Human Resource professionals often encounter problems with their HRIS, problems that arise from questions never asked. Of course, software sometimes comes with glitches. But, as often as not, the problems lie in the apparent inability to reconcile differences between performance and expectations.
All that can go wrong with a program will go wrong. On the other hand, you need to pursue clear goals and metrics. And, you want to know all that you can do with your HRIS potential. Here are some problems you can avoid with the right mindset:
What’s it supposed to do?
Any product will fail expectations that you have not clarified. You invite trouble when you define goals as they occur to you or during implementation. You owe it to yourself and to the HRIS vendor to explore needs and potential from early on.
- Understand what competitive products offer.
- Define specific outcomes you want for your needs.
- Identify the outcomes that serve your workforce and executive suite.
The surest way to avoid low performance is to have clear expectations all around. Vendor reps stand ready and willing to shape your vision and frame your expectations. The sooner you establish the trust in their collaborative advice the better for the sort of long term commitment this represents.
What use is it?
Users define what they mean by “useful.” Where HRIS works successfully, it does so at the nexus of HR personnel, all levels of the workforce across the organization’s functional silos, and the executive management your outcomes serve.
You are mistaken to characterize user needs as all the same or even primarily useful to HR. For example, floor workers, field sales reps, call centers, road drivers, all have widely varied wants. The vice presidents of finance, marketing, operations, and more are all vested in certain data reports.
To please them all, you must fully ascertain what they want in broad and deep ways:
- Invite all potential users to participate.
- Secure input, buy-in, and feedback at all levels.
- Frame a platform that reflects the collaboration.
- Work and re-work the draft until you have a consensus.
The time exhausted on this process will return the investment because it continues to define and refine its wants and wishes as something that can be actuated.
What does HRIS cost?
A successful HRIS tool requires investment in time and money. The pre-process burns time, and that means employee hours. The expenditure appears heavier if you have not built in the value of planning, participation, and performance.
It is your job to make the system user-friendly on a pre-emptive and continuing basis. Until it is operational and meaningful, users can be negative, skeptical, and even hostile. There is a bridge in time to any project of this size and sort that you cannot stretch without expecting some sabotage.
- Choose your development team carefully and productively.
- Represent all users.
- Delegate tasks, research, and decisions.
Depending on the size of your organization, you should consider the use of an experienced Project Manager able to draw and segment the process of user needs and project solutions. This relieves you of the immediate burden, involves a third party expertise, and centralizes the preparation and installation.
What does the data do?
Hopefully, the HRIS will process data the way you need and want. It is markedly more accurate in its sorting, charting, and retention than any human system. On the other hand, you need to have a metric for accurate and complete work from early on.
- Define metrics for input and output.
- Test run and revise performance.
- Review system validity regularly.
- Revise system operation and performance goals.
Data serves those who know how to use it and to find, chart, and communicate the information it contains.
Build your future into your HRIS plan.
All that can go wrong with a complex system will go wrong. But, problems and weaknesses can be eliminated, minimized, and corrected so long as you build the HRIS plan’s future into its origin. You can plot its installation and self-fulfilling values if you ask the right questions at the start.
Look to compareHRIS.com for its information on vendors, features, and benefits. Use its HRIS Software Buyer’s Guide and its HRIS/HRMS Selector Tool for support in your research and effective decision-making.
