Suomi.fi Messages save time, reduce manual tasks and improve customer service in Hämeenlinna

Hämeenlinna families receive decisions and official messages related to early childhood education and care through Suomi.fi Messages now. With the introduction of the service, the use of e-services has increased, and customers receive important decisions and other official communications safely and quickly. Best of all, the introduction of the service did not require building the integration from the ground up, as Suomi.fi Messages were introduced through a software package already in use. 

Photo: Miika Kangasniemi / Hämeenlinna City

Cities make various decisions related to early childhood education and care all the time. Each year, Hämeenlinna gives approximately 10,000 placement decisions for early childhood education and care, service voucher decisions for private early childhood education and care, decisions on special support, decisions on client fees and various decisions related to changes in the need for care. 

Every decision must leave a trace and must be brought to the attention of the families quickly. Official mail concerning early childhood education and care in Hämeenlinna reaches a large number of customers immediately on the day the decision is made, thanks to Suomi.fi Messages, which have increased the use of e-services. The service has been in use for approximately a year now, and customers have welcomed it with open arms. 

"A large proportion of our customers already used Suomi.fi Messages, which made the change easy for them. If the service is not familiar to the customer, we will guide and help them use it", says Janne Orkola, Development Manager of Education and Welfare at the City of Hämeenlinna. 

Because the system supports mass sending of messages, decisions on pre-primary education, for example, can be sent to all families at the same time. Automatic storing of important documents in Suomi.fi Messages is also good customer service. 

Streamlining administrative work and saving time

The transition to Suomi.fi Messages has streamlined administrative work and freed up experts’ time for other tasks. For example, the decision-maker no longer has to worry about whether to send the information electronically or by mail, as Suomi.fi Messages automatically handles the distribution to the correct channel. Making a decision and clicking it to the outgoing queue is enough. 

"In early childhood education and care administration, decisions have previously been printed out, envelopes have been licked and addresses have been written by hand, but now the same process can be done through Suomi.fi Messages with just a few clicks. The personnel have adopted the service very quickly", says Service Planner Pia Linnakylä. 

Possible follow-up work was also made easier, as it is easy to check the system for errors. If it is necessary to continue communications with the customer, the City of Hämeenlinna now has a convenient and secure method for it. 

Software package saves time, effort and money

When implementing new services, the client often worries not only about the cost of the investment, but also about the time and effort involved in the development project. How was the process for Hämeenlinna? 

The City of Hämeenlinna has outlined that e-services must be considered as extensively as possible in all system projects. That is why the city had the foresight to look for a system supplier for the needs of early childhood education and care. Integration with Suomi.fi Messages was defined as one of the procurement criteria for the system already at the tendering stage. 

"Frankly speaking, the integration process was a little unfamiliar to us too, but we had heard good experiences from elsewhere, and that is why we thought that this had to be the way things are done in the future", Orkola remarks. 

Thanks to good foresight, Suomi.fi Messages was implemented in just over a month. The implementation was accelerated because the Päikky enterprise resource planning system already used in Hämeenlinna was ready for integration. When there is no need to build the integration from the ground up, you usually save not only time but also effort and money. 

Of course, a software package does not make things happen entirely by themselves—implementation requires applying for permits and filling out forms, and it is a good idea to reserve some time for the processing of them. However, the system supplier already having experience and expertise in Suomi.fi Messages makes things easier for the client. Close dialogue between the client, the system supplier and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency will also streamline the implementation. And the end result—it certainly is rewarding. 

"The introduction of Suomi.fi Messages has opened up a whole new world for us! The service saves time, reduces manual tasks and produces a lot of joy and benefits. My only concern is whether we have even discovered the full potential offered by the service. We are still in the early stages, but there is no way we would give this up anymore", Orkola concludes.