Human Resource Information System - Etihad Airways - Case Study Example

Human resource information system Name: Institution: Course: Lecturer: Date: This document is based on an interview with Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, who is one of the assistant accountants in the Etihad Airways-Head office. Etihad Airways is the flag carrier air company in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The Etihad Airways was founded by royal pronouncement in July 2003 and was centered at Abu Dhabi, Etihad and begun to operate in November 2003. This name is derived from the term "union", in Arabic (Etihadairways, 2012). This airway is operating more than 1,000 flights on weekly basis to 96 passengers and cargo endpoints in the Middle East, African, European, Asian, Australian and the America countries, with fleets of almost 85 Airbuses and Boeing aircrafts. In the year 2012, Etihad Airways had transported 10.3 million travellers, which was a 23% increment from the preceding year, bringing about revenue of about US$ 4.8 billion and net profit of US$ 42 million. The Etihad Airways is the fourth biggest commercial airline in Middle East and it is the second biggest Airways Company in the United Arab Emirates, after the Dubai-based airline Emirates (Etihadairways, 2012). In addition to its major activity of carrying passengers, Etihad Airways also works on the Etihad Holidays and Etihad Freight. The Airways is located at Abu Dhabi International Airport and its headquarters are found within Khalifa City A, Abu Dhabi (Etihadairways, 2012). Etihad is administrated by a board of directors under the chairmanship of HH Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (who is the vice chairperson and works as per its establishment legislature and the Articles of Association of the Airways. The Board comprises of seven sovereign non-executive affiliates and possesses two sub-committees, i.e. the Executive Committee and the Auditing Committee, each of them having its sole charter and chairman (Etihadairways, 2012). Other memberships of this board comprise of: Mohammed Mubarak Fadel Al Mazrouei, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Mubarak Hamad Al Muhairi, Hamad Abdullah Al Shamsi, Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi and George Cheaib (Etihadairways, 2012). The Etihad Airways is under the leadership of James Hogan (previously CEO of Gulf Airline) who had an appointment by the President and CEO on 10th September 2006. In September 2013, Etihad Airways was serving 96 passengers and cargo destinations throughout the  African, European, North American, South American, Asian countries and Australia from its center at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The Etihad Airways, simultaneously with the British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Korean Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways and United Airlines, is amongst the few transporters to serve in all the six populated continents (Etihadairways, 2012). HRIS in Etihad Airways According to UAEEmiratejobs (2014), the Oracle HR systems (HRMS, Payrolls, iServe Self-Service module, Talents Management, HR reporting module) have been the pillar of the Etihad HR, management of the whole life cycle of employees and acting as the foundation of HR information to the whole business. This HRIS has been used in the Etihad Airways since 2012 to date Services Provided by Etihad Airways According to Etihadairways (2014), some of the services offered include: 1. 1. Etihad Meet & Greet Service Etihad Meet & Greet Service ensures that the clients are continuously comfortable and hassle-free arrivals at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. Four various products are offered to the Etihad Airways visitors: Arrivals Meeting & Greeting (Silver and Gold services), Transit Meeting & Greeting (Gold services), and Departure Meeting & Greeting (Gold services), whereby each of them includes an individual welcome by some members of the hospitality team of Etihad Airways. The valued visitors are usually given company in all the stages of the airport processes, with exceptional benefits like the fast-track migration, help with luggage collection, lounge entrance and direction to the airport exit, according to which of the products a client selects. Therefore a clients’ coming, exit or transit is ensured to be comfortable as the flight. This service has to be booked no less than 48 hours ahead of the coming of the guest. 