Crm cox communications-pse-case-study processes to boost efficiency and engagement

Oracle Customer Case Study

Cox Communications Transforms Human Resources
Processes to Boost Efficiency and Engagement

“Cox is transforming our human resources systems with
Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management.
Committed to competitive excellence, Cox Communications is
focused on recruiting and retaining the right highly engaged
Cox Communications and productive people to provide the best possible service to our
Atlanta, GA valued customers. Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise applications
www.cox.com
are instrumental to our efforts in this area.” – Erin Govednik,
Industry: Executive Director, Human Resources Technology, Cox
Communications
Communications
Annual Revenue:
US$9 billion As a leading multiservice broadband communications and
Employees: entertainment company, and the third-largest cable television
22,000 provider in the United States, Cox Communications has to hire,
engage, and retain the best talent to deliver high quality customer
Oracle Products & Services: service and ensure the company operates efficiently in order to
PeopleSoft Enterprise Human maintain its status as a trusted provider in the highly competitive
Capital Management Suite communications industry.
Human Resources
Employee Self-Service Cox’s human resources (HR) department created a five-year
Manager Self-Service vision in 2002 to unify HR systems and processes across the
Payroll for North America entire employee lifecycle and to drive employee engagement. The
Learning Management plan also involved delivering self-service functionality to increase
Candidate Gateway
efficiency and allow data capture closest to the source, providing
Talent Acquisition Manager
ePerformance
consistency companywide without taking control away from local
Time and Labor systems, and delivering useful metrics to drive business decision
eCompensation making.
eCompensation Manager
Desktop
Cox leverages Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital
Variable Compensation Management Suite as the backbone of its HR system and has
Oracle Incentive Compensation expanded and upgraded the system over the last seven years to
Oracle Financials support its plan. Today, Cox has all HR information in one place,
Oracle Business Intelligence which lays the foundation for being able to analyze it, adjust
Enterprise Edition
processes, and plan for the future. The company’s business
processes are now connected instead of siloed, which allows
visibility into how processes flow and impact each other. Further,
Cox has met its vision of enhancing tools for “next-generation”
employees, moving data ownership closer to the source, and

Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Published August 2009


Key Benefits: mining key HR metrics data for useful business analysis. Cox
Provided employees with real- continues to improve its HR system to drive new levels of
time access to data and self-
service tools
efficiency and performance companywide.
Improved recruiting processes “By standardizing on Oracle’s PeopleSoft Human Capital
with easy-to-use online
Management applications, we have significantly reduced our total
applications and faster
processing cost of ownership while proactively managing every aspect of the
Cut payroll costs by 1% due to employee lifecycle,” said Erin Govednik, executive director, HR
elimination of overpayment and Technology, Cox Communications.
other payroll errors
Contributed to a 5% increase in Unifying Data Streamlines Processes
employee engagement ratings Consolidating HR information has had a significant positive
Eliminated redundant data impact on the HR organization, as well as Cox’s employees.
entry, allowing the company to
Overall, it has streamlined processes for the HR staff, while also
redeploy 2% to 3% of HR
employees delivering new efficiencies to employees and managers.
Enabled HR to measure Further, improved, easily accessible data provides better
performance against business
goals
intelligence, helping HR make more accurate decisions about
Allowed more informed HR
staffing, compensation, and other important employee topics. Cox
decisions with easy access to can measure HR’s performance against business goals, recruiting
centralized data effectiveness, and efficiency of payroll—something that was
impossible before deploying PeopleSoft applications when the
company relied on disparate systems and manually-produced
spreadsheets.

“Unifying data in our HR system has helped in ways we did not
imagine when we began this process. For example, we have
operations in the Gulf Coast region that have had to deal with
weather emergencies. Having something as basic as accurate
updated contact information and alternate ways to get in touch
with employees has been vital,” Govednik said.

