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Five Questions With Our HR Expert, Russ

October 31, 2022 / #Workforce Management
Q&A with Russ Miller

We’d like to introduce you to Russ Miller, Workforce Management (WM) solutions expert. Russ joined us for a quick chat on how eCASE WM empowers government agencies to take control of their organization’s workforce management processes.

Q: Tell us a little bit about OPEXUS’ HR solutions. What do you think sets them apart from other companies?

A: The OPEXUS eCASE WM suite is focused on employee-centric processes that need to be resolved in a timely manner. Our solutions include process management tools for government agencies to manage Employee Relations and Labor Relations (ER/LR), Performance Management, eComplaint-Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Reasonable Accommodation, and Workers’ Compensation case tracking, document management, and collaboration.

We are looking at ways we can improve the government employee experience, for both the individual employee at an agency and the human resources teams who support them. By creating streamlined, accessible ways to manage workflows, whether it be walking a complaint or grievance through to resolution or scheduling regular performance management activities so no one misses a review, we are using technology to eliminate cumbersome paper trails and removing inefficiency.

Our software aids HR teams in resolving issues before they become big problems, which in turn saves time and money for the agencies.

We do this through enabling an employee-centric work process that allows for tracking and monitoring in a single location, integrating our solutions with each other and external systems like Payroll and Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), and by supporting multi-role solutions across the enterprise.

Q: Who are these products designed for, and how does OPEXUS support its customers who are ready to get started? 

A: Our solutions are designed for government agencies that closely follow the standardized guidelines set by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), US Department of Labor (DOL) and other authorities allowing for a fully compliant HR application.

OPEXUS works directly with these policymaking agencies and our team of SMEs keeps current with how executive orders or laws shape new policy. We are focused on ensuring our solutions remain compliant.

As all of our workforce management applications are commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions, all OPEXUS customers get the same high level of support, regular product upgrades, and the security of knowing we are working to keep ahead of policymakers so they can, too. Our COTS solutions help get your team get up and running quickly, but also include configurable options, empowering HR professionals to tailor the solution to their needs without custom coding or IT support.

Q: What are the top pain points customers usually come to you with, and how do you alleviate these issues?

A: Main Pain Points:

  1. Lack of overall agency insight
  2. No automated reporting capabilities
  3. No enterprise-wide streamlined process or SOP

OPEXUS has invested time in gathering user feedback and building a user community so our solutions remain updated in real time. As a highly regulated environment with complex forms and workflows for just about everything, government workforce management teams need software that bridges the gap between employee relations, performance management, and other critical human capital functions to eliminate paper, empower remote and hybrid workers, and sunset legacy databases.

The eCASE platform comes with in-depth reporting capabilities that allow users to create reports on the fly, save reports, and schedule reports to deliver from the system without having to log in.

The system allows for easy role-based management that gives different users and roles access as needed throughout the system. This allows for reports, searches, dashboards, and cases to all be secured based on need-to-know status, while also giving detailed live updated information quickly.

With our COTS solution, your team can also set up biweekly bill pay and compensation reports.

Our workers’ compensation solution is integrated with DOL, allowing for clear insight into how long something will take to process and how much your agency is paying out.

Additionally, the user interface (UI) workflow tool allows agencies to set standard workflow processes per office or agency to further streamline the user experience and allow for faster processing times, insight to bottlenecks, and thorough understanding of cases coming due or overdue.

Q: What are some HR trends the OPEXUS software development team has been focusing on, and how is that reflected in the product design?

A: The OPEXUS team is always on top of policy changes and how they need to be quickly integrated into the configuration to allow for no interruption in service. This allows us to rapidly improve the product and deliver upgrades to our customers without delay, allowing for accurate processing of cases and proper reports as administrations change or leading agencies shift requirements.

Q: How do you see OPEXUS eCASE WM solutions evolving to best serve customers?

A: OPEXUS eCASE WM is a single stop solution that enables generation of cases in a single platform and appropriately triage and classify them so they can progress to the appropriate department for processing. The ecosystem, once fully connected, shares critical information across the entire career of an employee, while maintaining secure controls over what should remain private.

Q: Tell us about some recent use cases of the eCASE WM system. 

eCASE Workforce Management – eComplaint When an employee has a complaint to file, they will have been directed to the online  eComplaint portal where they are connected to an eComplaint Counselor. The Counselor’s goal is to get the complaint resolved before it goes to a hearing or final agency decision (FAD).

To do this the Counselor will offer ADR to the complainant. When the ADR has been agreed to, eCASE WM creates an ADR case and assigns it in the system to an ADR Specialist. The ADR Specialist is notified of a new case and is able to do all of their work in the ADR application – from collecting documentation to scheduling ADR meetings.

Once the ADR process is complete, the Specialist can close the case, saving all pertinent information, like settlement terms, so the information can be delivered to the eComplaint Counselor with all relevant steps tracked end-to-end and documents stored in one place.

eCASE Workforce Management – Performance Management In our Performance Management application, we are using the application to regularly collect the pertinent performance management documentation in the employee’s case file.

Using the tool, a manager can tag an employees lagging performance elements and send them to the eCASE WM – ER/LR application. In eCASE WM – ER/LR, the HR Specialist is notified that a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or for more serious natures, a Performance Action needs to be created.

Once the HR Specialist has closed the case, the score outcome of the PIP or Performance Action will be documented in the eCASE – WM Performance Management system, updating the employee record.

By creating an interconnected network of input, co-location and reporting tools that meet the varying needs of workforce management across different functions of human resources and ER/LR, OPEXUS has turned the employee “file” into a living document that can support advancement and career progression, more easily flag emerging issues, and more efficiently process claims and complaints.

To learn more about OPEXUS’s workforce management solutions, contact us to schedule a software demo or to learn more about how to join the OPEXUS workforce management user community.

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