2. Etihad Guest Miles The client is nowadays capable of earning the Etihad Guest Miles whenever one transports any individual cargo e.g. one’s cat or dog, furniture, vehicle or the complete book collection –so that the clients would have their favorite assets with them whenever they travel. The earning of the miles is on the basis of the type of the luggage that is being transported. The client might earn the base and the tile miles per every shipment. ​Category​ Base Miles​​ Tier Miles​​ Personal effects​ ​1,300 ​1,000 Pets​ ​​3,000 ​​3,000 Vehicles​​ ​​38,000 ​9,000 Etihad Guest silver, Gold and Gold elite memberships would also be earning bonus miles, which might be redeemed in more than 7,000 products in the online rewarding hop of the Etihad Airlines. On the other hand, a client might convert one’s miles into cash by use of PontsPay to in more than 30 million outlets globally. HR activities supported by the HRIS In the Human Resource planning processes, it is stress-free to have a follow-up on the labor force gaps, the capacity and worth of the labor force and planning impending workforce necessities being enhanced by the HR knowledge systems (Dessler, 2005). HRIS has been supporting long range development in Etihad Airways with the information regarding the labor force planning and supplies and demands projection; recruitment with information on equal recruitment, partings and the interviewee testimonials; and the expansion with the information regarding the training programs, projections of salaries, paying budgets and labor/employees relation with information pertaining contract consultations and employees help needs. Karakanian (2000) believes that risk and security control is another essential purpose of HRIS in an organization due to the secretive and highly sensitive personal information and multi-platform security factors which are the most critical aspects factors that are usually considered. The improved usage of the web tools in delivering HR would leave the HR professionals with much more time for the tactical decision making and that the subcontracting of the people-management undertakings liberates the HR specialists for the performance of more strategic undertakings (Kulik & Perry, 2008). As one of the major strategic partners, the Human Resource manager derives of the Etihad Airways benefits from the IHRS, tin the dissemination and execution of the strategies within the company. These systems are enabling the staff in managing most of their individual HR management responsibilities. They are able to care for many repetitive transactions on every occasion they feel like, since the automatic systems do not keep the office hours. Also, the HR professional are able to act as a competent manager by whenever they arrange the appropriate individuals to the suitable positions in the appropriate time with their fresh strategic architectural role. Ostermann et al (2009) asserts that the HRIS contributes to the general trade performance by gratifying or at least assisting the responsibilities of storing data and recovery, of acting as the main management support tools, of commentary and statistics and of program observing. HRIS is also playing an essential role for the Etihad organization to efficiently manage its human resources. The organization has also incorporated the HRIS to enhance their regular human assets operations. According to Noor & Razali (2011), HRIS enables the aligning and attempts to satisfy the necessities of an organization and its users so as to be fruitful. Nevertheless, the HR departments in the Etihad Airways have become aware of some of the present limits of web technologies and their integration into the HRIS. Security of the confidential HR data is of highest priority. Karakanian (2000) points out the essence of an organization looking earnestly into the internet empowering of their HR services and then evaluating the authentication, safety, accessing rules, and audit tracks linked with networks, servers, and applications of the service provider. Conversely, there are some undesired and unforeseen concerns of HRIS in any organization. These consequences include the increased quantity accompanied by a decreased quality of the candidates in the e-recruitments (Strohmeier, 2009). Another essential factor of using information systems is the user contentment. It is usually recommended as an indication of the IS achievement. Various IS empirical scholars have observed user satisfaction as essential proxy of the IS achievement and it is one of the most incorporated measure of the IS success as a result of its ease of application and ease of usage. (Shibly, 2011). The HR Professionals in the Etihad Airways are using the HRIS in reporting and compliance, Payroll and compensation analysis, Benefits management and the applicants tracking, expertise inventory. The Functional Managers in the Etihad Airways are using the HRIS in performance administration and appraisals, recruitments and processing of resumes, management of Teams and projects, Trainings and skills testing and the Administration development. Implementation process The implementation of the HRIS in the Etihad Airways was according to the following steps: 1. Business Requirements and Suggested Solution In this step, the business necessities were are concluded, the software set was learned learnt, and the solution by use of the package was defined with the aim of meeting the business requirements in the Etihad organization. 2. High Level Design (Functional Conditions) The intended solution was further elucidated by functionally stipulating how the system was to be operating. 3. Comprehensive Design (Design Specifications) In this stage, a comprehensive design specification was developed (e.g., the table values were defined, conditions as to closely show how the reports would be looking and working, etc.). 