Factors When Deciding Which Software to Acquire - Assignment Example

Name : xxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxx Title : Human Resource Information System Institution : xxxxxxx @2010 Factors to keep in mind when deciding which software to acquire Among the greatest challenges of a management team of a company is the choice of acquiring new equipment. The decision is even trickier when the acquisitions are to be electronic and technological things like software for the obvious reason of how extensive the varieties are in the market. It is difficult so much so that the era we live in today is one that is faced with insincere persons who are out to defraud unsuspecting buyers in the market by trading with counterfeits that have been keenly refurbished to look exactly like the originals if not better appealing. It is in this regard therefore that it is incumbent on every leadership of a firm to be well versed with all the details of the products they want to acquire so that they are well advised on what to look for and where to look for it (Storey 2007). This paper looks at the critical factors to consider when a firm is evaluating a vendor offering in its quest of acquiring software produce for a given purpose. According to (Paauwe 2009), there are a number of key factors that have to be considered when selecting which company to buy which software products from. These factors have been wrapped up in a pack of five key things to look out for in what (Storey 2007) calls ‘Software Buyer’s Checklist’. These factors are: 1. The authenticity and truthfulness of the producer of the product the product 2. The cost of the product 3. The adoptability of the product and its usability 4. The capacity of the software to integrate with other software 5. The safety of the software. 1. The authenticity and truthfulness of the producer of the product History has it that one cannot rise above what he/she believes in. This is a key philosophical statement when it comes to determining the credibility of a company and its operations as regards its products. The first and foremost factor that has to be considered by a firm when it wants to acquire new software produce is to do thorough background information about the company that sells the product (Storey 2007). The details that need to looked into in this regard concern the time the company under question has been in existence and how the product of being sought has been fairing in the market. This is important since even if the software being sought for is new, it is important for the firm to establish whether the company selling the software has a track record of developing related software in the field. The next thing to observe about the history of the company is to establish the niche of the company offering the produce. It should established whether the company provides products that would serve the niche of your firm. If the company for instance produces software for multinationals and your firm is virtual small company mainly operated from home, it is unlikely that the software company will produce software that totally meet your needs (Paauwe 2009). 2. The cost of the Product Buying decision in the contemporary world today is hugely determined by the cost of the product more so in the organizational arena where profitability is a key objective. It is therefore imperative that costs of purchase be perceived in a more wholistic manner that is inclusive of all considerations (Paauwe 2009). This is important since more often than not, low entry costs usually easily result in exorbitant total costs throughout the product’s life. The things to consider here include feature versus price factor where the features of the software have to measure up to its price. For instance, software for document management is not likely to be cheap but it may not be considered unwise to acquire it at a higher price when its functionalities that allows the firm to set up a virtual office using it are considered. 3. The adoptability of the product and its usability For every software that is purchased there is always an adoption and learning curve that is drawn to determine its usability and adoptability. This factor is concerned with how ease to use the software is and how it adoptable it is to the systems with which it is intended to use. For my firm to settle for a software product, it should be easy to learn since it is unlikely that the firm will be willing to yield more resources towards training members of staff on how to use up and above what it would have already spent on the software. It is important to have a product that is less complicated and one that would not “bring everything to a standstill” to use a latest media clincher statement (Paauwe 2009). It will be an economical lapse of judgment to purchase a software that will not be fully used in the firm. A research has been done to determine the ‘shelfware’ of a software which is the rate at which a newly purchased software is underutilized which found that this rate in many firms is at between 20 to 25 % (Storey 2007). This therefore means that it is important for my firm to ensure that the software settled for can easily be learnt as well having capacity to easily fit in the already existing system. 4. The capacity of the software to integrate with other software This factor is concerned with the familiarity of the product where it is expected that the software to be purchased should have basic layout and navigation schemes that are common to users and ones that are easy to learn (Paauwe 2009). An easier way to determine this is to look at the Operating System that the software uses. If the OS is rarely used in the firm, the software is likely to be problematic as it may require complete overhaul of the firm’s system. The software of interest should have similar basic schema as the OS that is currently in operation in the firm so to limit the extent of disturbance and adjustments to the system as this will most definitely attract further resources allocations (Storey 2007). This is a key factor especially if the acquisition is not meant for a complete overhaul of the firm’s systems. 5. The safety of the software. For our firm, we will definitely need a software that is safe to use and one that protects the information that is stored or carried by it. In this current time and age with great security threats in hacking (like the recent Wikileaks menace for instance), it is great importance is the surety that the data handled through the software is safe and there are provisions for the data being compromised (Paauwe 2009). Given that the firm handles very confidential information regarding clients such as financial, business and other personal data, the sensitivity and confidentiality of this data has to be protected by the software. This is probably the most fundamental of all the factors since the damage that can be done to the firm when the security and confidentiality of such vital clients’ data is compromised is akin to a complete economic free-fall of the company! To safeguard our continued trusted existence in the market, the software to be acquired has to ensure that there is complete safety of all the data that it handles (Paauwe 2009). Hiring Employee Process for a Firm The process of hiring members of staff is one that as rigorous as it is vital for any corporation. This is particularly important since the new entrants are to become part and parcel of the corporation and therefore