Client success story: BBC automates HR processes and documents with EPI-USE Labs

We really try and take Query Manager and Document Builder to the extreme is what we're trying to do. 1,7 million freelancer contracts, 10,000 employee letters, and 700 automated employee letter requests. And it's about 7,6 million pieces of paper we've saved. In realistic terms, it's equivalent to 142 cars on the road. I'm quite proud with that stat. So my name is Gary Midgley, and I work for the BBC, the world's largest public service broadcasting. So we implemented Query Manager and Document Builder about seven years ago because we were looking at how we communicate with our employees. So whether it be live by letter or email, and EPI-USE was a natural add-on because we had the old version of QM. And then so we moved to QM4 with Document Builder, and we've kind of automated as much as we can. What we do is we invest time at the beginning so then the HR don't need to get involved with anything now. So it's all automated. So we use Document Builder. We use the DocuSign integration. We've used it also to replace interfaces. So rather than the old ABAP functionality, we give the ability to HR to manage that themselves now. And we have a really good relationship with the EPI-USE Labs. A lot of our functionality that we've requested has been built into latest versions, and we've had lots of conversation with developers over the time about various different things that we want to do, and they've always supported us. Everybody's really approachable, and they treat you as one. And I think that's really key.

A complex business with multiple brands

Because of its business structure and diverse workforce, the BBC has a complex HR system. Their strict standards require precise testing, reporting, and documentation. They are required to produce a high volume of customised corporate letters and staff contracts, in multiple languages, and for both national and international employees.

The BBC has multiple departments and sub-brands around the world, such as Children in Need, BBC Studios, BBC PSP, and BBC. Branding and formatting are important to them, meaning that document generation can be a time-consuming and error-prone process, heavily reliant on numerous department-specific templates.

The BBC's goals were to optimise their daily HR processes, including HR reporting; respond promptly to all internal requests; and save time on repetitive tasks that could be automated

My name is Candice Flavin. I'm a principal systems engineer in the technology division at the BBC, and I work within the HR product group. We look after all the HR products that the BBC use, so things like contracting some of the payroll elements, filing of our documents. There's a whole host of things that we look after. We use Query Manager, we use Document Builder and we use Data Sync Manager. We send out 100,000 freelance contracts a year. So in 2017, I personally used EPI-USE to create our first freelance contract that were automated through Document Builder. We use it for a lot of our HR letters. We've just recently started to use it for our staff contracts as well... So we ship contracts every time a person works at the BBC, so even if you're here for a day, you'll get a contract. We also do them in Welsh, so we have English and Welsh templates of our freelance contracts and our staff contracts. Query Manager we use for a lot of our interfaces as well. We use it for error checking and error handling and then the usual queries that you get around data that you need, so diversity information... Things like that. Another colleague in my team handles the data sync. So if we've got a service pack upgrade, we will sync our data from production into our test clients that we can test with the real scrambled data. We also use that when we do payroll testing as well, so it's really useful tool so that you have similar information in our test clients.

Document Builder has been our biggest win, to be honest. Our letters generate on-screen for our HR and Shared Services colleagues. So once they have administered an action in SAP, they can generate the letter via Query Manager and Document Builder, and they can go through it on screen and check exactly what is there. They are then very clear that what is shown on the PDF is exactly what is in SAP. They can also very easily rectify any mistakes.

Chris Layton, BBC

Document Builder is probably been our biggest advantage. Regarding our letters, we have it configured so that it generates them on the screen for our paid service colleagues. Once the action is managed in SAP, they access, extract the letter with QM and it is generated on the screen to be able to examine it and verify its exact content. And they obviously have no doubt that what's in the PDF is exactly what's in SAP. This way they can easily rectify any errors they see in the letter. The BBC is comprised of several companies. We use Document Builder templates, for example, BBC Worldwide and BBC Public Service. Both companies have different letter templates and we use Document Builder to ultimately rename the letters, and so on, depending on the action introduced in SAP.

