The Customer

WA Health is Western Australia’s public health system. A large governmental health care organisation, it operates in multiple locations and diverse sectors of healthcare, and employs over 40,000 employees.

The Challenge

WA Health is transitioning into a new HRIS. Moving the data, previously in seven different databases, is a major undertaking. A significant part of the project is the creation of a new position establishment structure, being built independently of the existing structure.

In addition, the project must handle the complexities of healthcare, including diverse locations, employees with multiple jobs, and frequent restructures during the establishment project.

A solution was needed that made it easy to illustrate the relationships between positions and the overall structure. This needed to be circulated to business managers on site to review and suggest changes.

WA Health went to tender to find a solution. Our flagship org charting solution met this tender with the only response which satisfied all criteria.

Amanda Fimister and Sarah Tadier, members of the project team, say: Given the complexities of the task, Navigo org charts provided the “the easiest and most cost effective tool that we could get our hands on.”

The Solution

The project team use Navigo org charts to build the establishment in stages. Once complete, the org charting solution deployed each stage as an interactive organisational chart, online. The charts are instantly available on the internet, with confidential information restricted through filter-based security.

The charts make reporting relationships instantly visible, include establishment data such as position titles and cost centres, and are accompanied by profiles with additional rich information from the HRIS.

With organisational charts deployed online, the team can then engage sites, prompting them to review their data and suggest changes. Collaboration with site managers is made easy. The site managers can log in and check their org charts daily to see that the requested changes are being made.

In addition, as restructures occur “Navigo org charts have enabled us to move large amounts of data into new areas, and get it signed off quickly.”

The Results

A correct establishment structure is vital to the future success of WA Health’s HRIS. Org charts are helping the team to keep to their implementation schedule by encouraging buy-in from around the organisation.

“It allows users to quickly see what’s wrong with the establishment” – they can then go back to the data, know where problems lie, and be ready to solve them.

“The clarity and visibility of information makes it easy to understand for non-HR people out on site.”

And the feedback from the sites? “Easy to use and learn … It’s a fantastic tool.”  Managers in sites around Western Australia are able to log in and analyse the new establishment data without any software downloads, training, or learning curve, in a far simpler process than with spreadsheets alone.

The best part? Opinions vary – “It’s the ease of use,” says Sarah – “It’s the ability to phone a site and engage with them,” says Amanda, “they can log in and see results on the spot.”

The result is that remote sites have the tools they need to understand and assist the project, plus the knowledge that HR is both listening to what they say, and acting on it.