I. Select the Right Vendor
II. Get your Project Approved
III. Factors for your Decision
IV. Involve Key Personnel in the Decision Process
V. Hardware Considerations
VI. List your Current or Future Plans for Hardware or Software Upgrade
VII. Describe the process and frequency for moving data between payroll and HR
VIII. Areas of Interest (check all that apply)
IX. Current Data Sources
X. How can an integrated system save you time and effort?
XI. Schedule
XII. Internal Resource Allocation
XIII. Reports
XIV. Current Projects and Activities
XV. Required new features
XVI. Other Considerations
XVII. Use this Checklist for comparing products
Proper planning of your HRIS project will ensure the selection of a high-value, cost effective system. Be sure to consider all of the critical elements when upgrading or installing an HR system. Expand this plan as necessary to include specific needs, and remember, there is no such thing as too much planning.
Vendors come in all flavors and sizes. While this Project Planner is simply a guideline, it will help you find a vendor that suits your budget and requirements.
How does the approval process work in your company? Some companies will consider an investment in a HRIS a frivolous expense. Why? This happens when the project is not carefully thought out, and the value of a system is not communicated to senior management. Consider the time savings when you no longer have to duplicate employee data. Consider the value of management analysis, government reporting and compliance, reduced need for staff increases and finally, assistance with financial impact and analysis reporting. A good vendor will help you effectively present these benefits to management.
Do you need project approval? __________________________________________________________________________
By what date would you like the system installed: ________________________________________________________
How long does the vendor estimate for installation: ______________________________________________________
Software budget: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Training budget: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Implementation budget: ________________________________________________________________________________
Maintenance and support budget: ______________________________________________________________________
What are the key factors that are driving this decision to purchase an HRIS?
1. No current system
2. Current solution is out-of-date or won’t grow.
3. Company is adding more employees
4. More complex transactions such as benefits or attendance
5. Current system is not performing
What would happen if you did not purchase a new HRIS?
1. Loss of productivity
2. Loss of talented employees
3. Loss of talented applicants
4. Nothing
What added value will the new system bring to your organization?
1. Ability to produce information not possible within the current environment
2. Ability to do the same things:
a. Better
b. Faster
c. At a lower cost
Are there any real or perceived deadlines important to the installation of the system?
What is the estimated date for completion of the project?
Will resources be available to work on the project in the allotted time?
Have you considered the following budget items?
Software Licensing
Implementation
Training
Maintenance and support
Customization and reports
Time for your staff to work on the conversion
Have you considered how the application is delivered? Do you want it in-house or as a hosted service with a monthly processing fee? Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks.
Decide in advance what will help determine the best vendor for your company.
Price (Value) ________________________________
Ease of Use _________________________________
Support ____________________________________
Training ____________________________________
Location of Vendor __________________________
Features ____________________________________
Ability to grow ______________________________
Database Format _____________________________
Interfaces to systems ________________________
Client Server ________________________________
Web based___________________________________
Other_______________________________________
This process should include members of the HR, Finance and IT Departments. Each member should be responsible for evaluating his or her respective areas of the project.
Committee members:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Network Windows 2000 Windows 2003 Windows 2008 Windows XP
Server Microsoft Novell Unix Linux
Report Writer Crystal Reports R&R Report Smith Access
User Skills Basic Advanced Power User
Email Server MS Exchange GroupWise Lotus Notes
Number of HR Users: ____________________________________________
Internet Connection: Dialup Less than1Mb DSL/ISDN Greater than 1Mb
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What Payroll product or service do you use? ________________________________________
Version ____________________________________
Would you like to interface from payroll to HR? _______________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Applicant Management, Automatic Report Distribution, Benefit Statements,
Benefits Administration, Budget Planning, Cafeteria Benefits,
Client/Server, Cobra Tracking, Company Property,
Compensation, Education, EEO And AAP,
Employee Self-Service, Financial Planning, Flexible Benefits,
Grievance Tracking, Health, I-9 Tracking,
Import/Export, Job Analysis, Job History,
Licensing, Life/Accident Insurance, Manager Self-Service,
Medical Insurance, Multiple Job/Cost Centers, New Hire,
Employee Development, Payroll Interface, Position Control,
Review Forms, Safety, Salary Admin,
Salary Analysis, Salary History, Site Replication,
Skills Tracking, Terminations, Training,
Vacation Accruals, Wellness, Workers Comp,
Other
Identify the current sources for your employee data, including payroll data, spreadsheets, older HRIS systems and databases that you use to track employee information. Your vendor should be easily able to put this data into your new system.
