An uprecedented view into People and Culture metrics
The Problem
Countdown were doing their best to monitor critical metrics in and across their significant sized stores & Distribution Centre (DC) network relating to; absenteeism, leave, pay accuracy, headcount, clocking, and turnover through spreadsheets and multiple source systems data. Whilst it was possible to get some information, the friction was often prohibitive, leaving many issues to be resolved reactively, long after the issues had impacted their workers in the field. Stores and DCs were unable to catch issues ahead of time as they had no access to this critical information on an as needed day to day basis, leaving a large backlog of remediation tasks for head office to address.
The Brief
Phase 1: Identify and establish the goals, Metrics that Matter and potential benefits
X is Y were tasked to work with Countdown’s People & Culture (P&C) team to identify and agree the goals that represented their desired future state in supporting the field to manage their teams effectively and address their key problems. X is Y were then tasked to co-design with business owners; Metrics that Matter which represent these goals, size them, prioritise them, build out a roadmap and then articulate and quantify the expected benefits to support the investment required to commence the work.
Phase 2: Build, test and release Metrics that Matter with business users
Having established the roadmap; X is Y executed the roadmap using its proven Agile BI methodology, capturing benefits along the way to review throughout and at the end of the project.
What we did
Phase 1: Establish the roadmap and agree the benefits
X is Y worked collaboratively with the People & Culture team to agree the goals, co-design the Metrics that Matter which represent progress towards these goals, the ceremonies where they will be reviewed and actioned, the priority and roadmap for delivery. Most importantly, X is Y were able to agree the expected benefits with both P&C and the Finance teams to gain approval of the CapEx request to proceed with delivery.
Phase 2: Build, test and release Metrics that Matter with business users
With approved funding and agreed roadmap, X is Y then delivered all the required metrics to the key user groups; Executives, Operational Leaders and Store Managers.
Using X is Y’s proven Agile BI methodology, X is Y:
Agreed definitions for each metric with the business owner
Gathered user stories from the three key user groups (Head Office P&C Team, Store Managers and DC Supervisors) along with benefits for each
Pretotyped (a digital sketch) and tested the data visualisation product design with users
Prototyped (a working dashboard for testing) and tested the data visualisation product design with users
Helped establish new patterns for PII and external data handling
Established design guidelines and methods for data visualisation product build for A&I team for use across all future projects.
Released key metrics that matter to user groups along with the regular forums where they will be reviewed at a regular cadence.
The Benefits
As a result of Countdown’s engagement with X is Y, the business:
No longer needs to spend hours looking for the data they need
Can focus and target efforts towards the most critical areas proactively
Can now prevent errors in areas such as; pay, leave balances, shifts in advance as they can target them proactively
Established regular forums to review how they are tracking on critical people management metrics
Are able to confidently assure regulators and unions of their compliance and adherence to collective agreements and regulatory standards
Are able to manage rosters fairly and have fewer payroll issues, resulting in better Voice of Team and retaining people more effectively
Are able to plan better for absence which positively impacts productivity
Are able to avoid last minute temporary staff cover and therefore, stay within operating cost budget
Are able to have grea
ter visibility into patterns and behaviours of staff and therefore recruit and retain staff more effectively.
As a result of Countdown’s engagement with X is Y, the Analytics & Insights Team:
Can better manage PII data with improved patterns and encryption standards
Can better manage external data ingest with improved patterns
Can serve business users better with clear design guides and best practices for a common, uniform look and feel for data visualisation products
Can deliver outcomes faster and with more assurance using improved agile delivery processes
Levelled up their data warehouse standards and Data Quality assurance rules.
Client Quotes
"We have come such a long way from where we were; from data all over the place and lack of shared understanding to everything we need in one place, confidence in our data assets and real scope for progress for our future. Plus, working with X is Y was a real pleasure; professional, high-quality work, with a strong focus on user needs, but also fun to work with!" - Angela McMillan - Performance & Reward Lead and Business Owner People & Culture; Countdown NZ
Here’s what Store Managers had to say about the outcome:
"Dashboard is simple and effective, easy to read" - Tom Headifen; Store Manager
"Useful information at my fingertips" - Jess Stubbs; Store Manager
"it is going to be great to have this information easily accessible" - Stacey Newall; Store Manager
"Much easier to read than the old Edward report", "Easy to navigate and see the information" - Sarah Ruddick; Store Manager
"User friendly, data clear and easy to access relevant info" - Ian Samu; Store Manager
