So Why Do You Need HRIS, Exactly?

The fact of the matter is, much of HR’s time is taken up with menial tasks that are not only easily automated, they are better off being automated. Human Resources, for all that they are responsible for keeping tabs on the company’s ‘human resource’, are just as human as everyone else. They are perfectly susceptible to error; and they do make mistakes. Exhaustion, distraction, stress, negligence during data input – any of these things can be the simple cause of missing records or contradictory files, errors in payroll or inaccurate employee monitoring. An HRIS system can eliminate the error-prone human element from these elementary processes and conduct them with computerized precision, leaving Human Resource executives free to focus on tasks requiring actual innovation and logical reasoning and creative thought.

Human Resources deals with a business’s most valuable asset: it’s employees. Every change to this workforce – every hiring, promotion, and termination – uniquely influences the future success of the company. It is HR’s responsibility to make these kinds of employee decisions; and HR’s ability to do so relies on the availability and accuracy of its relevant employee data. An effective HRIS system helps to bring management to a new, higher level of organization and information synthesis that would otherwise be unobtainable.

What HRIS Provides

One very prominent feature of HRIS systems is compensation and payroll management. Unfortunately, many businesses have to wrestle with inaccurate logs of work hours, and there are always conflicts over wage rates and benefits; these issues can lead to economic losses that could easily have been avoided through the use of HRIS. The HR information software allows the company to exactly record hours and systematically manipulate benefit provision plans. Employee work time and performance can also be carefully supervised, helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Management can then dissect this employee data to learn how best to utilize their workforce to the advantage of the company.

One of the most important elements of Human Resource work is filling available positions with the people best suited to execute them. There are a multitude of factors and microscopic details which can influence a person’s compatibility with a given job, and it can be difficult to find a real “match made in heaven” – especially when you’re not entirely clear on what you’re looking for. HRIS systems help to clarify this issue by providing strategic information on the business’s overriding needs side-by-side with relevant data on what manner of work personnel would best help to fulfill those needs. This will save HR executives a lot of stress and second-guessing over the matter of what qualifications are most necessary in the individuals they plan to hire.

Many other tasks can be made easier through the use of HRIS. Employee development and skill training can be enhanced through convenient schedule planning and assessment recording and review, as management receives cohesive data on how to better equip these workers for their jobs. These advances in training and recruitment will then boost workforce efficiency and productivity, which results in a more stabilized company environment and increased business revenue.

Worth Its Weight In Gold

Ultimately, HRIS systems best prove their worth through their ability to compile and analyze information from a variety sources both inside and outside the company, fueling a vast database that is well-organized and easily accessible to all who need it. HR information software provides a business with the resources to administer multiple sites and aggregate data without having to navigate the haphazard and fallible straits of conventional communication. Information is secure and readily available the moment it is needed; there need be no fear of lost data or neglected crucial items. All-in-all, HRIS cuts out the need for delay and uncertainty, and assists executives in making swift and confident company decisions.

The Human Resource department is a cornerstone for any prosperous business; an HRIS system can help ensure that the HR personnel are performing to the best of their ability. And considering the fact that the success of a company is dependent on its capability to develop skilled and productive employees, it really is essential that HR do its job right. Through the strategic use of Human Resource Information Software, you can ensure that your business is operating with efficiency, order, and expertise.

Our free HRIS comparison tools include our HRIS software selection tool and our HRIS quick product search option. CompareHRIS.com’s HRIS selection tool is comprehensive, free, and easy to use. Customers simply answer a series of questions about their requirements and rank the importance of each. CompareHRIS.com then automatically generates a free report showing ranked scores of the HRIS products that best match their needs. From there, customers may compare the features of each product side by side, view additional product details, view a pre-recorded demo or request a free trial.

Welcome to our new vendors and we hope all our visitors will continue to take advantage of all the HRIS/HRMS resources CompareHRIS.com has to offer!  And please feel free to drop us a line about your personal HRIS/HRMS selection success story.

It offers a detailed description and ‘How To’ guide of the eight steps that will aid in the most efficient and effective HRIS/payroll implementation.  And as we all know, we want to make this implementation process stress free, if possible.  With this guide in hand, you will be assured that this process will be as complete and stress free as possible. 

To learn more, view Executing Parallel Testing: Part 2 of a 2 part series.

You’ve probably perused the HR software options in the past, but whatever your former perceptions may have been, don’t let them influence you now – the HRIS market is constantly evolving, and the old standards are repeatedly being challenged and redefined. New HR systems are always being released, and existing software which have survived the test of time are perpetually being upgraded in order to remain competitive. The development of HRIS is a never-ending process: technology, innovation, and consumer demands all come together to force the software to provide for its users in helpful and effective new ways. This may sound overwhelming, but the bottom line is that this means that you will be able to get more out of your HRIS system today than ever before. And while the idea of fancy new tools and features may sound expensive, in fact it’s quite the opposite: improvements in technology and increased competition have been steadily driving HR software systems down in price.

What’s Best For Your Business

Like most in the upper echelons of the business world, you are probably very committed to your business and consequently determined to do everything in your power in order to ensure its future success. There are many, many ways to advance a business, it is true – but high near the top of the list will always be the matter of improvements in organization and efficiency, and the best way to go about making these improvements is through effective employment of an HRIS system. Unfortunately, people have a tendency to think of HR software as some kind of burden, a complicated system that they have to adapt to and compromise with and just plain figure out how to make it work. Quite to the contrary, a good HRIS system, once studied and understood, should fall into your hands as an effortless tool which, rather than making your life difficult, will make everything easier for you.

