BSMH3093 HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEM

  

MANAGING AN HRIS

BSMH3093 HUMAN RESOURCE

  

Qualities of an effective HRIS manager

• Goal setting

  ▫ Establish goals based on well-established business procedures and make those goals clear to supervisors and staff.

• Communication

  

▫ Good communication skills are so basic to successful management that a

few of particular importance to HRIS managers are included in the accompanying sidebar.

• Planning

  

▫ HRSC planning includes staffing, budgeting, facilities, equipment, and project prioritizing. Qualities of an effective HRIS manager(Cont)

• Organization

  ▫ Organizational skills are particularly important in an inter-disciplinary field such as HRIS management. ▫ Management must tailor procedures specifically to particular situations. ▫ Moreover, many of the individuals whom HRSC decisions affect directly do not work under the supervision of the HRSC manager; some may not only report to separate functions or departments but also hold relatively high positions in the organization. ▫ Often the manager must delegate organizing responsibilities, such as software development planning, coding, testing, project monitoring, request tracking, and auditing. The manager must ensure proper organization of all vendors and in-house system documentation and other communications, especially material for distribution among users.

• Negotiation

  ▫ With so many functions and departments to serve, HRSC management involves an Qualities of an effective HRIS manager(Cont)

• Delegation and supervision ▫ The first step in delegating is determining what to delegate and to whom.

  ▫ The HRIS manager should delegate clearly, making sure staff members understand the criteria for satisfactory performance. ▫ Successful delegation includes accepting that the results may be different from what the HRIS manager would have done.

• Team building, intervention, and group dynamic

  ▫ The effective HRSC manager uses these skills to make the entire HRSC work as a unit and as a vehicle to develop effective user groups.

• Willingness to learn ▫ HRIS management is complicated and multidisciplinary.

  ▫ A manager loses no professional status by acknowledging that he or she needs to Steps to get the best possible HRIS manager

• must recognize that the positions of project team leader and system manager are two different jobs
• must define the system manager position, creating a complete job description and background requirements
• make designating and preparing someone for the manager’s role part of the project team’s goal.
• once the project team identifies potential managers,

  the selected manager should coordinate their project

team assignments to help them develop and refine the

management skills and technical background appropriate to manage the ongoing system properly

Stages of the HRIS life-cycle

  Start-up Growin g

  Mature Decline

Managing HRIS: a start-up system

• during most of the start-up phase, the project team leader rather than the HRIS manager often leads system development. The transition usually takes place after the HRIS installation
• the HRIS manager should make sure that the staff complete every implementation step thoroughly, especially training and testing
• this phase requires careful attention to coordinating the efforts of everyone concerned

Managing HRIS: a growing system

• once the project team has installed and tested the new system, the HRSC emerges as an active interface between users and the system
• management of the growing HRIS and HRSC structures includes complete staffing assignments, communications links, organization charts, reporting mechanisms, and the adoption of more sophisticated maintenance tools and techniques

• during this period of growth, staffing needs shift as technical

  demands, moderate and communication skills become central to interaction with users and external agencies aiming for

Managing HRIS: a growing system

• the HRIS manager must supervise system maintenance in a well-organized manner, keeping track of every request and response
• Despite struggling with new modules and small

  improvement, the manager must facilitate the

  decision about whether to continue and grow

  (adding more modules over time) or to prepare to accept the system as it is

  Managing HRIS: a mature system

• When maintenance demands increase tremendously and become the main consumer of HRSC resources, the system has achieved maturity

• The management goals during maturity are to keep use

  and productivity at their peaks and to counter the increased maintenance burden with more effective productivity tools and techniques
• In this stage, the more expert user begins taking a creative role in system evolution
• The HRSC manager should ensure that the IC, user

  groups, newsletters, and other activities that maximize

  the applicability of the system are established, well run,

  

Managing HRIS: a decline system

• The HRSC manager has responsibility for monitoring the health of the system and calling attention to its status and needs

• When audits, surveys, indicator analysis or ROI evaluation

  indicate a system is decline the HRSC manager must decide

  what action to take
• Alternatives include patching the existing system together to

  buy time, accelerating the decline by pulling the plug on the

  system, or planning to develop or acquire a new system
• Actual management of a declining system has three components: planning for the phase-out of existing

  operations, allocation reduced staffing and support to users

  during transition to the new HRIS, and halting operation of

  

