The social investment arm of recently-listed mining conglomerate, Gold Fields Ltd., is including messaging and workflow in its IT mix to streamline the process of funding rural African community projects. Gold Fields Foundation first chose to develop a Lotus Notes-based custom application in April last year after staff capacities reached maximum and the department risked slumping productivity due to a paper mountain. The system, designed and implemented by Datatec company, Logical Network Services, went live in October last year. Gold Fields has spent the months since measuring the success of the system. Junaid Essop, project leader, groupware systems at Gold Fields, says the Foundation typically receives over 100 applications for funding each month, approximately five percent of which meet the requirements of the company`s focus areas - namely education, health care, environmental awareness and welfare. "The evaluation process has traditionally been paper-driven, the main drawback being that qualifying an application took upwards of three weeks. Many applications are outside of our scope and much time was spent determining which should be rejected. "All project funding applications are now entered directly into the Notes system. We can qualify whether they meet the criteria and inform the relevant party within three days. This leaves us free to concentrate on those projects we can help." The Foundation`s primary focus is supporting projects based in the regional communities from which its operation`s employees hail - the West Rand, Kwa Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape. Projects of national importance and those which improve life in historically underprivileged, remote or rural communities are also supported. Its approach is rooted in the need for growth and an educational or training component is inherent to all projects. With such a broad focus and thousands of applications in the pipeline, it was difficult for the Foundation to manage information and ascertain the status of particular cases. Essop says the electronic system has radically altered that. "It is now possible for us to take a snap shot of our business process. We know exactly what is happening, when and who is responsible. This makes us more accountable and offers us a better indication of whether they are succeeding. "Project officers also spend a great deal of time in the field meeting people and evaluating projects. They need not even at head office for management to be informed of a project`s status. All staff can access the system to obtain data." Elaborating on management issues Essop says the Foundation regularly presents to the Gold Fields board and is reviewed for budgets and allocations. "Previously, collating a report stating in which regions we had supported projects, what community issues they focused on and how much had been allocated was nothing short of a nightmare. We had to search many files of paper. It could take almost a week to produce. "The new Notes system contains all that information; we can search on specific criteria and generate a report of the results. It might take ten minutes and it gives the board everything they need." In addition to project evaluation, tracking and reporting, Gold Fields Foundation is using Notes to establish a database of historical information on clients, a facet Essop believes was sorely missing from the previous set up. It is anticipated that this information could in future be used to analyse trends within rural community projects across southern Africa. "The Notes system has delivered the most important of business benefits - freeing our staff to focus on providing better service to needy rural communities. This is why we here," says Essop. Gold Fields` relationship with Logical Network Services began two years ago. Essop says Logical was the business partner of choice because of that strong relationship, its ability to deliver on time and the company`s belief in the Foundation`s ethics and values. Gary Swale, a director of the collaborative division at Logical, says any system which reduces a process from three weeks to three days has to make a major, positive impact on a business. "The Foundation has derived an enormous return on investment and is appreciating the benefit of a Notes solution. The decision-making processes have essentially been collapsed by the relatively simple electronic system and staff are free to focus on their core business."
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