Programme news
Welcome to the December edition of ESR News
Update from Paul Spooner, NHS ESR Programme Director
First and foremost, welcome to your new-look ESR News e-magazine. With a new easier to use format, new refreshed branding and importantly, relevant content, I hope this edition is both informative and helpful for you.
I often preface my updates with the line: ‘Without wanting to sound like a ‘scratched record’… [20XX] has been another year of significant activity and achievement for the ESR Programme’. Well, I have to say, this is once again the case for 2016!
Having successfully transitioned the ESR Service from the previous supplier to IBM in 2015, this year has seen a period of consolidation and technology refresh in the Service Delivery area. Crucially, availability and performance of the ESR solution remains the single most important element of the services within the ESR Programme. With this in mind, and considering the scale of technology refresh that has successfully completed, I am delighted to reflect on another positive year in this regard.
Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the technology refresh itself introduces greater service efficiencies and flexibility for future developments…all of which will be beneficial for the NHS.
A new era for ESR…delayed, but now reformed in to the ‘ESR Development Roadmap’
I have previously advised on the overall intent to deliver a number of enhancements to the ESR solution. This project delivery has been subject to challenges and delay; resulting in a different approach being proposed to deliver the essential user requirements.
In March this year, we released functionality to support Nursing Revalidation. This capability was received extremely positively across the NHS and indeed, our HPMA Award winners for 2016 - Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS FT, demonstrated excellent innovation in their use of the solution.
In June, we introduced changes to the online payslip. There are articles in this edition that reference how this development is being used to further support NHS organisations improve efficiency, reduce risk and realise tangible benefits.
In October, we introduced a significant change to the access routes to employee self-service. Our users had previously identified an essential need for ESR to be accessible from the internet – very much in the spirit of driving efficiency and supporting ‘mobile workforce’ needs. ESR internet enablement provided such capability, and this will be further complimented with mobile responsive forms scheduled to be released at the end of this month. If not already, I would encourage you to explore what this capability can do for your organisation.
The ESR Development Roadmap, again referenced within this edition, highlights the releases up to December 2017. The development strategy has been to deploy as many of the essential requirements at the earliest possible release, in a schedule that maximises the complimentary nature of the solutions. For example: internet access (Oct 16) followed by updated and mobile responsiveness forms (Dec 16) followed by responsive Portal in March 2017 etc. Whilst such a delivery strategy is logical from a solution release perspective, I hope you will be able to appreciate how this approach can support smaller local projects within your organisation - that can be progressed to grow the capability being made available to your workforce in an ‘evolutionary’ manner, rather than the proverbial ‘big bang’ change.
As a Programme, we clearly have a lot of work to do in delivering the Roadmap, and as always, a release will only happen if testing proves successful. However, the Roadmap reflects the intent, as endorsed by our Pilot / Beta sites. On this point, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all Pilot, Beta and User representatives, for their contribution to supporting the solution development planning.
A look forward to 2017…
- Solution and Service stability: as previously referenced, this remains a key objective for the ESR Programme;
- Roadmap Delivery: providing additional value add capability to NHS organisations and users;
- Support and increase ESR usage: whether operating in a climate - as the NHS is currently - of needing to drive efficiencies, or considered ‘just the right thing to do’; using capability across the entire ESR portfolio remains an opportunity for the NHS. As an NHS Programme team, we will continue to support you in project analysis, initiation, planning and execution so as to meet this objective. There is an article in this edition that references an ESR Assessment Programme we are currently undertaking across the NHS. I encourage you and your teams to maximise this opportunity – particularly as preparatory work for using new solutions planned for 2017.
- Sharing best practice: once again, there are some excellent case studies in this edition. Throughout 2016, a number of case studies have been produced and shared to cascade the best practice across all areas of ESR functionality. This is a mechanism of engagement that the ESR Programme will increasingly harness.
Finally, on behalf of the ESR Programme, may I wish you a Merry Christmas and offer Best Wishes for 2017.
Are you getting the best from your ESR?
ESR has been at the heart of NHS workforce management and planning for some years now, and during that time the solution has continued to evolve – but we know that not everyone fully understands what ESR can do for them.
Some organisations are extracting every drop of efficiency out of ESR and using it to support more streamlined workforce processes. But there are others struggling to make outdated perceptions of ESR work with today’s challenges, whether that’s reducing sickness absence, monitoring workforce diversity, managing staff costs, or improving the quality of workforce data.
In the NHS ESR Central Team, we understand that it’s difficult to take time out of pressurised schedules to take stock and work out how you could be making better use of your ESR, and then to organise the rollout of additional functionality. To help you identify quick wins that will benefit your organisation we have launched a new ESR Assessment.
