Once you have the process in place, got the budget approved and have identified the list of products, you will next focus on product fitment. This is the wooing phase; I like to call it the honeymoon phase. The business teams have this great vision and you have a line of vendors promising you the world and more. Practicality, budget limitations and other nasty impediments arrive later as the project gets closer to the contracting phase.
However, you can make the most of the positive vibes flowing in this phase if you keep in mind a few simple things:
1.Prioritize your needs. Have a clear idea of which parts of your process are in critical need of technical enablement. Then go for the solution / product that excels in those areas. A good-looking, state of the art product with advanced features is of no use if it can’t deliver on the basic needs of the process.
2.Have a long term view. You will be investing in the product anywhere from 3-5 years. So think about how your organization and your business process will evolve in those years. Find out if the product is scalable and flexible to accommodate your growth and process changes.
3.Get the actual users to be part of the process. More often than not, the decision making on a new technology remains restricted to senior HR managers and the IT department. Making the actual end users part of the process will give a real picture of the usability of the product as well as make change management a lot easier when the product is finally rolled out. The only caution here is bear in mind that users can some time get into the nitty-gritties of the process which can become too detailed and can take the focus away from big picture.
4.Keep the big picture in mind. Think about your organization’s overall technology landscape and strategy. At the end of the day, systems have to work together to make the organization tick. Ensure that the new technology will interface well with the remaining systems and can send and receive data as required.
5. And finally, be practical. Don’t try to achieve much more than what you need. Your users are not going to get rid of excel sheets and will continue to use them. In fact, no other tool till date beats the convenience of getting a data snapshot in a spreadsheet for analysis and error checking. So expect some part of manual processing to remain and do not aim for a system that can run on autopilot.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Do you have your process defined?
I am reading my blog posts (yes, it has been so long since I blogged that I have lost track!) – and thinking, how did I forget process definition?! Turns out, I didn’t miss out on process definition, but went with the assumption the process has already been defined. Going by my experience since I wrote the last blog, I realize that is not the case, especially so with the start-ups. HR processes have their own evolution curve. Most organizations start off with adhoc processes with a “whatever that works” policy, because HR is not their core and they are absolutely right in doing so in that stage of the organization. However, as the organization grows and crosses that invisible threshold, the need to create a defined policy and process emerges.
Process definition is definitely the foremost step even prior to considering budget or getting into evaluating technology options. Without a defined process, it is quite easy to get lost within the technology landscape. I have seen many companies first pick the technology vendor then look into what process they have in place. The vendor’s promise that they have a “standard process” in place looks too good and the organizations take the bait and decide to go with the standard process based on best practices.
I come from the school of thought that there is no one best practice, especially when it comes to HR. HR processes evolve depending on the organization’s culture and the kind of people involved in executing the process and the country (or even the state or the county) to which the organization belongs. Thus one standard process cannot work well for all. What the vendors sell is usually a configurable product that allows only a defined set of configuration variations.
If you really want your HR processes to empower and extract the highest performance out of your people, you should invest in the right place – defining sound HR processes and then go looking for technology options to enable the process.
Process definition is definitely the foremost step even prior to considering budget or getting into evaluating technology options. Without a defined process, it is quite easy to get lost within the technology landscape. I have seen many companies first pick the technology vendor then look into what process they have in place. The vendor’s promise that they have a “standard process” in place looks too good and the organizations take the bait and decide to go with the standard process based on best practices.
I come from the school of thought that there is no one best practice, especially when it comes to HR. HR processes evolve depending on the organization’s culture and the kind of people involved in executing the process and the country (or even the state or the county) to which the organization belongs. Thus one standard process cannot work well for all. What the vendors sell is usually a configurable product that allows only a defined set of configuration variations.
If you really want your HR processes to empower and extract the highest performance out of your people, you should invest in the right place – defining sound HR processes and then go looking for technology options to enable the process.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Users and your HR system
In the last blog, I wrote about the top most factor that organizations usually consider while making the choice for a HR system. This blog discusses the next important aspect that needs to be considered – the users of the HR system. While technically this is getting listed second, Users are as important as Budget when it comes to making a decision.