Spreadsheets ___________________________________________________________________
Databases ______________________________________________________________________
Current HRIS ___________________________________________________________________
Payroll data ____________________________________________________________________
Describe the information that is contained in each of the files (list each field of data) and the uses of this information.
File Name
Field Name Description
List your fields Describe the use of this field
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
Describe the amount of data entry that can be saved below
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you are entering data more than once, what is the frequency of errors created due to redundant data entry?
Spreadsheets? Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Databases
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current HRIS
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Payroll Data
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Manual files and information
List all information contained in files and folders with employee information. How much of this information is duplicated in other systems? How difficult is access to this information?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
XV. Schedule
A detailed project schedule is critical to insure a successful implementation. This should cover all elements of the project with target dates. Here is a sample schedule to follow:
Week 1 Complete negotiations with vendor and sign contracts
Week 3 Send specifications for benefit and attendance information to vendor
Week 5 Send sample ASCII files from current HR system and other sources
Week 7 Specifications for reports and modifications completed
Week 12 Send final ASCII files for complete data load
Week 13 Installation of system and initial training
Week 17 Advanced training
Week 21 Report creation training
XVI. Internal Resource Allocation
Some packages may require your internal resources during the implementation. Determine what tasks you will be responsible for. Your chosen vendor should be able to help determine how long each task will take to accomplish.
List all of your Insurance Plans
Plan Name Days to Configure Cost if vendor configures (for vendor use)
Life Insurance ________________ _______________________ _______________
Supplemental ________________ _______________________ _______________
AD&D ________________ _______________________ _______________
STD ________________ _______________________ _______________
LTD ________________ _______________________ _______________
Medical ________________ _______________________ _______________
HMO ________________ _______________________ _______________
PPO ________________ _______________________ _______________
401(k) ________________ _______________________ _______________
FSA ________________ _______________________ _______________
Vision ________________ _______________________ _______________
Other ________________ _______________________ _______________
Other ________________ _______________________ _______________
XVII. Reports
What reports are required for each department in your company? Your HR system must be able to satisfy your reporting requirements through either standard or easily built custom reports.
Regularly Run Reports:
What reports are run regularly and how often? Are they delivered as Email, Paper or File?
Name Frequency Delivered in what format
Attendance Statements ______________________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Census ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Premium Reconciliation _______________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Statements ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Company Phone Directory ____________________________________________________________________________________
Company Credit/Phone Card Renewals _________________________________________________________________________
Disciplinary Actions __________________________________________________________________________________________
Headcount By Dept/Group ____________________________________________________________________________________
I-9 Document Expiration List ___________________________________________________________________________________
New Hire List _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Termination List _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Training Lists _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments/Notes
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Government Compliance
List all of the reports you will be required to file:
Report Name Required to File Y/N
EEO-1 _________________________________________
EEO-1 Detail ___________________________________
EEO-4 _________________________________________
EEO-4 Detail ___________________________________
EEO New Hire _________________________________
EEO Terminations ______________________________
HIPPA Certificate ______________________________
COBRA Letter _________________________________
Vets 100 ______________________________________
OSHA 101 _____________________________________
Applicant Flow ________________________________
Reject Reason Analysis ________________________
OSHA 200 _____________________________________
Other reports ________________________________
XVIII. Current Projects and Activities
Create a list of all of the current projects that your department performs on a routine or special circumstance basis.
Activity Frequency Time Spent
Create Benefit Statements _____________________________________________________________________________________
Produce Government Reports __________________________________________________________________________________
Calculate vacation accruals ____________________________________________________________________________________
Enter employee time off _______________________________________________________________________________________
Produce headcount reports ___________________________________________________________________________________
Verify insurance premiums _____________________________________________________________________________________
Analyze insurance expenses ___________________________________________________________________________________
Produce imputed income reports ______________________________________________________________________________
Produce accrual liability reports _______________________________________________________________________________
Create COBRA letters _________________________________________________________________________________________
Salary budgeting reports ______________________________________________________________________________________
Employee review forms ________________________________________________________________________________________
Track Applicants ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Employee Disciplinary actions __________________________________________________________________________________
Labor Department Audits ______________________________________________________________________________________
OSHA Reports ________________________________________________________________________________________________
XIX. Required new features
List all of the new features that your department needs in an HRIS:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
XX. Other Considerations
Project Management Capabilities – Will the implementation project be handled internally or managed by the vendor?
Task Internally Vendor Cost:
Project Management ________________________________________________________________________________________
Data Conversion _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Required Custom Reports ___________________________________________________________________________________
Installation __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Staff Availability during implementation – Is the internal staff on vacation, negotiating union contracts, doing special projects or otherwise involved, and how does that affect the start date and length of the project?