Managing HRIS staff

• Establishing the HRSC staff

  ▫ The process of establishing the HRSC staff starts quite early in the system planning process ▫ The size of the HRSC operation plays a significant role

in the type of person best suited for HRSC staffing

▫ When it is time for system replacement, the HRIS manager must reassign staff so the HRSC can simultaneously care for the old system and implement its replacement

  Managing HRIS staff (cont)

• _{• Growing HRSC staff}

  ▫ HRSC staff growth usually begins with the transition from primarily development staff to staff _{dedicated to enhancement and maintenance work} ▫ The HRIS manager should strive to maintain a significant level of continuity between project team staff _{and HRSC staff}

▫ The process of growing staff members involves presenting different levels of experience to individuals

_{as they become ready to grow} ▫ One of the most powerful tools in reallocating staff successfully throughout the system life cycle is _{offering professional growth opportunities} ▫ Often the emerging HRSC needs not only a different kind of professional staff but also more staff _{▫ As the HRSC becomes larger and more comprehensive and as users become more involved with the}

Managing user relations

  Promoting user involvement Getting user started Establishing an IC

Developing a user community or communities

Giving users what they need

Promoting user involvement

• The most successful HRIS projects involve users from the

  beginning. The first step is to inform users about the plan to

  develop HRIS and ask for their input in the design process (use inquiry methods like questionnaires, surveys, interviews and checklists

• Whenever users provide input, the HRIS should keep them

  informed of later developments so they know that their

  efforts did not fall into some bottomless pit of bureaucratic

  red tape
• All users should receive sufficient information about new responsibilities they will have to acquire to work with a

Getting user started

• Orienting users to a new system involves understanding not just the

  practical aspects of change but the psychology of change as well

• An effective manager makes sure that all HRSC staff are sensitive to

  the fact that people resist change, even when they know it is inevitable

• User relations during this period should take account of the qualities

  of the specific change involved. A manual-to-automated change

  creates different challenges than an automated-to-automated change

  or a mainframe-to-microcomputer change
• The HRSC must make sure that participating users have both the guidance and the tools they need to succeed in systems work
• To maximize appropriate user participation, it is important to provide personalized and , where appropriate, computer-based training (CBT) for users

Establishing an IC

• Some HRSC coordinate their user services through a

  group known as the human resource information center

  (HRIC)
• The HRIC handle training, user hot lines or other on-call support, assistance with use of report and screen creation tools, decision support systems and other advanced user techniques

• The main role of IC is to bridge the communication gap

  between users and the technical community

• In most cases IC reduces maintenance by helping users

Developing a user community/communities

• In a large organization, each user community may have its own HRSC contact person, training sessions and even regular meetings to share ideas, questions, and feedback
• An HRSC manager can find many ways to reach users and have them accept ownership of the system and effective approaches include user groups, newsletter and survey

• Users are more comfortable dealing with new information when

  they are formed into groups
• User newsletters foster both the user groups and the feelings of user ownership
• The HRSC should study the results of user questionnaires and

  other survey instruments used during periodic system audits and

Giving user what they need

• By designing the system properly from the start, the HRSC can meet most users’ needs with standard reports and procedures
• With any system, users sometimes want what the system cannot yet provide. In this case,

  HRSC should make the maintenance or service

  request forms available
• The written service provides a good basis for resource allocation decisions

  

Managing HRSC relations with other

departments

• HRSC actions that foster a desirable image among

  other departments include the following:

  ▫ Keeping commitments once made

▫ Being responsive to requests, comments, and other

communication

▫ Actively maintaining contact through tools such as

newsletters, bulletins, staff profiles and vendor press releases

• The HRSC manager should strive to get other departments involved in decision making on

  

Managing HRSC relations with other

departments

• The HRIS and IS

  ▫ Respect the standards and rules IS has established for system applications ▫ Earn respect for the HRIS ▫ Be willing to admit lack of knowledge ▫ Do not expect technicians to be experts in all technical areas ▫ Use HRIS technical staff as a language bridge to IS whenever appropriate

  ▫ Have twofold relationship: 1. they are partner operations, sharing information about fiscally important aspects of human resource management;

  

Managing HRSC relations with other

departments

• The HRIS and finance

  

2. the HRSC has a responsibility to finance in

terms of HRSC budget and expenditures

Managing Top Management

• Only by having management support can the HRIS

  continue to function and improve service to users.

