HR Software Selection Made Easy - People-Trak | HR ... · Human Resource Software Selection Made Easy. Sacred Cows Gored A very colorful white paper. People-Trak HRIS / HRMS 5256

Human Resource Software Selection Made Easy.

Sacred Cows GoredA very colorful white paper.

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Every industry has sacred cows...

Every industry has sacred cows. A sacred cow is like amyth or an urban legend that seems true or becomesuniversally accepted as true, but is not. Like the advisorsin the story, "The Emperor's New Clothes," peoplepropagate sacred cows due to fear or lack of reliableinformation to the contrary. In the story, fear causes theadvisors to lie to the emperor. When at last a simple childprovides more reliable information to the emperor, thetruth is revealed... and the emperor's nakednessconcealed. (And the advisors, like so many misinformedsenior managers, are more than likely assigned to"special projects.")

And so with great pleasure, I begin to gore some of thesacred cows in the HR software industry. I will attempt toprovide reliable information that is contrary to the woefulmooing of the following sacred cows.

You must do an RFP...

Oh really! Most organizations do not need to perform orincur the expense of an RFP. We have sold and installedthousands of HR software products, the vast majoritywithout an RFP. Often, but not always, an RFP isperformed to protect those in the HRIS selection process.If an organization spends tons of money and does tons ofresearch and the implementation fails, it must be the faultof the...RFP.

To be perfectly frank, we have found that the RFPprocess is sometimes a thinly disguised effort to eliminatethe low bidder in a mandatory three-bid process. TheRFP is written precisely to qualify the desired product andthe process is a farce oriented at justifying the desired

purchase. Strange, but true. Ifyou need to perform an RFPprocess, simply state yourneeds clearly and as conciselyas possible. Then, review allproducts fairly and against theclearly stated criteria and pickthe most qualified product.

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Meet Bessie, The Sacred Cow.



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In an interfaced solution, there are two programs andappear integrated, but they are not. A truly integratedsolution is the ONLY way to ensure perfect data integritybetween payroll and HR. Other methods may work, butthey cannot work as well as a truly integrated solution.

If you are going to specify and pay for an integratedsolution, make sure that is what you are actually getting.

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Integrated Payroll & HR...



STRETCHING THE TRUTH

Integrated Payroll and HR software products exist, butmany of the companies that claim to have such productsare STRETCHING the definition of the term. The phraseintegration essentially means “one”. That means that anintegrated payroll and HR product should have oneprogram and one database, not two programs and twodatabases, or one program and two databases, or twoprograms and one database. Just because a vendoroffers both products and just because they actuallydeveloped both products does not mean that they areintegrated. I have found that some products are merelyinterfaced and not integrated.



And that’s because you like your sensitive data located inanother state, running over marginally acceptablecommunications lines, and because you like a highlylimited deployment platform! Who made up that story?

Hosted applications make sense in a limited number ofcases and the growth of the industry reflects that fact. If itmakes sense for you, do it. If not, flee from the concept.

The worst argument I have heard for a hosted solution isthat the IT department did not want the hassle of theapplication being run locally. Oh, poor IT department. Wecertainly do not want you to earn your salary. Let’s letsomeone else do your job for you and let all the userssuffer with a less than optimal and highly compromisedsolution. Perhaps this will free up the IT staff to advise theemperor on his new clothes.

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Having someone else host my HRISis a good thing...



Hmmmm...SHOULD I HAVE

SOMEONE ELSE HOSTMY HRMS, OR MAKE MY

IT DEPARTMENTWORK?



Five years ago, I honestly thought that every company inAmerica with an HRIS would be running an ESS in someway within a few years. Three years ago, when that wasnot happening, we ran a survey at a large national tradeshow. Here are the stunning results. The number oneanswer is: “it has taken us 20 years to get control of these_________. Heck if we are going to give it back”.

