The core
- The financial department of Accent Group was looking for an application that would allow them to efficiently check and monitor their monthly tasks (at closing).
- The tasks are interdependent and spread across about six departments.
- Digitization process of co-creating and co-learning leads to AJ Tasks (Microsoft Power Apps).
- Application contains default task block that automatically creates new tasks at a certain recurring time.
- The tasks are subject to each other, i.e. the first task must be finished before the next task can be started, and must be assigned to certain employees in the different teams
The trigger
Once we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by Dieter De Nolf, Reporting Specialist, and Damien Daenen, Finance Manager at Accent Group. These gentlemen, jointly responsible for the financial handling, processing and Power BI reporting of all companies at the talent placement company, have worked closely with some of our developers over the past few months. The ideal conversation partners to go over what such a road towards process automation at ProcessDelight looks like.
"We had been experimenting with Power Apps ourselves for a while," Damien says. "So we already more or less knew the opportunities, but we wondered: what are the possibilities now when you are effectively a specialist in using that tool?" Indeed, Accent Group's finance department noticed that they were sitting with a checklist problem. An email from ProcessDelight brought solace. "Since we already had a little experience with the tool and had a process that was not running optimally, your email rang a bell. So we quickly requested a demo session with Christopher (De Groote, Lead Developer) to go over together what was possible."
"Monthly check-off of dependent, interdepartmental tasks."
Every customer who goes through our digitization process first enjoys a free inspiration session and workshop. This is how we create customized solutions together, including at Accent Group. "During the inspiration session and workshop, we analyzed together some of our processes that were not yet running optimally," recalls Damien. "In the end, that left our closing checklist, mainly because we manage this process completely internally and could therefore act faster."
And so the ball got rolling. Specifically, the finance department of Accent Group was looking for an application that would allow them to easily check off and follow up on their monthly tasks. "After all, one of the main objectives for our department is to reduce the closing deadline. Within this complex process, about six departments perform different, interdependent tasks. We wanted to map these dependencies in order to optimize our operation," Damien clarified. "After all, such an application also offers new insights, since we could now also collect data about this process. Everyone has to register when they start and finish a task. That way we can discover bottlenecks and optimize the process. All things that Excel, with which we used to manage our tasks, does not allow."
"After all, such an application also offers new insights, since we could now also collect data on this process."
"Thanks to co-creation, we can now start a similar project independently."
At ProcessDelight, we believe it is extremely important that IT solutions are fully tailored to the needs and wishes of the customer. To achieve this, we provide guidance at every stage of the process through co-creation and co-learning. A working method that also appealed to Accent Group, as Dieter attests.
"Initially, we had thought that we could work a little more independently in terms of co-creation, but it soon became apparent that our knowledge of Power Apps was not extensive enough. Despite the fact that in pure development we left a lot to Rino (Gulisano, Developer) and Christopher (De Groote, Lead Developer), we did learn a lot from the collaboration. Now we finally understand the core development mode of the app and know how and where to change something. That was definitely the biggest benefit of working in a co-creative way, because it wouldn't have been possible without help."
"Since it was the first time for us, we still had to mainly watch, but I do feel that thanks to this method we would now be able to start a similar project independently," adds Damien. "It was actually a really pleasant process, a good tool - and smooth! We were able to go from start to UAT/live test in about two months," Dieter enthuses. "Every question was quickly addressed and explained how everything worked. There was very short notice." Damien adds: "And that doesn't come naturally. From experience, we had the impression from developers that they only contacted again, often through an intermediary, when something was finished. That was absolutely not the case now. We had direct and very smooth contact with both of them almost daily."
"We still get positive feedback from our colleagues every day."
Our guidance does not stop after implementation of the IT solution. Also in the aftercare we are ready for our customers to make the integration and transition as pleasant as possible. Important here: following the pace and working method of the client and its employees. And at Accent Group, they had thoroughly thought out that working method.
Dieter explains: "After implementation, we actually deliberately let the contact rest for a bit so that real testing could take place, and then afterwards we sat together with Rino and Christopher with concrete test feedback. After we had gone through everything together, we were always on the ball about solutions, bugs, changes... From then on there was a lot of interaction." "Actually, we also chose that way of working ourselves, because we know that from the first UATs of all outcomes, but don't know what exactly the issues are," adds Damien eagerly. "Is it because something can't be done or is it a matter of change and learning to work with it? That's why we wanted to do some filtering beforehand so as not to disturb the developers too much at that time. So there were a number of small adjustments about usability that came out of the UAT. Little things like an extra filter or an extra list... Little changes that didn't necessarily relate to the core, but did relate to ease of use. The core was actually really good from the start, so then it was just a few more tweaks as final adjustments."
Thanks to this valuable input, the application, christened as AJ Tasks, increasingly became the customized solution they were looking for at Accent Group. After all, this principle is of primary importance. Technology serving the people/organization and not the other way around. And we are talking about features as well as look & feel. "In terms of layout, we optimized the colors a bit so that it fits even better with the reporting we already had (highlighting standard colors a bit more, etc.). As for the features, usage, buttons, appearance and pages, it was all as discussed beforehand in the blueprint. This is partly why we now also get positive feedback from every daily user about what a nice tool it is and what an improvement it is over the previous way of working with Excel," says Dieter.
Customer Profile
Accent, founded in 1995, is a talent placement company with the largest specialized office network in Belgium. Accent employs more than 18 000 people every day and is part of House of HR, an international holding comprising numerous specialized companies active in Human Resources.
As a talent placement company, they are an important link between talent in the labor market on the one hand and employers on the other. For job seekers, they are a job coach, identifying and helping discover their talents. For companies, they are a true HR partner that not only looks for the right talent for the right job, but also provides advice and support to retain those talents. The financial department of the Accent Group deals with the financial handling or processing of all the companies under the Accent Group. The best known or largest is Accent Jobs for People, but it also serves Now Jobs (flexi-jobbers and students), Gighouse (freelancers), CTRL-F (Search & Selection) and Talent Lab, among others.
"The tool will undoubtedly save us time."
After the UAT and the simultaneous use of old and new system at the closing in June, the team was fully convinced of the new way of working. So at the end of July, the brand new, fully automated process based on Microsoft Power Apps went live. It's a way of working that clearly resonates. "Although it is still early to draw conclusions about time-saving effects of the process automation, we can already see that all tasks and dependencies are easier to follow up and, as I said at the beginning, the added value of following up and mapping out our bottlenecks will undoubtedly save us time. It certainly hasn't slowed us down," Damien laughs.
For Dieter, as a Reporting Specialist, it was especially enjoyable to expand his knowledge of tools like Power Apps, Power Automate and Dataverse and gain new insights. "Had it all been other data warehouses and other states behind it, we would have needed the IT department to move forward. So there was no such barrier. For example, I was already able to connect the Dataverse tables and Power BI myself once to see how the reporting was going." Damien continues, "That's now the next step. We already had internal specialists in Power BI, so the reporting didn't have to happen. That's also the nice thing about this process. We could really start choosing where we needed help and where we didn't. Now that the tool is in place, we can link the reporting to that and start managing it completely ourselves because we do have that specialty in-house."
Damien also explains how using AJ Tasks and Power Apps aligns with his service's forward-looking vision. "We are actually constantly trying to question our processes, making the trade-off between a workaround or modifying our source system through coding. So it really is a state of mind of continuous change that is already in there anyway ... If something can be improved, we are going to adjust the process, and because such adjustments have already improved the ease of use in the majority of cases, the team also trusts us to think: let's go!
