Human Resources Information Technology-Systems - Research Proposal Example

UI Data Project Proposal Urban Institute Data Project Proposal Paul F. Hogan Academia-RESEARCH.com Introduction "Businesses rely on such [information] systems to perform many of their daily activities in areas such as product supply, distribution, sales, marketing, human resources, manufacturing, accounting and taxation so that work is performed quickly, while avoiding waste and mistakes. Without such systems, recording and processing business transactions would consume huge amounts of an organization's resources. This collection of processed transactions also forms a storehouse of data invaluable to decision making. The ultimate goal is to satisfy customers and provide a competitive advantage by reducing costs and improving service." (Stair & Reynolds, 2008, p. 221) "The key to the integrity and ease of maintenance of your decision support applications is to have a repository of high-quality, stable data. The data warehouse is an ideal foundation for building these data marts. The data warehouse contains the basic ingredients that ensure the success of your strategic analytical environment'" (Inmon, Imhoff & Sousa,2001, p.190) "The data mart is customized or summarized data that is derived from a data warehouse and tailored to support the specific analytical requirements of a given business unit of business function'" (p. 195) These three references summarize the purpose of a business information system architecture that can provide analytic resources for key business decision making while facilitating data input required for daily business operational functions such as payroll, benefits, etc. The following proposal will align the development of new Human Resources Information Technology Systems with goals of reduced manhours, smoother data input, and greater data accessibility and accuracy. Need: Presently, low level data input is being accomplished by high level employees thus wasting the time of those personnel; i.e. simple data input that the employee him/herself could input on a real time basis is now being input from paper records by HR personnel. This generates repetitive, time wasting tasks and introduces more chances for data errors and escapes. There are also disparate databases which make data mining and analysis more inefficient than it should be. On a functional level, this system of disparate, non-centralized databases requires employees to access multiple sites to gain the information required for a single task such as processing a new employee. All of these factors create indirect, and often unrecognized, costs to the business. Objectives: 1. Establish a single HR data warehouse that extracts and normalizes data from multiple input sources to provide user defined reports that expedite data mining and analysis of data pertinent to the specific function of that user. Specific business unit and/or departmental data marts can also be created from this data warehouse. 2. Synergize this data warehouse with an integrated On Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system so that data is retained for analysis by business administrators while supplying operational business functions such as payroll and benefits with the basic data required to perform those functions. 3. Format collected data in a way that can be used by other key collateral business functions such as benefits and Human Resources. 4. Provide a facility for employees to not only input their own data (ex. Time expense, changes in personal data, etc.), but also be able to retrieve and review their own data in real time on the organization's intranet. 5. Integrate and streamline HR requirements for recruitment by creating a central depository of applicant information including copies of their resumes. 6. "Mistake Proof" data entry by establishing input metadata that requires the employee to input correctly formatted data (i.e. numbers for number fields, text for text fields, etc.) and complete information (compulsory fields that will not allow saving the information until they are completed). 7. Establish a scalable system that can grow with the needs of the business by providing predictive analysis of future data requirements. Proposed Solution: Our project analysis has identified the use of products from Automated Data Processing (ADP) as being the most productive and cost effective solution for the following reasons: 1. ADP's total package meets our operational requirements as well as providing a level of data accessibility and technical support that ensures smooth and uninterrupted system functionality. 2. We presently use ADP's HR Perspective. Because of this: a. Integration of the new functional data components will be greatly simplified. b. A uniform interface will be implemented. c. The use of a single source provider will also eliminate data duplication and corruption during software implementation. 3. ADP can provide a total package that covers the following identified requirements:[taken from customer's input (PF Hogan)] a. Allow our employees to use their personal computers to input their hours worked or PTO b. Track overtime and time off c. Allow supervisors to easily review and confirm hours with easy online access d. flow to payroll in a seamless and automated fashion, instantly ready for processing e. Increase efficiency and reduce indirect cost f. Performance Management g. Compensation Analysis h. Comprehensive Reporting i. Employee and Manager Self Service j. Open Enrollment k. Life and Work Events l. talent acquisition m. background checks n. employment tax credit screening o. verify references p. on-boarding features q. 24 hour access r. pre-employment tests s. Assessment tools 4. During the installation stage, ADP's benefits solution could be installed as add-on software to the existing software systems that our company uses. 5. ADP will now be the main point of entry for all data and our single source solution for benefits. This approach is more desirable because: a. Using ADP as our primary source of data entry would ensure that we are using fewer resources. b. Existing and new data doesn't get either duplicated or corrupted through the overall process of software implementation. Safeguards: 1. Once the software has been installed; there will be a number of initial test runs to ensure that it works in accordance with the organization's goals, policies and objectives. 2. There will be an initial "Dummy Test" to make sure the system does not crash and parallel testing to make sure the information is accurate. 3. During the transition, employees will continue to fill out the paper forms and enter in their benefit information via the computer. 4. This phase will require significant detail checking and comparison of information. Since we have Perspective, some of the data will transfer automatically 5. IT will then need to run integrating tests to make sure the integration with ADP payroll systems has been seamless. 6. During the testing phase and before the target date we will still be using our paper-base system. Conclusion The solution recommended above reduces non-value added manual input of data, ensures greater accuracy of data stored, provides more facile integration between systems to provide transaction processing operations with the data they need, and increases employee satisfaction by providing the business and personal data they require expeditiously via an existing organizational resource - the intranet. There are also cost savings and business efficiencies that naturally evolve from the more modern architecture of our Information Systems and Technology. References Stair, Ralph M. & Reynolds, George W.(2008). Fundamentals of Information Systems, A Managerial Approach. Canada: Thomson Course Technology. Inmon, W.H., Imhoff, Claudia, and Sousa, Ryan (2001). Corporate Information Factory. New York: Wiley Computer Publishing. Read More