Human Resource Information Systems - Essay Example

Various people within an organization, for example, employees, managers, and Human Resource professionals use HRIS. Some of the uses include career planning, self-service, resume processing and recruitment, performance management, benefits administration, skill inventory, compensation analysis, and payroll. This paper seeks to discuss self-service as an HRIS system and choose a vendor for self-service.

            Team member self-service HR Information Systems have gained increased popularity in recent years. The applications are products based on the internet that allows the team member to view and edit their information about the HRIS team member file. They can be able to update emergency information such as personal contacts or even their address. Several self-service applications include the benefits of open enrollment (Badgi, 2011). These arrangements are popular because the users are in charge of their data and HR professionals like the system since it cuts down on their workload concerning input. 

            Another benefit of self-service is manager self-service (Waddill & Marquardt,  2011). Managers and supervisors can view direct and indirect data reports. Instead of having to refer to the HR department for data on customers, they can look up the data required on the Internet. However, while this program can have tremendous benefits, there are some concerns concerning it. The most common from HR professionals about this system is a reluctance to allow employees to change their information (Waddill & Marquardt,  2011). This can be solved by being able to select the fields that the team member can view and change and those that they cannot. For example, it would not be wise to allow them the ability to change their pay rate, but it would be okay for them to change their contact information. Some systems even include features of workflow in which changes made to the database information, can only take effect in the Human Resource product until a supervisor has the chance to review and approve them. Another concern is the possibility that malicious users may change the information of another user. This can also be solved by allowing the supervisor to review the change before approval.

            The best vendor for this service is PDS of Blue Bell in Pennsylvania which has been a leader in the HRIS system market for around thirty years. Their Vista HRIS is a suite based on the internet that deals with self-service, benefits, payroll, and HR components, which provide flexible and comprehensive tools that help the organization manage and deploy data across the company (http://www.pdssoftware.com/). It is inclusive of extensive workflow capabilities while combining both employment and position management. Vista’s cross-border capabilities can manage both Canadian and US employees in one database. The Vista HRIS solution by PDS is offered via the use of a licensed model, either for hosted or on-premise services in one tenanted environment. Additionally, they also offer a subscription model. Different from SaaS subscriptions, it is found in a single-tenanted environment that can be accessed via a virtual private network (Lombardi, 2012).

            Allowing employees to change the information in the HR database is beneficial to the organization because it lowers the workload of the managers, while also allowing the team member to feel in charge of their information. However, to avoid manipulation of data by malicious employees, it makes sense in allowing only changes on some fields or only changes the fields after review by the HR department. The best vendor for this service is PDS by Blue Bell because of its availability in a single-tenanted environment, which can also be accessed via VPN.