Any system rollout is declared a success only when the users adopt to it and use the system as it should be rightfully used. The role of IT is to leverage automation and enable business processes and hence usability is a single most criterion in determining the success of an IT project. In case of HR, users and usability matter even more than other processes, because for most HR systems user group comprises the entire employee base. It is almost impossible to train all of them to use a new system and employees are notorious in adopting manual short cuts if systems are hindering their day to day work instead of helping them get things done faster.
When it comes to users, it helps to keep two factors in mind.
1. The nature of the users – Think about if your users are computer savvy or even access to computers at the workplace. This can determine the extent of Self Service and automation you can introduce with a new HR system.
2. The nature of interaction – Consider how business critical the nature of user interaction is. For example, Annual Enrollment happens once a year and most employees access a Benefits Administration system only in that period of the year. However, the piece of information that gets captured during that process is critical for the HR process. Such process capsules should be kept clear and clutter free to make it easy for the end user.
Interestingly, most of the latest HR systems are built on web technologies and don’t make a huge distinction between enabling Self Service and not providing one. Most HR products have made it very easy to turn the Self Service bit on or off. So while you may not save a lot by not exposing your larger employee base to all the process nuances of the HR application, depending on your users, it may just make the process more efficient not to do so.
Use Self Service where it makes sense. Make an automated process accessible to the end user where it makes business sense and the application is simple enough for the user to handle.
More importantly think about the end users, their pain points and what will make them adhere to and manage a process. Your new system should make your HR processes simple, direct and easy to use for them, because therein lies the actual success of your implementation.
Any system rollout is declared a success only when the users adopt to it and use the system as it should be rightfully used. The role of IT is to leverage automation and enable business processes and hence usability is a single most criterion in determining the success of an IT project. In case of HR, users and usability matter even more than other processes, because for most HR systems user group comprises the entire employee base. It is almost impossible to train all of them to use a new system and employees are notorious in adopting manual short cuts if systems are hindering their day to day work instead of helping them get things done faster.
When it comes to users, it helps to keep two factors in mind.
1. The nature of the users – Think about if your users are computer savvy or even access to computers at the workplace. This can determine the extent of Self Service and automation you can introduce with a new HR system.
2. The nature of interaction – Consider how business critical the nature of user interaction is. For example, Annual Enrollment happens once a year and most employees access a Benefits Administration system only in that period of the year. However, the piece of information that gets captured during that process is critical for the HR process. Such process capsules should be kept clear and clutter free to make it easy for the end user.
Interestingly, most of the latest HR systems are built on web technologies and don’t make a huge distinction between enabling Self Service and not providing one. Most HR products have made it very easy to turn the Self Service bit on or off. So while you may not save a lot by not exposing your larger employee base to all the process nuances of the HR application, depending on your users, it may just make the process more efficient not to do so.
Use Self Service where it makes sense. Make an automated process accessible to the end user where it makes business sense and the application is simple enough for the user to handle.
More importantly think about the end users, their pain points and what will make them adhere to and manage a process. Your new system should make your HR processes simple, direct and easy to use for them, because therein lies the actual success of your implementation.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Top most factor: The Budget
The first decision factor that usually pops up is the budget and rightly so. Most organizations shop for solutions within their budget. These solutions can range from in-house solutions to complete outsourcing.
What usually gets missed out while reviewing the costs of these products is the TCO or the Total Cost of Ownership. The total cost of ownership should include,
* Cost of acquiring the solution
* Cost of maintaining the solution
* Cost of operations
* Cost of additional process steps / solutions required to complete the process scope
* Cost of infrastructure required to support the solution
* Cost of training the users on the new solution
* Any third party costs
From this perspective it makes sense to view the total cost of the end to end HR process, rather than focusing on the solution that you are considering. Looking at the end to end process will give a better estimate of all the costs involved.
Vendor prices might promise "value added services" which sound good. But remember that you will get the value only when you use that particular feature or facility. So again have a clear picture of the end to end process to determine which product / solution covers most of your needs and how much more you will have to do to complete the process. Ask questions and ask for data sheets, system architecture, support options and all that you need to get a clear picture.
This information can be derived very easily and most of the vendors who are showcasing their solutions to you will be willing to do this analysis for you at a low cost or even for free. However if you want an unbiased view, you can engage a consultant (like Optimus Prime HR) to pull this together for you.