Wow. So, it is more important to key an employee’s datafrom a badly copied and badly written form than to havethe employee key it themselves correctly on a perfectlyreadable data entry form. Hmmm, we can continue tospend thousands of dollars each year publishing a newcopy of the policies manual, which is normally out of dateby January 15th anyway, rather than posting the policieson the Employee Self-Service portal at no cost. Or,perhaps it would be better to continue to personallyanswer the millionth request for “my vacation balance”instead of allowing the employee to look it up themselves.

As cool as an ESS (Employee Self-Service) can be, anMSS (Manager Self-Service) is even better. Empoweringmanagers is the fundamental role of HR today. With an

MSS, managers can have access to everything in theHRIS that you want them to have access to. They can nolonger blame HR when they do not have what they needto be effective. In short, an MSS will force managers to beeffective or it will expose them as...ineffective. No surprisethere.

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We’re not ready for ESS(Employee Self-Service)...



Ask Utterly StupidHR Questions Here

Form Line Here ToWaste Company Time



No, no, no, and for good measure, NO! In case, I was notperfectly clear, resumes are NOT the most effective way torecruit, nor are they an effective way to recruit. Resumesare a non-standard, highly variable, and often unreliablesource of information about someone who wants to work foryou. In addition, despite the claims of resume parsing firms,it is just about impossible to use automated methods toglean much useful information from a resume in any formatand put it in your HR software.

The information age started years ago. This should be theage of “good information”. Here is the effective way torecruit. You obtain software that is currently known asCandidate Self- Service or Career Center. It should be apart of your HRMS. This feature runs on the Web.Prospective candidates identify your opening on a jobboard or some type of search process. Then they come toyour company’s Candidate Self-Service application. Thecandidates enter their profile including personal information,competencies, educational background, and workexperience. They can then apply against open requisitions,answer screening questions, and track their ownapplication process from start to finish.

The real power of the Candidate Self- Service module is theability to compare the requirement of open positions to thecapabilities of the candidate. In seconds, the software cancompare and present to you a list of the most highlyqualified candidates. In most cases, the Candidate Self-Service features can pay for itself in a matter of months justin the savings from reduced interviews and unnecessaryreading of resumes. You do not even need to look at aresume; the software does the work for you. If you needhard copy, the software can provide standardized,consistent, and very readable applicant profiles at any timefrom the data in the HRIS.

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Resumes are an effective way to recruit...



ApplicantResumes

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This is pretty funny. You pay really good money for a productthat is not a product at all. It is a kit. Then, you pay theconsultants just as much money to convert the kit intosomething you can actually use. So what did you buy?Seems to me, they should give you the software and chargefor the consulting.

What really makes this one funny is the RFP process. Howcan a company go through an RFP process with all of thesediverse questions and then select a product that does notactually work as desired, but might, if the vendor is paid welland can figure out how to do it? How could the vendoractually fill out the RFP honestly when they fully plan tocharge the organization for the features they claimed to havein the first place? From where I come from, that’s called lying.The double billing associated with this scenario has anothername we’ll just leave out for now.

Implementation costs are real. However, if these costsbecome any significant percentage of the license cost, youhave paid way, way too much for the license. Normally, youcan save a lot of money buying a “DIY” product. In the HRsoftware world, you can pay for the kit and the constructionteam and more. See the next cow.....

Maintenance fees on consulting work...

Oh, the good times just keep rolling. So, you buy a productthat meets few of the actual requirements stated in the RFP(strange but true). Then, you pay lots of consulting money tomake the product actually do what the vendor claimed itcould do in the first place. Now, the vendor wants to chargeyou 15 to 20 percent annually not only on the license fee, buton the license fee and the work you’ve already paid for twice.Isn’t life grand...for the vendor? You get billed twice for afeature the vendor claimed to have had, and then they bill youevery year to make certain that the feature you paid for twice

actually keeps working.Seems to me that thefeature should havebeen in the product inthe first place, as thevendor claimed on theRFP...in the first place.Go Bessie!

