Introduction:
The Department for Transport (DFT) recognised the need to streamline and enhance their recruitment process to improve speed, inclusivity, and customer experience. With a focus on reducing time to hire and delivering a consistent and reliable service, DFT aimed to simplify and expedite the recruitment process. This case study explores how Agility X, in collaboration with DFT, successfully implemented a digital transformation project to address the challenges faced by the recruitment department.
Challenges:
Limited Agile and Salesforce expertise: Apart from the Agile Lead and Salesforce Developer, the majority of the recruitment team had minimal experience with Agile project management and Salesforce.
Dependency on locally built tools: The department relied on multiple customised tools developed in-house, leading to a bottleneck due to limited IT resources.
Inconsistent output and poor response times: The recruitment process lacked standardisation, resulting in inconsistency, delays, and a lack of formal SLAs and reporting capabilities.
Disparate systems with high risk of failure: The department used eight separate systems that could not be integrated, posing a significant risk of operational failure.
Hurdles of governance and change control: Implementing new technology, such as Salesforce, required navigating through governance processes and change control boards.
The Goal
"A single platform, accessible via web/mobile that provides planning, scheduling, monitoring and a single view of a campaign with a high level of automation. It will house all ‘offline’ recruitment activity throughout agencies, including but not limited to standard digital and adhoc recruitment activity.’
Solution:
To address these challenges, Agility X and DFT implemented the following solutions:
Salesforce integration: The department procured Salesforce to build an integrated and robust recruitment system. The system was designed to be administered by an in-house team of Salesforce Administrators, allowing high-level system changes to be made internally.
Streamlined recruitment process: Salesforce was utilised as a central platform, enabling the integration of add-on tools such as Form Assembly, Microsoft Outlook, and Conga. This consolidation of systems simplified data entry, improved data quality, and enhanced the overall user experience.
Tracking, reporting, and automation: Salesforce's capabilities enabled the department to track recruitment progress, report on productivity, and drive improvements through dashboards, SLAs, and an audit trail. The system provided easy access to campaign information and facilitated proactive monitoring through milestones, email triggers, satisfaction surveys, and SLAs.
Training and internal capability building: The recruitment function was exposed to Salesforce's learning platform, Trailhead, which allowed continuous learning and development, empowering internal staff to enhance their Salesforce skills.
High level delivery approach
Results:
The implementation of the digital transformation project yielded significant results for the Department for Transport:
Efficiency improvements: With the new system, various tasks, such as candidate search, emailing candidates, contract generation, creating recruitment plans, and generating interview packs, experienced substantial time savings ranging from 73% to 100%.
Enhanced coordination and collaboration: The streamlined process, integrated tools, and centralised data improved collaboration and coordination among recruitment staff, leading to better communication and a more efficient workflow.
Reporting and analytics: Salesforce's dashboards and reporting capabilities enabled the department to monitor recruitment progress, track campaigns, and generate insights to drive continuous improvement.
Business continuity and risk mitigation: By consolidating disparate systems into a single integrated platform, the department reduced the risk of operational failures and improved data security and backup capabilities.
Empowered internal team: The project provided opportunities for skills development and learning through Trailhead, enabling the in-house team to take ownership of the system and make high-level system changes as needed.
If you would like to know what the core features we deployed (up to 20) for DFT, email us and we can talk through what we done and what we can do for you:-
The Agile Process
How we delivered at pace!
At Agility X, we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver projects with speed and efficiency. When tasked with developing the Salesforce recruitment system for the Department of Transport, we knew we had to embrace the principles of agility, teamwork, and relentless dedication. Let's take you on a thrilling journey through our process, which resembled sprints, laps, and a remarkable display of collaboration.
Lap 1
First, we embarked on gathering 100 user stories from various stakeholders across the department. These stories served as the foundation for our development process. With a clear understanding of the recruitment process, we created a process map and derived lower-level requirements. To prioritise our work, we employed the MoSCoW method, ensuring that each sprint focused on user stories with a value of 7-9 points. Our sprints were scheduled every two weeks, and as the Agile Project Manager, my role was to organise, structure, and plan each sprint meticulously.
The key to our success lay in maintaining Timeboxing through our Sprints at a steady pace throughout the project. We emphasised the importance of agreeing on scope and estimates to ensure that we had deliverables ready for deployment every two weeks. As the Agile PM, I took on the responsibility of problem-solving and motivating the team. It wasn't always an easy task; the journey had its fair share of challenges and moments of doubt. Inspiring the team with statements such as, "Consider the team as one body, yet the body has many parts," we embraced a unified mindset and worked together as a cohesive unit, overcoming obstacles along the way.
Sprint Timebox
Lap 2
In the second lap of our journey, our skilled Business Analysts took the gathered requirements and meticulously assessed them. Their expertise allowed them to extract low-level details from both their experience and the business domain. Armed with a thorough understanding of the user stories, the team delved into developing the requirements and designs, paving the way for the developers to bring the code and features to life.
Lap 3
The third lap of our journey saw the system configuration, development, and testing taking place incrementally and iteratively within the two-week sprints. This phase involved a special combined team effort. Our talented developers designed and built the solution, which was then passed to our vigilant Test Manager. In this symbiotic relationship, the Test Manager identified any bugs or flaws, promptly communicating them to the developers for resolution.
Lap 4
Finally, in the fourth and final lap, we incorporated a dedicated team from the business to perform User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This UAT team played a crucial role in ensuring the product's acceptability. With their meticulous testing, they either gave the tool a pass or identified areas that needed improvement. Once all areas received a 'pass,' the UAT team sent a confirmation email, signifying the system's readiness for deployment.
Delivery Life Cycle / Governance
What did the team say?
(Senior Business Analyst)
“Knowing that this system is going to improve the working life for our wider team fills me with immense pride”
“this project has given me the opportunity to develop and learn whilst sharpening skills already in my toolbox”
(Junior Business Analyst)
“exposed to an agile working environment in which I delved deeper into all of our resourcing processes, breaking down elements into granular detail which can be translated for our Salesforce Developer ”
What did the stakeholders say during pilots?
Directors
“the updates have been exciting and we can see the great work that has gone into the project. Well done everyone..”
“Just be consistent as you already are and I trust that we will have a great transition”
What did the Sponsors & Product Owner say?
“A huge congratulations to all of the CRM Project Team and to those who have supported the project from across the broader DRG & DRT teams, all of whom have been working incredibly hard to achieve ‘go live’”
“What is more impressive, is that you achieved this with no system issues! This is a fantastic achievement”
Click Here to see the Celebration LinkedIn Post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eugene-james-06b92510_agile-teamwork-leadership-activity-6759095912913612801-gs3H?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
In conclusion, our journey to deliver the Salesforce recruitment system for the Department of Transport was a testament to our commitment to agility, teamwork, and unwavering focus. Through sprints, laps, and the combined efforts of our talented team, we successfully achieved our goal. The system now stands as a testament to our ability to deliver complex projects with speed, efficiency, and a touch of brilliance.
Contact eugenej@agilityxsolutions.com to get started on your Salesforce transformation today
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