Success Story Labour Inspectorate

ITP Document Platform makes work easier for Dutch Labour Inspectors

The Dutch Labour Inspectorate promotes compliance with labour protection laws and combats labour market fraud. The Labour Inspectorate’s territory includes all commercial and non-commercial businesses and establishments in the Netherlands.

The Dutch public knows the Labour Inspectorate mainly through its inspectors. These hard-working employees are among the first to get involved with disputed labour conditions in a variety of organisations. Enforcement of the law, investigation of work complaints and industrial accidents, all require adherence to meticulous procedures and involve volumes of paperwork. Inspectors must compile reports and other documents on a daily basis.

Anything that makes this process easier, faster and more professional is a welcome benefit to both inspectors and anyone who comes in contact with the Labour Inspectorate.

Simplicity replaces complexity

For over four years, Aia Software has provided inspectors with a convenient and efficient tool for reporting and building other variable documents. The Dutch Labour Inspectorate uses the Intelligent Text Processing ITP Document Platform to make reporting as efficient and convenient as possible for busy inspectors.

The application quickly and efficiently collects all data that needs to be incorporated into a document. It maintains specific templates and composes documents for both electronic and printed output. Menu based selections and an intuitive interface make it easy for inspectors to work with ITP documents. Users can produce customised documents with greater effectiveness and flexibility.

“In the past, we used a complex method to get all of the information together. It worked, but the models for collecting data were extremely complicated from a technical point of view,” says Joris Sauter, information analyst at the Labour Inspectorate. “When new documents were needed due to social developments, it took a great deal of time and energy to produce them.”

The preferred choice -- again

The partnership has been so successful that when it came time to select a new business solution, the Labour Inspectorate again picked ITP for its integrated document output component.

Aia Software developed the current application in collaboration with Logica, a leading IT and business services provider. Document production in this application is now controlled from a process applicator. ITP/Server ensures that all required data items are collected quickly for incorporation into the document.

The application is an example of the business-owned, business-managed, IT-controlled approach to document management. With the new application, document maintenance such as modifications and updates no longer require the intervention of IT specialists. Inspectors can easily make changes themselves within the approved document framework. The new application also has an Internet-based structure with XML messages. This translates into a major boost in end user efficiency.

Dialogue prompts complete information capture

Jan Ruijter, head of the Information Provision department, is impressed with ITP as a tool for developing, printing and emailing on-demand business documents formatted in compliance with corporate identity standards. “We have been using ITP in combination with another application for over four years now. It is interactive, flexible and has an option for any document composition you want,” he notes.

In particular, explains Ruijter, the Labour Inspectorate is pleased with the dialogue between the document system and the inspector creating a letter. If not all the required data can be retrieved from databases; ITP launches a dialogue box requesting the missing information. This way, a new document can be created quickly without omitting any necessary content. With pre-approved modules, customised correspondence is easy to draw up within legal and corporate identity frameworks.

Productivity now, productivity later

An important issue in selecting the document platform was giving inspectors an option to store their in-process documents for completion later. Before, inspectors would have to prepare and complete a document in one sitting. This caused inconvenience and difficulty during the already busy workday.

The new version of ITP features an option to save documents at the end of the day giving users the option to continue working on them the following day or at some other time.

Uniform communication automatically

The government agency has a strict policy with respect to uniformity in communication. Letters from the Labour Inspectorate must clearly indicate the government as the sender and comply with other guidelines.

“We separated the layout and all the associated corporate identity formatting from the contents of the letter. This way, the same written representation is displayed automatically every time, regardless of the form of the document. This enables great efficiency, even with a database of 250 document types and a steady flow of new documents,” said Jan Ruijter.

“Now, time to market is much shorter for new developments that must be taken into account at the document level. Before, you had to name and describe a new document from scratch. That is not necessary any more. You are always working with the latest models”. Just as inspectors strive for optimal work conditions for the public they serve, ITP Document Platform has improved the productivity and efficiency of the inspectors themselves.

Case study quick facts

User: Labour Inspectorate
Supplier: Aia Software
Applications: ITP Document Platform (3.5.1) is a tool for composing on-demand business documents and correspondence. This software is distinguished by its end-user interactivity, and its layered architecture makes it simple and easy to modify templates and edit text blocks. Relevant text blocks appear automatically with all required information already displayed. If authorised, the end user can further edit the text. This system can compose large quantities of standardised documents formatted in line with the corporate identity, with the option to compose one-off, custom correspondence.
Number of users: 750 inspectors and others in the government agency
Main advantages: increased efficiency and comfort for users, very short development cycles, legally secure documents with room for customisation by end users.