Building your business case for VettingGateway
Updated: Nov 9, 2021
We’ve all been there… You’ve been struggling with background checking your employees for years and your management team have now offered to allocate spend to a solution, if you can find a tool that will help.
Hurrah, you’ve found a solution, but the difficulty now lies with building your business case and justifying your decision to get your dream solution signed off.
You’re in luck, our senior management team have thought about what questions they would ask if VettingGateway were to be presented to them as a new business solution to improve background checking processes .
Is VettingGateway actually going to save time compared to the current process, is the change and investment worth it?
The short answer is yes. First and foremost, automation is the key to saving time - There is more automation in VettingGateway than any competing product! Our high level of automation allows the same productivity with a significantly reduced headcount.
We’ve listed some of the core functions that will directly save you time;
Inviting applicants – This is quick and easy as it can be done in bulk! The system also automates applicant engagement and follow-up (they often need some timely reminders) and steers them through the process to provide their information for checking.
Reference creation – It’s lightning fast! Dozens of reference requests can be created and sent at the same time using a selection of pre-configured templates, or the ones you’ve saved to the library yourself.
Reference chasing – This is automated to remove the need for your involvement in as many cases as possible. As standard this is set to three automatic chases, but you can configure this to your business need.
Processing and storage – You have maximum use of our technology to swiftly process and store incoming references, whether received digitally or through the post!
Automated completion of application forms – As the only software to integrate with AirportGateway, data is loaded directly and automatically without human effort and without errors, to complete an ID pass application (this alone saves up to 30-mins per application)! It can also complete any other paper application form automatically.
3rd party integrations – We have proper integrations with 3rd parties (DBS, GSAT, AirportGateway) meaning that these ancillary workflows are totally hands-free.
Error-checking – This feature exists across the platform to find and highlight problems, nipping them in the bud avoiding time-burnt later in the process.
Audit trail - The audit-trail for each component of the background check is built automatically, giving reliable source of truth for who did what, when and how – without you having to lift a finger!
How easy is it to set-up VettingGateway?
If you’re happy to roll with the recommend default settings suggested by our industry experts, then you’ll be up and running instantly. If you want to bespoke the platform, then a little set up time is required, but this is very modest and a one-off requirement – we’re mostly checking that you’re happy with your personalisation options.
Getting your referencing staff set-up is as simple as inviting them to create an account and then they can be assigned workload automatically. As mentioned above many templates for UK airports are provided, so you won’t need to set these up.
Will the tool work efficiently for my current business process?
Absolutely! From our experience in high-volume referencing within UK aviation, we ensured that our platform was designed around the most efficient workflow.
While built to the most efficient standards, the system is powerful enough to be configurable to your own preferred order of working too – and to manage different workflows across different members of your team (based or their role or experience-level).
Will my applicants find it easy to upload their details?
Yes, because we follow government best practice guidelines for form-filling and data-extraction from members of the public. We break the process into easy bite-size pieces for the applicant, and check their data-entry as they progress, working towards our moto of ‘getting it right first time’ referencing.
Is my applicant data safe?
Yes, VettingGateway uses the same cloud services as numerous Government departments and blue-chip companies. Security and identity protection sit at the heart of the platform, with numerous measures in place to prevent unauthorised access to data.
Only users within your company who have been given the right permission levels will be able to view applicant data. This further increases the security levels in compliance with GDPR, as you can segregate views across departments and teams.
How does it help to keep the applicant engaged and motivated?
Firstly, the system is branded to your company, psychologically making the applicant feel “at home” from their first login experience, reducing the anxiety of using a new system. For the applicant, the process of providing their personal data for checking is designed to be as quick as an easy as possible keep the applicant engaged from start to finish. We also have a communication suite, which embraces text messages, Whatsapp and Facebook messenger, to make communicating with each applicant quick and aligned to their preferences – this eliminates the prehistoric methods of email/postal comms only.
How easy will it be for me to see what needs doing next (i.e. keeping on top of my workload)?
We are confident to say that VettingGateway is the most intelligent referencing tool on the market.
Our intelligent ‘workload management’ feature reduces administration overhead by using AI and eliminates procrastination! The workload management function prioritises task for teams (and individuals) based on logics and rule sets (i.e SLA’s and obtained references), all of which can be customised and edited. What’s more the AI works 24/7, so every time a factor changes the workload management tool reassess priorities and distribute workload accordingly.
We distinguish roles and give greater visibility and useful MI to senior users who need an overview of progress and productivity. Our unique functionality also allows lesser experienced referencing agents to work with complexed applications.
What can the system do to help with sticky / non-responsive referees?
Our automated chasing keeps sticky / non-responsive references to a minimum.
Providing reference templates in formats that suit that referee is crucial in ensuring that references are obtained quickly and with accurate information. This is why all of our manged and custom reference templates can be sent to referees via post, email or an online link. When things slow-up, references can be re-requested by alternative methods, or redirected to alternative referees. Auto-notifications to applicants can also be used to leverage their assistance.
Where are the “wins” in terms of preventing wasted efforts?
With our ‘Verified Referees’ tool you can save time and stop chasing irrelevant contacts, by utilising our database of commonly used referees. Set up as many verified referees as you like and start getting references right first time. You can also over-ride data provided by applicants with the details of where specific references need to come from.
Technical controls in the software prevent tasks from being duplicated unnecessarily.
The audit-trail for each component of the background check allows vetting agents to act on fact, meaning that resource is not wasted on duplicating work or taking precautionary measures due to lack of clarity.
“Timers” exist to carefully judge and alert you when DBS checks and OCRCs need to be activated, based on minimising risk of certificate expiry. This is the same for GSAT too, based on when the applicant is “allowed” to undertake training.
The configuration to specific airports means that you won’t waste time accidentally using the wrong reference templates or making process decisions based on the wrong set of airport rules
How will the system control incoming references (simultaneously arriving by post, email etc)?
When email and online references are completed, the reference will be assigned to the correct applicant, made possible by our email tracking technology.
Our hard copy references also contain tracking in the form of a small QR code. When you receive a reference back in the post you can simply scan it into VettingGateway, and the system will automatically put the pages in order and assign the reference to the correct applicant. This is particularly useful if you have a large amount of postal references that have been returned, all of which need to be correctly matched and uploaded to their respective applicants. You can upload them in any order, all together, with the peace of mind that they will be assigned correctly.
How will the system manage quality-control prior to a pass application being made?
Our quality control module makes the process of reviewing and accepting incoming references quick and easy, with step-by-step guides to help even the least experienced team members undertake reliable quality control.
What happens if an applicant requests to see their references or delete their data?
The system is fully aligned to all principles of GDPR, giving applicants their entitled rights, which if exercised create data tasks for you to undertake as part of your organisation’s workflow. Clear notifications are sent to applicants and to your mot senior user(s) in relation to all applicant-initiated GDPR requests.
How do I ensure that costs are kept under control?
Our pricing is transparent, with a fixed subscription cost per user per month/year, of which only the most senior user within an organisation can control subscriptions.
Additional services that can be ordered in our “marketplace”, but the same principle applies that these add-on items can only be purchased by authorised users (or with POs, if that is your organisation’s preference). Some additional services can also be allocated across teams and ‘rationed’ where needed.
Billing information is available on the platform in real time, creating an immediate view of historical spend.
The information Provided by VettingGateway in this blog was published on the 12/11/2020, all information was relevant at the time of publishing however as our landscape is forever changing this information may not remain valid.
