Strategic HR – The Why and Wherefore
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Since we have started the
demonstrations of version 9, one question, in various forms, has
been asked over and over again. That question is essentially: What
is different between
People-Trak Essential HR (Level 2)
and
People-Trak Strategic HR (Level 3)
and why should I consider upgrading?
HR Software Use – A Continuum
Let me begin with an
overview of
HRIS software
users.
Among HRIS software users, there is a continuum or
spectrum of software use that starts with basic tracking on one
extreme and ERP or complete software integration (of all software products
within the organization) on the other extreme. While most companies do indeed
succeed with tracking, very few actually succeed with ERP regardless of how
much money might be spent. To determine the type of
HRIS software you need, you need to determine where on the continuum you are
now and where, if anywhere else, you would like to be.
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Tracking Reporting Customization Process
Automation Triangle Integration ERP
As indicated, basic
tracking is where all HRIS software starts. “Tracking” moves the accumulated
paper records from filing cabinets, where
they are cumbersome and time consuming to
retrieve, to automated data files which are available for immediate and
precise retrieval.
Once human resource
information has been moved from the paper files to automated files,
most
HRIS software
users advance to the next step in the continuum
which is computerized reporting. This is a logical step which
allows the information in the automated
files to be retrieved, formatted into meaningful documents, and then
printed for use by HR or other members of the organization.
Tracking and reporting, once the very definition of an HRIS, are now
just steps on an evolving continuum. Organizations are now looking for
productivity gains that exceed the basic premise
of automating the collection and reporting of data. With that data
stored and instantly available, companies look to move
from vanilla flavored implementations of the
HRIS software
to one which more precisely meets the needs of the organization
and begins to assist with the automation of HR processes.
The next step on the
continuum is customization. This is the ability to modify the software
to more precisely fit your needs. This may be as simple as having a
report writer that allows you to create, modify, and store document templates
or as complex as the ability to design and create your own data entry screens.
In both instances, there isa tremendous productivity gain
in having the software work the way you work. It is no longer
an issue of adapting your business to the way the software works, but of
adapting the software to the way your organization
works.
Perhaps the most
powerful step recently added to the evolving continuum is process
automation. Process automation is the ability to create
automated processes to replace the manual
processes you use now. Using triggers, alerts, schedulers, and
approvals, you can recreate the movement of
documents through the organization using digital methods
rather than paper forms. The process is essentially the same, except
that it is entirely paperless, fast, accurate, and
the end result is stored electronically for reporting and
retrieval.
Triangle integration,
while understood, is seldom achieved. This is the integration of timekeeping,
payroll, and human resources tracking into a coherent, redundancy free
solution. Each application has common data, but keeping
the three typically independent products in sync
has proven to be elusive. Even more elusive is a vendor that
offers all three products working together or who even offers all three
products. Thus, triangle integration is normally
left to the owner organization and with less than stellar
cooperation between vendors, the solution is rare.
Finally, ERP is the
holy grail of all business software. The goal, lofty as it may be, is to
integrate all mission critical software components into a
tightly integrated solution with no redundancy and
complete cross component commonality. In other words, one vendor puts
it all together for you. In reality, most ERP solutions are cobbled
together with various data sources originating
from various other products all tied together by a somewhat
fragile infrastructure that demands constant attention from IT
professionals and a massive budget of time and
money to complete.
Empowerment or Enslavement – You Choose
With this foundation now
presented, I can more accurately address the essential question
with which we began this journey. If you wish to position your use of
HRIS software
at a point beyond tracking and reporting, you are going
to need to customize your HRIS to make it work the
way you need it to and to automate processes. To be able
to do this, you will need to make a choice between empowerment and
enslavement.
Most other
HRIS software
vendors have customizable software products.
However, the customization cannot be performed by
the user. These vendors have deemed that you do
not wish to, want to, or are not capable of modifying your software to
your specific needs. Thus, they have not taken the
time to create user friendly customization features that
allow you to do so. Rather, they have highly paid (highly expensive to
you) consultants that will perform the work for
you using tools they can understand, but that you
cannot. The same is true for process automation. Even though the
processes to be automated are your processes and
processes that you are intimately familiar with, vendors
have decided that it is easier and more profitable to do the work for
you and enslave you to their consultants than to
empower you to perform the work yourself.
Most HRIS products
include implementation, customization, and process automation fees
that exceed the license fee by 1 or even 2 times. As this is where these
companies make their money, it would be a poor
idea to empower the users to do the work themselves
when it makes more sense to enslave them. After all, if you pay the
vendor to make a change and only the vendor can
maintain that change, you are permanently enslaved
to the vendor to keep the software working the way you want it. This is
great for the vendor, but not necessarily great
for you.
