People & Culture Transformation at Only About Children – how Glisk reduced complexity and improved compliance through expert digital transformation across Australia

CLIENT

Only About Children

LOCATION

Australia

INDUSTRY

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)

COMPANY SIZE

2,200

Partnering with Glisk on our HCM digital transformation has been an incredibly rewarding experience. Their team brought the right mix of strategic vision, technical expertise, and structured delivery to guide us through a highly complex initiative. What stood out was the calm and methodical approach of their project manager and business analyst – ensuring delivery was not only on time and within scope, but with an impressively low defect rate post-launch, which is a rare outcome in projects of this scale.

Glisk demonstrated a deep understanding of the nuances of our industry and were able to translate that insight into a modern, integrated solution that replaced a fragmented application environment. The result is a scalable, future-ready platform that has improved our operations, compliance posture, and employee experience. Their flexibility was another key differentiator – whether it was workshop facilitation, testing strategies or targeted specialist advice, Glisk deployed the right support at the right time. We're exceptionally pleased with both the outcome and the collaboration.

Andrew White

Director of Technology

Executive Summary

Only About Children (OAC), a leading Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provider in Australia, faced growing complexity in managing its workforce, compliance, and legacy systems across a network of 80 sites and 2,200 employees. With disconnected platforms and limited governance in place, OAC required a modern, centralised HCM solution that would enhance efficiency, compliance, and the overall employee experience.

Working alongside with Glisk, OAC successfully delivered a sector-specific digital transformation, implementing Springboard (ATS), Humanforce HR (HCM), and Humanforce WFM (Time and Attendance). OAC strengthened data governance, improved reporting capabilities and increased operational efficiencies.

The investment is projected to deliver a full return within 18 to 24 months, driven by system automation, lower agency reliance, and better workforce utilisation.

Challenge

Operating within a highly regulated and rapidly changing sector, OAC was grappling with significant operational inefficiencies. Its technology environment was characterised by disjointed systems with limited data connectivity, leading to duplicated efforts, process bottlenecks, and a heavy reliance on manual tasks – particularly during payroll cycles.

In addition, the organisation faced limitations in mobile access and lacked real-time visibility and flexibility in rostering and leave management processes, all of which contributed to a diminished employee experience.

Compounding these challenges, OAC’s existing workforce management system, Ento, was approaching end-of-support in 2025, prompting the urgent need for a more secure, and future-proof solution. The organisation sought to consolidate data sources, enhance data input, and strengthen governance and security across its operations.

Approach – Where Glisk Helped Only About Children

Glisk was engaged as the strategic consulting partner to guide the transformation and ensure delivery of a future-ready solution tailored to the ECEC sector.

Product and Vendor Selection

Led a comprehensive RFP process, gathering requirements from OAC’s Talent Advisory, People & Culture, Finance, Technology and Operations teams.
Evaluated solutions and recommended Springboard and Humanforce based on their compliance strengths, local sector alignment, integration capabilities, and ease of use.
Managed commercial and contractual negotiations with vendors to secure favourable terms for OAC.

Project Implementation

Oversaw project governance, delivery planning, and execution from start to finish.
Provided in-depth business analysis, including award interpretation and pay rule design.
Managed vendor onboarding, system configuration, data migration, testing, and rollout planning.
Ensured the system embedded complex compliance requirements into its logic and reporting structures.

Change and Embedment

Designed and implemented a structured, organisation-wide change management strategy to drive high adoption and minimise disruption across OAC’s national workforce.
Coordinated training, communication, and stakeholder engagement across OAC’s national campuses and corporate teams.
Supported the transformation post-go-live, ensuring proper governance handover and tracking of success.

Results

Compliance and Risk Mitigation

Integrated ATS, HCM, WFM, and payroll data into a single source of truth.
Incorporated 29 distinct pay classifications with full compliance to the Children’s Services and Educational Services Awards.
Replaced ENTO before its support sunset, ensuring system continuity, regulatory confidence and minimal disruption.
Established clear data ownership and governance across the new ecosystem.

Operational Efficiency

Enabled seamless data flow between business functions, drastically reducing manual effort and reliance on spreadsheets.
Reduced dependency on external agencies by improving rostering practises and staff utilisation.
Empowered the People & Culture team and business leaders with a centralised system to manage and access compliance requirements more efficiently.

Improved Employee Experience

Delivered a mobile-friendly platform with self-service capabilities for rostering, timesheets, and leave management.
Simplified processes for head office and campus teams, improving engagement and visibility.
Enhanced hiring and onboarding processes through intuitive interfaces.

Strategic Workforce Insights

Enhanced people analytics tools enabled better decision-making around staffing, resourcing, and cost control.
Positioned OAC as a leading Humanforce client in the ECEC sector, influencing future feature developments.

Conclusion

Through its alliance with Glisk, Only About Children successfully transitioned from a fragmented, high-risk HR and workforce ecosystem to a streamlined, compliant, and easy to use solution. This transformation addressed immediate compliance risks and laid the foundation for data-driven workforce planning, increased employee satisfaction, and leadership in technology adoption within the sector.

Glisk’s ability to scale its expert team, manage multiple stakeholders, and align people, processes, and platforms was instrumental to the project’s success. The result is a future-ready solution tailored to the unique needs of the ECEC sector—delivering measurable value today and setting the stage for continued innovation.

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