Digital personnel files enable data protection-compliant and complete management of sensitive data

At the latest when there is no more space in the office to store files in paper form, there is an urgent need for digitization. This was also the case at Pfalzwerke, where TIMETOACT has now created a digital management system for around 1600 files and 20,000 personnel documents. The management and processing of sensitive personnel data is now secure and involves less effort.

The digital availability of company-related data significantly facilitates and accelerates everyday work. As much as the advantages of digital data outweigh the disadvantages, it is all the more surprising that many companies still have their files primarily in paper form.

This was also the case for the personnel files of Pfalzwerke, a leading energy supplier for the Palatinate region and the Saarpfalz district. These comprised approximately 1600 files and 20,000 personnel documents - and more are added every day. Due to a move to a new company building, these files were now to be digitized, as there was no longer any space available for them on site.

• The core requirement in the project was to digitize the paper files using the existing software solution already in use at the energy provider. Since the move was already imminent, the project was to be implemented as quickly as possible.

To implement the core requirement, a project team was formed consisting of Pfalzwerke employees, an external scanning service provider and ECM experts from TIMETOACT. The first step was to determine together which detailed requirements the solution should fulfill:

After the requirements were recorded, the entire personnel files were scanned by the scanning service provider, indexed (metadata) and made available as a PDF. Incorrect metadata created during the scanning process was intercepted and corrected by TIMETOACT's experts during import into IBM Content Manager. In addition, the IBM software was adapted by the ECM experts with the help of a "TIMETOACT personnel files plug-in" so that the requirements can be optimally served. These include

The digitization of all personnel files was completed just in time for Pfalzwerke's move to the new office building. All of the approx. 20 employees from personnel administration can now access the files online and manage, edit and add to them. The paper files are now outsourced and no longer used.

TIMETOACT is currently still implementing an automated deletion workflow. On the one hand, this concerns the automatic solution of files affected by data protection law, and on the other hand, the manual deletion of personnel files via a dual control principle. The latter means that files that are already in a deletion or relocation process are marked accordingly to prevent processes from overwriting each other.