Frequently asked questions

The Service Manual (Palvelumanuaali) is an online platform that brings together services that promote employment and support working ability in area of seven municipalities in Uusimaa region. Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kerava, Porvoo, Raasepori and Hanko have compiled the services in Service Manual in cooperation with service providers in the region, e.g.

• Services according to the Public Employment and Business Services Act
• Services according to the Integration Act
• The services of the employment services, social and health care services, and education and training divisions which promote employment in the municipalities' various industries and support the ability to work
• The services of KELA and the Employment Pension Institutions are services that support work ability
• The services of continuous learning promoting employment at various educational institutions in the region

• Services of organizations, projects and private service providers in the area which promote employment and support the ability to work

Our goal is for you to find services suitable for your life situation in the Service Manual, if your need for services is related to promoting employment or maintaining work ability.

Who uses the Service Manual?

Our goal is to bring those looking for services together with those who offer them. Whether you are a job seeker living in Uusimaa, an employer operating in the region, a company that provides services that promote employment and/or support work ability, or an employee in the Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa-Kerava, Porvoo or Raasepori-Hanko employment services, the Service Manual is intended for you.

The service is open to everyone without registration. You can search for a service that suits your service needs and life situation, familiarize yourself with the content of the services and find instructions for participating in the services.

Other features are accessible through registration and are intended for service providers in the region and employees of employment services. After logging in, service providers can manage and maintain their own organization's service selection. The Service Manual is a work tool for employees to support customer guidance - with detailed service-related work and process instructions.

The Service Manual you are using now has been put into use in the spring of 2023 in seven municipalities in Uusimaa (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kerava, Raasepori, Hanko and Porvoo). However, the need for a similar platform has also been identified elsewhere and we are exploring the possibilities of expanding the use.

How does the Service Manual differ from other service platforms?

The Service Manual is the only platform that brings together services that promote employment and support work ability across organizational boundaries, as well as offers the related work and process instructions for statuatory work in employment services. For this reason, the Service Manual is the primary tool for service guidance in our employment services.

We recognize the diverse life situations of job seekers and have compiled a wide range of services in the Service Manual, e.g. to support employment, skills development, integration, return to working life, networking and work ability. In addition to statutory services that promote employment and support work ability, the service selection includes a wide variety of services from municipalities, educational institutions, organizations, projects and private operators - something for everyone!

For service providers, the Service Manual is a channel to reach and promote their services for both job seekers, employers and employees of employment services. On the other hand, the work and process instructions for the employee enable the customer to always receive up-to-date information regarding the services during their customer process and supports equality in service, regardless of where or with whom the service takes place.

When developing the Service Manual further, we will also explore interface possibilities for other platforms that list and offer services for our customers (e.g. Työmarkkinatori, Opintopolku, Suomi.fi, etc.).

How do I get my organization's service into the Service Manual?

You should discuss service development and acquisitions and the suitability of the new service to the Service Manual's service selection with your municipality's employment services representative. The Service Manual describes services that promote employment and support work ability for the municipalities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Porvoo, Kerava, Raasepori and Hanko.

The Service Manual seems incomplete, why is this?

The Service Manual you are browsing now is the Beta version of the service, which means we are still developing the site and testing the use of the site. We are continuously making changes to the service so that it might serve different user groups and use needs in the best possible way.

We try to make any necessary technical updates to the service so that they do not cause major interruptions to the use of the service. However, short interruptions during updates are possible, and we will inform users about it in advance on the front page of the service.

Updates are also made to the selection of services and information in the services, but the updating of the services does not affect the use of the Service Manual. We update the service selection and service-related information regularly so that you always have up-to-date information and a comprehensive service selection available.

In the Service Manual, user accounts are created for content producer users of municipalities and service provider organizations, as well as Specialist users of municipal employment services. Users of the organizations that organize or produce services that are a part of the service selection, will get user accounts in the Service Manual. The content producers of the municipality's employment services and the Specialists of the employment services are also users of the system. Content producers in municipalities primarily manage the internal work and process instructions of the services. Specialists use the Service Manual to support customer and service guidance.

If you need to contact the maintenance team of the Service Manual, ask for an email address from your own organization. The maintenance team's email address is intended for organizational use only.

I can't log in to the Service Manual, what should I do?

The service is open to everyone without registration. Without registration, you can search for a service that suits your service needs and life situation, familiarize yourself with the content of the services and find instructions for participating in the services. The information that requires logging in to the system are intended for service providers in the area and employees of Uusimaa municipal employment experiments.

Service providers in the area have been granted access rights, which enables logging into the Service Manual with a personal username and password. Group administrators of the organization can add users to the system who still lack user accounts and access. Please contact your organization's primary user if you don't have an account yet and require it in order to manage the services information. If you do not know the primary user or the login is not possible for some other reason, please contact the maintenance team.

