Fingrid is very development-oriented and robotics development is part of the company strategy. “Not many people think of the HR unit first when considering how to utilise robotics. However, we have a lot of routine work, such as checking Excel tables, that is very monotonous for people,” says HR Manager Sonja Heiskanen.
A quick transition from idea to implementation
The Tero robot was tested and introduced to the work – in other words, programmed – with the help of subcontractor KnowIt and Fingrid’s ICT Specialist Hannu Sintonen.
“Now Tero does two types of work in the payroll process: checking holidays in the working time monitoring system and checking the correctness of overtime entries. This means that Tero has been taught the rules for overtime work contained in the working hours legislation,” says Heiskanen.
In the early stages, Tero Tiima is still turned on manually but it already works at night.
“During the next few months we also intend to automate the process of turning the robot on,” says Sintonen.
We joke that if Sonja is Tero’s boss, then Hannu must be his mentor.
“The logic that traces Tero’s test automation has built-in error checks so that the work doesn’t get held up by minor errors. If some other problems appear, the run is interrupted and I automatically receive a message,” explains Sintonen.
The robotics project started last spring and Tero was already working in September.
“Our project was carried out in a small team and didn’t require any large investments,” confirms Heiskanen.
Tero Tiima will have colleagues in the future
“It’s great to be able to use test automation tools to help our staff by eliminating routine work and freeing up their work time for more productive tasks. This is the first showcase and it was built on the idea that our organisation can make greater use of it in the future,” summarises Sintonen.
Heiskanen nods in agreement:
“Tero certainly won’t be our only robot employee. It’s really nice to set an example in the company regarding the use of robotics and be able to describe our positive experiences to other units.”
The sensible and successful use of robotics is also sure to encourage other new talents to apply for work at Fingrid. •