Going Further with Self-service Capabilities
Self-service HR functionality has improved the employee and
manager experience across the organization by saving valuable
time on daily tasks. Employees can view and make changes to
personal information, such as updating their address or changing
marital status. In addition, with just a few simple clicks, managers
can perform other functions, such as tracking recruitment of a new
candidate or making change requests for their employees’
compensation.



“We work to make it clear By pushing tasks to employees and managers via self-service
to our employees the channels, Cox has eliminated a great deal of administrative duties
impact that their and data entry. For example, in one of its Western region’s
individual efforts have on systems, it has redeployed eight employees from strictly data
the overall company. entry duties to broader employee support. Across the board, Cox
Oracle’s PeopleSoft has redeployed 2% to 3% of employees away from administrative
Enterprise Human Capital duties, particularly in the area of benefits open enrollment, which
Management Suite was previously very time-consuming.
provides the visibility we
need to support our Engaging Employees
employee engagement After rolling out core PeopleSoft Human Capital Management
efforts.” Suite applications companywide, Cox turned its attention to using
Erin Govednik data in the system to track the company’s progress toward
Executive Director business goals. Employee engagement was one of the areas on
Human Resources
Technology
which Cox focused.
Cox Communications
Cox has traditionally had very high engagement levels as tracked
by employee opinion surveys. Nonetheless, employee surveys
conducted before and after the HR system was put in place
suggest that it has contributed to a five-point increase in employee
engagement, from 82% to 87%, which is well above average
according to global business standards.
Cox is focused on ensuring that employees feel engaged—based
on their salary and compensation, support they receive from
senior management, and vision into the company’s strategy.
“We work to make it clear to our employees the impact that their
individual efforts have on the overall company. PeopleSoft
ePerformance helps to provide this visibility by allowing for
alignment of our strategic company goals through to each
employee’s individual goals. Each employee can now see how
what he or she does on a daily basis works to support Cox’s
success. Ultimately, this helps us to support our employee
engagement efforts,” Govednik said.

Improving Recruiting Performance
In the competitive communications industry, Cox needs to recruit
high-end talent to provide quality service to its customers―even
in leaner economic times. Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise
Candidate Gateway has helped Cox to improve its recruiting
process. For example, by reducing the number of clicks involved



in the online application process, PeopleSoft Enterprise Candidate
Gateway makes it easier for outside candidates to apply for jobs.

Govednik has received positive feedback on the online application
process, noting that, “Applicants like that there is communication.
We let them know when we get something from them and we
keep them informed on the process.”
Internally, PeopleSoft Enterprise applications also make jobs
more visible to employees and provide career path choices
available to them.
PeopleSoft Enterprise Candidate Gateway integrates with
PeopleSoft Enterprise Talent Acquisition Manager, which
provides an easy-to-use dashboard to enable recruiting teams to
have full access and visibility into open requisitions and internal
and external candidates and provides managers with a more
streamlined process.
“We had to provide managers with a more streamlined, easy-to-
use application for recruiting,” Govednik said. “With PeopleSoft
Enterprise Talent Acquisition Manager, they can now more easily
create requisitions and view potential talent for their open
positions.”

The automated system has saved time in sharing application
information among managers, and the managers can now
communicate more efficiently with each other and the HR
department regarding recruiting. Overall, the system has
accelerated communication with managers by 30%. In addition,
available positions are posted approximately 30% faster than
before.
Prior to implementing PeopleSoft Enterprise applications, Cox’s
recruiting process was paper-based, which put the company at a
greater risk from a compliance and legal standpoint. It was a very
time-consuming and difficult process for the HR department to
consistently track and report on the recruiting and hiring process.

“We can now report accurately and efficiently on things like the
best referral sources, average time to hire, and many other
important metrics,” Govednik said.

