For a myriad of reasons, the HR software selection process is rarely quick. From start to finish, depending on many factors, the process can take sometimes a year or more. This occurs because of budget issues and the large number of people involved in the process. The length of time can also be determined by the effectiveness of the project manager. This responsibility most likely falls to the head of HR since they will ultimately receive the most benefit from a system and will have to cost justify the decision to management. The project manager responsibility could fall on IT but as momma said, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”. Based on my experience of selling HR systems, I want to offer my advice on how the process can be more effectively managed and, hopefully, your time frame to get the approval for a system can be shortened.
Where should you start and how CompareHRIS.com can help
Part of the problem is that those who are responsible for the process of selecting an HR software program may not have been through the process before, so they are not real sure where to start. That’s where the free tools come into play.
Here is a list of a few tools and features provided by CompareHRIS.com to help you get the process started and keep it moving forward.
Free HRIS Buyers Guide – With this guide, I created a ten step “inside the industry advice” article on a game plan for selecting HR systems. Regardless if you have or have not been through the process before, I fully believe this guide will assist you with making the whole process easier.
Free HRIS Selection Tool – There is nothing else like our HRIS selection tool, that I have seen. We worked with the industry’s leading HRIS providers to create a comprehensive list of options and features available with these types of systems. Before you can determine your needs, first , you need to understand the capabilities of these types of systems. The list provided in our free tool certainly helps with this step. Upon completing the questions, the user is provided a short scored list of vendors matching their needs. From this list, you may find a handful of systems with which you want to begin your evaluation.
Pre-recorded demos – On our HRIS products page, our list contains more than 15 of the industry’s leading HRIS providers. Those with red asterisks next to the product name offer pre-recorded demos. I would not expect anyone to make a decision based only on this information but it can be an easy way to see what these types of systems do and don’t offer.
Over 250 “How-To” HRIS articles – In addition to the current article you are reading, we have over 250 helpful articles listed. The articles are broken down by the following subgroups:
• Free HRIS RFP Template
• CompareHRIS.com Press Releases
• HRIS/HRMS Software selection articles
• HRIS - Getting Approval
• HRIS Implementation Tips
• General HRIS Information Articles
• HRIS Articles – For Vendors
• Recruiting Software
• White Papers
• CompareHRIS.com Vendor Interviews
• Recent HR-SoftwareBlog.com Posts
• HRIS Vendor Success Stories
Project Management of the process is mostly about the next step and follow-up
Our HRIS Buyers Guide provides the steps but at each step, there are going to be others who are responsible for gathering certain pieces of information. You may be waiting on system information from your IT person or a reference from one of the potential vendors. As you know, most people’s follow up skills are not good. It’s important for the project manager to establish the steps, establish time frames and deliverables for each person involved, and to follow up if those time frames are not being met. On the sales side of things, we call this “advancing the sale,” which basically means keep the process moving forward.
If you, as the project manager of the process, are not able to meet certain timeframes you created, it’s important that you let others know why and set a new timeline that can be met.
Closing
I hope those that find this article are able to use the tips and tools of CompareHRIS.com to shorten the process and gain approval sooner than might have ordinarily been the case. The bottom line is that you are researching Human Resource software because you believe it will save your department time and effort and make your department more efficient at the same time. So getting a system is important. And it’s just as important to effectively project manage the process to ensure you get a system which will provide the maximum benefit. And, as quickly as possible, is paramount.