Envalior, a specialist in Engineering Materials, was formed in 2023from the merger of DSM Engineering Materials and LANXESS High Performance Materials. The company implemented Centric Employee File in its HR department and successfully migrated 4,000 digital personnel files to the Centric solution for SAP SuccessFactors.
As a newly established company, Envalior redesigned its IT landscape in 2023.In the HR department, the organization, which has 4,000 employees worldwide, works with SAP SuccessFactors. In line with the SAP system, the HR department was looking for a modern IT solution for the digital personnel files of the employees who had transferred from the shareholder companies to Envalior.
Centric provides flexible HR solutions
Aker evaluating the software, the project manager decided on Centric Employee File. Apart from offering the best price-performance ratio, Centric also stood out from its competitors thanks to its high level of service and modular product concept.
Project Owner Michiel Janssen, Director HR Operations & Services, agreed with the purchasing and legal departments, who also appreciate the good cooperation with Centric:
“Centric is a flexible partner that thinks along with us. All contact persons are competent and very helpful.”
Thanks to Centric’s modular product portfolio, Envalior can drive forward the digitalization of HR as needed. The first step was to implement only the digital personnel file – something that was not possible with the competitors’ package deals .Additional modules from the Centric product portfolio can then be added in later project phases. The introduction of Centric Document Builder is already planned.
Employee file is seamlessly integrated into SAP SuccessFactors
Centric develops its tools on the SAP Business Technology Platform. This ensures that all solutions are future-proof and seamlessly integrated into Envalior’s SAP SuccessFactors system. From the business user’s perspective, Michiel Janssen also highlights the software’s ease of use, the first-class search function in Centric Employee File, and the high degree of self-service for HR users, who can customize much of the system themselves and easily define new folders or document types, for example.
Successful migration of 400,000 documents
The implementation project was completed after around five months.
The technical implementation required little project effort, as Centric Employee File, like all Centric products, is designed for easy integration into the SAP environment.
The main focus of the project was on the migration of around 4,000 personnel files, which were transferred from the legacy systems of the shareholder companies to the solution. This involved transferring around 400,000 individual documents by renaming their file names. The Envalior team automated the renaming process using an Excel file, thereby preparing the migration internally. Centric then supported Envalior in uploading the data from the legacy systems to the SAP server.
To save time, the existing personnel files were not selected in advance. Instead, all documents, such as employment contracts, payslips, bonus letters, etc., were transferred to a single folder of Centric Employee File. The old data-base can then be reviewed and documents deleted at a later date as needed. Rule-based deletion periods are activated for files newly created in the system, thereby automatically controlling the document lifecycle.
A user-friendly tool for HR users
Centric helped customize the software solution and provided initial training. Michiel Janssen’s goal was to map as many requirements as possible to the software standard. This enables lean system administration and simple user training in the long term. Michiel Janssen also highlights the intuitive user interface:
“Centric Employee File is easy to use. With just one Centric standard training course, we can now train our HR users ourselves.”
Around 70 HR experts currently work with Centric Employee File. All HR business partners and HR services have access rights to the files of the limited group of people they also have access to in SuccessFactors. Permissions and user roles are transferred directly from SAP.
At the request of individual national subsidiaries that store payroll statements in the folders, employee scan also view their own files. Currently, around 1,500 employees in the Netherlands, India, and the US have access to their approved personnel documents. Thanks to the sophisticated authorization concept, the central HR team can securely map country-specific HR processes.
Partners on equal footing
Michiel Janssen wants to supplement the digital personnel file with Centric Document Builder in the next step. He sees the customer-oriented product range as the basis for a sustainable partnership:
“Centric solutions are developed using modern technology and designed for self-service.”
Envalior can now independently control the operation and customization of the file solution, and Centric’s consultants and support team are always available to provide quick answers to specific questions. Michiel Janssen notes:
“I get exactly the service I need. At Centric, the relationship between customer and provider is balanced.”