Driving Improvements in Performance Evaluation
To improve the performance evaluation process, Cox has
deployed Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise ePerformance. Initially



“Even at this early stage, rolling out the application to a pilot of approximately 3,000
we are able to see a more employees, Cox is nearing completiong of extending it to all
complete picture of exempt employees. The application helps employees and
what’s happening around managers improve the performance evaluation process by
performance, and developing objectives in the system and tracking them throughout
managers are able to have the year—not just during year-end or mid-year reviews.
better coaching
Prior to implementing PeopleSoft Enterprise ePerformance, the
conversations with
company had struggled to ensure that employees were reviewed
employees to help them
regularly and consistently. Now, they are able to monitor and
grow.”
know that all 5,000 to 6,000 exempt employees receive
Erin Govednik
Executive Director evaluations. Once users get accustomed to the application,
Human Resources Govednik expects it to accelerate the administrative tasks
Technology involved in the performance process.
Cox Communications
“Even at this early stage, we are able to see a more complete
picture of what’s happening around performance, and managers
are able to have better coaching conversations with employees to
help them grow,” Govednik said.

The HR department has received positive feedback from
employees about the increased consistency of the performance
review process.

“We chose to pilot only a portion of the population at the end of
2008, and we encountered a lot of pent up demand from the
groups that did not get to participate,” Govednik said. “They saw
the benefit of being able to have more visibility and track
performance throughout the year, rather than just complete a one-
time evaluation at the end of the year. It is much harder to prepare
for a once-a-year review with paper-based documentation than
having conversations throughout the year and documenting notes
electronically. Employees are definitely happier with the e-
performance application.”

Standardizing Time and Labor
Cox has also significantly improved its timesheet processes with
Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Time and Labor, which replaced
an outdated Kronos system that was no longer supported and
relied on discontinued time clocks that the company could no
longer replace. Cox chose PeopleSoft Time and Labor for this
process because it is fully integrated with PeopleSoft Enterprise
Payroll for North America and was a more cost-effective option



than upgrading Kronos. Now, Cox’s time-and-labor systems are
Web-based and provide managers and employees with advanced
reports.
“We saw the time-and-labor project as an opportunity to further
standardize our pay practices,” Govednik said. “With PeopleSoft,
managers follow a set of standardized procedures, which leads to
more accurate payment for our employees and fewer corrections.
In addition, our managers are taking advantage of the ability to
audit and check employee time with more advanced tools.”
She added that Cox has now implemented more flexible work
options and paid-time-off rules, which was too difficult to
implement with applications prior to PeopleSoft.

Maintaining Accurate Compensation Data
To track and present compensation data, Cox has used Oracle’s
PeopleSoft Enterprise eCompensation for several years at its
headquarters. The company recently extended its use of the
application to field employees. The company also rolled out
Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise eCompensation Manager Desktop
to provide managers with more visibility into compensation
processes.
“We partnered with the field leaders and there was a high demand
for rolling eCompensation out further,” Govednik said. “So, now
70% of our employees are evaluated through the application, and
we’ve received a great deal of positive feedback.”

Previously, Cox used a manual, spreadsheet-based process, which
involved its local cable systems gathering data around the end of
the third quarter, manually sorting and analyzing it, and then
submitting it to headquarters. With employees being promoted,
terminated, or moved to different positions, the process required
significant data clean up. Not only was this time consuming, but
the data became outdated very quickly.
Cox has streamlined and accelerated compensation processing and
improved accuracy. Also, the company has eliminated many
paper-based processes, which reduces waste while improving
efficiency.



Overall, PeopleSoft Enterprise eCompensation and PeopleSoft
Enterprise eCompensation Manager Desktop, combined with
PeopleSoft Enterprise Time and Labor have contributed to a
savings of about 1% of Cox’s payroll, due to eliminating
overpayment and other payroll errors.

Mining Useful Data
The next phase of Cox’s HR transformation is to leverage
analytics to truly understand and narrow down the integrated data
available to incorporate actionable “people” metrics into critical
business operations.
“We hit a maturity point as a company at which time we were
producing significant amounts of data and metrics, but were not
really getting to those key data points that people cared about,”
Govednik said. “We realized that we needed to look at how to
identify and share the right information that will make a
difference in the way we make business decisions.”
Cox is currently involved in an Oracle Insight engagement to
determine which metrics it should be measuring going forward
and how best to track them.
“We’re not just focusing on tracking your typical HR metrics like
cost to hire, time to hire, and turnover, or on just pure business
metrics. It is really about putting the two together to find some
metrics that might really make a difference. For example, one
we’ve looked at early on is the ability to target the right mix
between contractor and full-time labor in terms of satisfying both
customer service objectives and strategic objectives,” Govednik
said.

