensation Management solution used IBM Cognos TM1 as the backbone technology and delivered functionality that is easy to use with a flexible and scalable architecture that is highly interactive.
- Integrated with the SAP system to retrieve and update human resource and workforce information;
- Provided a user friendly interface that required minimal training and a mild learning curve;
- Produced a solution that the HR department can support and upgrade independent of IT support;
- Offered sophisticated reporting functionality for analysis and process enhancements;
- Created a single version of truth for all data, business logic and rules; and
- Provided initial product training to power users and post-production solution specific training to end users.
solution
In late 2007, the customer evaluated a number of business intelligence and performance management systems. IBM’s Cognos TM1 was selected for its ease of deployment, scalability, flexibility, and MOLAP (Multi Dimensional Online Analytical Processing) architecture.
The customer’s initial deployment of Cognos TM1 centered on its Bonus Awards Management
System. Teaming with PREDICTif, the customer arrived at a solution that combined Microsoft Excel templates with TM1 functionality. Once employee data was loaded in the designated cubes, calculations and updates were performed and saved in a single location providing “single version of the truth” processing and reporting.
- Delivered a Benefits Compensation Management Application to process and report from its employee bonus payout program;
- Supervising managers could review employee bonus forms easily and quickly. Any updates made by supervisors were saved to the TM1 server;
- The Excel interface coupled with TM1 Perspectives permitted deployment with minimal training requirements;
- Group security was provided to the element level using a TM1 security scheme; and
- Calculations occurred on the TM1 Server preserving integrity.
results
The solution delivered significant results and met all business objectives as defined by the customer. Delivery increased the productivity and efficiency of the HR department as well as enhanced the employees’ satisfaction and morale.
- A “single version of the truth” was attained;
- Analysis based reporting and querying was readily available;
- Effort required to complete annual bonus processing was greatly reduced;
- Overall manual effort was significantly decreased;
- Employee and organization hierarchy changes were synchronized with SAP using TM1 Turbo Integrator processing; and
Security settings were available for groups to the element level.