InfoBasis News

What's happening in UK Talent Management?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Leading UK capability management software firm InfoBasis today announced a research project to explore the state of talent management in the UK. The six-month project will examine talent management practices among a range of British companies to draw out a set of good practice guidelines.

The research program will involve interviews with a range of organisations of different sizes and across a variety of sectors. The final report, to be published in September, will identify what companies understand by talent management and how they are implementing it. It will also establish the most effective methods used by organisations in understanding, planning and developing their talent pools.

"There's a great deal of interest in talent management right now," says InfoBasis CEO Ashley Wheaton, "but very little agreement about what it is, or how to do it well. This research will go some way to answer those questions." And, adds Wheaton, there is no better time than now to understand talent management. "With the economic situation likely to worsen, this is the right time to begin engaging, developing and deploying your employees to do the best of their potential."

JGP adopts InfoBasis ESI v 5.0 as platform for talent management services

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Leading talent management service provider JGP has decided to adopt the latest version of InfoBasis ESI v 5.0, the capability management platform. The public-sector specialist will use the new platform to extend the technology side of its offering.

By using the latest version of the InfoBasis platform, JGP will be able to configure its Skills Portal solution more rapidly and more effectively. JGP’s Skills Portal is a talent management solution for UK central and local government.

“We developed the portal on InfoBasis ESI v 4.5 using tools provided by InfoBasis and it has been very successful,” says Skills Portal implementation manager Paul White, “but the new platform extends what we can do, and lets us do it faster.” Over 30 local authorities in the UK use JGP’s Skills Portal for everything from skills analysis to management development programmes and 360 degree appraisal.

“The new tool set that comes with the platform makes it possible for non-XML specialists to get involved in sophisticated configuration matters,” explains Paul. “This will cut our time to market, and widens the range of employees we can involve in solution development.”

Paul is also enthusiastic about the new, hierarchical control of look and feel that is possible using InfoBasis ESI v 5.0. “We do a lot of work with groups of local authorities. Although they all use the same underlying database, each requires its own exclusive view of the data, within their own branding. With the new platform we can produce that far faster.”

“We have partnered with JGP for two years now, and they are a great example of the solutions that can be produced by a skilled partner working with our sophisticated development tools,” comments InfoBasis CEO Ashley Wheaton. “We look forward to supporting JGP as they continue developing on the InfoBasis ESI platform into the future.”

About JGP (www.jgp.co.uk)

JGP have been working with public and not-for-profit sectors organisations to help access a wider and more diverse source of jobseekers since 1998. JGP are the people behind www.jobsgopublic.com, a network that attracts more than 600,000 jobseekers a month and lists more than 50,000 vacancies a year.
Starting life as a "jobs board", JGP now provides web-based talent management solutions that help organisations attract, hire, develop and retain talented people at a fraction of the cost of using paper-driven processes and print-media advertising.
Since 1999, JGP has provided these services to more than 1000 public sector employers - the majority in local government.
Delivered in the spirit of collaboration and to support public sector agendas, JGP's solutions promote efficiency, diversity, social inclusion, to enable citizen-centric self-service, to support work in regards the Data Protection Act, the DDA and web accessibility obligations, e-government principles and e-GIF requirements.
JGP's technology enables organisations to operate faster, more transparently and much more affordably.

For more information, please contact JGP's Angela Kennedy on 020 7923 5610 or angela.kennedy@jgp.co.uk.

InfoBasis launches compliance module

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Capability management experts InfoBasis today announced the availability of a compliance module to complement the InfoBasis Enterprise Skills Infrastructure (InfoBasis ESI) platform. The new module will make it easier for InfoBasis clients to show they meet standards in the industries with the most rigorous compliance demands.

“The new module allows organisations to demonstrate compliance rapidly with a low administrative overhead,” says InfoBasis CTO Nicholas Revell. “It also makes it possible to manage the re-qualification of key personnel more effectively.”

The compliance module – applicable to any industry – lets clients track employee qualifications and the qualifications required by each job role. “Analysis can then produce an organisation-wide compliance dashboard report,” explains InfoBasis CTO Nicholas Revell. “This not only shows which divisions are compliant, but also signals ahead of time when individuals should re-qualify to remain compliant.”

