MQA SKILLS AUDIT COLLOQUIUM

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MQA SKILLS AUDIT COLLOQUIUM
HR PLANNING AND SKILLS AUDITS REFLECTIONS ON
IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE GEEVA PILLAY
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• If you dont know where you are going, any
  road will take you there. Where there is no
  purpose or plan it is like a ship without a sail
  or destination.
• 
  Munroe

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Conceptual Model of Human Resources in the Public
Service for Improved Service Delivery
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EVERY ORGANISATION NEEDS

• the right people, WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS, at the
  right place at the right time, all the time.

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• To better see the future, we need to first
  understand the present and our assumptions about
  it.

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KEY ASSUMPTION

• The basis of the foregoing is premised on the
  assumption that we all know what we want and
  need.
• That all Organisations use the same framework for
  skills audits as a point of departure.
• That the point of departure for WSPs, ATRs and
  TNAs are based on clear and consistent
  understanding of occupational profiles, job
  descriptions, post profiles etc.

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SOME CONSEQUENCES OF NO OR POOR AUDIT PROCESSES

• 1. Worker dont know what they are supposed to be
  doing.
• 2. They dont know how they are supposed to be
  doing it.
• 3. They dont know how well they are doing it.
• 4. They have not received any direction.
• 5. They have a poor relationship with the
  supervisor.
• Employers have limited decision making
  opportunities in terms of the available data
  quality
• Limited real time value and iterative

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What we did.. and What happened.

• Resolution 7 of 2002
• Policy and supportive guides produced to
  capacitate HR Management Development
• Focus Strategic and Operational Plans
• Human Resource Strategies
• Determination of Organisational Structures
• Compilation and review of job descriptions
• Performance Evaluation
• Implementation by Departments remains problematic

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Mandate of HR Connect Project

• In October 2004 President Mbeki asked Ministers
  whether the South African developmental state,
  was capacitated, organised and resourced to
  deliver on governments socio-economic
  objectives.
• The GA Cluster, headed by the dpsa, has since
  then been conducting sectoral capacity
  assessments aimed at identifying skills shortages
  and making recommendations to strengthen
  capacity.
• In January 2005 the Cabinet Lekgotla required of
  FOSAD to prepare a document reporting on the
  capacity of the organs of state to deliver on the
  policies already developed. The dplg was tasked
  to investigate the ability of the developmental
  local government to deliver on the developed
  policies while the Department of Public Service
  and Administration were to determine the capacity
  in the remainder of government.

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Mandate of HR Connect (2)

• At the same time the re-certificated PSETA
  required an Integrated Management Information
  System (MIS) that would assist it in accurate
  decision making, and thereby allow it to
  effectively facilitate skills development in the
  public sector.
• Customization and pilot of the PSETA MIS, to meet
  its legislative requirements provided the
  opportunity for DPSA HRD component to be able to
  report on the skills base in each department with
  a view to understanding the skill levels, in
  relation to the required posts, occupations and
  job profiles in terms of the Organizing Framework
  of Occupations (OFO) developed by DoL.
• The HRMIS was seen as the first step towards
  ensuring that there was accurate and consistent
  information, from which the DPSA, PSETA and
  departments could analyse, evaluate, report,
  forecast, model and plan in advance for skills
  needs within their own areas, for government and
  the public sector in general.

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Major Challenges

• Three major challenges since Resolution 7 (2002)
• Establishing effective management information
  systems.
• Inadequate resources to implement the HRD
  strategy.
• Understaffing of HRD components
• HR CONNECT introduced to
• Build Capacity in Departments
• Devise and implement process for HR Management
  and Development

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WE THOUGHT

• we needed a fancy bell and whistles system
• It was easy to collect the information required
  to populate system
• Defining the information requirements was simple
  qualifications, experience, knowledge, skills,
  attitudes, attributes, competencies
• Everyone would be just as excited as us.BECAUSE
  WE KNEW EVERYTHING

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What we found

• In nearly every instance skills audits are
• Outsourced
• reliant on service provider dependency models
• Driven by service provider methodologies
• Based on diverse and inconsistent criteria and
  parameters
• Static and rarely have real-time relevance
• Configured in terms of pre-designed COTS database
  design and functionality
• Based on insular and silo assumptions of posts,
  job profiles, qualifications, experience and
  competencies with almost no thought to the Macro
  perspective of the State or inter provincial,
  inter departmental and inter spherical movement
  of human capital.

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The Problem

• As a whole differentiated audit methodologies and
  systems present a number of problems
• Silo functioning, functional duplication and
  technological proliferation impacts negatively on
  the cost-effective spending of public funds
• Difficulties in the implementation of uniform
  norms and standards across specification
  criteria, methodologies, systems and operations
• Poor inherent methodological and systems
  interoperability and data non-aggregatability
  seriously compromises operational integrity and
  the generation of management information
• Diverse capabilities ranging from inadequate to
  functional of multiple systems each on its
  independent evolutionary path.

