Once you’ve officially decided to acquire a new HRIS, it is important for HR to work with other departments within the company that may have stake in the outcome of the HRIS project. Working with departments that will consistently or periodically use the HRIS can help ensure smoother implementation and better adoption rates. Which departments should be consulted and to what degree?
Information Technology Department
During all stages of a HRIS project, the IT department’s involvement may be critical for achieving success. A highly knowledgeable IT department member can aid the team in better managing the technical aspects of implementation and software use.
IT employees may also have a more fundamental understanding of how some of the features of new software packages work. Thus, they can work with the HR department to optimize these features and align them with the company’s goals.
Administration
Depending on the organization’s structure, it may be possible to also have all members of upper management work on an HRIS project. In other companies, it may be better to recruit one administrative representative on the project team that best speaks for the interests of upper management, yet understands the needs of the workforce. In either case, it is very important to have the administrative department on board for the entirety of the HRIS project.
Accounting or Finance
As the accounting or finance department is in charge of keeping track of revenues and expenses, the accounting department must be present for all budgetary conversations. The accounting department may be very helpful in estimating and tracking ROI for HR software systems. It may also be necessary to work closely with the accounting department, to link up the HRIS with the company’s financial information systems for cross referencing and decision making.
Frontline Employees
Typically, the marketing, sales, production departments, or frontline employees of any type (depending on the organization and industry) are not as essential to the HRIS project. However, they should still be considered in some aspects of the project. These employees are the ones that will be using self-service as well as possibly viewing salary information and schedules, putting in time off requests, and using dashboards to interact with training programs.
It’s imperative that frontline employees are properly trained and consulted. This will allow your employees to generate the most potential from the new software. Also, obtaining feedback from frontline employees regarding preferences on new systems and views on existing systems is especially valuable.
HRIS can help optimize recruiting, onboarding, benefits management, and employee data management. Therefore, it makes sense to acquire a system that frontline employees really like and can work well with.
Collaboration for HRIS Success
Every organization is different, so which departments are important to the success of a HRIS project may differ from company to company. How the departments may be instrumental in the project’s execution will also likely vary. The project team and the guidelines as to who will have a stake in the final outcome of the project should require much reflection. In addition, they both should be tailored to fit the needs and capabilities of the company. View our top HRIS software providers now!
