Pros and Cons of Various HRIS Systems - Research Paper Example

Pros and Cons of Various HRIS Systems Introduction Rise in technology has left its mark on the life-style of the people round the globe. However, that is not all. Technology, especially information system has changed the modus operand of the business organizations. Most of the departments in an organization has become IT enabled leading to a more robust and automated system. This has lead to the evolution of human resource information system or HRIS. Over the years HRIS have been acknowledged as one of the most important corporate decision making process. Traditionally, HRIS is considered as an automated record keeping of employees and computerization of the payroll. However, it is now well established that HR managers with information system can greater role beyond the administrative jobs. Today the organizations are besieged with the cost burden. With increased cost competition, the companies have no option but to transfer the cost burden to the customers. Therefore, to maintain stability in price of the products, the only option is to look within, i.e. cost minimization. Cost minimization without technology support is difficult (Walker, 2001, p. 135). Back ground of the report Big Boss Security Limited is a company that provides personal security for business executives and high ranking officials. The company has 150 employees. The human resource department has two HR staffs; one HR manager and one part-time employee. The company is facing some problems due to the small number of staffs in the HR department. However, the company does not have any plans to recruit HR personnel at this point of time. Therefore the company has decided to go for IT enablement of the Hr department by introducing HRIS. The system needs to be installed keeping the company objective and budget constraints in mind. The report looks analyze different HRIS modules and recommend one module. At this point of time the company is looking to increase the efficiency of the staffs, improve morale and reduce turnover. However, it needs to mention that the company is a start up. Therefore there is existence of budget constraint. However, the company has got plans for future expansion. Therefore it is very important for the company to retain the talent and increase efficiency. HRIS Concepts HRIS is the systems to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze and interpret relevant information on human resources. It is not mere computer hardware or some customized standard HR software. It broadly includes people, policies and procedures and of course data. It does not limit the focus on automation of manual HR jobs like, record keeping or payroll preparation. It is a service in the form of information. The nature of the information depends upon the user's needs. Users may not be limited to the HR department; it may even be an MD/President of an organization. For example the finance manager of a company has to prepare annual budget. Hence data on the aggregate compensation cost may be required. However, merely depending upon the headcounts may give an inaccurate result. But simulating this with factors like attrition rate, likely DA increase or decrease, absenteeism, man days lost due to the IT related problems, increments, incentive, promotion, redundancy, etc. will most certainly ensure better projection. Similarly even HR people may need that information for different purposes. There are different HRIS modules that are in the product profile of all HRIs vendors. There are products on recruitment and management, training and development, attendance, etc. Different HRIS Modules In this section several HRIS modules would be analyzed. Even though all major HRIS vendors provide manpower planning solutions, there are vendors providing exclusive solutions for the overall human resource management functions. Based on the key organizational issues and objective some modules have been analyzed. MY HRIS from Nu View This HR planning module helps an organization reduce the administrative stress associated with the identifying, preparing and developing leaders for future positions. It provides benefits like individual development plans, publish executive and development profiles, create organization charts, conduct what-if-analysis for candidates leaving a position, develop performance reviews and create skills inventory, examine next planned position, backup positions, create graphical reports showing organization structure, suggest backup candidates (Orange HRM, 2013). Starting price for this hr module is $19.95 per employee. Execu Track from HRSoft Execu Track provides central repository top store all the relevant data in an open accessible format. The data analysis and flexible reporting tools transform raw data into information. The data are gathered from resumes, assessments, performance reviews and interviews to provide a thorough inventory of the employee. Some benefits of Execu Track are developing succession management strategies, identify and track key employees, search and match people with position requirements, generate resumes, replacement tables and succession analysis reports (Ascents, 2013). Price for this hr module is $10 per employee. Workforce Vision from People Click People click work force vision is a fully integrated analytical people planning software application. It provides business intelligence about talent at all levels of the workforce. The application works by pulling together essential facts about employees from any data system such as performance, education, competencies, training, development, career paths, succession plans, job requirements, reporting, relationships and much more. The system integrates, analyzes, reports, charts and graphs to help the organization to execute the business plan successfully. Some of the benefits of the software are to undertake career planning, discover talent within the organization, identify talent based on performance, link department records, allow line managers and HRD to work together through interactive features to identify and develop talent within the organization, deal with performance management, permit performance assessment an ongoing, collaborative process between employees and manager (Sage, 2013). Basic licensing fee for this hr module is $50,000 and price increases according to the customization the company calls for. The Succession pulse from Pilat The succession plan provides the intuitive environment needed to quickly analyze comprehensive data on employees, positions and development activities. Succession pulse fully supports conventional process through its data management tools and provides the ability to search an organization’s employee pool to find hidden or unknown talent. Searches can seek out potential role candidates using any combination of the data- competence, qualifications, experience and achievements. Listed candidates can be rank ordered in terms of fit with a given role profile. Some of the benefits and features of the product are too customize the HR process through the table and view manager modules, track multiple levels of successors, search for and identify candidates through the powerful query, locate and compare successors based on the competence searches, create organization charts, integrate performance and multi rater assessment data, create ad hoc reports quickly, use enhanced end user tools, use competency based management design, etc (Epicor, 2013). MAPS Foresight MAPs foresight provides a full work force planning solution from accurate demand modeling to resource deployment and organization troubleshooting. It models organizational demand over time and thus could assess the impact of the growing and downsizing in the percentage terms. It can facilitate selection of internal man power matching with the skills sets and roles and also can track changes that need to be made to the work force to meet corporate objectives. MAPs foresight modules are business modeler, head hunter, trouble shooter and business analyst. Some of the benefits of the MAPS foresight are achieve growth by balancing human resources against demand, meet project deadlines, increase efficiency of the staffs, improve staff morale, reduce turn over, reduce reliance, targeted training and recruitment plans, improve business planning and forecasting (Bhattachariya, 2009). Combined price for tutorial and the module is $600 and 10% discount for Aussies. Recommendations and Conclusion From the above analysis it can be seen that each of the HRIS modules have its own unique features and advantages. Work force vision helps the management is people planning. Execu track acts more as a data inventory allowing the management to quickly store and retrieve data. My HRIS helps the organization in reducing the organization stress. . However Big Boss Security Limited requires such a product that can look after the overall core activities of the HR department. The key objectives form implementation of is to reduce staff turnover, improve morale of the employees and conduct area specific training and development programs. Also the budget constraints need to keep in mind. Keeping all these factors in mind MAPS foresight could be chosen. This is an end to end proactive solution that manages resource requirements, optimizes use of staff and handles staff planning, organizational and administration. Also as discuss above it can be used by people belonging to other departments also. This is likely to e very useful as the HR department of the company is a relatively small opine. One of the key features of the product is balancing human resources against the demand. It also improves planning and forecasting. These two features are of great importance keeping the future expansion plans of the company in mind. References Ascentis, (2013). Payroll. Retrieved from http://www.ascentis.com/ascentis-payroll.asp. Bhattachariya, D. K. (2009). Human Resource Planning. India: Excel Books. Epicor, (2013). Products. Retrieved from http://www.epicor.com/Products/Pages/default.aspx. Orange HRM, (2013). Products. Retrieved from http://www.orangehrm.com/product-features.shtml. Sage, (2013). Recruiting. Retrieved from http://na.sage.com/Sage-HRMS/products. Walker, A. (2001). Web-Based Human Resources. US: McGraw Hill Professional. Read More