ROC of Amsterdam and Flevoland leads the way with RPA: “Robbie the Robot helps colleagues get through the annual peak rush!”
Over 2,400 hours of time saved per year
Faster response time and less workload in peak periods
Topdesk, AFAS, Eduarte
In 2019, Tacstone started a robotic process automation pilot project at the ROC of Amsterdam and Flevoland. With that relatively early start, the ROC was truly at the forefront of process automation in the industry. Now, more than two years later,
Process optimization in the ‘administration factory’
With over thirty thousand students, hundreds of programs and more than three thousand employees, ROCvA-F is the largest MBO institution in the Netherlands. The institute can without exaggeration be called an enormous “administration factory.” Every year, especially around the start of the new academic year, huge numbers of mutations have to be processed. Within a short period of time, thousands of registrations of new students have to be checked, processed and confirmed. Many hundreds of changes must also be made in personnel administration for teaching and support staff.
“For example, since 2019, we have had to deal with Admissions Law. Students must now apply for one or more studies before April 1. This resulted in an even greater peak of new applications than before. It temporarily caused a very high workload in our organization. Because we can process the applications almost entirely automatically thanks to RPA, our colleagues now suffer much less stress and work pressure. And the applications are also processed faster and without errors. So students receive confirmation of their registration sooner. And we avoid unnecessary complaints and questions about incorrectly processed applications.”
Erik Schreuder | Head of Student Affairs
Help from the indefatigable colleague: RPA
Robbie the Robot, as ROCvA-F employees have dubbed their digital colleague, has thus been welcomed with open arms. One of the reasons is that Robbie works 24/7, including nights and weekends. This reduces the workload in the department. At ROCvA-F, as at many other educational institutions, we see that the organization is struggling with the shortcomings of the existing ICT systems. In particular, the continuous adaptation of these systems to new services, or changes in laws and regulations, appears to be a bottleneck. Employees are therefore often forced to work with three, four or sometimes as many as five systems side by side in order to carry out their daily work.
“In the past two years we have discovered how we can use RPA as a technology and tool, even without adapting our current ICT, to significantly increase the level of automation. For us, RPA is therefore really a great new tool in our toolbox. This tool makes us less dependent on adjustments to our existing ICT systems. Indeed, by using RPA we can even improve the return from our existing systems.”
Mark Leummens | Chief Information Officer
Processes worked out in detail
A key success factor in the project proved to be the input of detailed process knowledge. In addition, the enthusiasm and willingness to learn and experiment among the employees directly involved. One of these ambassadors is Bianca Fidder, Functional Information Manager. With her detailed knowledge of processes and applications, the sometimes complex administrative processes could be recorded in detail. This including all associated decision rules and exceptions.
“I really enjoy being involved with RPA in addition to my regular work. I have become one of the RPA administrators in our organization and in that role I closely follow the performance of Robbie the Robot. Because even though our robot doesn’t go on vacation and is never sick, sometimes exceptions occur that we hadn’t anticipated. Or Robbie runs into unexpected problems with our ICT systems. In my role as RPA Supervisor, I identify disruptions in the robot’s work and make sure they are fixed immediately, so Robbie can get back to work quickly.”
Bianca Fidder | Functional Administrator
RPA Supervisor offers helping hand
Bianca and Robbie work closely together. Robbie is also a handler in TopDesk, which forwards reports to Functional Management as soon as a manual action is required. A convenient way to still have exceptions picked up manually by employees.
Thanks to Tacstone’s robotic process automation, ROC van Amsterdam and Flevoland has been able to make great strides in process optimization. As a result, processes run more smoothly, costing less effort and time. A win-win situation for both staff and students. Would you, like the ROC vA-F, also enjoy these benefits? Contact us soon to discuss how RPA can help take your organization to the next level.
