Background
A UK council provides schools with qualified supply teachers and support staff. When schools require temporary staff, they reach out to the council. The team maintain a comprehensive database of supply staff to efficiently locate and select suitable candidates who can fulfill the required placements.
The operational process was highly manual and time-intensive, prompting the need for a self-service automated solution that enables direct communication between schools and readily available supply resources.
Objectives
- Develop a Supply Staff Booking System that is tailored to the exact requirements of the council's Supply Service.
- Make available a secure 24/7/365 Portal for schools to 'self-serve' the booking of supply staff
- Automate and digitise the submission of timesheets, direct to the Council's Payroll System.
- Comply with AWR Legislation and automate the tracking of qualifying weeks worked by supply teachers, replacing a manually calculated process managed with spreadsheets.
- Develop a user-friendly and inclusive system that is easily navigable and available to a wide spectrum of users.
- Work with Schools and Supply Staff, as well as Council Departments to offer a highly collaborative development process.
Strategy
Through a process of analysing current processes and systems in use, we developed a deep understanding of the features required in the Booking System to produce the optimal system.
It was a truly collaborative approach where we worked closely with multiple teams within the council and representatives from Schools and Supply Staff to ensure all stakeholders were represented and involved during the development process.
A GAP analysis was conducted to evaluate the alignment between the functionality provided by an already established Supply Staff Booking System, which has been successfully deployed since 2017, and the specific requirements of the council's Supply Service.
The Development Team successfully incorporated all of the council's requirements into a new version of the Supply Staff Booking System, including the very complex algorithms required to automate the tracking and qualification status under the Agent Workers Regulations.
During a beta testing phase, schools and supply teachers actively participated in demonstrating and evaluating the system to ensure it provided maximum benefits to all users.
During roll-out, we remained in close contact to offer support and assistance so all users were trained and could competently use the system.
Results
Deployed since February 2022, the UK council's Supply Staff Booking System has delivered the results it was set out to achieve:
Time & Cost Savings: The system streamlines the process of booking supply staff, reducing manual intervention by the council, leading to time and cost savings and freeing up time to focus on developing the quality of the supply pool.
Improved Staffing Flexibility: Available 24/7, schools have faster and easier access to a pool of available supply staff. This enhances staffing flexibility, enabling the council to quickly fill vacancies and cover staff absences.
User Satisfaction: An online supply staff booking system accessible to schools and supply staff, provides a more convenient and user-friendly experience for both council staff and supply staff. It simplifies the booking process, reduces administrative burdens, and allows for better communication and coordination.
Automating manual tasks: Previously time-consuming tasks such as manually tracking AWR are now automated. Timesheets are completed online only and authorised and submitted to payroll automatically. Booking fees are automated and submitted to the finance department for invoicing in an automated process.