Fri, 1 Jul 2011

Impact awards recognise IT project wins

Impressive project work and strategic use of HR/payroll IT featured among last month’s winners of the annual HR Technology Impact Awards, sponsored by MidlandHR.

The team at facilities management firm Fountains implemented a system in just 62 days. It sought to reassure staff and meet the payrun requirements as a viable business was salvaged from the former Connaught, which went into administration in autumn 2010. Judges said the HR/payroll team had ‘helped save a business, demonstrating the fundamental importance and strategic necessity of maintaining a payrun during time of uncertainty’.

In the category Most Innovative Use of HR Technology, the entry from Interserve Project Services caught the judges’ eyes. They concluded: ‘Attention has been paid to many levels, from a clear vision to ensuring transparency of training data for several stakeholders, to evidence of impressive reduction in time taken to manage training.’

The University of Plymouth was judged to have the most outstanding project team, which featured a ‘strategic integration between HR and IT functions, and effective communication between different stakeholders’. Powys County Council won in the category of Best Use of Manager and Employee Self-Service, displaying exceptional capability in developing HR IT systems to address culture change and people management. Queens University Belfast was judged to have the best use of communications.

The award for the Best Implementation Project went to Reaseheath College for its ‘impressive foundation building’ for business processes and IT. Tandridge District Council was judged to have the best value among smaller employers and Powys Council among larger ones. Philip Whiteley, editor-in-chief of Payroll World, was one of the judges.