HR Management Software (HRIS)
The modern and competitive HR Management is not possible without the support of the modern technologies. The HR Information system is a must for Human Resources, which are focused on the development of key employees and supporting managers in their daily tasks in the area of the people management.
The HRIS is not just about the personnel administration. The modern information system for Human Resources is about the technological support of the value added HR processes. Most organizations need a digitized support of the solid IT technology. The growth of Human Resources is not possible without the modern HRIS.
The HR Management software evolved from the databases for keeping and updating personnel files. The early systems were supporting purely the personnel administration processes and the payroll. It took a long time to extend systems as the true managerial tools.
Today, the modern HRIS is in the center of the organization. It provides information about employees, job positions and people related processes to other systems. It provides information for the centralized user rights management. It is not a system for the payroll and the personal administration. The global organization cannot be competitive without the global HRIS.
The HR Information System brings a huge increase of the performance in the entire organization. Managers have the instant access to information about their employees. Employees can update their information and they can require different access rights to different systems in the company.
HRIS supports the value added processes like the recruitment and staffing, the performance management, HR Reporting, the organizational design and compensation and benefits. Managers do not have to ask for the information, they can download them at any time.
HRIS helps to manage the organization and it monitors the utilization of employees in the entire organization. HR has the instant access to worksheets, time sheets and it can connect different information about employees with their utilization.
HRIS supports the planning processes in the organization. The modern systems allow planning of scenarios in the future and they assist in planning costs and gaps in the organization. Most HR professionals do need to predict trends and identify gaps. The modern HRIS measures the basic HR processes as it collects information about the behavior of employees. It can send early warnings before they are recognized by the management.
The selection of the new HRIS is not simple and the organization has to set clear requirements based on the HR Strategy and the HR Model. The selection can take few months and the HRIS implementation project can take even several years, but the benefits are visible.
What are the benefits of HRIS?
The modern HRIS brings huge benefits to Human Resources and the entire organization. The modern IT solution for HR is not cheap, but the realized cost savings over a longer time are enormous. The HR processes and automated and they require no manual entry from HR employees.
The HR employees can focus on the value added HR processes and the HR administration can be outsourced to the external provider. Additionally, the modern HRIS brings benefits in the area of the data security and the data standardization, which are essential for the modern organizations in the competitive markets.
The HRIS solution does not provide benefits just to Human Resources. The IT department and Finance department receive huge benefits as well. The modern HRIS solution brings the modern and automated interfaces and the solution can be connected to other systems in the organization almost at no additional implementation costs.
The main benefits of the modern HRIS solutions are:
- Data Consolidation
- Data Protection
- Standardized HR Processes
- Self Service Portal
- HR Administration Reduction
The data consolidation is a huge benefit for the whole organization. Most HR functions use the system for the personnel administration and payroll processing. Additionally, they keep many sensitive and confidential data in different Microsoft Excel sheets. The sheets are password protected, but it is a task for few seconds to crack the Excel password. The data consolidation is about keeping the data in one system in a consistent way.
The HR specialists can connect data about the remuneration with the data about the performance of employees. HR can deliver huge value added in comparing different data sources.
The data protection is a key requirement in Human Resources. The data about employees are interesting and most employees do wish to know some details about their colleagues. HR has to protect the data of employees as the data leakage cannot occur. The data protection is important as the organization is fully compliant with the legal requirements and it is not in the reputation risk.
Many organizations are mentioned in the media, because they were not able to handle data about employees properly. The modern HRIS defines strict access rights for groups of employees and everyone can access just the data, which are required for job duties. Additionally, the HRIS solutions allows to define job profiles in the system and it can provide the access right rules and definitions to the IT department directly.
The automated assignment of the access right to systems can be defined and maintained. The access right can be cancelled, if the employee changes the job position automatically.
The standardized HR processes are required by the modern HRIS. The processes are defined and maintained in the system. The system does not allow exceptions and managers have to follow the described HR Processes. This brings transparency to Human Resources. Managers want HR to be transparent. The pre-defined HR processes make processing of requests smooth and quick. HR can set SLAs for different requests and the HRIS solution can measure the cycle times. This makes the work of HR predictable.
The HRIS self service portal decreases the HR administration significantly. Employees can download their information and they can update it. Managers can download instant HR reports. HR Managers can access information during their discussions with managers. The self service eliminates delays in the work of Human Resources. The HR Managers are not asked to produce reports.
Managers have to prepare their reports and they can discuss results with HR Managers. It makes the work of HR efficient. The self service eliminates the potential for error as HR does not enter information to the system. HR just confirms the data entry done by employees and managers.
The modern HRIS solution reduces the administration in Human Resources. HR does not entry all information to the system. Most information is entered and maintained by employees and managers. HR provides just the tool. The HRIS monitors the necessity for the update and sends reminders to employees and managers with the request for an update.
Common HRIS features
The modern HRIS solution supports the entire HR function in the organization. It is a difference from the personnel administration and payroll processing systems. The modern HRIS changes the way HR works. The modern HR Model can be fully implemented without any impact on the workforce employed in the function. The modern HRIS is modular and allows customizations.
The modern, competitive organization is based on intensive interactions among employees, managers and units. The modern solution of HR has to support communication and cooperation. Most organizations are huge and the employees do not know each other in person. The HRIS is a central point for all information about employees, applicants, contingent workers, job positions, organizational structures, management structures, job vacancies, HR reports and the other useful stuff.
The organization does not need to implement the full solution. The provider usually offer the basic functionality, which is required by the law and the other modules. The other modules can be activated or they can be ignored without any impact on the rest of the modern HR solution.
The modern HRIS supports the complete life-cycle of the employee in the organization. It supports the job design processes, it supports the creation of the job position within the organization and the given structure. It supports the recruitment and staffing processes. It offers internal candidates for the job vacancy. It enables automated job posting to different web job boards. The modern HRIS supports the social media communication with no touch of a human hand.
The modern HR supports the talent development and the succession planning in the organization. HR should manage the succession planning using its information management platform. The successors should be kept in the system and HRIS should monitor all moves in the organization. The succession planning and the talent management are not possible without the strong HRIS features in this area. The succession planning should be attached to the ideal organization structure, not the employees currently occupying job positions.
The employee data are entered to the system just once. The modern HRIS populates other systems in the organization and they can act automatically using information from the defined set of job profiles. The automated processes eliminate potential errors of people and the data of the organization are more secure. The feature of the self service update has to be a part of the standard offer.
The modern HR solution has a strong workflow management. The predefined workflows for different processes and requests are defined. The system recognizes different thresholds and sends the request for the approval to the right authority defined in the organization. The strong workflow management can be customized and new workflows can be defined internally in the company. No external development is needed.
The modern HR solution is based on the defined industry standards. The interfaces are described and information can flow to other systems without any restrictions and limitations. The HRIS has to be the only system providing information about active employees in the company. The only source of information stops messing of fresh and obsolete information resulting in many data leakages.
The modern HRIS features includes the document management system. HR still produces many documents and the originals should be stored electronically in the document management system. Many HRIS solutions offer the internal document system, but the interface with the robust corporate document management solution is better.