- The Assessment will be carried out by our NHS ESR Account Managers and Functional Advisors
- You will receive a tailored report identifying your areas of good ESR practice but also identifying any recommendations for improvement.
- In addition, if you decide to implement further ESR functionality as a result of the Assessment, we will give you access to a toolkit of resources that can help you, such as template PIDs, project plans, checklists and user guides.
- And as well as these free resources we can also offer you support from a NHS ESR Functional Advisor who can work with you on-site to get you started.
You don’t need to do anything at this stage... a member of our team will be in contact with your ESR Lead and/or Deputy HR Director to arrange an appointment to visit. But if you want to be one of the first to complete an ESR Assessment and start reaping the benefits, please contact your regional NHS ESR Account Manager today.
A new era for Your ESR
The NHS ESR Programme team have been working with our partner IBM to develop a programme of developments for ESR that would greatly improve the solution across a range of areas. In the autumn we announced the new 2016/2017 ESR Development Roadmap, setting out the vision for your ESR which includes:
- improved user interface for Self Service and learning management (including a portal);
- business process improvements to support Self Service and learning management;
- enhanced reporting for payroll;
- A comprehensive reporting strategy to support the withdrawal of Discoverer;
- Delivering as many ‘Essential’ requirements from the original user consultation as possible to maximise benefit and to support the objectives of the ESR business case;
- An upgrade to Oracle 12.2 that has been scheduled for December 2017.
The plan
Whilst the large scale developments are planned from Release 33 in December 2016 onwards, there has been on going work to deploy some developments into ESR during the summer. In June this year we made changes to the online payslip. With a new design aligned to that of the paper payslip and a printable pdf format that allows employees using Employee Self Service to print personal copies, this change has provided NHS organisations with the option to switch off paper payslips, thereby introducing operational efficiencies.
In October we launched ESR via the internet – myess.esr.nhs.uk. This significant development has opened up the potential for 1.4 million NHS employees to access their ESR record anywhere in the UK, removing the need for N3 connectivity and offering a wide range of efficiency and staff engagement benefits to organisations.
Making ESR more easily accessible was one of the key user requirements identified as part of the user consultation during the re-procurement project, and since the launch of myess.esr.nhs.uk we have seen an increasing number of NHS organisations look to implement more Self Service functionality.
Releases 33 and 34 will see ESR transform in terms of your user experience.
User Engagement
To launch the roadmap the NHS ESR team ran a series of webinars through late October and early November. These sessions outlined the developments planned to enhance ESR in a number of key areas:
- An improved User Interface and supporting changes to business processes for self-service and learning management users;
- The introduction of a Reporting Strategy for ESR - to support the move away from the Discoverer reporting tool;
- Improved functionality for payroll professionals.
The webinar series was highly successful with over 1,200 individual connections across the whole series of sixteen. We are delighted that the feedback on these sessions, and more importantly the functional improvements presented has been extremely positive:
Helping you prepare for the change
To help you and your employees be ready for the changes to ESR we have added a selection of short presentations taken from the webinars to our Kbase solution covering following subjects:
- Release 33/34 Roadmap Summary;
- Release 33/34 Reporting Roadmap Summary;
- Introduction to the Employee Portal;
- Learner Homepage and Certification Improvements;
- SSHR User Interface Improvements;
- Learning Management “Quick Wins”;
- Workflow by e-mail;
- Webinar Q&As.
Your NHS ESR Functional Advisor and Account Manager also has access to the full range of presentation slide packs if you would like to discuss any of the webinar content further.
We are developing educational materials to support you with the deployment. The first phase of this approach is to provide e-Learning materials and these materials are now available to you on ESR infopoint.
Materials include:
- Employee and Manager Self Service User Interface changes;
- Learning Management - key changes and ‘look and feel’;
- ESR Workflow notifications by e-mail.
Further e-Learning material for Learning Management will be available in early January 2017.
In addition, updates to User Manuals and Classroom Student Guides for the areas impacted by Release 33 will be available for the beginning of January 2017.
For More information
If you have any questions about the new portal or improved functionality planned for ESR please contact your NHS Functional Advisor, details are below:
The North West approach to ESR user engagement
In the North West the approach to organising the ESR Special Interest Groups has evolved over time to create what is known locally as the “Big SIG”. This approach facilitates an efficient way for all the Special Interest Groups in the region to meet in one place at the same time.