The module also allows the capture of ‘snapshots’ of this compliance report, to build a continuous picture of an organisations’ compliance history. This enables organisations to show that they have not fallen into non-compliance between reporting periods.

“Meeting a range of compliance requirements is a part of business life today,” comments InfoBasis CEO Ashley Wheaton. “InfoBasis can help organisations meet their obligations responsibly but effectively, so giving them time to concentrate on meeting business goals.”

Flagship expects significant business improvements through introducing InfoBasis’ Capability Management system

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Flagship Training Ltd (Flagship) says it expects to achieve substantial improvements in the development, delivery and administration of its staff training programmes through deploying the InfoBasis Enterprise Skills Infrastructure (InfoBasis ESI) platform.

Flagship is currently undertaking a significant Business Transformation programme to further improve its business operations and customer service. As part of this programme, the company has signed a five-year deal with capability management experts InfoBasis. Flagship's investment in the technology platform will help to align the skills of a significant proportion of its employees with corporate objectives and assign training to bridge any skills gaps.

"By our calculations over the next four-year period the InfoBasis system will pay for itself more than four times over," says Business Transformation Executive Chris Webb, in charge of the initiative that affects up to 1,000 Flagship employees, "and this return is only the hard figure that we can identify with more effective appraisals and improved training effectiveness. If you include the benefits that will be achieved by increased performance, better deployment of resources, and increased commercial opportunity we can expect it to be much higher."

Flagship, which began its InfoBasis ESI implementation 12 months ago, delivers training and support services for the Royal Navy and over 400 military and commercial customers around the globe. "We plan to grow by some 50% over the next four year and the ability to better understand, develop and deploy the skills of our employees over this period is essential to that growth plan and our ongoing accreditation as an Investor in People organisation," says Chris Webb.

"Capability planning is essential for all organisations," said InfoBasis CEO Ashley Wheaton, "but particularly for those that are growing. Flagship has a clear development plan and people are central to it. InfoBasis is delighted to play its part in their growth."

About Flagship (www.flagshiptraining.co.uk)
Flagship Training Ltd was formed in 1996 when a 15 year contract was signed with the UK Ministry of Defence for a unique partnering agreement with the Royal Navy. Flagship's initial role was to market the Royal Navy's training capability to overseas navies, related maritime customers and to industry as a whole. This role later grew to encompass the provision of a full range of support services to the Royal Navy training establishments.

Today, Flagship has evolved into a total training solutions provider, delivering a wide range of capabilities, including training technology solutions, support services, facilities management and construction services.

Flagship is a joint venture between BAE Systems and the VT Group and is head-quartered in Portsmouth, Hampshire. We currently employ 1,600 staff and have reported annual revenue in excess of £128 million.

InfoBasis announces support for performance management

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Capability management expert InfoBasis today announced support for performance management within the InfoBasis Enterprise Skills InfrastructureTM (InfoBasis ESI) platform.

Already successfully trialled by InfoBasis clients in the UK and the US, the additional functionality enables ongoing cycles of employee objective setting and appraisal. This method of rating performance allows individual activity to be aligned to strategic organisational goals, and to key performance indicators.

“This integration with existing organisational measures, processes and systems is a step forward,” said InfoBasis CTO Nicholas Revell. “Too often at present, performance management appraisals are empty rituals, resulting in completed forms which are promptly filed and forgotten.”

According to Revell, the architecture of the InfoBasis ESI platform means not only that the new functionality is fully integrated in the platform, but also that it can be configured to meet client requirements.

“Our five-layer software architecture model enables us to add new functionality by using existing ‘building blocks’ of code,” said Revell. “And that same flexibility extends to clients, allowing us to configure the platform to mirror their workflows and HR processes, from simple point solutions to complex implementations including integration with their HR systems.”

That is necessary, added Revell, because most organisations use technology to automate and integrate their existing performance management procedures, and do not want to re-build them to fit a software provider’s product.

“No shrink-wrapped product can provide in-depth performance management,” he observed, “and writing a solution from scratch is pointlessly costly. The InfoBasis ESI platform provides an alternative. After field testing the software in both the US and UK markets, we are now happy to release it to existing and future users of InfoBasis ESI.”