Automotive sector – E-Personnel Files and other HR and payroll processes

Rockawork (formerly ECM) is a flexible platform enabling fast and secure digitalization of information management and resources within an organization. It offers secure and cost-effective electronic document archiving and electronic document workflow. Scanning, electronic archiving, and document sharing, as well as workflow and business process management in Rockawork, are efficient, secure, and employee-friendly. The low-code concept employed allows for implementing and developing further business scenarios without the involvement of IT specialists.

The solution can be utilized in various scenarios and processes, including HR document workflow and archiving.

Collecting and storing personnel files is one of the fundamental processes in HR administration. Rockawork E-Personnel Files is a platform, available in both SaaS and on-premise models, that allows for the creation and storage of personnel files in electronic form, integrated with the company’s existing HR system. The solution also enables easy updates and provides document search capabilities.

Electronic documents are assigned to appropriate document types located in dedicated sections of electronic personnel files. The solution can be fed with documents already created in electronic form or with scanned documents (usually in PDF format). If the document type requires it (e.g., employment contract, addenda), authorized employees have the option to apply a qualified electronic signature.

E-Personnel Files operate on the Rockawork platform, which combines the advantages of a content management system for managing and archiving all types of electronic documentation with a workflow system. The solution integrates with other applications, including OCR systems and systems for signing documents with qualified electronic signatures or electronic seals from various providers.

In Poland, the legislator requires a uniform structure for personnel files, divided into folders and document types (an HR e-file containing, for example, employment contracts, addenda, certificates, work certificates, etc.). This structure is divided into sections A, B, C, D, and E. Rockawork E-Personnel Files meets these requirements regarding both the form and the method of storing employee data.

The solution is flexible and easy to configure. Preparing a uniform electronic personnel file model, analogous to the Polish E-Personnel Files version, tailored to the needs of a specific organization and local legal requirements, is possible in a short time. Naturally, the solution is multilingual. Currently, support is available in Polish, English, and German, and easy implementation of other languages is also possible.

We present an example of Rockawork E-Personnel Files implementation at one of our clients, an international company in the automotive industry. It is a large concern with a global presence. However, in Poland, it employs only several dozen people, dispersed across various locations. Organizationally, these employees are assigned to the company’s branch in Germany, where their administrative and HR services are handled by dedicated HR teams.

In a globalized world and a modern company, this is naturally not an issue. However, a certain challenge arises from the necessity to organize and store personnel files in the format mandated by Polish law.

This is where Rockawork E-Personnel Files comes into play. In this model, the main task of the solution is to maintain an electronic document repository for Polish employees, in accordance with legal requirements. The solution is available in three languages – English, German, and Polish.

The company’s expectation was to launch the standard version of the solution as quickly as possible. We started with workshops for users, where we presented the tool and gathered information about the company’s expectations. Just one month later, we informed the client about the deployment of the tested solution to the production server. In subsequent stages, with the system already operational, customizations were made (customizing the list of document types). As part of the preparation for the solution’s launch, training was conducted for employees managing HR administration. Its main goal was to familiarize users with the tool’s operation. A significant added value was also the transfer of knowledge regarding Polish regulations concerning the maintenance of personnel files.

The outcome of this project – in addition to an electronic personnel file repository compliant with labor law regulations – is also a high degree of autonomy for the HR team employees in managing the solution, adding new document types, and employees.

So, how does it work in practice? Formal documents between the employer and employee are exchanged and signed in traditional paper form. They are then scanned and automatically placed in the appropriate section of the employee’s file. If a paper document is converted to electronic form, before being placed in the E-Personnel File, the documents are sent for qualified electronic signature (with the option for mass signing within the application). Integration with an external electronic document signing solution was carried out with the support of All for One consultants.

When a new employee is hired in Poland, an HR department employee in Germany creates electronic personnel files for them.

E-Personnel Files, by default, offer integration with HR systems from various providers (including SAP HCM, SAP SuccessFactors). However, in this case, a significant advantage for the client was the autonomy of the HR department employees in managing electronic personnel files, without interfering with the central HR system.

This is a common practice in large corporations with a complex landscape of centrally maintained systems and a restrictive security policy. A small-scale solution that is necessary for some reasons but does not implement critical processes from an organizational management perspective (such as maintaining personnel files in a specific arrangement for a small group of employees) is more advantageous (and easier) to implement and maintain as an isolated solution.

However, such an approach does not exempt from the obligation to maintain corporate security standards. Authorized employees log in to E-Personnel Files with a Microsoft account (Single Sign-on), which complies with the corporate standard for security and password management. Specialists from dedicated All for One Poland teams, in consultation with employees from the company’s central IT department, were involved in preparing the solution for secure login.

This demonstrates that even a small IT project in an international company has a global reach. And the added value of choosing All for One Poland’s solutions is our ‘technical background’ – teams of consultants with expertise in integrating various technologies, who can be equal partners for corporate IT departments.

One of the advantages of E-Personnel Files on the Rockawork SaaS platform is its scalability. Among our clients are companies that currently use them for thousands of employees. However, in this project, the advantage was that it quickly implemented a flexible solution supporting basic HR processes for a small team, meeting corporate standards (security, signature integration, multilingual support).

As part of the package, the company received substantive support in the form of training on the intricacies of Polish labor law, as well as technical assistance.

Electronic personnel files (E-Personnel Files) are one of the applications of the Rockawork platform in HR processes. The automation of HR document workflow, including handling the employee hiring process, signing employment contracts, and conducting entirely paperless onboarding, is a goal achieved by another company using this solution. Integration with a qualified electronic signature and the company’s HR and payroll system allows the organization to digitize document processing and approval in accordance with configured approval paths.

In distributed organizations, in the era of remote work, and with expectations to reduce paper consumption – utilizing the capabilities offered by the Rockawork platform in HR is a step towards better employee service quality combined with significant savings.