The
overall landscape of roster-related systems within Disability Service SA can be
shown in the diagram below.
Figure 1 Current System Architecture of DS accommodation
service
By
analyzing the current system, we identify that there are several existing
problems.
1. Manual roster generating process
As we
can see from the system diagram, no system involves in roster generation
process. Associate Clinical Services Coordinators (ACSC) currently are using
Excel and their own preference and judgment to make new roster for next time
period. This is time-consuming and sometime may lead to errors and mistakes.
2. Generate roster or fill vacancies without
matching staff skill set with client needs
It’s
hard for ASCSs to consider staff request, skill set and client needs at the
same time. The existing system cannot intelligently optimize rostering by
giving the most appropriate staff for the clients. Currently, the replacement
for most vacancies happens like that they just randomly picks up a staff who is
available without considering whether he or she is good at serving this
specific kind of client.
3. Balancing and monitoring overtime hours
worked by casual, part-time, full-time staff
When
generating or fill vacancies, current system cannot monitor or inform us
whether we have assigned unequal workload to different staffs, or can it take
overtime issue into consideration.
4. Data duplication, redundancy and
inconsistency
As we can see from the chart, there are data
duplication and redundancy issues among systems. Each database of DS’s
roster-related system includes staff profile and worksite information etc.,
while there may be some data inconsistency between them. This impose a negative
impact on operation & data management and analysis.
5. Manual input and adjustment between systems
Though
KRONOS and CHRIS have seamless connection, there is no interface between
SALESFORCE and KRONOS. After a replacement staff has been booked, staffs need
to duplicate this process to make changes in KRONOS. There is a chance that
staff forgot to maintain this adjustment, which may lead to payment disorder.
Though DS SA has other mechanism to check the actual working hour of each
staff, it will be an improvement if connection established between KRONOS and
SALESFORCE.
We gave two options to our clients. One is to purchase one more modular of existing KRONOS system, KRONOS Scheduler. The other is to customize the existing SALESFORCE system.
The future system architecture of the two options are shown in the diagram below.
Figure 2 Future System Architecture of KRONOS option
Figure 3 Future System Architecture of SALESFORCE
Option
As we can see from the diagrams, from the perspective of system simplicity and integration, KRONOS option is more preferable, since it eliminates compatibility problem. While for the other option, SALESFORCE has no roster information in database now. If we are going to enhance its database to let it embrace roster generation function, it will put KRONOS at an embarrass stage as it contribute nothing the overall process, but only as a bridge between SALESFORCE and Chris. This creates system redundancy and inefficiency.