Our client, a leading event staffing company operating across Europe, faced an administrative challenge in complying with Belgium’s strict employment laws. With thousands of employee status changes every month, they needed a more efficient way to automate the staff declaration process required by the Belgian DIMONA system. HeadChannel delivered a custom-built solution that seamlessly integrated their staff management platform with DIMONA, saving time, reducing errors, and ensuring compliance.
The Challenge
Belgium requires businesses to register every new employee, as well as report any changes in their work schedules, to the government through the DIMONA system. For our client, this manual process was overwhelming, as their workforce frequently experienced changes in shifts and employment statuses. Every change required staff to input data into the DIMONA system manually, a time-consuming task prone to human error. Non-compliance carried severe penalties, including hefty fines, so accuracy and timeliness were critical.
Key challenges included:
Manual Data Entry: Thousands of monthly updates required significant administrative time.
Risk of Errors: Manually transferring data from the HR system to DIMONA risked inaccuracies.
Compliance Pressure: The company faced strict legal penalties for any mistakes or delays.
Efficiency: Administrative resources were being drained by a repetitive process that could be automated.
Why HeadChannel?
The client had already been working with HeadChannel on a large IT project and trusted our ability to deliver innovative solutions. They turned to us for this critical integration challenge, confident that our experience in developing complex recruitment and HR solutions would provide the right answer. Our expertise in systems integration and automation positioned us as the ideal partner to streamline their DIMONA process.
Our Approach
To meet the client’s needs, HeadChannel designed and implemented an automated solution that would integrate their existing staff management system with the Belgian DIMONA platform. This allowed all changes in employee statuses, new hires, and work schedules to be automatically uploaded to the government system in near real-time.
Here’s how we approached the project:
Design and Prototyping: After analysing the client’s data structure and understanding the requirements of the DIMONA system, we created mockups and prototypes to demonstrate the integration process.
Data Mapping and Automation: We developed a sophisticated data-mapping system to handle over 700 fields and ensure that every update was seamlessly and accurately transferred to DIMONA.
Secure Data Transfer: We implemented SFTP communication with secure digital signatures to ensure that all data transfers were encrypted and compliant with legal standards.
Digital Signatures: Using .NET cryptography tools, we ensured the documents sent to DIMONA were digitally signed and verified for added security.
Error Prevention: We built fault-tolerant measures to prevent disruptions if the SFTP server lost connection, ensuring that declarations were only sent when the system was stable.
Testimonial
“For one thing, the Belgium government hadn’t provided any APIs. For another, DIMONA was highly complex — and there was no proper documentation,” .“The only way to solve this was for us to dig deep into the system. So we got to work.”
Radoslaw Chmielewski
Project Manager, HeadChannel
The Outcome
HeadChannel’s solution has transformed the way the client manages staff declarations in Belgium. With automation now handling thousands of monthly updates, the business is experiencing significant time and cost savings while minimising the risk of errors and legal penalties.
Key results include:
Time and Cost Savings: Hundreds of hours are saved each month as the automated system handles all DIMONA declarations with precision.
Compliance and Security: The automated process eliminates the risk of human error, ensuring accurate and timely reporting while adhering to GDPR requirements.
Operational Efficiency: The client’s administrative burden has been greatly reduced, freeing up resources to focus on higher-value tasks.
Future Growth: With this success, the client is now exploring further automation opportunities to improve efficiency in other areas of their operations.
About MP
MP is a prominent European company specialising in event staffing solutions across various industries. With a strong presence in the UK and mainland Europe, MP provides innovative, technology-driven talent management systems that help businesses streamline the recruitment and management of temporary and seasonal staff. Known for their expertise in automating staffing processes, MP supports a wide range of clients, from corporate events to hospitality sectors, ensuring efficient, compliant, and scalable workforce management. Through cutting-edge software solutions, MP continues to lead the way in transforming the way organisations manage their talent pool and staffing operations.
