Aurubis aims to use Centric solutions to digitize and archive its paper documents and automate the relevant processes. This is an important building block in making the HR department fit for the future. That’s why the HR Solutions Department at Aurubis uses a range of Centric applications.
Metallurgical know-how, state-of-the-art facilities, and pioneering environmental standards have made Aurubis one of the world’s leading copper producers. Every year, the company produces more than 1 million tons of 99.99% pure marketable copper cathodes in its European smelter network.
But the multi-metal specialist is facing the challenges of digitalization in many areas – notably due to the introduction of tools and solutions to standardize and automate processes. In HR, for example, this means digitizing and archiving paper documents and providing access from any location. Another concern is to automate the relevant processes by implementing user-friendly HR solutions.
Centric solutions: Part of the digitalization initiative
To do so, the HR Solutions Department at Aurubis is using a range of Centric applications: Centric’s digital Employee File solution for collecting, filing, and archiving all employee documents and the Centric Payslip Box for providing paperless pay statements for employees. These solutions are part of a digitalization initiative that also includes introducing a digital document management system.
“The employee file is at the heart of our work. It provides the basis for us to optimally guide and support an employee’s life cycle. This is where we find the important information and documents that underpin our service to employees in one central location,”
said Lara Kiencke-Klebor, Head of HR Solutions at Aurubis.
“By digitizing employee files and automating processes, we can work with an eye to the future, respond more quickly to our employees’ needs, and improve our service quality at the same time.”
Centric was already an established software provider to Aurubis. Centric’s PLK/PLX checking tool for quality checks in payroll processes has been in use in payroll accounting since 2022 and has quickly proved its worth. The Centric document solutions also work with both SAP HCM and SAP SuccessFactors, making them the perfect fit for Aurubis’s HR digitalization strategy. In addition to the appealing interfaces and the high user-friendliness of Centric’s solutions, the customer focus of Centric’s consultants and developers was also a decisive factor.
“Centric recognized our needs very accurately, responded early on by tailoring the solution, and supported us as a project team even before we had signed the contract – for example, by offering their experience and best practices,”
said Lara Kiencke-Klebor.
The goal: Fully digital and automated document processes
The project to introduce the Centric Employee File was launched in December 2022. At the same time, a scanning service provider arranged by Centric digitized 7,000 employee files. The digital employee file went live in April 2023.
“The solution is very self-explanatory. Even new employees can get to know the system quickly and use it in their everyday employee-support work,”
said Lara Kiencke-Klebor. A small group of trained multipliers guided the users. She says Centric’s low-code approach means that Aurubis can make its own adjustments to the solution.
“We only need Centric’s support in rare cases.”
Aurubis expanded its use of Centric’s IT solutions in mid-August 2023 to include Payslip Box. “The introduction of Payslip Box had implications for all Aurubis AG employees in Germany,” said Lara Kiencke-Klebor. “So it demanded a comprehensive change-management plan.” The package of measures ranged from explanatory videos and QR codes on posters that linked to digital user forums to information letters and info postcards. All digital information channels were also used for the campaign. The comprehensive rollout to all3,500 employees, accompanied by a complete phaseout of paper payslips, was supported by training sessions offered by HR staff at the company. They also assisted employees in installing the corresponding shortcuts on their smartphones.
Aurubis is now ready to take the next steps in HR digitalization with Centric’s tools: With Document Builder for creating documents and templates and Reference Letter, even more processes are being digitized. “Our goal is to have fully digital and automated document processes,” said Lara Kiencke-Klebor. “The solutions use our systems’ master data and so enable further automation.”
The digitalization of routine admin tasks aims to reduce the HR burden and free uptime for value-adding activities. The apps are more than the sum of their parts, says Lara Kiencke-Klebor:
“Centric’s solutions support us in creating an integrated digital process and service landscape. They give us the optimal foundation to address our increasingly complex HR tasks.”
