PINs (Public Initiative Networks) are public contracts aimed at deploying fiber in less dense areas of the French territory.
As part of the “France Très Haut Débit” plan, the French government plans to guarantee 100% broadband coverage by 2022. It is offering funding for PINs to cover 43% of the population (the remaining 57% being covered by investments of private operators in the framework of "agreed areas").
Most of the time, local authorities entrust the construction and operation of their networks to private companies with expertise in the field, also known as infrastructure operators (IOs) through various types of public contracts: public works contracts followed by a lease contract, public service delegation by concession, private-public partnership (PPP) agreement.
Network infrastructure operators sell their network access to marketing operators (MOs) who market them to the general public.
The contract signed between the authority and the IO includes obligations, such as marketing network access in a non-discriminatory manner to all interested operators. The agreement may also include a clause in the public procurement contracts, setting a quota of working hours for the deployment of the fiber by people eligible for the professional integration criteria.
Our client, an infrastructure operator, wanted to have an overview of its commitments to local authorities and assess the effectiveness of the professional integration measures implemented on the various PINs that the client manages.
Challenge
The client commissioned Sofrecom to have an auto evaluation compared with market players and draft an improvement plan. It involves the following:
- Benchmark against the best practices of other infrastructure operators (IOs) in terms of professional integration devices,
- Establish an action plan to improve its job placement systems by generalizing the best practices of the PINs network production teams (in the field) and by mobilizing the required support from its HR and CSR teams,
- Forecast the fulfillment level of commitments by the end of the year and the penalties that may apply.
Methodology
To successfully assess best practices, our experts in skills development and change management relied on various sources and studies available:
- Documentary study of the IO’s PIN contracts, the roles and governance of IO stakeholders, and publications from French associations promoting fiber,
- Benchmark of similar external initiatives in France,
- Individual interviews with professional integration players or IO CSR actors and online questionnaires sent to the PIN Network Production teams.
In addition, our experts formed a working group with our client's vocational integration actors: Directors of the PINs managed by the OI, job entry managers, OI HR etc...
Their objective: to associate business actors with the various findings obtained in the framework of the analysis and to enrich it with operational data available to these actors. The challenge is twofold: to share the findings as they come in and support them with expert data by iteration and by involving the right people at the right time.
These regular exchanges were also essential to identify the actions to be implemented, including those to be prioritized to improve the professional integration mechanisms.
The result delivered by Sofrecom's consultants is a study report consisting of the following deliverables:
- An assessment of the current state of the professional integration system at the IO,
- Recommendations to increase the performance of the professional integration systems, capitalizing on the good practices detected during the study,
- An action plan to manage, communicate and implement the necessary support plan for field teams.
- Common steering tools, operational communication support and implementation aids, co-constructed with the help of the various stakeholders in the project: Human Resources departments, CSR and Infrastructure Operators departments.
- A national monitoring dashboard for commitments in terms of the number of hours of integration and training required in PIN contracts, as well as monitoring of penalties where applicable.
Result
Our client has the means to generalize the best practices and tools necessary for the rollout of the ultra-high broadband by the PINs. Not only our client has a prioritized action plan to improve the efficiency of its professional insertion devices but also the mobilization of national support functions to support the initiatives of the field actors.
The study delivered by Sofrecom also enables it to share factual indicators to enhance the work of the PIN teams and their main achievements.
