Tools To Get Better Insight Into Workforce Issues

While the push is on for clinicians to trade in their paper charts for digitized medical records, some health-related organizations are also trading in their old Excel spreadsheet-based methods of talent management with new web-based tools.The deployment of web-based software, from vendors including NetSuite and Halogen, are not only helping some organizations streamline slow and bulky processes but are also giving managers better insight into employee performance and other issues.

In the past, when it came time for worker performance evaluations, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation depended on Excel spreadsheet to be completed by its 1,300 employees who are located predominately in the field of 17 countries, including 12 African nations and the U.S. Among the non-profit's activities are HIV and AIDS research, advocacy, preventative and care services.

Elizabeth Glaser employees, which run the gamut from receptionists to clinicians, gardeners to drivers, managers to executives, had formerly depended on Excel spreadsheets for performance review processes that involve self-appraisals, feedback from colleagues and evaluations from the foundation's leaders.

Once an employee completed a self-appraisal, that spreadsheet often would be e-mailed to the appropriate manager for review, and then it would get moved along a chain of others before going to HR. There was no version control ability and no automated workflow to push the appraisal along efficiently or easily.

"There was a lot of nagging" and manual intervention involved with performance review processes to get them completed, said Mark Reilley, director of IT at the Elizabeth Glaser foundation.

But those cumbersome processes are starting to change at Elizabeth Glaser with the rollout earlier this year of web-based eAppraisal software from Halogen. The software allows workers to log into the eAppraisal system at their convenience, complete self-appraisals, and have the document automatically routed to the appropriate manager. Workflow can be tracked, and HR can see where any reviews are getting bottlenecked if people are slow in completing them, said Chrissie Shea, senior HR manager at the foundation.

"The reality is that there will always be stragglers, but people are very receptive to this," she said. "It' got ease of use and it's very intuitive," she said.

So, "nagging" now comes in the form of automated messages prompting, for instance, managers to complete a review task, said Reilley.

The software also allows employees to set personal performance goals that link back to the larger goals of the foundation. Senior leadership can run reports to identify what groups are supporting particular goals, with an aim of engaging the workforce on achieving any given goals.

The foundation is "very much a team oriented" environment, said Shea.

Meanwhile, at Health Data Management Systems, which provides health data analysis services to clients such as employers and health plans, the transition to NetSuite OpenAir web-based professional service automation software more than a year ago replaced HDMS's mostly Excel spreadsheets, email and manual processes that had been used to manage its staff of consultants.

Replacing the "time-consuming" Excel spreadsheet-based processes, OpenAir makes it easier for HDMS consultants to document and track the time they spend on client projects and contracts, said Denise Zeman, HDMS chief administrative officer.

Over the last several years, HDMS has grown from about having a couple dozen consultants to nearly 100 who provide custom coding and analysis work to HDMS clients. Nearly one-third of HDMS's consultants work from home and a large percentage of staff are "heavy travelers," Zeman said. OpenAir can be accessed even while consultants are on the road via their PDAs.

HDMS can analyze how consultants are spending their time, including identifying staff resources that might be stretched thin, and those who are underutilized, said Zeman. "If a task is taking too much time, maybe there's a need for training or a change in a process for a client," she said. "The software offers better insight," she said.

The new system also helps make it easier for HDMS to electronically bill clients, facilitiating quicker payments, she said.

The tools also allow HDMS to forecast projects in terms of revenue and staffing related costs, she said.

"We can figure out what clients are paying and what it's costing us" in terms of providing various services. So, when negotiating contracts with new clients or renewing contracts with existing clients, "you're not blind," to the costs and staffing required for the work, she said.

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