The project team worked in an agile way, involving the right expertise from HR, IT, and the business units—and breaking the implementation down into clearly defined phases. The work involved listening to and incorporating needs from the organization and addressing any obstacles along the way. Grade recommended starting with the performance review, which quickly proved to be an effective first step in a phased rollout.

‘The performance review is something everyone is familiar with. It made the transition into the digital environment much easier.’
— Tobias Ågren, System Manager

Automation and master data – the foundation for long-term system management

A key success factor was the early decision to involve system management and IT from the very start of the project.

‘This is the first time we’ve been involved from the beginning. It has made everything more reassuring for users—and created a structure that will stand the test of time.’
— Tobias Ågren, System Manager

They established a robust master data management framework and integrated Grade with other systems within the region and with the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. The high level of automation ensures that:

• roles and skills are updated automatically
• managers receive the right information immediately
• data follows employees throughout their journey
• administrative work is dramatically reduced
• users benefit from a seamless experience
• systems are built on the same data, with a single source of truth that propagates across all platforms

‘Automation saves an enormous amount of time in the long run. Once everything is flowing, it just runs smoothly.’
— Peter Galianis, System Manager

A large-scale transformation journey driven by clear and effective communication

Västra Götalandsregionen is one of Sweden’s largest employers. Successfully delivering an implementation of this scale—covering 52,000 employees—required a strong and consistent focus on communication, stakeholder alignment, and shared ways of working.

Throughout the project, the project team carried out extensive internal communication efforts. These included regular meetings across the region’s 19 administrations, the establishment of HR networks with super users, weekly newsletters providing updates and roadmap visibility, FAQs addressing the most common questions to create reassurance, and open dialogue forums to encourage discussion and exchange.

At every stage of the rollout, designated representatives from the business were actively involved in testing and implementation. This work was led jointly by the project managers and system management, ensuring close collaboration between the project and long-term operations.

‘We have worked far more with communication than a System Manager normally would. It has been a key factor in bringing users along.’
— Linda Schultz Forsberg

The fact that adoption was voluntary—with no mandatory usage requirements—also meant that each administration had the opportunity to plan its own rollout. This posed a challenge for the project, as the team needed to clearly demonstrate how the system created value in order to encourage administrations to prioritize implementation and provide a compelling incentive to adopt it.

The advantage was a high level of engagement and the successful involvement of motivated representatives across all administrations who actively advocated for the system. This made the success even greater—we carried out the work together with the administrations.

Usage increased rapidly, driven by the clear value delivered and by the system itself meeting WCAG accessibility standards and being perceived as user-friendly.

The result: A data-driven region built on shared ways of working

In less than two years, Västra Götalandsregionen had:

• implemented digital support for development reviews across the entire organization
• established shared competency profiles covering employee roles, professional roles, and learning and training across the organization
• achieved a unified approach to skills and competency management
• enabled skills gap analyses and competency planning from day one of system go-live
• built a stable, modern, and automated system framework