Case Study Dentsu Aegis Network

Digital Personnel File in the cloud at Dentsu Aegis Network

“We have access to the information at any time, exactly where we need it.”

Ingo Alex

Director HR Shared Services & Reward, Dentsu Aegis Network

Digital transformation in the working world

The Dentsu Aegis Network in Germany is digitizing its entire HR correspondence. One important step in this process is the introduction of the Digital Personnel File in the aconso cloud. This means that all HR staff, at all five sites, are able to access important HR documents at any time. This not only creates optimized processes but also frees up time and space in the filing cabinet. The HR Document Box, which is used for the digital provision of salary statements, is lending the development additional momentum, along with the Reference Letter Generator and a full-scale Digital Document Generator.

Company

  • 1,300 employees
  • Five sites throughout Germany

Challenges

  • Decentralization

  • Savings in time and resources

  • SAP compatibility

Solution

  • Digital Personnel File

  • Cloud solution

  • Further solutions like HR Document Box and Reference Letter Generator

Project

For a long time, the Human Resources department was controlled centrally from Wiesbaden. Company developments resulted in the decentralization of the HR organization, which since last year, has been operating locally at the various sites with HR business partners and recruiters. As long as the entire HR department was concentrated under one roof, the cost and complexity of traditional paper filing remained at a manageable level, and direct access to personnel records and employee information was ensured.

Documents in the Digital Personnel File

“However, once these activities started being performed at several locations, HR business partners had to request, copy, scan and send personnel records for Hamburg, Augsburg and Dusseldorf. Not only was this a complex process, but it was quite simply inefficient as a long-term solution.”

Ingo Alex

Director HR Shared Services & Reward, Dentsu Aegis Network

Focus on user-friendliness and SAP compatibility

Not only that, but two years hence, Dentsu Aegis Network would be relocating its Rhine-Main site from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden – into premises with only limited space for archiving. However, a solution to the situation soon presented itself – clearly, a Digital Personnel File was needed all the more quickly. It allows employees within the decentralized organization to access important information directly, and what is more, the HR department now only needs electronic storage space.

As Dentsu Aegis employs SAP systems, both for its financial and its HR divisions, the Digital Personnel File also had to be compatible with SAP. Moreover, for ease of operation, Dentsu Aegis also expressed a desire for a good level of usability. The ability to transfer the authorization concept from the SAP system was another important concern. A further requirement was good auditing capability. Another requirement was that a cloud solution should be used. Finally, in August 2016, the implementation of the project began. First of all, the company had the physical personnel files of the existing employees scanned. To date, these have also been stored in the solution provider’s secure archive. The old files of the employees who have already left the company, which are currently still in the basement of the agency group, are now gradually being added.

 

Safe in the cloud

Dentsu Aegis Network has been using the digital personnel file since January 2017. HR specialists and HR business partners at all German locations have since been able to access HR information directly – provided they have the necessary authorization to do so. The data is stored legally secure in the cloud in a German data center in accordance with German data protection laws. They are transmitted in encrypted form via a sealed VPN tunnel. Currently, the agency network is additionally introducing the HR Document Box. The next step will be the certificate generator, which will automate and digitize the certificate process, and fully digital document generation. This is how Dentsu Aegis Network’s HR becomes fit for the future.