How North Rhine-Westphalia is transforming its HR Management System to be accessible and future-ready
Developing the fully accessible HR management system, my.NRW, within SAP ERP HCM using SAP Fiori
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IT.NRW / Public Sector
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IT.NRW, the state agency Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen, is the central IT service provider for public administration and the statistical service provider of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The agency, headquartered in Düsseldorf, employs around 3,000 staff members.
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The competition for top talent extends to the public sector as well. While it might not always be expected, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia stands out as an attractive employer, fully capable of competing with the private sector. Alongside job security, employees can look forward to an innovative and dynamic work environment filled with meaningful tasks, where work-life balance and inclusion are highly prioritized. However, when it comes to employer attractiveness, even seemingly routine aspects like efficient and user-friendly HR processes play a crucial role. This is why the state of North Rhine-Westphalia decided to implement a new personnel management system to streamline HR processes and reduce administrative burdens.
The state agency IT.NRW, which serves as the statistical office and central IT service provider for North Rhine-Westphalia, manages and maintains all SAP applications for the state. Previously, this included the payroll system as well as Finance & Controlling. Recently added to their portfolio is the on-premise SAP ERP HCM personnel management system, "my.NRW," which has been under implementation since late 2019. Based on SAP Fiori, this system is being developed and implemented through a collaborative effort involving IT.NRW's SAP Competence Center, the agency movable.design, and the HR/IT consulting firm projekt0708. In this iterative process, movable.design is responsible for UX design and development, while projekt0708 oversees the technical implementation and development work within SAP ERP HCM.
The key focus in implementing the employee and manager self-services (ESS/MSS) is to ensure quick, intuitive, and most importantly, mobile and barrier-free access. The latter, in particular, has proven to be a challenging yet achievable goal.
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Consolidating Three Systems into One - Done Right.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia previously relied on three separate personnel management systems: one for general administration, one for the police, and another for the financial administration. These legacy systems were slated to be replaced by a new, centralized personnel management system—SAP ERP HCM, branded as my.NRW.
This new system is designed to encompass all the functionalities expected from a comprehensive Human Capital Management (HCM) solution, including digital personnel files, personnel and time management, and travel expense accounting.
The transition to my.NRW has several key objectives. The primary goal is to unify the state's personnel systems and harmonize personnel processes, thereby conserving resources and improving efficiency. Secondly, the new system aims to future-proof the state's IT infrastructure and processes. Additionally, well-functioning processes and self-service HR solutions are expected to boost employee satisfaction and enhance North Rhine-Westphalia's ability to attract top talent.
The transformation centers around creating a barrier-free employee portal, built on SAP Fiori, accessible to all state employees and retirees. This portal will allow users to perform tasks such as accessing payment statements or updating their personal information, like addresses.
Given the central importance of self-services and mobile access, SAP Fiori was selected for its optimized, user-friendly apps designed for quick and intuitive self-service use.
For the initial rollout, access via browsers on service hardware was planned, with future plans already in place for extending usage to personal devices (bring-your-own-device) of the users.
Accessibility was a non-negotiable requirement, reflecting both the state’s commitment to being an attractive employer and its obligations under the Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) in the public sector.
Early in the project, it became clear that SAP’s standard offerings alone would not meet all the requirements, necessitating custom solutions and developments. This realization led to the decision to bring in external experts for the technical implementation.
Accessibility: Where there's a will, there's a way.
Ensuring that people with disabilities are not excluded from daily life and work, but are genuinely included, is a key commitment of the North Rhine-Westphalia administration. As a result, my.NRW has been developed with stringent accessibility requirements. These requirements go beyond simply meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA conformity level; they also adhere to North Rhine-Westphalia's own, sometimes more rigorous, standards. In total, around 50 criteria needed to be considered.
A crucial aspect of accessibility is ensuring that the applications are fully readable by screen readers, which are essential tools for people with visual impairments. During the technical implementation, it became evident that SAP’s standard solutions are not always optimized for this level of accessibility and have certain technical limitations. For example, the standard time report is not accessible because it is always presented as a PDF file, which is not compatible with screen readers. Such challenges often necessitated decisions between compromising within SAP’s standard functionalities or developing custom extensions, which would then require ongoing maintenance by the project team.
Testing posed another significant challenge: the designs and their technical implementations needed to function flawlessly across different browsers, devices, and screen readers. A particular difficulty for the design team was that the individuals who create the designs are unable to fully test them, as doing so requires the presence of sensory or motor impairments.
To address this, a strict separation between design and testing was established, resulting in an internal review process to ensure accessibility in all applications. Additionally, my.NRW applications include features that allow users to easily provide feedback, facilitating quick and targeted improvements.
A Complex Implementation Challenge.
The project kicked off with a preliminary phase at the SAP Competence Center, where a Fiori Launchpad prototype was developed to assess the capabilities of the SAP standard. The numerous requests for changes and improvements quickly made it clear that a unique approach would be necessary. This was especially important because the new portal was intended to have its own distinct look and feel, rather than the typical SAP interface. To achieve this, IT.NRW brought on board movable.design and projekt0708 as key partners.
The project’s approach involved reimagining the applications from the user’s perspective. This meant not only redesigning the user interface but also ensuring process consistency and effective information management—essentially, determining what information users need at specific times.
Once the design phase was complete, projekt0708 took over the technical implementation, which included rigorous testing to ensure the solution met specific accessibility requirements. This process was repeated multiple times, evolving into an iterative and agile workflow characterized by close collaboration among all project participants.
A significant challenge during implementation was that the SAP standard isn't inherently designed to meet strict accessibility requirements. As a result, extensive modifications were often necessary, such as making deep changes in the Common Library to achieve the required accessibility standards. Custom libraries were created as part of this effort, including an Icon Library with universally applicable icons. The Fiori development process was also adjusted to better interact with screen readers, custom controllers were developed, and several other adjustments were made to ensure full accessibility.
my.NRW - A Portal for Everyone and Everything.
The most visible outcome for employees, retirees, and users is the my.NRW portal, where most HR tasks can be managed through self-service. Although built on SAP, the portal has a refreshingly unique design, as intended.
Around 15 Fiori apps have been newly developed or optimized to clearly present recorded times, absences, leave, attendance status, hour balances, and more in an organized layout. Employees can also submit requests directly through the portal.
To enhance the user experience, several useful features extend beyond the SAP standard. For example, time management data is consolidated into a personalized overview, messages and notifications include read/unread statuses, and technical and error messages come with troubleshooting guidance. Processes can also be easily initiated from a single overview.
To make using the my.NRW portal even more enjoyable, users are greeted with a personalized start screen featuring beautiful, exciting, and sometimes surprising views of North Rhine-Westphalia, provided by the NRW Tourism Association.
Reflecting on the Past, Looking Ahead to the Future.
From a developer's perspective, creating accessible apps was a challenging project that often required diving deep into SAP Fiori to find effective solutions. However, it's very gratifying to see that this critical initiative is not only feasible but also well-received by users.
As of July 2024, the new my.NRW portal is already in use across four authorities. The next phase involves adding more features and processes. In 2024, at least one more authority is set to transition to the new system, with the full rollout planned to begin in 2025. By 2028, all approximately 550 authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia are expected to have made the switch.