are likely to go a long way in affecting either positively or negatively the company’s operations by their contributions. It is therefore important that there is a clear and succinct way of determining these new entrants and a flawless way to acquire all the details that are vitally necessary for the decision makers to consider before admitting anyone into the company’s human resource workforce (Storey 2007). This paper looks at the different way that HireRight’s Integration and PeopleSoft/Oracle may assist in the hiring of new members of staff of a given industry. The industry of choice for this paper is the K 12 Education Industry which is a robust industry that is vital to the national appeal since it is the one that is directly involved in the education of the entire workforce of the nation. It is responsible also for the good upbringing of the children as they go through the system which means that any person certified to serve in this industry has to be able to act as a role model and instill good behavior for young children and growing youths to emulate (Paauwe 2009). It is therefore of great important to get a model that will flawlessly assist in the employment of new members of staff into the industry. The members of staff to brought in are the ones that are not directly involved with the students at least not in an academic sense and this calls for a employment system that will enable the management know all the details that should be known about these people before considering them. This is so because they will have a greater contribution to the students’ behavior, general attitude towards life and personal conduct (Paauwe 2009). In process of hiring employees such as truck drivers, janitors and campus security can greatly be enhanced by the use of PeopleSoft/Oracle and HireRight Integration into the process for a number of reasons main of which is the way the system arranges and gives details of the applicants for review by the hiring authority. PeopleSoft that has now been acquired fully by Oracle Corporation provides software for Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) as well as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that are used to give different information about the applicants during the time of their consideration. The company like HireRight also provides a range of variety in software that are used in finding solutions for financial, manufacturing, student administration into large corporations, enterprise performance management and hiring of personnel into corporations, government institutions and organizations (Storey 2007). These two firms and their products have great capacity of assisting the hiring process of the above mentioned personnel into the K 12 Education industry because of the following intrinsic capacities that is found in their software. To help in delineating this, the arrangement of the details that their software give concerning employees is shown below and the details that are contained under each area complete with what the features provide. Employee details HireRight provides drug screening employment background screening and employment eligibility solutions that are handy in the handling of employment screening programs. The program here captures employee personal details including their contacts, relationships, photographs, passport details, residences, families and prior job history. It also can manage multiple employee relationships as well as record qualification and training information. In addition to this, the system also records beneficiary and management information and stores all this information in a secure database that is easy to use and access (Paauwe 2009). Employee records This contains all the records about the employee ranging from their records in their previous employment areas, employee reward and discipline records, their roles, transfers and promotions among others. It also contains their performance from their regular attendance of their duties, their management of resources allocated to their dockets, probation details and automatically notifies confirmation details (Paauwe 2009). Employee hierarchy/ organization chart This feature is important as it helps one view the relationships of the employee in a pictorial sense which includes their pictures, details and reporting structure. It helps to communicate employee details and information in an easy way that can be remembered and fosters cordial relationship within the workforce. This is important since it helps the new entrants to be easily taken into the company’s culture and spirit (Storey 2007). The employee’s hierarchy can be viewed up to ten levels deep which is more inclusive as it will contain more personnel other than the usual high ranking profile of company managers that leaves out the hardworking larger task force. Employee skills and competency records This feature helps in the mapping of the skills and competencies of the employees-to-be where it clearly outlines areas of their professionalism in the processing giving a detailed job description. To cap it all, the feature allows the employees’ appraisal records to be incorporated in it so that it is clearly indicated areas of success for the employee and areas that need further refining. Employee financial information This feature captures the employee’s financial records which include their expense records, their salary schemes, their financial investment schemes and general handling of financial resources allocated to their dockets. It helps also indicate the effectiveness of their operation and their honesty in dealing with finances. Employee exit management This feature captures the conditions surrounding an employee’s exit from the job which include and reasons that may have caused their exit and whether the employee followed all the procedures before exiting. Departmental details about his exit showing his clearance form indicating all the areas cleared is also included in this feature. It captures the exit interview details and reasons for attrition as well. Reports and analytics This feature takes all the information gathered above and takes them into a software that compares and analyzes it against a host of other details that are present online. It accesses over 60 online reports from which desired information can be obtained instantly. CEO’s dashboard This dashboard summarizes a collection of all the reports that are relevant for the management and the hiring authority to consider before making their decision concerning the employees. It comes as a complete package full with details for every employ and even presents them in a cascade form to allow the management to compare them with other employees as the case may be. This therefore gives a great opportunity for informed decisions concerning the hiring of personnel. Conclusion These features from PeopleSoft and HireRight are very instrumental in giving the details and assessing the same of the persons with interest in joining the K 12 education industry as discussed above. It is therefore worth noting that it will of great assistance in the success of the hiring process of personnel into the industry and any other field for that matter. References Paauwe, J 2009, 'HRIS and Performance: Achievement, Methodological Issues and Prospects', Journal of Management Studies, vol. 46, no.1, pp. 241 – 342. Storey, J 2007, Human Resource Management: A Critical Text for HR Issues and Software Development, Thompson, NY. Read More