Using web-based technology from PeopleSoft Inc. and Novell Inc. to distribute employee benefits information online instead of on paper to 30,000 employees, RadioShack Corp. reduced the amount of data entry required of its human resources department by 85% during a recent benefits enrollment period. That saved about a month’s worth of administrative work, said Jana Freundlich, vice president of compensation and benefits at RadioShack.

RadioShack, which maintains its employee benefits data in a PeopleSoft application, uses Novell technology to store and update employee identity records for providing employees with authenticated access to online benefits documents. Novell’s web-based Nsure Identity Manager integrates employee data from PeopleSoft to the Novell eDirectory, which serves as the online repository of employee identity data. The system lets RadioShack automatically create network accounts for each of its 30,000 employees.

“Before Novell Nsure, our benefits process was completely paper-based, with nearly 100,000 election information packets mailed to new employees each year,” Freundlich said. “By taking that process online, we`ve made it much faster and more convenient for users, and we`ve saved about 30 days of administrative work.”

RadioShack said the identity management system will eventually be used in other areas for providing authenticated access to the corporate network. “Our Novell solution is a foundational project in many ways,” said Ron Cook, vice president of strategy and technical operations. “It met our immediate needs of rolling out online benefits, but it is really the foundation for a secure identity management solution throughout all our 7,200 stores.”