Peab develops its time entry review process with Oracle AI
Peab Industri Oy wanted to develop its time-entry-to-payroll process and reduce the time-consuming work involved in investigating issues. A joint process review with Attido helped identify bottlenecks and select the first area for AI development: the review of time entries carried out by production coordinators.
The collaboration between Peab Industri Oy and Attido has progressed from migrating Peab’s Oracle environment to the cloud to modernising business-critical applications in Oracle APEX. They are now developing the time-entry-to-payroll process and bringing Oracle AI into production coordinators’ daily work.
A process review identified the first area for development
Development began with a review of the process as a whole. Peab and Attido examined the stages of the time-entry-to-payroll process and identified where manual work, data handling and the need to investigate issues were slowing progress. The review identified several areas for development, with time entry review selected as the first AI use case to implement.
Peab employees record their hours daily. Production coordinators’ review work, however, has been concentrated into two-week cycles, during which they review a large number of transactions at once and investigate errors in the entries. The work builds up, creating scheduling challenges when checking payroll transactions.
As time entries and related transactions affect the wages paid, data accuracy is essential. Missing or incorrect entries need to be identified and resolved before wages are paid. The development objectives were both to make the review work smoother and to support timely payroll processing based on accurate data.
From fortnightly reviews towards resolving exceptions throughout the pay period
The aim was to improve and simplify the review work. Instead of working through a comprehensive report every two weeks, production coordinators should be able to check entries throughout the pay period, ask questions about the data in natural language and focus on exceptions that require investigation.
By enabling issues to be addressed closer to the time of entry, the aim is to reduce the investigation work that accumulates towards the end of the pay period. This also allows specialists to focus their time on transactions that require closer assessment.
The AI assistant implemented by Attido supports this way of working within Peab’s existing Oracle APEX application environment.
Oracle AI brings a conversational interface to time entry data
The solution uses Oracle AI technology and enables production coordinators to explore time entry data through a conversational interface. Users can choose from predefined questions or ask their own. For example, they can find out who is missing a time-based pay entry for the period under review, then ask follow-up questions based on the answer.
The AI assistant supports data checks and highlights potential exceptions for the user to assess. The responsible staff continue to check data that affects payroll, assess findings and make any necessary corrections. AI helps focus the review work, while human expertise remains essential to ensuring data accuracy.
The first implementation provides practical experience of using AI
The time entry review assistant is the first AI use case implemented as part of developing Peab’s time-entry-to-payroll process. It provides an opportunity to gain practical experience of using AI in daily work.
“It was important for us to complete our first AI implementation and put it into use so that we can gain experience of using AI in our day-to-day work. This experience will help us assess where AI can be most useful and launch new AI projects. Our review of the time-entry-to-payroll process also identified other areas for development.”
Sirpa Karjalainen, Service Manager at Peab
The collaboration brought together process development and Oracle expertise in a focused implementation with a clear business objective. Peab’s existing application environment and the data it holds provide the foundation for a new way of working that supports more regular review of entries.
Attido
Attido is a Finnish consultancy specialising in Oracle solutions. We help businesses and public sector organisations develop their business processes and gain more value from their Oracle investments. We bring together process expertise, Oracle applications, data, integration and AI to create solutions that work – from planning and implementation to ongoing services.
Peab
Peab is a Nordic community builder with 13,000 employees and a turnover of EUR 5.4 billion. Through our local presence and our own resources, we develop and build everyday life. The Group’s shares are listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
