When companies want to transition from paper to digital employee files, most turn to external scanning service providers. Carl Kühne KG shows that it can be done in house. Using Centric Employee File and the additional Scan2 Employee File module, they chose to take on this task in-house, relying on their own resources. It was a complete success: Good planning enabled them to overcome all the technical and HR obstacles. And that’s not to mention the considerable cost savings compared to contracting external service providers to perform this highly sensitive task.
“Too much paperwork,” said Gabriela Schulz, Payroll& SAP HCM Expert, succinctly assessing the old HR processes at Carl Kühne. It took her five years to search for the right digital employee filing solution, and in that time, she evaluated various options. Centric Employee File was ultimately selected because Carl Kühne had already had positive experiences with Centric's SAP HCM add-on tools - specifically the interface to the Hamburg Pension Fund, but as well with PLK and PLX, Centrics Audit & Compliance tools for checks in HR payrole processes and MADAP to ensure master data quality.
Kühne’s trust in Centric's support and expertise was key and has since proven to be well-founded.
Centric offered exemplary support
“The support provided by Centric throughout the project has been exemplary from the very beginning. If we ever have a problem with the file, we can just contact the team and always receive immediate, competent assistance. Centric addresses our individual needs in the process,” says Gabriela Schulz.
This is all the more important because Carl Kühne has an IT department but no dedicated HCM department, meaning much of it is uncharted territory.
“Having a contact person who understands this challenge and provides us with adequate support is invaluable in such cases,” says Gabriela Schulz.
The company maintains nearly 1,400 personnel files, currently stored at its Hamburg headquarters and distributed across five plants. This has been a constant logistical nightmare whenever the HR department needs to access an externally stored file. The company’s desire to go digital was therefore understandable. Most scanning service providers advised sorting the files first.
The thinking at Carl Kühne was: "If we have to do the sorting inhouse anyway, we might as well scan them inhouse."
The team anticipated both significant cost savings and greater control over the process.
The self-scanning approach: Strategy and implementation
The decision to scan the documents in house proved to be the right one. First, staff members decluttered the paper files and disposed of old, unneeded documents. Then, the individual sections – personal information, employment contract, onboarding, etc. – were separated using dividers with EAN codes. This meant not scanning a single (thick) file as one document but rather as multiple individual documents, each with a specific abbreviation. Due to this system, individual documents were easy to locate in the digital file afterwards.
No new scanners required with Centric Scan2Employee File
The scanning project began in Hamburg. For the HR team, the goal was for each of the four employees to scan three files daily, in addition to their regular duties. Carl Kühne was thus able to process the backlog of paper documents quickly without significantly disrupting regular operations. The Centric “Scan2Employee File” app was installed directly on the existing printers, eliminating the need for new scanners.
The app transmits the scanned documents directly to Gabriela Schulz's personal folder in Centric Employee File. From there, she manually assigns them to the individual employee’s digital file. The standardized filing structure, with specific German abbreviations such as "AV" for employment contract or “AZ” for working hours, greatly simplifies navigation.
Only a fraction of the cost of an external service deal
“Of course, you make a few minor beginner’s mistakes,” reports Gabriela Schulz.
“We learned from our mistakes, improved the processes, and were able to implement this at the other locations after completing the project in Hamburg.”
Student assistants, part-time workers, and employees on parental leave supported the scanning process in the larger plants. The self-organized approach also enabled the company to address issues concerning specific individuals. If there were questions or unclear documents, the temporary staff could ask the people concerned directly. This minimized errors and ensured the quality of the digitization. The decisive factor was primarily the difference in costs. Gabriela Schulz:
"The additional HR costs were 15,000, maybe 20,000 euros for us. This is a fraction of what a professional scanning service provider would have charged.”
Challenges and learnings
Gabriela Schulz and her HR team learned a lot during the project, including how crucial time management is. It is important not to begin a project like this during peak season or during the main holiday periods. To avoid discrepancies, it is advisable to duplicate processes during the transition phase. This means capturing new documents both on paper and digitally ,in order not to affect payroll processing. Scanning three files per employee daily may seem like a small amount, but in total it led to rapid progress. Consistency is more important here than sporadic large-scale actions.
Foundations for the future of HR Management at Kühne
Kühne's scan project shows: With strategic planning and the courage to opt for self-scanning, it is possible to implement even large, sensitive digitization projects successfully and cost-effectively. The introduction of digital signatures will now be the next big step for Carl Kühne on the way to a fully digitized and efficient human resources management system.