Years ago, People-Trak
chose to empower users not enslave them. We started with basic,
but powerful customization tools in version 3/4. We improved them
dramatically in version 7 and added some process
automation tools. In version 8, we improved the features
in version 7 and introduced Strategic HR to enable those companies
desiring to move farther along the continuum to do
so.
I guest-lecture at a
local university and the instructor was a former user of PeopleSoft.
Using version 7 capabilities included with the software,
I made a custom screen during my lecture. The
instructor stopped the class and indicated that what I had accomplished
in about 5 minutes would have been billed by PeopleSoft
at somewhere around $20,000. Again this was
version 7, which is now 8 years old. In addition, I doubt if the cost of
consulting has gone down. We empower our users while
other vendors choose another path.
The Question Answered – What Strategic HR Can Do for You
People-Trak version 9 is
almost the culmination of our vision for the ultimate HRIS. The base
product, Essential HR, has powerful customization
features and some process automation features. Our upgraded product,
Strategic HR provides extensive customization features
and a hugely powerful suite of process automation
tools. Simply put, Strategic HR moves you much farther along the continuum
and allows you to automate a wide variety of processes and allows you to
create a view of People-Trak that reflects your
organization.
Here are some product topics
with differences between
Essential HR
and
Custom Screens
Essential
HR allows you to create custom screens using fields from People-Trak,
text labels, and frames. You can even specify a background image.
Strategic HR extends the features provided by Essential
HR by adding four additional caption types, lines,
pictures, and grids. In addition, you can copy any existing People-Trak
screen in seconds and then modify it. You can append and insert screens
to create more complex presentations.
Electronic Forms
Electronic Forms are specialized data entry forms and are unique to Strategic
HR. Whereas normal screens utilize typical Windows components such as
frames, labels, lines, and captions to form the visual
part of the screen upon which the fields are
placed, an electronic form uses a copy of an actual paper form. Data
entry fields are positioned on the form just as
with a standard custom screen, but the field captions
and other visual components are not utilized. Electronic forms are quite
useful in process automation as they represent the
same component as used in the manual process. The
form is visually the same, but is fully automated.
Workflows
A workflow is a collection of screens with an optional approval sequence.
In Essential HR, you can modify the default workflows
provided or create new ones from scratch. You can
select one of three different approval sequences and optionally include
a digital signature. With Strategic HR, you have
additional options with workflows that allow you
greater approval capability.
Approvals
As indicated above, Essential HR does provide a powerful approval process,
but this process is limited to three hardcoded approval sequences. With
Strategic HR, you can define an unlimited number of
approval sequences with each sequence allowing an
unlimited number of approvals. In addition, you can use approval triggers
to fully customize the approval process for each workflow to match how
your organization works.
Process Triggers
Essential HR provides Alerts and Scheduler with powerful, but limited
actions. Strategic HR provides six different triggers. These include
alerts and scheduler features from Essential HR,
but adds many more actions and capabilities. The
ability to distribute reports via email based on the value in an
employee record is just one example.
In addition to the
alert and schedule triggers, Strategic HR allows you to define two types
of field change triggers: validation and process.
Validation triggers enable you to control the data
entry process in any workflow by trapping invalid data and eliminating
errors. Process based field triggers can perform a
number of actions such as running reports, sending
email, updating other fields, and more based on the value entered in any
field.
Button triggers can be
created and placed on custom screens and electronic forms. Buttons
can perform a wide variety of tasks such as running reports, sending
email, and executing internal procedures. Buttons
can also be used to display screens and this allows
you to create your own data entry wizards.
Derived Fields
Derived fields are entirely unique to Strategic HR. These allow you to create
an unlimited number of fields which are derived from existing fields in
the People-Trak database. For example, you can append fields to create
multi-field values that can be used in reports or
screens. You can use mathematical operators to adjust numeric values
as necessary. You can use date operators to modify date fields to create
date values unique or meaningful to your
organization. You can even use SQL statements to create
fields that make use of the extensive power of SQL.
In Summary – It’s How Far You want to Go
The features in the
Strategic HR upgrade enable you to more fully and more accurately
automate the Human Resources functions in your
organization. While Essential HR is powerful and
offers more user empowered features than any other product on the
market, Strategic HR gives you more and enables you to
position your organization much further along the
continuum. Tracking and reporting are the past. Customization is
clearly the present. The future is Level 3 and process automation. Come
join us in the future.
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