Babcock simplifies policy management and improves employee

Complex challengeAs a leading facilities management provider, BIS faces the ongoing challenge of keeping its policies and procedures for each contract up to date. Due to changes in the law, thousands of separate policies – ranging from health and safety guidance and quality management procedures, to restrictions on operations that may impact the environment – may need to be updated several times a year. Failure to do so could ultimately lead to prosecution and heavy fines, making this process business-critical.

However, with numerous contracts across BIS and its subsidiary companies, quality assurance staff had an extremely complex task. And with multiple versions and duplicates across different sites and on three separate intranets, there was a real danger that something would get missed. “Procedures manuals for different contracts are sometimes very similar with only

a few variations,” explains Matt Broadway, Web Development Manager at Babcock Infrastructure Services. “However, the process of keeping them all up to date was extremely time-consuming and prone to errors.”

In addition, the lack of a single, enterprise-wide intranet site was making it difficult to keep over 1,500 staff based at over 150 sites updated with Company news. “To make a staff announcement, you needed to contact three separate people to get it posted on the different intranet sites,” says Matt.

Piloting a new solutionBIS decided a new intranet solution was needed – a single platform that would facilitate the simplification of policy management and enable more consistent employee communications. After a thorough market search, the Company selected a solution from Claromentis.

With a client list including the Ministry of Defence and local authorities as well as major private sector companies, Babcock Infrastructure Services (BIS) manages over 15,000 properties across the United Kingdom. Part of Babcock International Group PLC, the Company services nationwide contracts both directly and through subsidiary joint ventures Debut Services (South West) Ltd, Babcock DynCorp Ltd, and mouchelbabcock education.

“Claromentis Quality Manager helps us to manage the procedure publication process and prove that we have appropriate policies in place.”

Matt Broadway, Web Development Manager, Babcock Infrastructure Services

Babcock simplifies policy management and improves employee communications with help from Claromentis

Case Study

Claromentis™ Framework

Industry sector Facilities management

Technology application Intranet and policy management

Customer requirement To facilitate efficient updates

to thousands of policies and procedures, and improve employee communications across multiple sites

Solution• Claromentis™ Portal environment• Claromentis Quality Manager

application• Claromentis Enterprise Content

Manager application• Claromentis Document Manager

application• Claromentis InfoCapture tool• Claromentis Custom Development

services

Benefits• More efficient and consistent

updating of policies and procedures

• Ability to keep employees better informed about Company-wide developments

• Increased control of a wide range of business processes within the HR and IT functions

• Straightforward publishing of content to multiple internal and external sites

“Claromentis stood out because they showed themselves to be very flexible and enthusiastic about delivering on our challenging requirements,” comments Matt.

The team at Claromentis worked closely with BIS to identify the Company’s precise needs. They implemented products from the Claromentis Framework – including Claromentis Portal, Claromentis Enterprise Content Manager, Claromentis Document Manager, and e-forms using the Claromentis InfoCapture tool – to enable fast, effective communications, facilitate increased collaboration and improve process efficiency across the Company.

BIS also had the opportunity to be the first to pilot the Claromentis Quality Manager application, developed to meet the particular policy management challenges that the Company was facing. The application works by allowing staff to build up a central ‘bank’ of policies and procedures. When manuals are assembled for different contracts, quality assurance staff can specify which policies are to be included for which audience, and the information is then drawn from this central source.

As and when policies need to be updated, staff make changes to the version in the policy bank and the information is then automatically updated wherever else it is held on the system. “Now we only need to make a change once rather than multiple times across numerous contracts,” says Matt. “That way we can avoid duplication of effort and be sure that the policy is updated consistently.”

Simplified policy managementThe BIS team has loaded approximately 500 policies and procedures into Claromentis Quality Manager so far and Matt expects the number to exceed 2,000 by the time they have finished. “This project just highlighted the fact that we had policies in multiple locations,” he remarks. “By having everything in one place, it will be much easier to control the updating process efficiently. Claromentis Quality Manager helps us to manage the procedure publication process and prove that we have appropriate policies in place.”

The application has been a hit with quality assurance staff at BIS. “We’ve had a lot of great user feedback,” says Matt. “They find it easy to work with and appreciate the support it provides in helping them to stay on top of policy updates.”

Reaching out to every employeeWith over 1,500 users in teams ranging from three to 40 staff spread across 150 sites, the new intranet solution is also proving to be an important platform for Company-wide communications. The Company now has a single, unified intranet system accessible by all staff, with different interfaces to reflect the respective brands of BIS, Debut and Babcock DynCorp. “Previously, if you wanted to make a staff announcement, you had to contact three different intranet managers,” explains Matt. “This made it difficult to keep everyone informed, and there was a risk that some teams could feel isolated.”

Now, personnel issuing news releases can publish these themselves, saving time and resources.

“The project was very well-managed by Claromentis. The team was very good at delivering to our precise needs within a set timescale.”


Customizable information management solutions

“With a single, easily accessible source of Company news, teams at all sites are better informed and feel more included. They are truly part of the BIS family,” remarks Matt.

