[Implementing E-Human Resource System]

Implementing E-Human Resource System

Assistant Professor Ali Ghalehban Zanjanab

What is e-HR?
The Institute for Employment Studies defines e-HR as "the application of conventional, web and voice technologies to improve HR administration, transactions and process performance". It involves using technology to provide HR services, such as recording and monitoring systems, automating administrative tasks like recruitment, and disseminating information such as HR policies on the intranet.

How can technology improve HR service provision?

As an enabling tool, technology has the capacity to transform the way in which HR is delivered to an authority. Together with the exponential rise in the use of technology in the corporate field, it now plays a vital role in effective people management. The range of HR delivery options is vast in scope and so it is common for authorities to combine them to maximise their HR abilities. These delivery options include:

outsourcing insourcing employee relationship management technology ASPs (Application Service Provision) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platforms interactive voice recognition More commonly councils are looking to ERP and other systems, to enable their change of delivery systems for both HR and wider council services.

How can e-HR benefit the council?

Accurate data on the workforce can help shape the council's people strategy to ensure that it reflects the needs of the council. HR management information systems can also provide a means of collecting and monitoring performance indicators, which will provide evidence of whether or not the people strategy objectives are being met. A good e-HR management information system is crucial for capturing accurate workforce data. This enables current capacities to be assessed and future needs to be planned for. This is workforce planning an essential element of improvement planning, highlighted by CPA. Effective data capture and analysis is needed to recognise any recruitment and retention issues and to provoke action about how problems can be resolved. e-HR can also help widen the potential recruitment pool and accelerate the administrative processes involved, for example, internet recruitment. Pay and rewards is a crucial element of any council's people management strategy. e-HR can be used here to streamline administrative processes and facilitate pay modelling. In performance management e-HR can help consolidate, rationalise and monitor employee feedback through automated appraisal records, 360degree appraisals and competency framework systems. e-HR can help with the evaluation of skills and development opportunities. In addition, there may be greater scope to enhance skills through the use of e-learning methods. Sickness absence can be managed more effectively by using e-HR technologies such as electronic monitoring. e-HR can be used to accurately monitor and promote action to support equality and diversity in the workforce. Where health and safety is concerned, e-HR can help provide information on accident reporting at work and the results of risk assessments. In addition, councils can respond to the increasing external demand for information with greater speed and efficiency. This may include: monitoring or benchmarking providing data for Best Value Performance Indicators completing government staffing returns and EO surveys An effective e-HR system can also reduce duplication and free up HR practitioners so they can work on more proactive and strategic tasks which support the council's improvement agenda.

Implementing E-Human Resource System

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How much will e-HR cost?
The cost of implementing a new e-HR system will depend very much on what the authority requires the system to do. A system can be purchased or developed to undertake one task, such as the recording of training records, or can be integrated so that it supports a range of HR activities and is linked to other local authority systems such as finance. When making a decision to implement e-HR the authority will need to think carefully about the objectives of the system and set out a clear specification for what is required, balanced against the budget available. When determining costs, the authority will also need to consider related costs, such as the cost of staff training, new hardware, revisions to processes and how much it will cost to maintain the system.

How can an e-HR system be implemented?

It is all too easy to overlook areas which are affected by e-HR. To reduce this, we have drawn up a number of checklists and guidance which aim to identify areas that should be considered. These include the structure, content and technology of an e-HR system as well as the employees themselves.

Developing the business case for an e-HR system

Whether a council is introducing an e-HR system for the first time, or simply updating their existing one, they will need to:

identify how e-HR will support the achievement of the council's people strategy clarify the services/information HR needs to provide to the council consider whether these services are best provided via e-HR predict whether e-HR will add value to the goals of the council and their HR department review current system capabilities is it up to the job? review the current HR function is it structured in a way that will support e-HR? link the e-HR approach to the council's overall e-government strategy

What data requirements are involved?

Before signing any contracts with a systems provider when reviewing or planning any new data capture and analysis system, it is important to establish that:

the data that needs to be entered into the system, that is the "inputs" how this data will be entered the "outputs" the system should generate Those taking decisions on procuring and improving these systems should not only have a full understanding of the management information required, but also how it can be linked to other sources, such as finance.

What data inputs are required?

Different councils require different types of data. The following questions serve as prompts to help you assess exactly what type of data you will need to include within your system. You may wish to consider: what types of data are currently collected and are there any areas which should be included to improve on the existing data resources of the council?

where will data be sourced for existing and new items? will data be held centrally or locally? what format will the data take and how easy will it be to update or transfer? does the system support the needs of payroll and finance? how will the security of the data be structured and maintained, including data protection requirements?

Data entry
The process of data entry, be it manual or automatic, will determine the efficiency of the system. Data capture must be accurate and timely so that is can be both useful and beneficial.

Implementing E-Human Resource System

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Outputs
If the data entered cannot be usefully retrieved, analysed or interpreted, the electronic systems used for it are virtually pointless. When determining which data outputs an e-HR system should be able to provide, it is important to consider the capability of current systems by asking:

what analysis and reports will be required from the system and who will require the reports and why? will the system be able to provide any services or information that the council may need to give to external partners? how and when will outputs need to be retrieved from the system? what will the target lead-time be from requests for information to the time supplied?

Choosing a software provider

A list of possible software providers can be found on the HR Zone website , however the EO has compiled a list of questions which authorities should consider before making their final decision. These are:

does the provider's technology meet all the standards and guidelines adhered to by your council, including diversity and accessibility policies? does the provider's technology have the capacity to be developed and enhanced to suit the direction of your e-government policy? will council staff be able to make adaptations and enhancements to the system once it has been implemented, or will the provider need to be decommissioned and/or have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the council? does the provider offer training to both technical and non-technical staff? is the technology compatible with other systems? what are its limitations? For example, is there a maximum number of data items/records that can be held/manipulated? How many licences will be required? How many concurrent users can the system support? is the price competitive? have you reviewed examples of the provider's other clients? if outsourcing is an option, will it provide you with enough control and freedom over your data, particularly if you have new information requirements in the future?

What implications will an e-HR system have on the workforce?

When implementing a new e-HR approach, it will be necessary to consider:

the need to change behaviour, ways of working and organisational culture ensure that the workforce, managers and HR staff have the necessary capabilities and skills review the council's current work processes and information management to maximise the benefits of e-HR how will non-office based staff be able to use it? who will be able to enter, update and review the data stored on the system? if employees are given their own record to validate, how and when will it be done? to ensure a positive response to the new system, it is beneficial to consult managers and employees particularly where self-service is used on the content, quantity and quality of information needed and provided revisit data security decisions about who will have access to the different levels of data input and output will impact on how the system is used and perceived; it may be necessary to review the current data protection policy and registration criteria

Refrence: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5545642

Implementing E-Human Resource System