Health Education England North West (HEE NW) sponsor the event which regularly features updates from the ESR Central Team and national SIG leads. The morning session brings the large group of SIG members together and provides national updates and highlights discussion topics. In the afternoon session, the groups are split up by the national SIG subject areas of Payroll; Oracle Learning Management (OLM) & Self Service; Reporting, HR & Finance in order to meet separately for more focused discussions. The afternoon sessions are particularly useful in providing organisational leads with the opportunity to participate in a more relaxed environment for learning and sharing information.
The Big SIG is chaired by a Director of HR; which in itself demonstrates the perceived value of ESR as a business critical tool in the region. This approach gives a supportive focus and helps strengthen links to the Exec sponsors in the region. The current Chair, Mike Gibney, Director of Workforce at the Walton Centre believes the Big SIG is fundamental to ensuring the right amount of focus and input into ESR from users continues; “ESR is actually a fantastic system that is the most accurate across the public sector, principally due to its link to payroll. Delivering change is impossible without clear workforce data that is recognised as fundamentally reliable. The Big SIG brings together data analysists and workforce planners from across the whole of the North West and is often their only source of practical support, sense checking and networking”.
The facilitation of the Big SIG by HEE NW helps retain continuity, but their support goes further than that; they survey members and capture invaluable feedback that helps to ensure the Big SIG meetings provide the members with the right kind of regional support;
-
Networking
The networking opportunities before and during the Big SIG, at coffee breaks and over lunch is quoted as an extremely important and valuable factor for those attending, as it gives them the opportunity to share issues, trade best practice, overcome hurdles and build and maintain effective engagement . Members have said that these large regional meetings create a sense of NHS Workforce community, it also allows easy access to the NHS ESR Account Manager & Functional Advisor and the IBM Client Relationship Manager who are all on hand to help provide guidance and support with any ESR related issues.
-
Raise Awareness
Issues that are not formally captured in notes or minutes are shared and discussed during both the formal and informal sessions. The back-and-forth dialogue creates awareness of risks and issues otherwise not defined.
-
Collaborate
The Big SIG is an excellent opportunity for the ESR Central Team to gain valuable user feedback with a view to implementing changes and improvements to the solution. It also supports the NHS ESR Account Manager in maintaining strong engagement across the region and the North West Streamlining Programme (also linked to ESR data) has used the Big SIG meetings as part of its work.
In the North West the Big SIG is the forum where ESR developments proposals are agreed by users in the Region. Commenting on how important this is Alison Terry, HR SIG Chair said “It is invaluable in having so many users attend one event. This gives me assurance at national meetings that when I am reporting on behalf of the North West Region it is a representative view of the North West”.
-
Development to Upskill
Professional development is an added benefit of the Big SIG. Individuals are encouraged to speak up, to deliver case studies or other presentations, to discuss issues with their peers and people from varying backgrounds in the NHS across many levels; and so build confidence and develop improved communication skills along with better functional and technical knowledge and a broader political strategic awareness.
Throughout the NHS tough challenges across all areas of patient delivery means that every organisation is looking at ways to improve, be more efficient and maintain patient safety. The Big SIG approach in the North West creates an environment where organisations can learn and share experiences to understand how the functionality within ESR can support local and regional strategies.
Applicant Upload Interface – how one Trust has influenced ESR development
Background
The Applicant Upload Interface was developed by the NHS ESR Systems Integration Team in February 2016 in response to a request from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL).
"Trusts faced with the challenge of loading new employees outside the usual interfaced systems should definitely consider using the new interface." - Pete Rogers, UHL NHS Trust
UHL wanted to upload individuals into ESR who had been recruited into the organisation via an external recruitment solution not already linked with ESR, or transferred from a non ESR Organisation. Prior to the development of this process, the Trust was sending a number of files to be processed into ESR manually.
These files were often technically complicated and processing them created a heavy workload for the NHS ESR Systems Integration Team. Consequently, UHL submitted a business justification which led to a streamlined tool being created that then lead to the Applicant Upload Interface being developed.
How does it work?
The Applicant Upload Interface allows NHS Organisations to provide files containing information relating to multiple individuals. This information may be loaded into ESR, entering the Recruitment process at an advanced stage, by utilising functionality similar to the process followed by Junior Doctor (previously known as ‘Deanery’) Interface.
Where a record is successfully processed into ESR, an Applicant record is created within the ESR Recruitment module including details of the ESR Position they are due to be hired into. This record is then available to the ESR user to complete the hire process. To create the file, a Trust simply completes an excel spreadsheet containing each individual’s details, ESR Position allocated to etc. – this is referred to as the Applicant File by the NHS ESR Systems Integration Team. The NHS Organisation is able to supply Applicant (APP) files via the ESR Remedy Helpdesk. Valid files are loaded into ESR overnight and an Applicant Confirmation (APC) report is produced and made available for collection by the NHS Organisation. Files that cannot be processed because of validation issues are rejected and an advice note in the form of an email is generated for the NHS Organisation to check and correct the APP files for re-submission.
