{"id":106238,"date":"2020-06-17T14:53:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/swiss\/?p=106238"},"modified":"2024-08-15T16:33:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T16:33:18","slug":"sap-switzerland-digitalizes-the-processing-of-reduced-working-hours-payments-in-swiss-cantons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/swiss\/2020\/06\/sap-switzerland-digitalizes-the-processing-of-reduced-working-hours-payments-in-swiss-cantons\/","title":{"rendered":"SAP Switzerland Digitalizes the Processing of Reduced Working Hours Payments in Swiss Cantons"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAP NEWSBYTE \u2013 June 17, 2020<\/em><\/strong> \u2013<\/strong> The authorities in the Swiss cantons of Aargau and Zurich are using digital aids to speed up the accounting and payment of reduced working hours compensation following a surge in applications due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the heart of their digital solution is a Web form with a bot that transfers data to the Swiss federal government\u2019s accounting system. The software bot, which is based on the SAP solution for intelligent robotic process automation (RPA), automates various steps in the payment process and thus ensures that compensation for reduced working hours reaches applicants quickly. At the same time, the solution massively reduces administrative workload. The solution was commissioned by the Canton of Zurich and is now also being used in the Canton of Aargau.<\/p>\n

Zurich initiative fosters digitalization and automation<\/strong><\/p>\n

When lockdown began in mid-March, the number of applications for reduced working hours shot up to more than 10,000 almost overnight: That meant that, over a period of three months, about 30,000 payments would need to be processed. Fabian Ruhl\u00e9, head of the public unemployment insurance fund in the Canton of Aargau, knew straight away that the fund would be unable \u2013 with its existing personnel resources and processes \u2013 to handle the predicted volume quickly enough. \u201cNevertheless, we must aim to process approved applications as quickly as possible, so that money can be paid out swiftly and cases of financial hardship avoided,\u201d says Ruhl\u00e9, summing up the purpose and rationale of the Swiss government\u2019s COVID-19 compensation payments for employers.<\/p>\n

Instead of spending months developing its own solution, the Canton of Aargau was able to access a digital solution that the Office for Information Technology and the Office for Economy and Labor in the Canton of Zurich had developed with SAP and Prodyna and had begun operating successfully. During this project, the existing \u2013 entirely manual \u2013 process between companies applying for reduced working hours, unemployment insurance funds, and the systems at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) (as the payment agency), was enhanced with intelligent technologies and extensively automated. In cooperation with SAP and Prodyna, an e-form was developed from which a software robot extracts the necessary information, feeds it automatically into the SECO payment system, and enters the payment data, thus avoiding manual transmission errors. Overall, the solution being used in the Canton of Zurich is ensuring that the unusually large volume of applications for reduced working hours compensation can be processed quickly.<\/p>\n

Payouts within two days<\/strong><\/p>\n

It took just two weeks \u2013 from kickoff to go-live \u2013 to implement the digital solution. \u201cWe were able to reduce our workload by about 75%; we only need additional staff resources on an ad-hoc basis, and we can get payments to applicants within two working days,\u201d says Ruhl\u00e9, summing up the outcome for the applications processed using the e-form. He is also delighted with the consistently positive feedback companies have given. And he describes the experience that other government authorities and SAP were able to pass on from the project in the Canton of Zurich as \u201cvery helpful\u201d \u2013 evidence that the federal style of innovation works: One canton develops something and shares it with the others.<\/p>\n

Web form and software robot<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Switzerland\u2019s economic powerhouse, the Canton of Zurich felt the impact of lockdown particularly strongly. In economically calmer periods, the Office for Economy and Labor there receives about ten advance notices of reduced working hours every month. That figure shot up to 30,000 applications in March and had reached more than 32,000 by the beginning of June. Given an average processing time of 25 minutes per application, it would have taken weeks to process them all \u2013 even if there had been a massive increase in staff numbers. Hansruedi Born, head of the Office for Information Technology in the Canton of Zurich, helped make the idea of using digitalization and automation a reality: \u201cWe recognized immediately that a robotics approach with a link to the government\u2019s accounting system was a promising solution.\u201d In a joint effort involving the various government offices and authorities, and in collaboration with SECO, the canton was able to digitalize its manual process in 14 days and avert the threat of a backlog.<\/p>\n

The new digital process is based on end-to-end automation powered by two components:<\/p>\n