4. System Structure, Customization and Progress The HRIS system was “programmed” by the specialists when they set up its factors and tables with those values that had been defined in the previous phases. The Interface(s), data conversions and customized programming were also carried out in this stage. Quality assurance (HRIS system and user testing) was done during this phase. 5. System Implementation During this phase, the HRIS system was implemented and operations were transformed into the new system. 6. System Support and Care It is this phase where post implementation, whereby the HRI system was turned over into the ordinary support and maintenance processes. Staff reaction to the implementation of HRIS Etihad Airways had a positive feedback since their implementation of the HRIS in their HR task. The Etihad Airways had been using the payroll services bureau and in house solutions for the human resource. The solution wasn’t entailing the easy-to-use combined reporting or a staff portal. Then the Etihad evaluated the Oracle HR systems alongside various enterprise system sellers, they decided to take the offer from the Ultimate software then went on live on 2002 following an on-budget and on-time financial plan execution. Then the company rolled out the Oracle HR systems Portal to the staff. According to CompareHRIS (2014), Oracle HR systems is capable of bringing about positive effects like almost a 70% increment in the open enrollment effectiveness. It is for this reason that they started noticing some positive impacts after the implementation of the new system. The Oracle HR systems enables the mapping of the payroll duties from start to the completion. According to CompareHRIS (2014), Oracle HR systems also enables the users to reduce wastes by determining how to effectively complete the tasks of the payrolls while eliminating the unnecessary phases. The HRIS opened the lines of communication since it facilitated an open and regular communication with all the stakeholders (the employees and the senior management) of the Etihad Airways. The HRIS didn’t allow negativity since it was easy to make changes easily and with fun. The employees were given ample time for learning and were not frustrated while using the HRIS. The employee self-service HRIS made it very stress-free for the Etihad Airways employees to have an understanding of their individual contributions and coverage choices. The senior management received numerous e-mails from the staff reporting that the step was worthy and the simplicity of the HRIS, that isn’t the usual case whenever the staffs are choosing their personal benefit options. Since the employees were given additional access to their information, they were capable of seeing the benefit choices that were becoming available to them. The staff are also capable of updating their information online regularly, this aids in reducing the paperwork of the past. The Etihad Airways has also seen some improvements since the employees are capable to update their information while at their homesteads, and not during their office hours. The Etihad Airways fought back and implemented “layers of protection”. It was essential for the staff who were regularly using the primary business computers, and the staff who were often transporting the computers between their homesteads, office and the meeting venues. The vulnerability of that logistic issue needed a safe program. Those staff, which usually carried their computers with them, had to install their HRIS on their computers. According to CompareHRIS (2014), once the software has been installed on the computers, the software is able to allow the staff in creating encrypted virtual drives on their laptops that served as data storage safe. The employees are capable of storing all the customer related information and tax preparation databases on the encrypted drives, which the staff had made with a one gigabyte storage capacity. Whenever the staff turned off the laptop, the data could be stored safely, and the HRIS could automatically encrypt the data of the virtual drives. The HRIS could also generate back-up files which were encrypted, which the staff could store on the CDs in a safe which was fire-resistant. This concept enabled the keeping of the information safely in case any of the staff’s laptops got stolen or the drives got removed from the laptops. Various financial advisors rely on the encryption within and without the offices. Additional software that is being used in protecting the information of the clients is the RAID LEVEL 1system. The system is being used for the storage of the data on the drives, which have had encryption using the WinMagics’s SecureDocs Software. This encryption makes sure that anybody who steals the laptop would not categorically read the data, even by connection of it to a different computer like a slave drive. This concept has enable most of the financial advisors the most piece of mind. Staff training during the implementation period: Prior to the integration of the HRIS into the Etihad workplace, the administration ensured that all the staff had a full understanding of the features and options that they were having at their disposal. The management had to look for the Oracle HR systems software company since it was providing them with implementation support, continuing help, and other relevant