Personal user accounts have been created in mass for employees of the municipality's employment services when the Service Manual was introduced. Afterwards accounts have been created whenever a new employee starts. If you need the Service Manual at work, but you lack the login credentials, please contact your supervisor first.

Who is the primary user of the organization?

Each organization has at least one main/primary user of the Service Manual. The primary user manages the users of their organization. The primary user invites new users to the Service Manual by e-mail, and defines a suitable role (editor, admin, specialist). Every authenticated user has to have at least one of these roles. In the system, the main user is responsible for the user management of his own organization and offers local use support, especially in problems related to access management. If no other responsible persons have been defined for the service, the main users are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the service's information is up-to-date and clarifying the responsibilities in their own organization.

Note! Each organization has its own practices for adding new users, e.g. using different forms. Find out your own organization's practices regarding adding new users. If you do not know who is the main user of your organization, you can inquire information from the Service Manual maintenance team.

On which devices can I use the Service Manual?

The Service Manual can be used on a computer and on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Note! The responsiveness of the service is being developed and mobile use is not yet recommended.

The site can be used with the most common browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari. In order for the Service Manual to work in the best possible way, please make sure that you have updated the browser you are using to the latest version.

Is there a charge for using the Service Manual?

For the time being, the use of the Service Manual is completely free of charge for all users. The solution is maintained by the employment services of the Uusimaa region.

How is accessibility taken into account in the Service Manual?

The accessibility of the Service Manual online service is evaluated throughout the development life cycle and the service is designed with accessibility principles in mind. For example, in the design and theming of the user interface, attention has been paid to fonts and colors.

In 2024, the accessibility of the service will be assessed by an external party. The findings and the accessibility statement will then be added to the Accessibility page of the Service Manual.

In which languages is the Service Manual available?

The Beta version of the Service Manual has been published in Finnish. We will progressively translate the user interfaces into Swedish and English, and when the contents are gradually completed, the Service Manual can be used in these three languages. We will also translate statutory and municipalities' own services.

In the future, it will also be possible to enter services information into the Service Manual in different languages. It would then be possible to search for services in your own language and/or in the language in which the service is organized. The development of the language versions is completed gradually.

How have different user needs been taken into account in the Service Manual?

The project has started in the fall of 2020 with an extensive consulting survey regarding the needs and the target state of the service. In the spring of 2021, a temporary Service Manual was published for the duration of the development of the new solution. User surveys have been conducted for the employment services staff regarding the use of the temporary solution.

The needs of specialist and content producer users have been mapped in the service design and service map project, workshops and user testing. Various considerations and findings have been prioritized and transferred into development tasks.

In the development, emphasis has been placed on the requirements of content producers and employees for the minimum implementation of the first version (MVP, minimum viable product). Regarding the needs of customer users, a service design project will be implemented in 2024.

Can our organization add other content pages to the Service Manual?

For now, only Service Manual maintenance can add content/article pages. The need for user organizations to create or manage different article pages will be examined later.

Can I log in to the Service Manual with my organization's credentials?

The Service Manual does not enable single sign-on (SSO) with one ID to several digital services. A personal user account is created for each user in the Service Manual, and user IDs are service-specific.

Can I make my own service listings in the Service Manual?

A logged-in user can currently make one own Favorites list. A non-logged-in user can save favorites for the duration of a browser session.

Various personalized features and personalization possibilities of the Service Manual are being developed and in the future, e.g. making different lists of your own may be possible.

Does the Service Manual also show inactive or outdated services?

Only active and published services are publicly visible. The service can be published when all its mandatory data content has been produced by the organizations that organize or produce the service (including municipalities). Organizations that manage and maintain services can also view services that are outdated and inactive (e.g. in draft mode).

Can the services information be shared to the customer?

Customers can access the Service Manual to view services. So you can share a direct link to the service to the customer. See Specialist instructions for more information (note only for Specialist users).

Later, it will also be possible to share filtered search results with the customer, as well as saving and printing pdf documents of search results and individual services. Pdf files can be distributed to the customer by e-mail, for example, or printed out for a customer meeting.

How are customers in the area informed about the Service Manual?

Customers are informed about the Service Manual and its use in the same context when the solution is put into Specialist use. Customers can use the public side of the Service Manual and search/browse published services. The service Manual will be developed to better serve customer needs after the service design project, which will be launched in 2024.

Is there customer experience information available for the services?

Each service provider may have their own ways of collecting customer experience data, and for now there is no consistent or uniform process for this. However, the hope is that both the customer and the employment services Specialist would have information about the customer experiences of the services. We are looking at how customer experience information could be sustainably and reliably produced in the Service Manual, e.g. in the form of customer stories.

The project organization of the city of Helsinki is responsible for the technical maintenance of the Service Manual.

The range of services and public information related to the services as well as work and process instructions are jointly maintained with the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kerava, Raasepori, Hanko and Porvoo, as well as with the diverse network of service providers in the region.