Desired Completion Date: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Implementation Start Date: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Expected availability problems: _______________________________________________________________________________
Support Options – Does the vendor offer options which meet your business needs?
Hours ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cost/Call ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Incidents ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Report Writer Support _______________________________________________________________________________________
Toll Free # __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Web/Email Support __________________________________________________________________________________________
Interoperability
Does this solution operate in concert with your current and future systems? ____________________________________
Can this solution interface with other systems if your company changes its payroll, enterprise software, labor management, email systems or other interactive products? ________________________________________________________________________
Current Payroll System _______________________________________________________________________________________
Other Payroll Systems ________________________________________________________________________________________
Time Keeping System _________________________________________________________________________________________
Enterprise Software __________________________________________________________________________________________
Labor Costing System _________________________________________________________________________________________
Other: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Technology – Does this system provide a growth path which coincides with the corporate technology plan (i.e. XML enabled, ODBC compliant, Secured)
MS SQL Server __________________________________________________________________
Oracle _________________________________________________________________________
DB/2 ___________________________________________________________________________
XML/XSL _______________________________________________________________________
Web Services ___________________________________________________________________
Citrix/Terminal Services _________________________________________________________
In house hosting solution ________________________________________________________
Outside hosting solution _________________________________________________________
Other: _________________________________________________________________________
Other: ________________________________________________________________________
XXI. Use this Checklist for comparing products
Create one sheet for each vendor and check off the features of the product. Compare this to your requirements section earlier in this document.
Accrued Vacation Liabilities
Additional Compensation
Attach Word Documents
Attendance Reports
Attendance Tracking
Automatic Benefit Eligibility
Automatic Benefit Recalculation
Automatic New Hire Function
Automatic Report Distribution
Automatic Termination Function
Automatically Create Open Positions
Benefit Reports
Benefit Statement
Benefits Administration
Bonus Tracking
Budget To Actual
Calculate Adjusted Dates Of Hire
Career Development
Change Field Labels
Client/Server Version
Cobra
Company Holidays
Company Property
Company Property Reports
Compa-Ration Analysis
Compensation Reports
Context-Sensitive Help
Custom Attendance Formulas
Custom Benefit Formulas
Custom Code Tables
Custom Design Fields
Custom Preferences
Custom Queries
Custom Reports
Custom Salary Grades
Default New Hire Information
Departmental Budgets
Dependant Tracking
Disability Tracking
Disciplinary Actions
Documentation
Education Tracking
EEO Reports
EEO, AAP And Military
Electronic Notes
Electronic DOL Handbook
Electronic Manual
Email Account Tracking
Emergency Contact
Employee Correspondence
Employee Photos
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Employee Skills Development
Expire Employee Benefits
Export To ASCII
Family And Medical Leave
Field Level Security
Fill Open Positions
Financial Planning and Projections
Full Time Equivalency
Global Update
Graphs
Grievance Tracking
Handicap Information
Headcount Analysis
I-9 Information
Illness Tracking
Import From ODBC
Imputed Income Calculations
Incentive Pay Tracking
Internet Updates
Job Analysis
Job Electronic Notes
Job History
LAN and Wan Versions
Licensing
Manager Level Security
Mass Increase Salaries
Mass Salary, Job And Benefit Updates
MS Access Database
MS Visual Basic 5.0
Multiple Phone Numbers
Name Address SSN
Open Positions
Organization
Organization Planning
OSHA 200
OSHA Tracking
Output To Excel
Output To Excel, Lotus, ASCII
Output To Word
Pay Period Dates
Payroll Input Screen
Payroll Interface To ADP
Payroll Interface To Ceridian
Payroll Interface To in-house
Performance Reviews
Plan Definition
Position Control
Remove Unused Fields
Report Grouping And Sorting
Report Record Selection
Report Scheduling
Review And Effective Dates
Salary Administration
Salary History
Salary Mid, Max and Min
Security Users And Groups
Select Active Or Terminated Employees
Self-Service Module
Seniority Dates
Shift Information
Skill Development
Skills Tracking
Split Cost Center Job Information
Succession Planning
System Audit Function
System Tutorial
Track Dependant Coverage
Training
Turnover Analysis
Union Participation
Unlimited Employee Records
User Defined Fields
User Defined Screens
User Defined Tables
Users Levels Security
Vacation Accruals
Visual Attendance Input
W4 Data
Wage and Salary Administration
What-If Calculations
Windows 95 Compatible
Windows 98 Compatible
Windows NT Compatible
Workers Compensation
Article contributed by Michael Gabriele, President, PerfectSoftware.