Better control – more efficient processesThe Claromentis solution is also helping to enhance a range of business processes at BIS. The IT team are using e-forms created using the Claromentis InfoCapture tool to streamline support procedures. Employees simply fill in a form to submit requests and can then track progress online. “Claromentis InfoCapture helps us to manage intranet support processes more efficiently and deliver a better service to our internal customers,” says Matt.

BIS also plans to use Claromentis InfoCapture within recruitment processes. At the moment, the HR department uses a paper-based system to manage all recruitment stages – from new employee requests, recruitment, application-handling, and interviews, to the induction of new staff. “By moving these processes online using Claromentis InfoCapture, we can link them together,” explains Matt. “This allows us to enforce line manager sign-off at key stages, ensuring that requests are only progressed with appropriate authorization.”

The Company has also begun to use Claromentis Document Manager to support application development within the IT department. “It’s great because we benefit from full version control,” confirms Matt. “If a specification changes, development managers can see how and when it changed, and that helps us control the process better.”

Matt believes that the use of the collaborative working tools provided by the new Claromentis solution will gradually become more widespread across BIS. “It represents a significant culture change but over time we are confident that applications such as Claromentis Document Manager and Claromentis Project Manager will help employees at different locations to collaborate more productively and efficiently,” confirms Matt.

Managing multiple websitesAs well as providing intranet management tools, BIS also plans to use the Claromentis solution to publish and manage external websites for Debut, Babcock DynCorp and mouchelbabcock education. “Claromentis Enterprise Content Manager will make it very easy to manage the publishing process efficiently,” says Matt. “Content managers have full control of all content that goes into each site and, as they don’t have to wait for developers and designers to help them with updates, there are no delays and bottlenecks.”

Also planned is an extranet site for customers. “It will allow clients to access information specific to their contracts and ensure they are kept up-to-date with key developments,” comments Matt.

Tailored to meet precise requirementsAs well as implementing applications from the Claromentis Framework, the team at Claromentis also developed bespoke functionality and features for the BIS solution. These included a sites database, providing employees with details about

“Ultimately, improved efficiency at BIS will enable us to offer a better service to our customers, providing us with a significant competitive advantage.”


Customizable information management solutions

the Company’s 150 nationwide locations. As Matt explains, Claromentis proved to be particularly flexible when rolling out the new database on the secure networks used by the Ministry of Defence, one of its clients.

“Because of security restrictions, the mapping software giving directions to each site didn’t function properly,” he says. “But Claromentis worked with us to find an appropriate alternative.”

The team also developed an alerts tool that directs notices to specific, relevant audiences. “We didn’t want to clog up the news function with routine announcements,” explains Matt. “Now, using the bespoke tool, alerts and notices are only seen by the people that need to see them.”

Matt feels that the fact that Claromentis has recently published its API will help to make further bespoke developments easier in future. “Now that there’s a published API, it’s straightforward to add functionality – either in-house or with external developers,” he comments.

Another of the Company’s specific requirements was met in the provision of a secure hosting facility, through Claromentis’ partner Rackspace. “We wanted to ensure service reliability as well as making sure that data is kept as securely as possible. Claromentis’ partnership with Rackspace was able to deliver that,” says Matt.

Strong partnership The rollout of the first phase to 1,500 users was completed on time and on budget. Matt believes that the strong partnership and

teamwork between BIS and Claromentis was key. “The project was very well-managed by Claromentis,” says Matt. “The team was very good at delivering to our precise needs within a set timescale.”

He continues: “They were flexible and communicative, letting us know when they could deliver key stages and informing us about any issues as and when they arose. On a complex project with multiple stakeholders, this highly collaborative approach was critical to success.”

Gaining a competitive edgeBIS is already enjoying numerous benefits as a result of the implementation. “By providing a wide range of easily accessible online content, we are able to communicate more effectively and consistently with employees,” says Matt. “This ensures that everyone is better informed and helps to create a sense of belonging across the Company.”

Enterprise-wide business processes are also becoming more efficient, thanks to the support provided by the Claromentis solution. Significant time savings are anticipated in updating policies and procedures across multiple contracts, while process automation within HR and IT activities will streamline operations and increase management control.

“Ultimately, improved efficiency at BIS will enable us to offer a better service to our customers, providing us with a significant competitive advantage,” concludes Matt. ”We’re confident that the Claromentis solution will continue to support us in delivering a first-class service as we grow.”

“We’re confident that the Claromentis solution will continue to support us in delivering a first-class service as we grow.”


About Claromentis

At Claromentis, we are passionate about creating practical solutions that deliver real business value to our customers. With a world-class development team and experienced consultants, we combine cutting-edge software with a wealth of commercial as well as technical expertise.

Since 1998, we have worked with a diverse range of organizations across multiple industry sectors, staying at the cutting-edge of the industry through continued investment in research and development, and an emphasis on continuous improvement. Our mission is to provide solutions that fit your business, rather than expecting your business processes to fit our solutions.

Contact usFor further information on any Claromentis products and services, please call us on+44 (0)1273 666355, email us at [email protected], or visitwww.claromentis.com

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Babcock simplifies policy management and improves employee