The CSC Corporate Portal helps to train employees, adapt them to new positions, share news and increase the performance of colleagues. We have already written about services, provided by the platform, — but today we’ll tell about the Portal itself and how it was created.
Our guest today is Ivan Orlov, the group lead and manager of CSC Portal service, OpenText, Tessa in CSC-IT.
Ivan, tell us: what was the original purpose of the Corporate Portal and how have those purposes evolved since its launch?
The original purpose was as follows: create a “one-stop-shop” by means of which all CSC employees and clients could use our corporate services.
I believe, we succeeded: around 50 services are currently implemented and new ones appear constantly. Thus, the Portal briefs the employees on the latest news, facilitates on-boarding of new employees and staff retraining, gives a quick feed-back and does many other things.
What tasks does the Portal solve as part of the company's digital transformation?
Firstly, it eliminates the fragmentation of information and tasks: all HR functions come together in a “one-stop-shop”. Secondly, it provides us with analytics for making HR decisions based on data about how our employees work and what training they receive.
Thirdly, the Portal unites employees, even if they are located in different cities or work remotely. It facilitates the uploading of company information and tools to manage this information, allows employees to communicate more easily and thus simplifies internal communication. Fourth, it makes it easier to set up and manage HR processes for every employee.
You mentioned simplifying internal communication through the Portal. How exactly does work?
First of all, it is about training: The Portal provides access to training programs and materials for employees: there are very useful courses that you can take jointly and improve your skills. It also digitizes many routine processes that used to be done on paper, so employees don't have to spend time on paperwork, and their efficiency increases.
Finally, the Portal engages more employees in corporate life: strategic sessions and events, hobbies, sharing ideas, teamwork on projects, and much more.
What is awaiting the Portal in the near future?
We keep adding new functionality, new modules and processes. The plans for the near future are as follows:
Optimize the interface based on user experience, simplify navigation.
Work on performance and scalability: we use clustering and distributed systems to keep the Portal from failing with the growing number of users.
Automate the process of updating components, monitor necessary updates and implement them.
Expand the amount of data to be analysed: we will monitor the performance of all systems as deeply as possible and improve the accuracy of the data to track failures and collect better analytics.
What new features are coming in the near future?
I can't disclose everything, but our Corporate Portal is not standing still. For example, we are working on a mobile application — as well as services for informing employees on job descriptions, SAWC charts and shift schedules in electronic form.
How does the Portal help remotely working employees interact with the office?
Employees can not only sign any HR document via EDM from the comfort of their homes, but also register their leaves, business trips, absences, view their sick leaves or thank colleagues for their work — all these on line.
And new employees? How does the Portal help with their onboarding?
We have three tools for this:
Knowledge database — it has centralized access to information, instructions, training materials and documents. Using the Knowledge Database, new employees immediately get answers to the right questions and do not hesitate to ask them.
The Organizational Structure module is a mini-training on the CSC structure for better understanding of the hierarchy, communication and roles of colleagues.
A training module that incorporates all the training materials and courses from CSC.
Let's talk about data security. The corporate portal processes sensitive personal data — how is it protected?
The portal fully complies with the requirements of Law No. 152-FZ Personal data protection. We conduct pen-tests every year — and based on the results of these tests we improve code protection.
Every employee undergoes annual security testing on how not to panic in the event of a phishing attack and how not to respond to fraudulent provocations. We hold the ISO International Information Security Certification.
Have there been cases when the Corporate Portal has played a key role in solving critical tasks of the company?
Yes, there have, and not only for CSC, but also for our clients. For example, during the pandemic it became clear that employees would have to work remotely — and this would seriously change the approach to the workflow.
In the shortest possible time, we implemented a large HR electronic document management (HREDM) service through the Portal, which won the award “Best EDM in Russia and CIS - 2023”. The service has seriously reduced the time input for signing documents and reviewing them by employees working remotely.
What are your personal goals and expectations from the development of the Corporate Portal for the next few years?
I have no doubt that many more ambitious plans, discoveries and implementations await the whole team of the Corporate Portal.
I am also confident in the team of professionals working on the Portal. I would like to thank all my colleagues: your professionalism, diligence and dedication have allowed us to make serious progress in the quality of our products and services!