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Implementation costs should beequal to the license cost...





If one is going to charge many, many dollars to implementa system for a customer, does it make sense to finishquickly? I don’t think so. But time is an essential ally for thevendor who will make up features on the RFP and then billyou to create those features. A few years back, one of ourcustomers sat on a panel discussing HR softwareimplementation. This client had implemented our softwareand had the operation up and running in a matter of weeks.She did not speak first and when it came time to state howlong her implementation took, she actually fibbed andincreased the duration. Her “peers” were actually braggingabout completing fractional modules in just under twoyears. She could not bear to explain that it actually took herjust under two weeks for the whole product.

Of course, these other applications were slightly morecomplex, but if a product takes years to implement, what didyou buy? And during the two years it can take to get part ofyour HRIS implemented, does the original design still fit theorganization? Probably not. During the prolongedimplementations, there are a lot of $250 per hourconsultants sitting around discussing the merits of a 10character employee number versus a 12 characteremployee number.

We actually had a very, very large client who used ourproduct as a stepping stone during the implementation of apopular, expensive product. They were able to complete theproject in about six months (a single module: applicanttracking). One day, they called us for some technicalsupport on our product and indicated that they had 27(twenty-seven) Arthur Anderson consultants on-site. Howdid they get finished in six months? Here is the math for you(27 x 8 x 250). 27 consults at 8 hours per day at $250 perhour. That works out to $54,000 per day in consulting? Hey,at least they were able to implement a single module in sixmonths. By the way, these expensive consultants used ourdesign for a lobby-based kiosk module for which we hadpreviously charged about $1800. Why reinvent the wheelwhen you can charge for one that already exists?

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Implementation time framesare measured in years...





Well yes, for the local reseller, but not necessarily for you.We are all accustomed to the automobile dealer and withsome exceptions, we buy our cars from the local dealerand not from the manufacturer. This model does nottranslate well to software sales. Most software resellersare not required to have “factory-trained” support reps ortrainers or knowledgeable sales reps. Thus, you cannotexpect the same level of service or commitment as youwould receive from an employee of the company thatproduced the product.

The local reseller takes more profit from non-license feesthan from license fees. They will take the 50% cut on thesoftware (fairly typical figure) and will then work very hardto sell you services, some of which they may not beeminently qualified to perform. While the reseller willdesire to be helpful, they are more interested in a co-dependent relationship in which they can continue to billyou for services than in making you an empowered userof the product you have purchased.

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Using a local reseller is a good thing...





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I need the help of consultants...



A consultant is like a psychologist; he helps you to realizethings you already know. Do you wish to pay someone totell you what you already know? If so, use a consultant. Ifnot, rely on your own expertise. It is no less a crapshootthan what a consultant will tell you. There is another reasonwhy consultants are widely used. Consultants are easy toblame and you don’t have to fire them. You just terminatethe consulting agreement and pick a new victim.

There is no replacement for experience. No one has moreexperience in your particular organization doing yourparticular job in this day and age than you. You are theexpert.

We cannot afford HR software...

Very fine HR software isavailable for less than thecost of your desk, chair andcomputer. I am sure yourcompany can afford a newdesk, chair, and computerjust as they do for each newemployee.

What you cannot afford issoftware that you havesomehow come to believeyou need. Perhaps you

have sullied up to Bessie, the sacred cow, and youbelieve that only the big “bulls” in the herd can meet yourneeds. Well, if that is the case, you can either do withoutor take a look at software that helps your company andnot your ego.

Well Doc, It all started when kids called

me names like, “BESSIETHE SACRED COW!”

And...how did thatmake you

feel?



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HR Software Selection Made Easy - People-Trak | HR ... · Human Resource Software Selection Made Easy. Sacred Cows Gored A very colorful white paper. People-Trak HRIS / HRMS 5256