Inasmuch as technology can hasten the growth of the private enterprise, it can also very much streamline government operation and speed up the delivery of government services.
This is the gist of the talk delivered by Microsoft Line of Business Operations Manager Michelle Lasam of Radenta Technologies, delivered at the recent Microsoft Asenso Pilipinas Public Sector Cloud Summit “Asenso Pilipinas 2021: Building Digital Resilience.”
Lasam went on to discuss four of Radenta’s top-tier digital transformation solutions:
- 1) HEMP - Human Resource Information System
- 2) GRIPS - Government Resource Integrated Planning System
- 3) LP+365 – e-learning platform
- 4) InstantVitals - A.I. Powered Health and Wellness Solutions.
Below is a condensed version of Lasam’s presentation:
We are in a situation where everything can now be done online. Because of the pandemic, the world was pushed into adopting digital technologies to continue day-to-day operations.
Businesses shifted online with cashless transactions. Goods are now available at the touch of a mobile phone. We saw an increase in the delivery service to bring the products to the consumer’s homes. Schools have resorted to blended learning where the students can join a virtual class or learn through different modules.
And it should not be any different for the government. Government offices should be able to shift and adapt to the situation.
Business transactions with the government should be as easy as it is ordering food. If the public doesn’t have to line up in government offices every day for applications, renewals, disbursement, or payment, imagine how much time can be saved.
And it is not just because of the pandemic. We live in a country where we experience around 20 typhoons every year. Digitalization improves continuity of operations despite natural and man-made disasters. Digitalization makes it easier for the public to use government services.
Digitalization helps you in government and your staff work more efficiently. So, it is not just the public who will benefit but also the people working inside government offices. Internal processes should operate with minimal disruptions. Approvals can now be made paperless. Your documents won’t go missing and you can access them wherever you are. Communication and collaboration will be easier and transparent. Meetings can be done even when the participants are not in the same physical location. Employees become more engaged and equipped to cope with the help of emerging technologies.
Many are afraid of digitalization because it is a broad term. But if you look closer and understand it, it is not as difficult to implement. What you need is a solid technology that can bring together all the different solutions for your organization.
That’s where Microsoft Azure comes in. Be it a CRM, a Customer Relationship Management system; ERP an Enterprise Resource Planning System; HRIS, a Human Resource Information System, or as simple as email and communication tools, Azure can support you in managing your data.
You can easily scale according to your organization’s needs whenever and wherever. No need to wait for the delivery of physical servers, no need to pay for additional space to put those servers in. More importantly, Azure offers multi-layered security. A military agency of one of the most powerful countries in the world has awarded a multi-billion dollar cloud-computing contract to Microsoft. That’s how confident they are with the security of Azure.
At Radenta Technologies Incorporated, one of our solutions that runs in Azure is HEMP, which is our HR system tailored to fit Philippine government institutions. HEMP means Human Empowerment. Empowered employees are productive employees. This is why we want to focus our technology on helping take care of your employees. This solution is more than just an HRIS, it is a people resource operating system.
We understand the employee lifecycle of government offices. From recruitment to separation, your process workflows can be digitalized. What makes HEMP fit for the government are the processes, reports, and forms specific to it that are already embedded in the system. Forms that are mandated by the Civil Service Commission are systematically generated so there is no need to write manually.
One of the benefits of HEMP is you get fewer disputes from your staff because it has Time and Attendance management. Your staff will have access to their own Daily Time Record or DTR that they can view anytime. Even before the actual payout, they already have an idea how much they will get on payday. And since they have access to their DTR, they can easily raise any incorrect figure to their respective supervisor for it to be amended and avoid incorrect deductions.
The application of leave and travel requests are included in this module, so the employee doesn’t have to file them manually. They can easily upload documents supporting their requests and their supervisors can view them right away.
Employees will have their own dashboard where they can view and access their Personal Data Sheet, DTR, Payslips, Work Experience Sheets, SALN, Leave Record, Requests, Approvals, Property Accountability, Individual Performance Review, Forms, and announcements.
Another module is the staffing module. This is where the organization selects candidates internally and externally for assuming vacant positions. The application can now be done online by filling out the application form and uploading necessary documents.
The selection board will have a master list of all applicants and they can filter by position, division, or list the applicants in alphabetical order. Through this list, the profile of the applicant can be viewed. With this system, applicants can now be interviewed virtually and whether the members of the board of selection are in different locations, they can easily view the notes of the other interviewers.
Once the interview is done, the interviewer can post their scores and comments/remarks for the next interviewer, if needed, and be tagged for the next step. They can be identified as qualified or not qualified or waive application. The interviewer can then choose whether the applicant is now for deliberation, did not attend the interview, waive application or upload selection line-up.
