“We had a heck of a flow of forms. There were two of us from my department who had to visit everyone in the company to uncover all their needs. We carried out interviews in every department: what did they need, and what could that replace? What we found was a real jumble of systems, each one different from department to department," says Poul Nielsen.

Columbus IT Partner, which implemented Microsoft Business Solutions-Axapta and Project Management at Telia, presented Columbus Time Management, which allows many functions to be gathered into one.

Following a successful process involving the appointment of project groups in each department and dedicated feedback, as early as December 2004 Columbus IT Partner and Telia Networks were able to run the first test. One of the results was that the salary file generated in Columbus Time Management could be transferred to the payroll system which at that time was outsourced to Visma.

    
All employees could record their out-of-pocket expenses and travel expenses, the former of which were then automatically transferred to bank accounts while travel expenses were transferred to salaries. Overtime pay was also transferred to salaries.

On 1 January 2005, Telia went live with Columbus Time Management.

“Columbus Time Management is a really good tool for anyone in charge of project management and gives a clear picture of the number of hours we can invoice out. Our customer service department work flexible working hours. Previously they spent time recording these in a spreadsheet; now Time Management manages this job extremely well.”

Less administration now
“I would go as far as to say that we have less administration now. We came with many different types of process and we gathered them into one system. HR has also seen a load taken off in several ways, as employees can now view their own status themselves. They have separate balances for flexible hours, overtime, travel expenses, holiday pay, etc.