Since its development the interface has been successfully tested with the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Pete Rogers commented: "UHL use the interface for international recruitment and other applicants who do not come via the standard NHS recruiting systems. Recently we loaded nearly 2,000 incoming staff from a non NHS employer using the interface, which otherwise would have created a significant workload for us. For Trusts with over 25 applicant records to upload outside the usual ESR's interfaced recruitment solutions. the interface provides a great and easy to use tool, which supports efficient working."
Benefits
- Reduced manual data entry within ESR;
- Perfect for TUPE transfers from a non ESR Organisations;
- Simple process that is easy to manage;
- Unlimited opportunity to transfer applicant information into ESR.
Looking Ahead
Deployment of the functionality is national, so the interface is already available – Trusts simply need to raise an SR in the first instance and the NHS ESR Systems Integration Team will support them with this process. Once the SR is being progressed, the Trust will receive the Applicant File template to complete and once this is updated and attached to the SR, it will then be processed into ESR overnight.
The Applicants will subsequently be made available within ESR the next day.
If you want to talk to Leicester University Hospitals about their experiences of the interface, you can contact Pete Rogers, Senior Project Manager at Pete.Rogers@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
London ESR Action Learning Set
As a team of ESR Account Managers and Functional Advisors we are used to individual organisations in London asking us to come and deliver an overview of various aspects of ESR to their staff. However, we received a novel proposal from one London trust in July 2016, which quickly snowballed into something much bigger. What started out as a request to explain IATs and ESRBI in more detail turned into an Action Learning Set hosted and facilitated by the trust, to which all other London trusts were invited.
It became evident that some users were having more difficulties with the processes around ESR, than with the functionality itself, so rather than giving traditional presentations it was agreed that we would give a very brief overview of each topic, and participants would then focus on discussing how they use the functionality across different departments, and how one team’s actions can affect another team.
As well as IAT and BI, the hiring process and the new external learner functionality were also added as subject areas covered during the day. Having organised the date, and secured their largest training room the trust began to publicise the event to other London NHS organisations. We then waited to see whether anyone else would be interested…
...they certainly were! 62 people attended, from 19 different NHS organisations in London. Teams of HR, Recruitment and L&D all came together so they could discuss their working processes as professional groups. The ESR Account Manager or Functional Advisor gave a brief overview of the individual ESR topic area and delegates spent around 45 minutes discussing processes with their colleagues. There was a high level of energy and animation in the room as people began to understand how their processes fitted together across departmental and team boundaries. Barriers to effective working were identified, and agreements made to go away and investigate in more detail how these could be removed.
Any questions that could not be answered were picked up by the Account Managers and Functional Advisors, who addressed them either straight away, or followed up after the meeting. A helpful FAQ document has also been developed and shared with all attendees.
Future action learning sets
The event was so successful in stimulating discussion and helping to identify how to improve processes that we are looking at running similar action learning sets on different ESR subject areas in the future. In the meantime we are enormously grateful to Olga Gorbaciova and her colleagues from East London NHS FT, who conceived, organised and facilitated the event.
Your regional team
2017 ESR HPMA Award
Have you implemented a project that’s involved your ESR this year? Why not enter the ESR category of the 2017 HPMA Excellence Awards.
Award for best use of Your ESR
Initiatives that demonstrate how an organisation’s effective use of their Electronic Staff Record system is helping them to support their business objectives and deliver service improvements
Criteria
The organisation should be able to demonstrate clearly how they have met their business objectives or delivered service improvements thanks to more effective use of ESR. This might simply be by using existing functionality more effectively, or it might have involved implementing new functionality such as Self-Service or establishment control.
In particular, applicants should explain how they have:
- Clearly identified the business need or objective.
- Reviewed their use of ESR and identified how they could use it more effectively to meet the business need or objective.
- Ensured they were clear about their starting point – ie benchmarked their existing status, for the business area and/or ESR usage.
- Involved all relevant stakeholders in the project.
- Familiarised themselves in advance with the new functionality to ensure they took best possible advantage of it.
- Critically reviewed processes to reflect best practice use of ESR, rather than having to bend ESR to historic processes.
- Provided appropriate guidance on new functionality, processes etc for users.
- Measured improvements in the identified business area after implementation.
- Reviewed lessons learned and implementation tips for other trusts.
- Considered next steps for further optimising their use of ESR to support business objectives.