services. The staff training involved the double-bookings and black-out dates for the trainers, facilities, etc. This did allow the senior management to coordinate training sessions devoid of double-booking and with no missing of the crucial components of the training. There was tracking of any pre-requisite or previous course work of the staff to make sure that they were having proper trainings. The managers had to track how much the trainings really cost the company. The managers are able to control precisely how much has to be spent on the trainers, facilities, resources, and more relevant to the courses or classes. This has been helping with funds, and essentially, conscientious funding decreases. More importantly than before, the Peopletrak (2014) advises that the companies using the HRIS should ensure that the employees aren’t only trained and proficient but that they continue in that manner with appropriate accreditations, updates in the HR field, coursework, and more. Benefits and pitfalls experience by the HR Department with the HRIS Benefits The HRIS has not only been helping in the automation of large portion of routine HR responsibilities but also saving time and facilities for the staff and managers in Etihad Airways. It has been enabling the employees to complete various day-to-day, administrative duties without directly contacting the HR personnel, has made the management to be more effective. For any employee, the online, self-services offered through the HR portal, has been processing various requests, like the payroll look-ups, paid time off requests, employee’s handbooks access and the yearly benefits enrollment. The HRIS has enabled creation of time for the HR employees to concentrate on other employee programs and matters. The managers have been able to streamline time and attendance tracking, employees’ data collection, administrate benefits, reviewing of the performance and the processing of the applications for the potential staff. Pitfalls Though there is security by use of passwords protection, there has been risk of the HR management system being accessed by unapproved people, putting the team’s private information to be up for grabs. User errors like some misspelled employees’ names usually happen. At worst, errors when entering the data might upset the workflow of the business. The HRIS lacks the human input thus failing to handle some of the outside the box logistic matters in the HR duties. The HRIS has been vulnerable to down time, with likely terrible consequences. This has been bringing some serious business activities to a halt whenever the employee data isn’t available.  In conclusion, the Etihad Airways has been using Oracle HR systems since 2012 as its HRIS. The system has resulted to some increased profits after the HR personnel had training from the Oracle support trainers. The HRIS has been of help in recruitments, attendance tracking, the employees had sufficient time for other responsibilities in the company. The online self-services offered through the HR portal, have been processing various requests, like the payroll look-ups, paid time off requests, employee’s handbooks access and the yearly benefits enrollment. But the HRIS has been vulnerable to down times, user errors and risk of the hackers. But, the HRIS has been of great assistance to the Etihad Airways. Reference List Cliffconsulting. (2014). Sytem guidelines matrix. Retrieved from http://www.cliffconsulting.net/CCI%20Publications/System%20Guidelines%20w%20Matrix%20v4.pdf CompareHRIS. (2014). Human Resource Information Systems. Retrieved from http://www.compareHRIs.com/Human%20Resource%20Information%20Systems%20reactions.htm Dessler, G. (2005) Human Resource Management, 10.ed., USA: Prentice Hall. Etihadairways. (2012). Etihad Airways In Brief. Retrieved from http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/Etihad/Etihad%20Images/Resources/EY-Factsheet.pdf Etihadairways. (2014). Etihad Meet & Greet Service. Retrieved from http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/Etihad/trades/global/en/Pages/etihad-meet-and-greet-service.aspx Karakanian, M. (2000). Are human resources departments ready for E-HR? Information Systems Management, 17(4), pp.1–5. Kulik,C. T., & Perry, E. L. (2008). When less is more: The effect of devolution on HR’s strategic Role and Donstrued Image, Human Resource Management, 47(3), pp.541–558. Noor, M. M., & Razali, R. (2011). Human resources information systems (HRIS) for military domain-a conceptual framework, International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics, 17–19 July, 2011, Indonesia. Ostermann, H., Staudinger, B., & Staudinger, R. (2009). Benchmarking human resource information systems. In T. Coronas & M. Oliva (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Resources Information Systems: Challenges in E-HRM (pp. 92–101). Hershey, PA: IGI Global Peopletrak. (2014). Advice for Training Employees Using HRIS. Retrieved from http://www.people-trak.com/articles/advice-for-training-employees-using-hris.asp UAEEmiratejobs.(2014). HR & Payroll management. Retrieved from http://uae-emirates.jobs-career-listing.com/articles/4687/1/Manager-HR-Systems-Support---Etihad-Airways---Abu-Dhabi/Page1.html . Read More