The BBC boosts HR efficiency with EPI-USE Labs software

For the past seven years, the BBC has partnered with EPI-USE Labs to automate HR document generation and distribution. They use EPI-USE Labs’ software Query Manager, Document Builder, and Data Sync Manager for HCM, to streamline processes and maximise efficiency.

Query Manager acts as the reporting engine, seamlessly extracting information from BBC's SAP HCM systems, creating insightful reports and feeding it into Document Builder. This enables the automated generation of professional-looking letters and contracts, minimising manual intervention.

Data Sync Manager (DSM) for HCM further enhances efficiency by helping to generate reliable test data. This eliminates the need for manual test data creation, simplifying routine support pack upgrades, payroll run checks, large-scale migrations, training and other processes.

Increased efficiency

Greater security

Scalability

Sustainability

Improved accuracy

Increased efficiency

The new system has saved the BBC time and money. By automating the generation of HR documents, they have been able to free up staff time for other tasks, and the HR team does not depend on the IT basis team anymore for the creation of reports. In 2023 they were able to generate 700 automated letter requests. Employees can request a letter (such as a proof of salary letter to apply for a mortgage) through a Fiori interface. This starts an automated process in which Query Manager finds the information, and Document Builder adds it to the letter template and sends it securely to the person who requested it. This is one of many examples where the BBC has been able to increase its efficiency by automating processes, and human intervention is not necessary.

Greater security

The new system helps to ensure that HR documents are more secure. The documents are now generated without ever leaving the SAP system and distributed electronically, which helps to reduce the risk of them being lost or tampered with.

Scalability

The new system is scalable, which means that the BBC can easily add new request types as needed.

Sustainability

Thanks to the new process, the BBC has been able to save 7.6 million pieces of paper (equivalent to the CO2 of 142 cars on the road). This accomplishment takes them even further in their efforts to become a more sustainable organisation.

Improved accuracy

Their system can rely on good test data quality, allowing them to execute accurate tests before implementing new features, updating the system with SAP support packs, or running monthly payroll runs.

Data Sync Manager has saved us a lot of time. Before, we would literally have recreated data in our testing dev clients, which is obviously a very manual process of going through and setting up records. We didn't have any of that LSMWs to do it, so we would literally have done it manually. So Data Sync Manager saved us bags of time. Client Sync and Object Sync from EPI-USE Labs allow us to copy data and build clients, so we can go through thorough testing. So if we're doing a service pack upgrade on our landscape or we're doing a a big migration, it gives us enough data so we can test thoroughly. We have lots of different employee types or people types at the BBC from freelancers to staff. We have international staff in our international newsrooms. So we need to be able to test with data that represents that type of people. So when we're doing a change, whether it's a small change or a large change, it allows us to make sure that we're covering everybody.

Query Manager brought huge benefits to the BBC. We've been using it for the full term that I've been there for three years. We've got over five hundred reports in Query Manager 3, and over five hundred reports in Query Manager 4. And now we're starting to use the Document Builder side of Query Manager as well. So we've got eighteen automated letters that our HR shared service centre use. So they immediately after performing an action in SAP are able to pull down the letter from Query Manager into a PDF format and send that off to the colleague. I mean, the main benefit is time and cost saving ultimately. The BBC, we have a lot of freelancers, so from people like camera operators through to costume designers. So we use Query Manager every year to audit their their bookings and their payments. Other reports includes headcount, employee lists, including salary data, equal pay analysis as well. A lot of freedom of information requests every day, which can range from all sorts of questions. So we use Query Manager to build and design reports to answer each of those.

About BBC

Founded in 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the world's leading public service broadcaster, creating independent, world-class programmes and content which inform, educate and entertain millions of people in the UK and around the world. They do this across:

A portfolio of television services
Ten UK-wide radio networks
Digital services including BBC News, Sport, Weather, CBBC, CBeebies, iPlayer, BBC Sounds and BBC Red Button
BBC World Service television, radio and online in more than 40 languages.