Once deliberation and evaluation are finished, the board of selection can now choose if the applicant is for an appointment, waive application, or upload results. For the candidates who have passed, they can now be moved for the assumption of duty. For external applicants, they can register and create a profile to be added to the master list, and the internal applicants just need their username and password for the system. So, from application to the assumption of duty, the process is digital.
We also have performance management where the employees can access their supervisors’ evaluation of their work based on the goals set for them. It includes the Key Results Area, Key Performance Indicators, and different competencies needed to fulfill their tasks effectively.
The employee starts by submitting his/her form to the rater for initial review. The rater then approves the form or returns with a suggested revision. If the employee has questions, they can verify with the rater by submitting their questions through the portal and the rater can view it to accept the changes requested or to deny them. These evaluation forms are stored, viewable, and can be exported to PDF and Excel and they can be printed too.
Once an evaluation of the employees is final, they can now work on the learning and development path of the employee to equip them with the necessary training for their improvement and career succession. These plans are then created in the system.
It includes the individual’s strengths with different levels depending on the competency, opportunities based on competency type with an action plan, timeline, and resources needed. It also includes the individual’s accomplishments of training, coaching, or mentoring programs where you can upload documents as proof of completion. It also has a page for in-house learning and development offerings for internal learning activities.
From the performance evaluation and learning and development, an individual can have a clear view of the next step they need to take to advance their career in the office as the system also includes a Career and Succession Module. It indicates the next possible position for the individual based on the requirements of the position and the actual achievement of that same individual.
Another module is Employee Relations Management. It includes the Employees Engagement Center where an individual can submit suggestions anonymously for the improvement of the office in general, feedback, grievance with other employees or your supervisor, and questions to the HR department. It also includes the Mediation Unit and Employee Discipline where they can view the employee manual and notices.
These are just some of the modules in the HR system. Our primary objective is to automate and support the Human Resources Department processes in one single system. We aim to minimize redundant records and inaccuracies by reducing manual activities.
HEMP is a stand-alone offering that is part of our Government Resource Integrated Planning System or GRIPS. It is a Fully Customizable, Comprehensive, and Scalable Resource Planning Solution developed and integrated for the Philippine government. Transforming the service, enhancing efficiency and productivity by integrating processes from the budget, procurement, inventory, fixed assets, project monitoring, accounting, HRIS, and Payroll, and unifying data to provide more responsive and reliable service to the Filipino people.
Another one of our solutions is a COVID19 response offering which enables you to identify potential COVID19 infected individuals before they enter your premises.
It is called InstantVitals. It is a mobile application that detects low-level vital signs that could indicate if a person is at risk of having a coronavirus infection. It analyzes your heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation to provide a result whether you are a high, medium, or low risk of having COVID 19.
With this technology, you can already isolate those with a high risk of being infected to avoid transmission of the virus inside your office. With the rise of mutated strains, we need to be more vigilant in terms of preventing the spread of the virus. We can no longer sustain another wave of lockdown. We need a more stringent course of action to ensure public safety.
Contact tracing through QR codes is not enough because it is reactive rather than proactive. It only determines who are the people infected by an individual who tested positive for the virus. It doesn’t prevent the virus from being spread. With InstantVitals you can detect the symptoms as early as possible thereby preventing individuals that present a risk from entering public places.
We also have LP+365, a solution for the education system built on top of Microsoft Office 365. It is a collaboration platform where teachers and learners can engage and stimulate a learning environment in a single dashboard.
It is a stage that serves as an online classroom to keep the learning going. It allows learners to interact and easily adopt e-learning. The home dashboard boasts a flip tile technology allowing a view of the most recent items. It has a collapsible menu bar for quick and easy access to class sites and educationally relevant tools.
Educators can use multi-media files as an alternative to plaintext files to make the discussion more interactive and appealing to learners. Assignments can be given to specific students only, groups of students, or the entire class for easier communication. It includes student sentiment where the teachers can gauge the emotional state of their learners based on the emojis chosen.
We at Radenta Technologies have a lot of solutions that we can offer in helping your office towards digitalization. We offer technology integration, virtualization, and cloud. We have skilled engineers and consultants, a reliable documentation process, and a 24x7 service helpdesk.
Radenta Technologies has more than 20 years of experience in global IT and business operations and we have a variety of IT deployments in several government agencies and local government units.
This is just an overview of some of the solutions we offer. For a more detailed discussion please let us know through the chatroom which solution you would like to know more of, and we will be happy to set an appointment with you and your team. Thank you very much, God bless and stay safe.