The trick to all this, of course, is getting your paws on the right information. Knowing which HR software to choose, and how to optimize that software once you do, requires a certain knowledgeability about the various systems and their capabilities. The key is not to be intimidated by the prospect of acquiring all of this information; don’t talk yourself into the idea that HRIS is not right for you. Once you have a basic understanding of how these systems work, they are very quick and easy for any business to implement, and the changes will become instantly obvious. As you start to appreciate the positive differences made by HR software, your only regret will be that you didn’t make the switch sooner.

Adopting an HRIS system now can only help your business to flourish. Many business owners feel that they have been operating so long in their current routine, that it doesn’t make sense to invest in a new system – but this is the furthest thing from the truth. Regardless of whether you’ve been in business for ten months or ten years, HR software will have something to offer you. Researching the different systems available, by reading up on reviews and trying out demos, will give you a very good idea of what you’re looking for in a software package and which HRIS systems can provide you with what you need.  Again, it may seem like it’s all too much to take in, but a little analysis and test-running now to find a good system will save your business time and money that you otherwise wouldn’t have even realized it had been wasting.

Learning The Ropes

It’s honestly not that hard to brush up on your HRIS know-how, either. The internet is positively teeming with information on HR software systems, vendors, user guides, and so on. Pretty much any question you have can probably be typed into a search engine, and hundreds of results will pop up. If you need information or assistance with specific brands of HR software, their customer support teams are ready and waiting to help you out. And customer support is important: should a vendor fail to give you first-rate service in this department, then you know right off the bat that this is one HRIS software that you can cross off your list of prospective systems for your business.

While selecting and implementing your HR software is definitely a pressing priority, it is nevertheless important that you don’t rush the process. Be thorough in your research, in your questioning, and in your software trials. Turn the lens of examination on your own business, and analyze closely just what it is that you need your new software system to do – knowing exactly what it is that you’re looking for will make the software hunt worlds easier. Then, go through and eliminate systems out of your price range, systems with over-complicated interfaces and navigational processes, and systems that fail to offer any single service that you require. All of this will bring you down to a nice, trim list that is easy to explore and compare, and decision-making will be a breeze.

With the way the HRIS market is going, there are so many fantastic options out there that, provided you do the right research, you should never have to settle for less than you what you absolutely want in an HRIS system. There are products for every budget, every company size, and every style of management. So now that you have a little more information on what HRIS systems are all about, get on out there and start looking!

To begin, you really need to know what resources are available to you which provide an upfront time savings.  CompareHRIS.com is one such tool.  At the very least, you should maintain a list of deliverables, and due dates for those deliverables, for all participants in this process.  Follow up with the participants on a regular basis also plays a key role in continuing to advance the process toward your end goal of selecting the best system for your needs. 

For more detailed tips and suggestions for success, please visit HR software selection process, who is the project manager?

To learn more about increasing your HRIS program IQ, please read the following article in its entirety:  The First Step of Selecting an HRIS Program is NOT determine our needs!

                 I go over some prominent resources offered on CompareHRIS.com and then I open the floor to any and all questions.  It is enjoyable for me because I get to interact with actual visitors to the site and find out exactly what you think creates value.  I’m also interested in what you think could add more value to the site.  So if you have ideas, bring them with you to the webinar.  Read the full article for further details at CompareHRIS.com.

How does your data get transferred to the new HR Management Software system?  This is something you need to specifically ask about when researching a new HR Management System.  If you have data in your current system that you cannot live without in your new system, you need to specifically ask how this can happen or even if it can happen.  You also need to be specific as to which fields of data in your current system you need transferred to your new system.  The reason for this is that some fields can be easier than others to import and, if the correct questions are asked, you may find that some fields can be imported directly but another process may be needed for other fields to be imported.  For some, this particular issue can be a deal breaker.  So please perform your due diligence and if this is a concern for you, make sure you ask the question “Can my specific data be transferred to the new system and if so, how does this happen?”  Get details, because those details can make a big difference as to your final choice in a HR software.  Read the full article at CompareHRIS.com.

The second video replaces the video of me sitting at my computer and using the video option from my notebook. The video goes into greater detail regarding how to use the HRIS selection tool and how it assists those looking to purchase a HR information system.

I worked on these videos with Frank Rodriquez at Edit Suites, Inc. in Tampa, Florida and am extremely proud of the end result. Frank and his staff were easy to work with and frankly the entire process was a real hoot. I got to visit the studio when the spokes model read the text in front of the green screen background; not the type of creative stuff I get to see normally. It was sort of a field trip for a guy who spends way too much time sitting in front of a computer. If you are looking at having a professional video created for your business or for your website, I highly recommend Edit Suites, Inc.

As I am writing this blog, the videos are only on youtube.com at this moment but tomorrow the videos can also be found on our site on the following pages.

HR Information System Video

HRIS Selection tool

For those of you who may have never used a HRIS before, these pre-recorded demos can be a valuable education resource.  You’ll see exactly what one of these HR solutions can do for you and this will help you start forming your vision of what kind of HRMS software system you’re looking for.

Read this full article to view pre-recorded HRIS demos from 13 of the top HRIS vendors without having to visit 13 different websites to do so!