By Peter Caulfield

With the prevalence of technologies available, we examine how HR can make the best use of the available tools – and avoid being swept along in perpetual search of ‘new’.

Information technology – digital data storage and communications technology – has affected every aspect of the modern office, including the one occupied by HR.

Erik Van Slyke, founding partner of the Solleva Group in the US, says, “HR technology progressed from cumbersome data repositories to powerful engines for holding, accessing and reporting HR data and information in the late 1980s. No longer was HRIS [HR Information Systems] a glorified filing cabinet, but rather user-friendly and supported by relational databases that made it easier to manage and manipulate data with greater flexibility.”

Van Slyke says the 1993 publication of Re-engineering the Corporation, by Michael Hammer and James Champy, launched “the process-improvement revolution,” which created efficiencies in organizations that eventually made their way to HR.

“More important, HRIS vendors integrated the capability into their tools, so HRIS did more than manage data; it helped manage [the] HR process,” Van Slyke said.

Most recently, he says, the addition of Web technology means that data-entry tasks and similar transactions could be delegated to others without having to train them how to operate HRIS software.

The revolution continues apace, as more technology – Tweet! Tweet! – with increasingly sophisticated functionality appears almost every day. It is next to impossible to stay abreast of all the technological innovation, particularly if you’re an HR practitioner squeezed between tight budgets and increasing responsibilities.

So, to help the harried HR person who wants to keep up on what’s going down, here is a brief overview of some of what is available in information technology, plus some how-to tips from people who are making it work for them.

Monster Improvements for HR

For an example of how the information technology used in HR is changing, look no further than the ubiquitous job boards, those Internet-based watering holes where employers and job-seekers have been meeting since the 1990s.

Robert Waghorn, Montreal-based spokesman for Monster Canada, says job boards and the way they are used by employers and seekers have changed a lot since Monster Canada was founded in 1997.

“The new Monster is a job-matching engine with the resources to help you get the right job at the right time,” he said. “It’s not ‘post and pray’ any more. We can help employers in many different ways – match better, recruit better, retain better.”

Waghorn says Monster Canada is continually looking for better ways to bring employers and job-seekers together.

“With our new search technology, a job search will no longer return hundreds of ‘so-so’ options,” he said. “Instead, it will come back with great options that are the most promising.”

Monster Canada is testing a new service called Power Resume Search (already available in the US), that enables “intuitive semantic search,” instead of more time-consuming and less effective Boolean keyword searches. Launch of the service is expected in summer 2010.

According to a company announcement about the service, “Our innovative search technology shows you relevant candidates based on all their qualifications including how closely they match your job requirements; the recency of their experience; [and] how they compare to similar candidates.”

A Helping Hand with HRIS

There are many HR Information Systems (also known as HR Management Systems, and, more recently, Human Capital Management Systems) and their number and sophistication keeps growing. They range in complexity from a simple Excel electronic spreadsheet to the most powerful ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software.

All offer important benefits.

“HR is more effective if it can get better data faster and turn it into reports on their organization’s performance,” said Helen Luketic, manager of HR metrics and research at the BC Human Resources Management Association. “And that leaves more time for strategic activities.”

For example, Pitney Bowes Canada Inc. benefited from a new HRIS it installed in 2003, when it implemented SAP.

“It was a consolidation of many different HRIS and payroll systems,” said Colleen Towers, HR manager and SAP HR specialist in the company’s Burnaby office. “We needed just one payroll system,” she said. “Now that we do, it’s improved the speed and efficiency of every HR function. And there’s so much more information available.”

Even for large organizations, such as Pitney Bowes, planning for, let alone implementing, HRIS software can be a daunting task. Where to begin?

Tailoring Tech to Company Culture

Nettie Sample, Calgary-based director of Sierra Systems, says an HR department looking at a new HRIS should begin by asking itself what it needs.

“It’s possible to have too much technology and to have paid too much for it,” Sample said. “What you get needs to make sense for your organization. It has to give you benefits – both financial and non-financial – and be backed up by a solid business case.”

Diana Matwichuk, a software implementation specialist focusing on HR at Avanti Software in Calgary, says that whatever software you get, flexibility is essential.

“All organizations have their own unique needs and they should come first,” she said. “Don’t try to make your organization’s processes try to fit the way the technology works. If you do, you may be disappointed with the results.”

