Posti Group Oyj, one of Finland’s largest parcel and post delivery fulfillment companies, worked with CGI to plan and execute the digital transformation of its HR systems and renew its payroll system.
Posti’s salary payment system had reached the end of its life cycle and needed to be updated to meet current and future requirements. Carrying out a comprehensive digital transformation project required careful planning and good project management from different parties involved.
Posti's payroll teams are responsible for the salary payment of the six Posti Group companies in Finland that generate almost 20,000 salary slips monthly. The main objective was to make the daily work of experts easier by automating and developing processes to increase their efficiency.
"Our goal was to build a set of modern solutions that runs in a multidimensional operating environment with several different collective agreements and wage earner groups," describes Päivi Vehniäinen, Head of HR and Payroll Services, Posti Group Oyj.
Posti's daily payroll process could not be interrupted for the project's duration. Payroll had to run with the old system until the new system went live in stages. In addition, there were significant interdependencies between the systems to be renewed, which affected the planning and scheduling of the project. Posti's different organizations and the differences between them, for example, in collective agreements, also had to be considered.
The CGI payroll solution supports our most important goal: that every Posti Group employee gets paid on time and correctly. In addition, the solution makes payroll functions more efficient by automating the processing and checking of payroll transactions.
Well-defined process and collaboration
The introduction of CGI’s payroll solution started with a thorough process and definition of requirements, which was done remotely during COVID-19. CGI's project manager, Marja-Kaisa Lääkkölä, shares how the project team was focused right from the beginning until the major overall transformation and integration of several interfaces.
"We identified a total of 42 different data streams. The schedules and interpretations of different employee groups had to be considered. In addition, collective labor agreement changes came into effect during the project, which also had to be considered in the new payroll system," says Lääkkölä.
Close cooperation at many different levels contributed to the successful outcome of the planned and phased project.
Functional, open, and good collaboration between Posti and CGI is a key reason for the success of the project. From the start, the steering group met every two weeks with special attention given to the project management model. This results-oriented approach manifested itself in concrete work through cooperation.
When challenges arose, they were brought to the table, and Posti and CGI collaborated to find suitable solutions. For instance, if schedules of another project related to the transformation of the payroll system were extended, CGI experts implemented changes in Posti's companies that were not affected by it.
Automated functions and extensive reporting options
Posti's HR systems’ digitization project was completed as planned in November 2022. The introduction of the new tool went according to expectations, and the system change did not cause any errors in salary payments. A completely new system with new features was put into use within the agreed schedule.
"The CGI payroll solution supports our most important goal: that every Posti Group employee gets paid on time and correctly. In addition, the solution makes payroll functions more efficient by automating the processing and checking payroll transactions," says Vehniäinen.
Business outcomes
- CGI’s payroll system calculates the salaries of 20,000+ employees
- Automated features and extensive reporting options to include different collective agreements and wage-earner groups
- Timely salary processing
- Increased efficiency
