The EducationHR team plays a critical role at Norfolk County Council (NCC), providing professional HR services to 250 schools and academy trusts throughout the county. These services range from HR administration support with new contract generation and payroll record updating to the creation of appointment/variation/termination letters and advice around employment terms and conditions.
The team had relied on the same server-based WorkSpace HR system for more than 10 years, processing up to 11,000 customer requests annually. Then, in August 2023, the system provider suddenly notified them that it would be withdrawing server support in less than nine months’ time. For Ian Cooper, EducationHR Service Lead at NCC, this presented an excellent opportunity to switch to a more efficient cloud-based alternative. Time, however, wasn’t on the team’s side.
Following the required competitive tender process, jaam automation was awarded the contract to build the new HR WorkSpace system. Nuno Silva, Senior Automation Architect at jaam, was tasked with building and delivering the new system, underpinned by Nintex Automation K2 Cloud, that would enable EducationHR to not only expand its offering, but also ensure ongoing compliance with NCC’s stringent new data privacy, governance, and compliance policies.
A more modern approach to HR service delivery was needed
When the email informing EducationHR that support was being withdrawn for their existing WorkSpace HR system arrived, it didn’t come as a big surprise. The provider had recently been taken over by a US company and EducationHR increasingly felt that it was being viewed as a small fish in a big pond.
On top of this, the team’s frustration with the existing system had been growing for some time, while new NCC regulations around data security measures and migration to the cloud meant a change was becoming inevitable anyway.
“Our old system was beginning to show its age,” says Ian. “Costs were increasing and options for further system development were becoming both limited and unaffordable.”
The team decided to replace the old system with a new cloud-based WorkSpace platform, using the opportunity to implement additional functionalities that would ensure compliance with new NCC regulations while slashing the time taken to perform a range of HR tasks for customers.
However, with support for the old system due to end in May 2024, achieving it all in the time available was a considerable challenge.
Trusted new platform and partner
In September 2023, prior to the competitive tender process, EducationHR consulted with jaam automation to establish what could be achieved. This identified the technical and functional requirements for the new cloud-based platform. However, once jaam had been awarded the contract in late January 2024, a window of just four months was left to build and implement it.
To meet this deadline, jaam focussed on delivering an initial core system that supported EducationHR’s main requirements from day one, but which could be enhanced with additional functionality in future system updates.
“On such a tight timeline, choosing the right tech and tools for the new platform was critical,” says Nuno. “We decided to use Nintex Automation K2 Cloud early on, for both back end and front-end forms, as well as for building key workflows that the EducationHR team needed to work efficiently.”
Nintex Automation K2 Cloud enables users to coordinate workflows, applications, and decisions across the entire organisation in a private cloud. K2 embeds governance directly into workflows, ensuring every action is traceable, every decision is controlled, and every process aligns with strict data policies and regulations.
jaam also leveraged complementary technologies for data integration, storage, and document generation to support the overall solution architecture. This approach allowed jaam to quickly build a very strong cloud-based foundation with core functionality that could be augmented and improved over time.
Seamless transition from old to new
jaam delivered the new core WorkSpace platform in May 2024, enabling EducationHR to seamlessly transition from its old system to the new cloud-based one without any disruption to customers. This initial delivery was then followed by four development sprints to deliver the enhanced features EducationHR wanted, including:
- Regular upload of employee data – so customers can view their employees’ basic contract details and use them to auto-populate fields rather than manually entering them.
- Clear audit and activity logs – for both internal staff and customers, meaning everyone can see what is happening at every stage of the process.
- Document distribution from within the system – eliminating the need to manually email them.
- The ability to upload supporting documents directly to the system – saving significant time for customers and internal teams.
- Functionality to sign up for alerts and notifications – ensuring important information and major process milestones aren’t missed.
“Nintex Automation K2 Cloud held the key to the new platform,” says Nuno. “It enabled us to not only create all the front-end screens, but also the back-end administration screens, meaning critical data like allowances, pay scales, establishments and team sizes could all be managed centrally by administrators. This greatly improves efficiency and helps the EducationHR team to work much faster than was previously possible.”
Intuitive user interface simplifies day-to-day tasks
The new WorkSpace platform has rapidly delivered a wide range of benefits to EducationHR’s internal team.
“The intuitive user interface makes it incredibly easy to use, resulting in fewer clicks per task,” says Jo Gardiner, Team Manager with EducationHR, who led on the client side through the build, test, implementation and further development phases. “New features like single sign-on also give quicker access to everybody, while the ability to create and send documents to customers from within the platform is a huge time saver.”
Streamlined workflows save customers time and keep data secure
The impact on customers has been equally positive, with feedback on the new platform being overwhelmingly positive.
“Importing employee data allows our customers to pre-populate many required fields, saving them many hours of manual work,” adds Jo. “Visible audit trails let them track when tasks are completed, while the ability to receive documentation within the system keeps everything in one place. This reduces the chance of data breaches while making it fast and convenient to obtain copies of key documents if needed.”
Looking ahead
As EducationHR continues its transformation journey, the team has already identified a series of next steps it wishes to take.
“We’re continually looking for new ways to improve workflows and provide more streamlined processes for our staff and customers,” says Jo. “Our next project is to build an entirely new case management system called CaseSpace for our HR Consultancy team, which will bring enhanced efficiency and consistency, along with faster response times.”
CaseSpace will also be underpinned by Nintex Automation K2 Cloud and include similar functionality to the team’s WorkSpace platform, but it will focus on employee relations case work. The team plans to include close links between CaseSpace and WorkSpace, for effective handoffs between its HR teams.
“This journey has been really positive for us,” concludes Jo. “Going forward, we’re excited to use the innovative tools and platforms available to us, like Nintex Automation K2 Cloud, to keep moving with the times and ensure we can deliver the highest levels of service possible to our customers.”