Submission questions
Bearing in mind the above factors, please answer the following questions.
- Set the scene for your submission, outlining any relevant background/context to the work (200 words or fewer).
- Explain how and why the initiative came about. Outline the overarching business need and how you decided which aspects of ESR could help you to achieve it (500 words or fewer).
- Describe what has happened in the organisation now the initiative has been delivered. What are the measurable achievements, expected benefits, and impact on your organisation and/or patient care of your project? The judges are looking for qualitative and/or quantitative statistics that demonstrate the impact (500 words or fewer).
- What is the potential learning for other trusts from this project, and how best could this learning be shared (300 words or fewer)?
Applications are welcomed from all NHS organisations using ESR, regardless of whether they have entered (successfully or unsuccessfully) in previous years.
Entry deadline is 5pm on 20th February 2017.
Visit the HPMA website for entry instructions.
Read last year’s winning ESR entry
Your ESR – an enabler to support a range of business objectives
With little or no training required to carry out the basics in ESR Employee Self Service, it’s not surprising that HR and Finance Directors are increasingly looking at where ESR can reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Ensuring patient safety is top of everyone’s to do list; having a safe and competent workforce is essential for good quality patient outcomes. The breadth of data that you input into ESR means that ESR should not only be seen as enabler to a range of business decision making processes that support patient safety, but it’s also a valuable tool for implementing strategic policies on recruitment and retention and staff engagement.
Empowering NHS staff to take ownership of their personal and department data can bring a range of benefits. With individual employees taking more responsibility for managing their own personal and professional records using ESR, managers and HR teams can focus less on transactional work and more on strategic workforce planning and management.
Spotlight on ESR Self Service
Two key developments that have been deployed into ESR during 2016 have enabled more organisations to evaluate the merits of using full Employee Self Service. In fact in many regions across England, ESR Self Service projects are a key strategic objective for many NHS organisations; whilst the benefits highlighted above a critical factors, the key business benefit helps you to drive efficiency, save money and further support your workforce.
The Self Service package
- All NHS employees have the ability to view and update their personal information, such as emergency contacts and bank details.
- All NHS employees can view and download their payslips.
- All NHS employees can request annual leave or other forms of leave.
- All NHS employees can participate in a Development Review, browse learning opportunities and request enrolment on courses.
And there is more…
- Your nurses and midwives can undertake their revalidation.
- Managers can view, report and manage key areas such as absence, turnover, training spend and competencies.
- Business Intelligence reporting provides key information on staff.
- The Compliance Matrix utilises red, amber and green status to view staff compliance at a glance.
- A colour co-ordinated absence calendar helps managers to identify absence patterns and view all staff absences.
- Devolved data entry frees time in central functions such Payroll, HR, Training and Recruitment, reducing resource requirements and freeing up time from administrative duties to allow other more pro-active work to be undertaken.
- Reduces pay related queries.
The introduction of ESR via the internet - myess.esr.nhs.uk
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust decided to move to the ESR online payslip earlier this year to reduce costs, but with launch of myess they took the opportunity to do more…
Initially the Trust wanted to give their employee’s access to their TRS, Payslips and P60s online, with a long term objective to move away from printed paper payslips being distributed across the organisation. (They intend to completely remove printed payslips in the new 2017/18 financial year).
In addition to the business objective the Trust also recognises the benefits of giving employees access to their own ESR data in order to enable them to keep that information up to date, and are using Employee Self Service Limited Access (ESSLA) as a precursor to introducing more Self Service functionality into the organisation, progressing towards Supervisor and then full Manager Self Service over time.
As a result of this project their ESR data quality has improved, in part to the fact that employees can easily identify where information is out of date or missing.
It took four months to rollout ESSLA and the team made use of step by step guidance and mass uploads into ESR.
“The Employee Self Service functionality has improved the data quality as well as saved time in administrative processes. The Regional ESR Account Manager provided invaluable advice on the Self Service system from the initial interest right to the go live date within the Trust. The support and knowledge offered throughout the process facilitated the success of the implementation of the system. We instantly observed staff taking advantage of the ESSLA benefits; the new internet enablement enhancement has been exceptionally well received by our staff and significantly increased the usage of ESSLA. With the benefits of ESSLA we are excited about utilising the other Employee Self Service functions.”
Helen Lovelock, Workforce Information Manager at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Want some help?
If you want to understand how ESR Self Service can support your workforce management and financial objectives, please contact your ESR Account Manager or Functional Advisor. We are currently undertaking Assessments for all ESR user organisations. Read the Assessment article in this edition of ESR News to find out more and book your Assessment today.