After a few years of declining population and large financial deficits, the municipality of Söderhamn realized that fewer employees would have to deliver more. In other words, there was a need to streamline administration, while the way of working, i.e. the processes, had to be based even more on the needs of the residents.
To do this, they needed to introduce new ways of working that facilitated coordination between the different functions in the municipality. This required an IT solution for the management of the business that all employees could work in together. The system had to be able to manage documents, processes, cases and projects. And it had to be relatively easy to create a common thread between policy and organization.
The choice fell on CANEA ONE, and all its modules, partly because it was easy to visualize processes and link relevant documents to each process.
– There were other systems that had very good process planners but couldn’t handle documents; you had to link to Sharepoint, for example. It was only CANEA ONE that could handle documents and processes together, in the same system, says Johanna Pettersson, business developer at Söderhamn municipality.
Sector Welfare first out
The Welfare Sector was first out. They are required by law to work with a well-functioning quality management system, which means that there must be order and clarity in the procedures and associated documents, as well as a person that is responsible for each procedure.
– The pre-study showed how important it is to find the right routine quickly. Now, everyone working in home care has access to the latest routines via the CANEA ONE mobile site. It's a great tool today, says Johanna Pettersson.
In addition, the municipality has had a number of other needs, such as system support for projects. Although they had a good project model, they used loose templates and Excel files.
– We have previously worked to the best of our ability but missed being able to enter roles and have a Gantt chart, instead of a schedule in an Excel sheet. Now we have all the project documentation in one place plus we can control the permissions for the different roles in a project.
Need for clear processes
Söderhamn municipality has also needed a good e-archive, to collaborate with other municipalities and to set up a process structure in accordance with KLASSA, the tool for information security developed by Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner (SKR), the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.
This involves dividing the structure into control, support and core processes that are numbered, which determines which document type should be handled in each process.
– Now everything is in CANEA ONEi.e.,e.,ith version management, document owners and reminders of when updates need to be made. And when we develop a new procedure, it follows a process that we have set up in the document module with a creator, a reviewer and an approver, where the latter is responsible for what’s in the procedure. This creates a completely different level of security for managers and employees.
The municipality had also developed a policy for governing documents that was implemented in CANEA Document. There you can choose what type of document you want to create, i.e. whether it should be a strategy, plan, routine or checklist. In addition, there is a descriptive text for each document type that describes when that particular type of document should be created.
– Our information management plan and policy for governing documents are now reflected in CANEA ONE.
User-friendly system
So far, the new system has been well received by users. In the case of the Welfare Sector, it was long-awaited. They had already realized that they could not continue as before, as it created uncertainty in the organization when, e.g., relevant procedures could not be found.
– At first, some people found it hard to get used to a new system, but there was no need to learn anything because we configured CANEA ONE so that employees only need to click on the application to enter the system.
– When we showed how easy it was, the reactions were all positive. It was no longer about having to learn a new system, but about a simplified way to find the information you need, says Johanna Pettersson, and concludes:
– There are always concerns about learning new systems, as there are for us administrators, but users shouldn't have to learn a lot of new things, just how to find the information they need to do their job.
Briefly about Söderhamn municipality
Briefly about Söderhamn municipality Söderhamn municipality is located on the Bothnian Sea about 250 km north of Stockholm. The municipality is located in Hälsingland, Gävleborg County and has 25,000 inhabitants and 3,000 employees.
“I like CANEA's flexibility and responsiveness. For example, if we saw that we needed training in some area, CANEA created that training. They met us in our wishes.”
“It was good that CANEA made it clear what they needed to know in order to carry out the assignment. It allowed us to organize our internal work in the right way.”
Johanna Pettersson,
Business Developer
Söderhamns kommun