Angie Smith, human resources advisor, corporate programs and projects with Envision Financial, says it’s important to get input from every stakeholder when looking for a new HRIS.

“Subject matter experts who deal with company practice on a day-to-day basis, such as benefit administrators and compensation analysts, should have an opportunity to provide input early on,” she said.

Pursuing Purposeful Data

Another important thing to think about is what you want to get out of a new HRIS.

“For example, if your company provides paid personal leave days, but you need to know exactly how many of those days are taken by the employee for self-sickness, then you must build your code tables and input data to show this statistic separately,” she said. “It’s critical to first decide what you need the system to produce.”

Turning data into useful management reports depends on how you define your data.

“Data must be linked to the organization’s people-strategies and business objectives,” Smith said. “The most useful reports provide management with accurate statistics for budgeting, setting performance objectives and people-management trend analysis, for example.”

Sometimes special add-on software or software that works independently of the core HRIS is required.

“For instance, time and labor software and recruitment software is frequently purchased separately,” Smith said. “Many HRIS databases have modules for time and labor or recruitment, but often they need to be customized.”

Integrating Tech, Sourcing Common Solutions

Every HRIS eventually reaches the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. Take, for example, the case of BC Hydro.

Rob Weagle, Manager, HR Systems and Analytics, Corporate HR, says BC Hydro’s core HR system is PeopleSoft. “There’s the core PeopleSoft system and another three dozen or so applications that have been gradually added on that don’t really talk to each other,” he said.

In 2009, BC Hydro decided to launch an IT strategy to bring some order to its HR software. “Our goal is to reduce and replace the applications we have now with a more manageable integrated solution and simplify associated business processes,” Weagle said. “We’re in the project-planning stage now and considering procuring the SAP Human Capital Management System.”

BC Hydro is already using SAP financial and customer-care systems.

“We want to place as much as possible on a common platform,” Weagle said. “We need to enable HR and financial systems to talk to each other and have one source of data truth.”

The planning and implementation process will take about two years. Weagle says BC Hydro is looking at a SAP licensing partnership with internal employees and external consultants undertaking design and implementation.

“In the past we hadn’t leveraged technology the way we should and now we want to get it right,” Weagle said. “We want to blend people, process and technology.” Weagle says BC Hydro will use the SAP HCM system to change the way HR delivers its services.

“We’ve become bogged down in manual and complex businesses processes,” he said. “We’re using this IT initiative to transform the way HR delivers its services to the company and provide more direct access to information for our employees and managers. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often.”

Transforming Data Into Business Intelligence

To get the most out of the employee data your organization collects, it should be turned into “business intelligence.” This involves taking data from every aspect of an organization and turning it into information with which business decisions can be made.

Shaheen Rashid, senior manager, management information systems, enterprise analytics and corporate development at Surrey-based Coast Capital Savings, says leveraging historical, current and predictive data can provide insight into an organization’s business and help develop actions that increase sales, lower the cost of delivery and increase employee productivity.

“Business intelligence can help make your organization more efficient and effective,” Rashid said. “But you need to use the information proactively, before the need arises.”

Rashid says HR business intelligence, against which an organization can measure its own performance, can be obtained from a number of different sources, including the Canadian Board of Trade, Statistics Canada and BCHRMA.

Building Benchmarks, Managing HR Metrics

BC HRMA’s HR Metrics Service is “a comprehensive web-based HR metrics and benchmarking service” that is available to organizations in BC and Manitoba. Association members can view benchmarks for 23 key metrics for BC, with a detailed breakdown for the public and private sector.

“Only 20 data points are required to participate, but you can submit up to 120,” said Helen Luketic, who, with Ian Cook, director, research and learning, runs the service.

Examples of the 20 data points are resignations, retirements, involuntary terminations and full-time equivalents. With that data, the service calculates such metrics as Turnover Rate, Revenue per FTE, Profit per FTE, Labor cost per FTE and Human Capital Return on Investment.

Luketic says turnover (resignations plus retirements plus involuntary terminations divided by headcount) is the most popular metric, “because everybody understands it.”

The HR Metrics Service rigorously defines and standardizes the data points.

“We’ve created our own definitions, based on best practice and the most widely accepted definitions,” Luketic said. “Many organizations don’t have definitions and some don’t even collect important HR data.”

(PeopleTalk: Summer 2010)