Good practice guide

Each NHS organisation is likely to have its own system for approving, creating and amending positions within its structure (for example. vacancy or establishment control processes).  By making sure that information and communication flows are working effectively, this process can lead to improved data quality and system efficiency.  Based on the experience and expertise of NHS organisations, some suggestions that can improve or benefit internal systems are listed below.

A clear and documented  checklist process for managing positions is most effective.  Working with other teams to establish what information is required at each stage of the process improves communication and relationships. Such processes can also ensure that recruiting managers provide the right information, in the right format and at the right time.  Approved forms and documentation also improve the process audit trail.

It is also important to ensure that there is effective documentation available to the team responsible for creating or amending positions on ESR, to improve consistency and knowledge sharing as well as data quality.

By being consistent when entering data, particularly when there is more than one person responsible for creating positions in a team or organisation, it will be easier to understand the information created and maintain data quality.  It is also easier to amend groups of records if they have been created consistently.

Within organisations there are often additional teams who require access to the information within positions on ESR.  For example, the Training and Development team might require a list of staff by Job Role or Occupation Code, the Workforce Information and Planning team might create reports for the Executive Team or Board on the number and type of staff.  It is therefore important to establish these information needs and communicate any data issues or amendments.

The timing of data entry and extraction is also important.  Information for Finance, Payroll, training courses, or new starters could be required at various times in the information cycle. Documenting these requirements and the timetable involved in ESR updates can prove very useful.

Position information needs to be accurate for data quality purposes, but it also will be seen by employees on any internal communications that use Position information.  Fields such as Position Title should therefore have consistent naming conventions, perhaps only including information that the person would want others to see (for example  not including their Agenda for Change band.)  For example, Staff Nurse Ward B might be preferable to XN05 Staff Nurse Band 5 N6A Ward B.

The workforce classification data is used within ESR Workstructure reporting but also within other ESR functionality such as Oracle Learning Management System (OLM) and externally with other linked systems such as NHS Jobs and the Deanery interface.  This wider usage and exchange of data with other systems therefore means that data on ESR needs to be as accurate as possible.