Electronic personnel file integrated in SAP

The pharmaceutical supplier Biotest covers the entire value chain - from the preclinical and clinical development of new products to the extraction of blood plasma as the central raw material for plasma protein products, as well as production, marketing and global sales. More than 1000 employees work at the company headquarters in Dreieich.

Until the end of 2017, Biotest's HR department relied on filing personnel documents chronologically in suspension files. These contained typical documents such as application documents, employment contracts, certificates, master data, etc.

It was not only the volume of around 130,000 sheets that made handling and searching for relevant documents difficult, but also the fact that there was no standardized structure according to which the documents were filed.

In addition, the files were taking up more and more space, so Biotest decided to digitize its personnel files in order to manage them electronically.

SAP integration in the criteria catalog

"With the introduction of the electronic personnel file, we have set ourselves the goal of establishing a uniform structure that facilitates filing and optimizes document-based processes"

says Christina Zecher, Competence Center Compensation, Working Hours, Reporting at Biotest.

"In future, several employees will be able to access files simultaneously."

In order for the personnel files to be managed electronically at all, it was first necessary to introduce appropriate software.

"We work a lot with SAP and therefore wanted to use a solution that integrates the electronic personnel files into this software"

explains Lisa Raasch, SAP Consultant at Biotest.

Based on a defined list of criteria, the company looked at the solutions available on the market and finally opted for XFT Personnel File.

Uniform structure

Biotest also decided to bring Tropper, a Leverkusen-based company specializing in services and products for administration, information and document management, on board.

The task was to digitize the personnel files and transfer them into a uniform structure. Biotest and Tropper worked out the structure of the files together in a workshop. A total of 60 document types were defined on the basis of sample files.

The project participants also defined a negative list, i.e. documents that should not be digitized. These included email correspondence and outdated vacation requests and sick notes.

Legacy data from data protection cases

Once the framework data and schedule had been established, it was time for implementation. Tropper collected all the personnel files in data protection cases from Dreieich and transported them to Leverkusen.

Here, the employees got to work and prepared the documents for digitization, for example by removing staples or sticking smaller documents onto A4 sheets of paper.

After scanning, the documents were saved in PDF/A format and subjected to comprehensive quality assurance. Biotest then received the files via a secure SFTP connection in a folder directory.

In addition, Tropper created a mapping list in which all files were listed with the personnel number, date and name.

"With this mapping list, we could then simply upload the files to XFT"

says Lisa Raasch.

If Biotest's HR department needed a file during digitization, the project manager sent it in encrypted form by e-mail within 24 hours.

Early involvement of the workforce

Today, Biotest employees can easily access the documents they need via the search masks in XFT.

"We actively involved our colleagues in the project right from the start so that they could identify with the new way of working"

says Zecher.

"They are pleased that they can now access the information they need much more quickly during processing."

Biotest has determined that filing documents in personnel files is now four times faster and finding them is even ten times faster than before.