A major government agency automates Time, Attendance and Scheduling for lower costs—and reliable paychecks

Client Background

The government agency is charged with protecting the safety of the American public through the efficient and effective operation of hundreds of facilities nationwide and a workforce composed of thousands of security officers.

Business Challenge

The agency needed to move from an outdated, paper-based time, attendance and scheduling system to eTAS, an automated, web-based system using commercial off-the-shelf software. The complex deployment was challenging because of the varying scheduling and payroll needs of its operations across the country ranging in size from major metropolitan facilities to small, remote locations.

After five years of unsuccessfully attempting to deploy eTAS, the agency was on the brink of cancelling the entire eTAS program. Instead, it decided to solicit for the national deployment of eTAS. Accenture was selected based on its track record of large-scale, complex government implementations, tested delivery methodology and experienced project leadership. The agency awarded the project to Accenture with the understanding that if it were unable to turn the program around, it would cancel eTAS and Accenture’s contract.

How Accenture Helped

Beginning in late 2010, Accenture teamed with agency officials to develop a choreographed, rolling deployment schedule. Given the tight deadline for launching eTAS, there was no room for error—with hundreds of facilities nationwide, each individual operation required a four-month deployment, with as many as 40 facilities going live at the same time. To adhere to the schedule, Accenture employed a repeatable playbook that was tailored to address each operation’s specific requirements

Accenture helped to achieve potential success by cultivating collaborative relationships with both agency leaders and individual facility officials. It handpicked facility deployment teams and established program management processes designed to red-flag issues and immediately alert the team and agency leadership. As a result, the agency was able to promptly address problems before they triggered delays in the deployment schedule.

Potential Success also depended on a well trained and capable workforce. With Accenture’s assistance, the agency revamped the existing eTAS training curriculum, streamlining a five-day program with limited hands-on experience into a three-day interactive workshop that mirrored the actual work environment.

Accenture also assisted in developing virtual training solution to aim at cost-effectively train and support employees at remote locations.

The agency-approved deployment schedule tackled an important impediment to past eTAS implementation attempts: a lack of communication. Deployment teams informed each facility when to expect the transition to eTAS, helping officials to fully prepare. In addition, an online eTAS knowledge repository site provided eTAS users with detailed information. By logging onto the site, users could ask questions, view the deployment schedule, learn about training and review job aides.

Communication was important to build a commitment to eTAS. To change the perception of eTAS as a failed venture, facility officials were personally contacted by deployment teams on a regular basis to discuss concerns. A monthly newsletter helped to promote eTAS success stories from operations across the country.

Once facilities completed the transition to eTAS, Accenture continued to monitor performance, auditing timecards for accuracy and providing ongoing Help Desk support for employees as they moved from training to the work environment.

SummaryAfter several failed efforts, a major government agency responsible for public safety successfully transformed an error-prone, paper-based time reporting system for its nationwide workforce of security officers into an automated electronic time, attendance and scheduling (eTAS) system. With Accenture’s help, the agency deployed eTAS, helping it to efficiently and reliably process its payroll for thousands of workers while reducing costs.

High Performance Delivered

With Accenture’s help, the agency managed to achieve their objectives: the full national deployment of eTAS to hundreds of facilities in 12 months, within agreed time and budget. eTAS helped the government agency to achieve automated time and attendance payroll processing while reducing costs.

The potential benefits of eTAS are wide ranging. The agency has reduced errors and inefficiencies in payroll data, allowing it to issue accurate and on time paychecks to its workforce. Another potential benefit: when employees clock in, a biometric finger scan identify their identity, adding another layer of security.

Improved performance translates into cost savings, with a projected $2 million in annual savings from reduced errors and an estimated additional $600,000 in savings from the innovative virtual training model developed by Accenture. By teaming with Accenture, the government agency has managed to accomplish its goal of deploying eTAS nationally to its entire operations network and thousands of users—demonstrating high performance delivered.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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