What usually gets missed out while reviewing the costs of these products is the TCO or the Total Cost of Ownership. The total cost of ownership should include,
* Cost of acquiring the solution
* Cost of maintaining the solution
* Cost of operations
* Cost of additional process steps / solutions required to complete the process scope
* Cost of infrastructure required to support the solution
* Cost of training the users on the new solution
* Any third party costs
From this perspective it makes sense to view the total cost of the end to end HR process, rather than focusing on the solution that you are considering. Looking at the end to end process will give a better estimate of all the costs involved.
Vendor prices might promise "value added services" which sound good. But remember that you will get the value only when you use that particular feature or facility. So again have a clear picture of the end to end process to determine which product / solution covers most of your needs and how much more you will have to do to complete the process. Ask questions and ask for data sheets, system architecture, support options and all that you need to get a clear picture.
This information can be derived very easily and most of the vendors who are showcasing their solutions to you will be willing to do this analysis for you at a low cost or even for free. However if you want an unbiased view, you can engage a consultant (like Optimus Prime HR) to pull this together for you.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The two major types of products
A closer look at the various HRMS products available today reveals two major types of products. The first category of products use the Least Common Multiple approach and provide the basic standard features. They also is most cases make available user defined fields and highly flexible architecture that makes it possible for clients to build the features they desire on top of the basic product.
The other category of products provide a comprehensive product which can be configured to provide only the desired functionality. Peoplesoft HRMS is a good example of this.
Both the above approaches have their advantages and disadvantages for users. The first category is usually available at a lower price. The basic functionality can be rolled out at very less time. But the basic functionality will have less features and the customer will have to invest effort into building the features the organization needs. This gives rise to more effort in maintaining the installation and upgrading it at a later point.
The second category requires much lesser customizations and since the entire package is being maintained by the vendor, customer can afford to have a smaller team for maintenance (as long as the customer has stayed away from customizations). But then customer usually pays for the entire pacakge, the features that they use plus the features that are available anyway. Also, any tweaking of the package becomes complex as the package is already fully loaded.
It helps to review a product from this perspective.
Septemaber 2009 edition of HRO Today magazine has a comprehensive review of all the major HRMS products available.
The other category of products provide a comprehensive product which can be configured to provide only the desired functionality. Peoplesoft HRMS is a good example of this.
Both the above approaches have their advantages and disadvantages for users. The first category is usually available at a lower price. The basic functionality can be rolled out at very less time. But the basic functionality will have less features and the customer will have to invest effort into building the features the organization needs. This gives rise to more effort in maintaining the installation and upgrading it at a later point.
The second category requires much lesser customizations and since the entire package is being maintained by the vendor, customer can afford to have a smaller team for maintenance (as long as the customer has stayed away from customizations). But then customer usually pays for the entire pacakge, the features that they use plus the features that are available anyway. Also, any tweaking of the package becomes complex as the package is already fully loaded.
It helps to review a product from this perspective.
Septemaber 2009 edition of HRO Today magazine has a comprehensive review of all the major HRMS products available.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Navigating through Technology options for your Business Architecture - Intro
It is mind boggling to see the number of options out there today for HR Systems (and for that matter technologies for any business process). First of all, there are choices between SaaS (Software as a Service), Utility based outsourcing and the on-premise models; and then there are niche products, end to end HR systems, web based ones, self service portals - the list goes on.
Through these blogs I will try to simplify the process of selecting the right system for your business.
Choosing the right technology for your business depends on a number of factors:
1. Who will be the users of the technology?
2. How will they be using it?
3. Where do they need to access the technology from?
4. Who has approvals and decision making controls in the process?
5. The culture of your organization
6. How often do org structure and process steps change?
7. What are the data sources for the business process?
This blog will take a closer look at some of these factors and explain how they impact your technology decision.
CompareHRIS.com (http://www.comparehris.com), one of the latest and smart websites offering services in HR IS systems, has taken one of the most practical approaches towards helping customers choose the right HR system. Not only do they have descriptions and demos of 20+ products, they also guide the customer through a 10-min interview that determines the natire of the company and the requirements of the HR system. There is no one size fits all. Different technologies will be appropriate for organizations at different points in time.
Through this blog, let us look at some such factors and what they truly mean to your business and technology.
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