ANSTO improves workforce planning, gets deeper data and analytics insight with SAP SuccessFactors

⇨ SAP SuccessFactors replaced spreadsheet-based manual processes for talent succession planning and performance appraisal

⇨ Three SAP SuccessFactors modules were implemented over eight months

⇨ HR team ran focus groups and trainings to increase engagement among employees

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has improved its workforce planning and data analytics after implementing SAP SuccessFactors.

ANSTO general manager of HR function, Venessa Barrins, shared the organisation’s SAP SuccessFactors journey at Mastering SAP Collaborate Melbourne in May this year, detailing how the solution has transformed its human resources processes.

ANSTO is a public research organisation responsible for nuclear research in Australia, serving as the as the top source of nuclear expertise, advice and services to governments, academia, industry and community. It was formed in 1987 as a statutory body of the Australian government to replace the Australian Atomic Energy Commission.

Barrins said the organisation sought to replace its manual HR processes with an integrated system to support a workforce of around 1350 employees ranging from scientists, engineers and technicians to corporate roles.

“Our work involves improvements to human health, saving lives, building on our industries, protecting the environment and providing strategic advice to government. Though we are a small agency, it’s vitally important for us to make sure that we have the appropriate systems in place to make sure that we have a sustainable workforce that meets our future needs,” Barrins said.

“In order for us to ensure that we had the right systems in place, we realised we needed to implement an integrated online system across our HR practices and processes and make sure that we provide the organisation and line managers with visibility of data to enable them to make key strategic decisions on their workforce.”

The existing system involved the use of spreadsheets for talent succession planning and an in-house performance appraisal system, both of which were not linked to ANSTO’s core SAP system. The agency is also undergoing an SAP system upgrade, replacing ECC6 with SAP S/4HANA on Sovereign Cloud.

“There was inability to view employees’ qualifications, work experiences, career aspirations and it was just challenging for line managers not having that visibility or having that tract of information,” Barrins said.

The implementation involved three SAP SuccessFactors modules – performance and objectives, recruitment and succession and development – over an eight-month period.

“We made sure it was a HR-led project because this was all about implementing HR processes, so it wasn’t too much of an IT-led project,” Barrins added.

“We were very much invested in the project planning – we dedicated HR staff to it, and we were subject matter experts in these three areas of HR activities.”

To avoid too much customisation, ANSTO instead changed its HR processes so it can adopt off-the-shelf solutions as much as possible. The design phase was also done with an agile approach, making changes throughout the implementation instead of starting the design afterwards.

The project was also branded as “PeopleHub” to make it easier for staff to reference, and ANSTO employed engagement strategies like focus groups and business end-user involvement to maximise engagement. HR also led marketing and training efforts, running roadshows and demonstrations, as well as employing videos, guides and live sessions as training materials.

SAP SuccessFactors integrates ANSTO’s talent and succession planning, with data from talent feeding into succession planning to output insights that would be used for the performance appraisal system. The system also helps flag the impacts and risk of the loss of staff.

“If you do have a highly specialised workforce like we do and if employees are a potential flight risk, it’s easy to identify them by having these tags in the system but also being able to make sure that you’re identifying successes in particular for the business-critical roles that are highly specialised and where you may not have successes in these roles. It flags to managers to make sure that they undertake some action,” Barrins said.

“It also provides management with the opportunity to consider alternate measures when undertaking succession planning, so they know where they need to focus their attention on.”

SAP SuccessFactors also enables ANSTO’s HR team to understand staff development needs and reduce staff attrition by linking performance appraisals to career opportunities. It also supports effective workforce planning by keeping talent and succession planning data up to date throughout the year.

“It’s a really good tool for line managers to engage with and we encourage them to keep their talent and succession planning data live right throughout the year,” Barrins said.

ANSTO also saw a 93 percent completion rate of talent assessments after replacing the manual spreadsheets.

The performance and objectives module is designed around existing performance appraisal processes but has also new features like an objective wizard library, continuous performance and feedback functions.

Organisational objectives are set at ANSTO’s executive level and then cascaded down to the business units, teams and employees, with the aim of providing a clear line of sight on how individual roles align with organisational goals. This also helps set common performance objectives for team members performing similar work.