Tuesday, May 13, 2008

HRM practices with information technology

Human Resource Management Systems encompass these below work with help of IT:
  1. Payroll
  2. Work Time
  3. Benefits Administration
  4. HR management Information system
  5. Recruiting

The Payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic pay cheques and employee tax reports. Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and manual cheque writing capabilities. This module can encompass all employee-related transactions as well as integrate with existing financial management systems.

The Work Timegathers standardized time and work related efforts. The most advanced modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, labour distribution capabilities and data analysis features. Cost analysis and efficency metrics are the primary functions.

The Benefits Administration module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee participation in benefits programs. These typically encompass, insurance, compensation, profit sharing and retirement.

The HR management module is a component covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control. Human resource management function involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organisation. Initially, businesses used computer based information system to:

  • produce pay checks and payroll reports;
  • maintain personnel records;
  • pursue Talent Management.

Applicant Tracking System

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of corporate recruitment needs. A corporate career site or website module may be offered, allowing companies to provide opportunities to internal candidates prior to external recruitment efforts. Candidates may be identified via preexisting data or through information garnered through other means. This data is typically stored for search and retrieval processes

The proposed benefit of an applicant tracking system is analyzing and coordinating recruitment efforts - managing the conceptual structure known as Human Capital.

Applicant Tracking Systems may also be referred to as a TMS (Talent Management System) and/or Talent Platform and are often provided via a application service provider or software as a service (SaaS) model. The level of service and cost can vary greatly across providers. In the United Kingdom, this is often referred to as managed service delivery. The cost for these systems ranges from free applications to multi-million dollar comprehensive integrated solutions with annual contractual obligations. The cost is somewhat dependent on the number of users, Service Level Agreement SLA, degree of integration, and feature set. Training, appropriate reporting metrics, and development are primary concerns for providers.

Online Recruiting

Online recruiting has become one of the primary methods employed by HR departments to garner potential candidates for available positions within an organization. Talent Management systems typically encompass:

  • analyzing personnel usage within an organization;
  • identifying potential applicants;
  • recruiting through company-facing listings;
  • recruiting through online recruiting sites or publications that market to both recruiters and applicants.

The significant cost incurred in maintaining an organized recruitment effort, cross-posting within and across general or industry-specific job boards and maintaining a competitive exposure of availabilities has given rise to the development of a dedicated Applicant Tracking System, or 'ATS', module.

Many organizations have gone beyond the traditional functions and developed human resource management information systems, which support recruitment, selection, hiring, job placement, performance appraisals, employee benefit analysis, training development, health, safety and security, while others integrate an outsourced Applicant Tracking System that encompasses a subset of the above.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

HR and IT collaboration

HR and IT do have quite a bit in common. HR and IT are looking to use that knowledge to help businesses be more successful. "IT and HR are really kindred spirits," said Bob Carniaux, senior vice president of HR at Hasbro in Pawtucket, R.I. "We're each other's customers, as well as collaborators within the organization. We find ourselves both fighting for a seat at the table in terms of corporate priorities, both struggling to figure out what it means to manage our respective functions on a global basis." Today, when technology finally helps HR”s drive for strategic relevance, those two previously disparate departments are successfully collaborating on major projects in such business-critical areas as e-recruiting, self-service, training, compensation and talent management.


Source: Network World

HR and Information Systems

The function of Human Resources departments is generally administrative and common to all organizations. Organizations may have formalized selection, evaluation, and payroll processes. Efficient and effective management of "Human Capital" has progressed to an increasingly imperative and complex process. The HR function consists of tracking existing employee data which traditionally includes personal histories, skills, capabilities, accomplishments and salary. To reduce the manual workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically automate many of these processes by introducing specialized Human Resource Management Systems. Due HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain an integrated HRMS. Before the "client-server" architecture evolved in the late 1980s, many HR automation processes were relegated to mainframe computers that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the high capital investment necessary to purchase or program proprietary software, these internally-developed HRMS were limited to organizations that possessed a large amount of capital. The advent of client-server, Application Service Provider, and Software as a Service or SaaS Human Resource Management Systems enabled take increasingly higher administrative control of such systems.

Source: Wikipedia