Why Oracle?
Cox selected and has continued to utilize PeopleSoft Human
Capital Management Suite applications because they offer the
greatest amount of functionality based on the company’s long-
term vision and provide a solid HR platform for workforce growth
plans.
“We found no other solution provider offering a completely
integrated end-to-end HR platform that would significantly reduce
our total cost of ownership,” Govednik said. “Oracle is a long-
term strategic partner to Cox and it understands our business and
functional needs based on industry and best-practice
requirements.”



Implementation Process
In 2002, Cox began its transformation effort to address its
disparate HR systems, which did not provide a corporate-level
view of key HR processes and data. The company had a large
enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but was only utilizing
the payroll and basic HR functions. The system also included a
variety of third-party applications that were not integrated to core
HR data and required manual processes. Without clear access to
accurate data, managing HR systems and developing related
metrics was very difficult.

Cox moved to release 8.3 in 2002 and upgraded to PeopleSoft
Human Capital Management 8.9 in 2006 which supported its HR
systems journey to become a company with leading-edge
technology for all employees and useful data for business
analysis. With more than 195 locations across the U.S., all on a
single instance of PeopleSoft, the company embarked on an
upgrade to dramatically enhance the recruiting processes and to
position itself for the future migration to Oracle Fusion.
Cosponsored by Govednik and her IT counterpart, Jonathan
Commanday, and executed by a team of 18 employees and seven
independent contractors, the upgrade from PeopleSoft Human
Capital Management 8.3 to 8.9 took just one year.

One of the vital project drivers was to reduce customizations in
the system. During the upgrade, Cox was able to maintain
moderate levels of customization to meet this goal. In some areas,
such as payroll, Cox was able to significantly reduce the number
of prior customizations.
Since the upgrade, Cox implemented PeopleSoft Enterprise Time
and Labor in early 2008, expanded its use of PeopleSoft
Enterprise eCompensation, rolled out PeopleSoft Variable
Compensation, and then implemented PeopleSoft Enterprise
ePerformance starting with a pilot late that year.
In 2009, Cox also plans to deploy Oracle Business Intelligence
Enterprise Edition as part of a company-wide strategy to
consolidate its business reporting tools to improve efficiency and
reduce the maintenance burden.



Upon reflecting on the path that Cox has taken over the past
several years, Govednik explained, “By streamlining all of our
processes onto Oracle software, we’re now on a more streamlined
and clarified migration path.”

Advice from Cox Communications
Do not underestimate the changes to employees and
managers as you push for self-service tools. Make sure you
understand the level of “touch” in your organization and what
the move to self-service will mean.
Be aware of the true speed at which your organization can
absorb change. Be realistic about how this maps to your
rollout plans.

As you make your systems and processes more integrated, be
aware that the HR department will need to operate and
provide support in a more integrated way.

As you move beyond core HR user tools, plan for more time
to focus on usability and “just what’s needed” training.

Cox Communications is a broadband communications and entertainment
company, providing advanced digital video, Internet, telephone and wireless
services over its own nationwide IP network. The third-largest U.S. cable TV
company, Cox serves 6.2 million residences and businesses. Cox Business is a
facilities-based provider of voice, video and data solutions for commercial
customers and Cox Media is a full-service provider of national and local cable
spot and new media advertising. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates
Travel Channel. Cox is known for pioneering efforts in cable telephone and
commercial services, industry-leading customer care and its outstanding
workplaces. For six years, Cox has been recognized as the top operator for women
by Women in Cable Telecommunication; for four years, Cox has ranked among
DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity; and the company holds a perfect
score in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. More
information about Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox
Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com and www.coxmedia.com.


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