• Many HRIS managers feel that the most important issue in their relationship with corporate staff is managing the expectation of management

  ▫ Selling the HRIS

▫ Fostering a system that earns management support

▫ Resolving conflicting priorities and perceptions ▫ Keeping the management committee active

Selling the HRIS

• Selling the system to management goes beyond the budget to making sure management knows that the organization will derive some ROI and other ongoing benefits and values from it (for example timely, organized, accurate, logical information; data

  arrayed to present the information needed for decision support)

• Having make sure that the HRIS will provide what management

  needs, the HRSC manager must receive in return management’s

  ongoing commitment to provide support for the system
• To do so, the HRSC manager should communicate the level of commitment management must make to build and maintain a

  successful HRIS in terms of money, time, resources, appropriate

  staffing, productive tools, and willingness to learn and change

  ▫ Make sure those data are available in a timely fashion ▫ Respond promptly to any management communication ▫ Share any news with management of all HRIS successes and improvements, as well as positive feedback from users

  Fostering a system that earn management support

• In order to earn management support, the HRSC staff must:

  ▫ Take a proactive, independent stance, anticipating the needs of the system and of management

Resolving conflicting priorities and perceptions

• An effective HRIS manager acknowledge the political

  reality that management holds ultimate power over the HRIS
• In assigning priorities to HRIS work, the manager

  must ascertain management’s highest priorities and

  apply tools and resources accordingly whenever possible

• If a conflict develops between management requests and other priorities or what the HRIS can currently provide, the HRIS manager must point out the conflict

Keeping the management committee active

• The HRIS manager should assume responsibility for keeping this committee responsive and contributing to HRIS.
• The manager should schedule and facilitate meetings, as well as help justify continuance of the committee to management
• Why keeping the management committee active important?

  ▫ These individuals understand the HRIS better than do other managers outside human resources, they can perform a valuable liaison function ▫ Corporate management input is a standard component in the audit process, so an ongoing committee serves as an established conduit for this communication. The committee can suggest issues that need attention and give feedback on HRIS activities, achievements, and needs. Members of this committee offer management’s perspective on HRIS priorities such as which module to undertake, integration with the corporate data base, and planning for system replacement

  ▫ Committee members may feel a greater sense of ownership than do other members of corporate management, and thus can understand the HRIS perspective on emerging issues and campaign on behalf of HRIS interests as necessary

Managing HRSC relations with other groups

  The HRIS and the general employee population The HRIS and external agencies The HRSC and outside experts

The HRIS and the general employee population

• The corporate culture of the organization determines the

  extent to which the HRSC maintains direct contact and

  communication with the overall employee population

• Whatever the philosophy, the more HRIS changes affect

  users, the more employees need information about the

  changes and how they will experience them in their daily

  routines
• This communication should stress how the system will benefit employees, such as through more flexible benefits, more accurate career development and tracking
• Employees should know their role in the implementation

The HRIS and external agencies

• External agencies with which HRIS must deal include employment

  firms, departments of labor, workers’ compensation commission, insurance carriers, other benefits providers, labor unions, banks, and payroll processing services.
• A few tips on how to ensure good relations follow:

  

▫ Make sure HRIS staff understand protocol for interacting with outside

agencies ▫ Limit access to the HRIS – remember that the main responsibility of the HRSC is to support internal users ▫ Be responsive – submit reports on time and answer letters promptly ▫ Make sure external agencies understand that the HRSC is only the custodian of the data in the HRIS ▫ Most interactions between the HRSC and outside agencies are

The HRSC and outside experts

• The HRSC may need to use vendors and consultants on an occasional basis for further maintenance of the system or to help resolve planning issues or particular problems
• The HRSC manager needs to keep infrequent contact with the vendor, know what enhancements are imminent or planned, and possibly assign a technical person to monitor this and report significant developments
• In terms of consultant relations, the HRSC manager should use a

  consultant who has the appropriate knowledge and experience

  required and who also work well with the HRSC staff members

  who are involved
• Consultant cost money, and the manager has the ultimate

  QUESTIONS????