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Preliminary HR Connect Implementation Experiences

• Multiple HR Models No common approach to HR
  service delivery across / within the locations.
  Level of decentralization increases cost,
  complexity, and risk
• Data Management Data definitions are not
  consistent, and data entry/management is diffused
  leading to errors and a lack of integrity
• Compliance/Reporting Process and data issues
  limit compliance and reporting for key policies
  and procedures. It is difficult from both a
  business and technology perspective to obtain
  accurate reports across the system.
• Service Quality Service quality is inconsistent,
  redundant, costly and complex.
• Scalability Some locations are better prepared
  for adopting standard services than others
• Event Driven rather than establishment of
  embedded and sustainable processes

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REASONS WHY SKILLS AUDITS DONT YIELD EXPECTED
RESULTS
They are too ambitious
Unprepared for the negative.
Inflexible
Failure to Prioritise
They seldom if ever seek interoperability
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Revisit our assumptions and what we knew about
Skills Audits
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Recommendations

• Introduce well defined job profiles that inform
  performance assessment and related development
  plans advertisements for new appointments and
  career paths.
• Normalise job profiles with similar occupations
  in the Public Service.
• Quality assure HR assessment delivered by service
  providers and relate findings to personal
  profiles to inform development plans.
• Standardise and e- enable all compulsory HR
  reporting on normalised data to ensure report
  validity and limit impact of report generation on
  productivity.

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How HR Connect is it different?

• HR Connect is a
• Systems approach to dealing with the process of
  collecting skills information by
• utilising a common reference framework for
  skills audits which
• map out employer/organisational skills
  requirements and employee skills sets for
  improved management of the supply/demand
  equilibrium in real time
• The first time Government departments have worked
  together on a cross-government skills agenda
• Significant move towards a Government demand-led
  approach
• Strong framework for delivery in which the
  Government and its agencies work together
• Determination underpinned by political and legal
  mandates to deliver on a demanding change agenda.

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Overview of HR Connect

• Requirements to manage Human Capital Development
• A layered approach as opposed to a Big Bang
  approach
• Competence Profiles of People and Posts
• Ability to
• Compare two Profiles same reference language
• Refer to Standardised (National/International)
  Framework
• Manage Process that addresses the difference
• High priority on skills transfer and self
  sustainability
• Buy-in from all stakeholders to ensure continuous
  participation

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Overview of HR Connect Project
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Cabinet Lekgotla Decision 2007

• In January 2007 the Cabinet Lekgotla took a
  decision that all public service departments
  should apply a uniform skills audit process in an
  effort to build an understanding of the national
  integrated processes that have been decided upon
  by Cabinet and to eliminate duplication and
  wastage of resources within the public service.
• This decision emphasised the importance of having
  a single uniform and co-ordinated approach to a
  skills audit system which will be utilised within
  the entire public service.
• The content of this Cabinet decision is
• that there is consultation with the dpsa and
  dplg by those departments who are conducting
  their own skills audit and who are setting-up
  human resource information systems and
• the improvement of co-ordination and
  methodologies employed by other departments in
  skills databases and audits to establish a
  minimum baseline data field and to ensure
  interoperability and consistent data.

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Value of HR CONNECT
Rationale for Senior Management Support
Sustainable Process Central System real-time
management information
Shortened delivery loop Capacitate Personnel
Personal Profiles and Personal Development Plans
OrganizationStructures
Post Profiles
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Background HR Connect
Department Structures must be correct on PERSAL
Job Title and profiles must refer to output of
Posts
Each post must have a clear indication of outputs
and outcomes
Employee profile must relate to post competence
requirements
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Difference Job and Post
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Project Outline and Deliverables

• Organisation StructureMacro Structure Correct
• Parent - Child Relationships
• Financial Responsibility Codes addressed later

• Refine Titles
• Titles Resemble outcome
• Define
• Unique Jobs
• Generic Jobs

• Post ID Correct
• Correct Job Title
• Person in Post
• Structure Aligned

• Sustainable Process System
• PERSAL Operators
• OD Practitioners
• HR Practitioners
• SupervisorsSuper-Users
• Data Capturers

• Survey Forms
• Print Forms
• Distribute
• Individual Response
• Supervisor Interview
• Capture Data
• Data Capturers

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HR CONNECT 1 Process, 1 System, Multiple
Perspectives

• Workplace skills plans
• Personal development Plans
• Organisational structure
• Post profiles
• Job profiles
• Employee profiles

Aggregate of Depts. Sectoral Perspective Skills
Planning Learnerships ETQA DoL SAQA
PSETA MIS
C
HRCONNECT
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CONCLUSION
The significant problems in life cannot be solved
from the same mode of thinking that created
them