April 2, 2003
Navigating Through Workforce Management
Shell Oil Products is rolling out IQNavigator5 to help automate the procurement and management of temporary and contract workers.
By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
Managing a contingent workforce can be complicated and expensive. Shell Oil Products U.S. is rolling out software to help make those tasks easier--and less expensive.
Shell is deploying IQNavigator Inc.'s IQNavigator5, an application suite that is helping automate the procurement and management of about 400 temporary and contract workers, who include SAP programmers and IT consultants, as well as accountants and office administrators.
"We were looking for ways to save money and manage consultants and temporary staff better," says Kim Chapman, Shell's team leader of the contingent workforce management project. "This tool enables us to trim costs significantly and work with [talent] vendors in a more competitive marketplace."
The software automates what primarily had been a manual process at Shell. "Before, when the company needed to hire a few office people or programmers, 'Joe' would look for some names in his files, people that he knew, and he'd just call them," says Chapman, describing the process that most Shell managers used to find temporary workers.
Now, the software helps Shell send out standardized requests to preferred vendors by E-mail, or to post them via the Web, for specific talent that's needed. Vendors respond by sending their bids and the resumes of the best available talent. A skills-matching tool in IQNavigator5 helps Shell find the best candidates at the best rates, says Chapman.
In addition to helping find the best matches, the software helps manage workers while they're under contract. Before the use of IQNavigator5, "once a consultant walked in the door, you kept them forever," because Shell managers tended to forget when the consultant's term ended. The software alerts Shell when a contract is about to end. It also interfaces to Shell's SAP software, helping Shell to pay contingent workers quicker, as well as provide time-card information faster to the contract workers' firms, says Chapman.
Once the software is fully deployed at Shell Oil Products in May, Chapman says 50 to 100 Shell employees and managers will use IQNavigator5, and that other business groups within Shell are also interested in using the software to manage their contingent workers.
