Recharging your HRMS

Workforce, Sept, 2002 by Maryann Hammers

Don't give up on your tired HR system just yet. By investing in a few relatively inexpensive add-ons and finding ways to make better use of what you already have, you can really boost your HRMS horsepower.

Jeannine Pecora, human resources and training manager for Delta Corporate Services, doesn't mince words. "Our HR system is failing us," she declares. Until now, the Parsippany, New Jersey-based management consulting firm has made do with a homegrown system and an amalgamation of applications such as MS Office, Access, and Excel. But reporting is limited, tedious, and spreadsheet-intensive; the various software programs are not integrated; data must be entered multiple times; and retrieving information is often hit or miss.

"But our business has grown tremendously, and we realize we have outgrown our technology," she says. "Our systems desperately need to be updated or replaced."

Her wish list: a system that will smoothly manage and track records, automate routine HR tasks, and eliminate the ubiquitous spreadsheets. "With today's technology, we should be able to generate, proof, authorize, and record information without having to print or pass a sheet of paper," she says.

Does Delta's situation sound all too familiar? Is your HR system a help--or a hindrance? Does it streamline operations and boost efficiency and productivity? Does it cut down on paperwork, generate sophisticated reports, and let employees and managers handle routine functions? Or does it bog down, crash, lose data, and cause maddening bottlenecks and frustrating delays--creating even more work for you and your staff?

If your HR system seems to be more trouble than it's worth, you may not have to give up on it just yet. A few relatively inexpensive add-ons could make the difference between phlegmatic and powerful. Or the solution to your software snags may lie not in upgrading the technology, but in making better use of what you now have.

Here are some cost-effective tips for supercharging your HRMS.

1. Consider Add-Ons

Complementary third-party tools that handle functions such as recruiting, training, hiring, or reporting can enhance an antiquated HR system. For example, one such tool, Eventrix by Perfect-Software, which works with any HRMS product, automates new-hire and termination processes by tracking employee data and distributing the information to every department that is affected, from the mailroom to security and payroll.

But there's danger in going overboard with add-on features. "Don't spend good money after bad," warns Scott Busby, chief information officer for AdvanTech Solutions, a Tampa, Florida-based HR outsourcing firm. "If your legacy system doesn't have much of a future, temper your spending. There's no point in putting a great front- or back-end product on a system that's going to last only another one or two years."

2. Get Portal Power

Even companies that are clamping down on software spending are opening their wallets to portal applications. That's because such front-end software, which runs about $10,000, can Web-enable your system, integrate applications, exchange data throughout the enterprise, allow employee or manager self-service capabilities-and ultimately boost productivity and cut costs. According to a study by Best Practices, LLC, on how companies can optimize limited HR resources, such software results in a 60 percent reduction in cost per transaction.

"You'll get the power of the Web at a very inexpensive cost compared to a new HRMS," says Steve Larson, head of strategic systems consulting and integration for the HR consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

According to a recent survey by CIGNA, an employee-benefits organization, 80 percent of workers say that they currently cannot manage their benefits online, and more than 40 percent say they would like to do so. "Benefits managers really should consider accelerating their time lines for rolling out additional online services that better meet workers' needs," says Eric Consolazio, senior vice president and head of CIGNA E-Commerce.

What's even cheaper than buying portal software is enlisting the help of someone in your tech or creative department to build a Web page on top of your existing HR applications. It's a fairly simple process, but can reap great time-saving benefits, says Brian McIntyre, president and CEO of Columbia, Maryland-based Working Concepts, a division of Towers Perrin that implements HR technology for large and medium-sized companies.

"You can post policies and procedures and benefits information," McIntyre says. "You can let employees make basic changes or transactions, such as address or W-4 changes. They can check their 401(k). And they'll no longer have to phone HR to ask questions like, 'When is benefits enrollment?'"

3. Integrate Your Systems

Are your HR applications on speaking terms?

"Many companies have purchased individual third-party applications that don't talk to each other and aren't integrated with the HRMS," Larson says. If that's the case, you may have to enter the same information multiple times. Or worse, you may end up with discrepancies and inconsistencies between systems.