Mark de Wit is the director of Identity Management for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Relationship Management at the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (IFH). Marlon Debidien works as a program manager at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). They have been collaborating for a year and a half on a project to integrate RVO into the Identity Management and Services process with IBIS. The pilot recently went live. Mark explains: “Our department supports the application process for (new) employees, from Rijkspas and accounts to iPads and phones—everything needed to do your job effectively. We use the IBIS application for this.”
ORGANIZATIONAL INTERESTS TAKE PRECEDENCE TO INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS
-Mark de Wit and Marlon Debidien
Overview and Insight
“At the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), we wanted more control over our authorization management,” adds Marlon. “When people join the company, they need to be assigned certain rights, authorizations, and resources, and when they leave, everything needs to be revoked. To manage this process better and more efficiently, we opted for IBIS, which is already in use at the Core Department. For RVO, we also automated the underlying processes as much as possible and started working with job profiles. We examined the entire organization—departments, teams, employees—and created a classification of employee types, corresponding to their formal roles. Based on this, we created job profiles together with management, which we then incorporated into IBIS. This allows us to make the entire application process smoother, faster, and more efficient, reducing the burden on managers and their support staff. We also maintain an overview and insight into what employees have at their disposal.”
Adding value
Mark: “We’ve designed the identity management systems of the organizational units to be generic. Each unit has its own unique characteristics, and we maintain that diversity at the detailed level. For example, the Netherlands Telecom Agency already uses IBIS for authorizations of several applications. At the same time, all organizational units can work under a single umbrella or grow towards it. I’m watching over that. And that’s where I see the bridge to the “Valuable Working” strategy. The beauty of it is that it encompasses the entire business operation, from account requests to room reservations or ordering boots. You can have a single requesting process for all of that. The organization is always leading; we start with the customer’s needs. Then comes the technology. Make sure employees can do their jobs. Automate as much of their chores as possible. That’s when you can add value.”
Collaboration
“The intensive collaboration between the various departments was crucial throughout the process,” says Marlon. “Not only between RVO and the Operations department, but also with suppliers like DICTU. We always kept the common interest in mind. In doing so, we carefully considered our own roles and their clarity. For Mark, that’s his director’s role, and for me, my business role as project manager.”
Future plans
Marlon: “We’ll evaluate the pilot after three to four weeks, and if it’s successful – after a week and a half, the initial feedback is positive – we’ll roll it out widely across the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Meanwhile, due to its generic nature, we can also deploy the system and our approach more broadly within the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), for example, has already expressed interest.”
“We also play a key role in knowledge transfer,” Mark adds. “I’m outlining the framework, the ‘umbrella.’ People are being trained and have to learn to think in terms of the chain. Most problems aren’t within applications, but between them. Customers are going to have different demands. You have to adapt to these changes. Previously, we had a management role, but now we work more from a chain perspective, together with the customer. From your corporate role, you have to manage these needs. Customer A wants this, customer B that, how does that fit together, and what are the consequences for customer C? How do you bring them together? My advice is: learn from each other.”
More tips
Mark and Marlon have even more advice. “Seek out each other, talk to each other, and make sure you do things together. Do it upfront and early, so you can find the common interest,” is Marlon’s tip. Mark’s tip is almost the same, to which he adds one more thing: “In collaboration, you sometimes accept that the benefit lies with someone else and that you bear a small burden. But the organization as a whole benefits. That’s how you serve the interests of the chain!”
Source: Rijksportaal EZ / Directie Bedrijfsvoering, 06-10-2016