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Lack of data caused frustration

The City of Izegem employs 315 people, spread across the city council, the Public Social Welfare Centre (OCMW) and the Housing Department. Together with her two colleagues in the HR team, Evelien Luyckx is responsible for personnel policy for all these employees. “When I started as HR manager three years ago, I noticed that there was hardly any proper data policy in HR,” she says. “Figures were hard to find and often unreliable. For someone with experience in the private sector, where data is crucial, that was a strange realisation.”

For Evelien and her colleagues, every request for statistical data therefore turned into a time-consuming and frustrating process. “We had to keep requesting data from our social secretariat at the time. They sent us Excel files that we couldn’t edit ourselves. We had to copy them into a new file, and so on. The reliability of the figures was also substandard,” says Evelien.

Need for real-time reporting

So there was a real need to professionalise data management. “Accurate figures form the basis for a targeted HR policy: only with the right data can we support managers across the various teams,” explains Evelien.

The switch to a new payroll service brought improvements, but reporting still lagged behind. Evelien set up an initial Power BI report herself, but the appetite for more remained. “To measure is to know. We wanted real-time insight into our workforce and movements, not just for HR, but also to be able to respond quickly to queries from the board.”

"Accurate figures form the basis for a targeted HR policy: only with the right data can we support the managers of the various teams."

Evelien Luyckx, diensthoofd HR bij Stad Izegem
Evelien Luyckx
Head of Human Resources, City of Izegem

Microsoft Fabric Kickstart

Inspired by colleagues in other local authorities and thanks to recommendations from the IT team, Evelien approached Savaco with this data challenge. Savaco proposed developing a Microsoft Fabric Kickstart. With such a kickstart, Savaco experts bring data sources together in a data warehouse within Microsoft Fabric, and you also receive an initial tangible report in Power BI, so you can get straight to work with all that data.

“Right from the very first intake meeting with Maxime, we had a good feeling. I knew: we don’t need to look for another partner,” says Evelien. “Even whilst we were working on our report, the contact with Savaco remained very warm.”

Read more about Microsoft Fabric

Clear KPIs, quick results

The collaboration went so smoothly that the requested report was delivered in just half the time originally estimated. “I knew exactly which KPIs I wanted to set up, so we already had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted. That made it a lot easier for Steve, Jasper and Eli from Savaco to put the report together,” says Evelien.

The result? A user-friendly Power BI dashboard that enables the City of Izegem to report figures quickly and reliably. “We were able to answer the first questions from the political side straight away using the Power BI report. Whereas we used to spend hours on Excel tasks, we now have data at our fingertips,” says Evelien. “For example, we can now see straight away in the report when payroll is finalised, which saves us a lot of work in terms of follow-up. Another example is monitoring the costs of sick leave. We can now respond to this more quickly, together with the managers of each department. That brings peace of mind and saves time.”
 

The impact extends beyond HR

The mindset within HR and the organisation is gradually shifting towards a data-driven approach. “We plan to share monthly reports with the council and senior management. In doing so, HR is currently playing a pioneering role within Izegem, alongside our colleagues in finance. But interest in data analysis is growing within our organisation, and I am convinced that other departments will follow suit.”

Collaboration as a key to success

For Evelien, one thing stands out: the collaboration with Savaco. “This was one of the few projects since I’ve been working here that went so smoothly. Thanks to the LB365 framework, we were able to get this project off to a flying start, and in Savaco we found a partner who listens, thinks along with us, and delivers. There’s a real drive within the Savaco team that I really appreciate.”

Want to base your HR policy on data? Discover the possibilities

Would you like to follow Evelien’s example and optimise your HR policy based on data rather than gut feeling? At Savaco, we understand the challenges you face and are happy to help you make data-driven HR decisions.

Find out more about HR analytics