If you are thinking about implementing an HRIS in your organization, there are many elements to consider.
Not only do you have to think about the functionalities and modules required to meet your company's needs and answer the fundamental questions related to your business objectives, but you will also have to consider the associated technical and functional aspects of it all.
Indeed, when it comes to HRIS software, several technical criteria, such as data confidentiality, security, service availability and parameterization flexibility, should not be taken lightly.
Here is a look at the eight main technical elements to consider when choosing your HRIS:
- Data security
- Confidentiality
- SaaS with 24/7 access
- Tool customization
- Parameterization
- Interfacing
- Report generation
- Ergonomics of the solution
DATA SECURITY
Data security is usually the main concern for companies purchasing SaaS software. Information is exported beyond the organization's data center and stored in the cloud.
It is therefore essential to verify that the solution has multiple levels of encryption, as information theft could result in the disclosure of employees' personal information, like addresses or social insurance numbers. You should also make sure that the hosting provider has security certifications and that the vendor has a very high data security policy.
With a powerful and secure HRIS, team data cannot be read anywhere other than on the software's servers. This is a significant security guarantee for organizations.
Nevertheless, the company must not forget that it also has a role to play internally, making HRIS users aware of the need to protect information, especially passwords, and controling HRIS administration roles and rights.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The HR department manages and handles highly sensitive personal data. The implementation of a centralized HRIS can be an opportunity to secure their access by eliminating multiple databases and defining personalized access rights.
To do this, you must ensure that the chosen solution will allow you to apply a granularity of access rights that is relevant to the authorizations and responsibilities of the various users.
This also applies to certain fields, which will be protected according to the user's rights. A good HRIS must be able to provide control and monitoring by reporting on connections and actions of users.
Note that in Europe, since 2018, all companies are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Thus, the hosting of data must imperatively be in Europe.
SAAS WITH 24/7 ACCESS
The pandemic has exacerbated the need for agility and digitalization within companies.
When teleworking, employees must be able to access their data quickly and easily and carry out various HR actions (leave requests, training requests, etc.) from their portal and find out about the support measures put in place by the company.
Apart from the traditional users of the HRIS, the availability of the solution therefore impacts all the company's employees.
The guarantee of optimal availability must therefore be one of the criteria taken into account to optimize user satisfaction and experience.
The notion of ATAWAD, born of the digital transformation, sums it up very well: any time, any place, any where.
Employees must be able to consult the company's self-service platform both at the office and at home, whenever they want.
TOOL CUSTOMIZATION
With the same objective of optimizing the user experience, the solution's customization capabilities should be taken into account when choosing an HRIS solution.
Indeed, customization capabilities will facilitate change management by offering a flexible solution that adapts to your target processes.
Customization can also allow users to find an adapted and contextualized environment (logo, color, menu, etc.) which will facilitate learning and increase the rate of adoption of the tool.
PARAMETERIZATION
An HRIS with advanced parameterization capabilities is obviously to be preferred. Indeed, if the solution is flexible enough and succeeds in adapting to all your company's specificities, needs and requests, the editor will not have to resort to specific developments, which increase the complexity (and the budget) of HRIS projects, as well as their maintenance.
However, the more complex your needs in terms of processes or structures are, the higher the requirements in terms of parameterization capacity.
You must therefore ensure that the HRIS solution you choose is highly configurable: it must be capable of responding to your current processes, but above all, it must be capable of adapting to your future needs and accompanying you in your next evolutions.
INTERFACING
The HRIS centralizes all of the company's HR data but relies on its ability to connect and communicate with the company's other information systems, particularly payroll.
This can be a complex process if the company has several subsidiaries: the systems can be duplicated, but the data should not be.
Therefore, your HRIS should ideally include known protocols for interfacing with other systems. In other words, it must have the ability to import and export data from and to external systems.
Thanks to the interfacing capabilities of your HRIS solution, it will not be necessary for you to alter the other systems already in use (payroll, finance, operations, etc.): the solution will be easily integrated into your company's architecture.
REPORT GENERATION
HR software must also allow companies to produce comprehensive reports and have a complete 360° view of their data.
For HR departments, having these key indicators and information allows them to make strategic decisions and to respond more easily to the needs of the company, with a view to increasing efficiency and productivity.
A powerful report generator integrated into the solution ensures that these data and figures are accessible, reliable and secure.
In other words, if an HRIS allows you to centralize all your HR data, it is logical that it is also the tool used to perform the operational analysis.
Another option is to export the data created and centralized by your HRIS to external third-party systems to perform your business intelligence analyses.
Be careful, however: you must not forget that this is sensitive data. You must ensure that the third-party tool will allow you to respect the security and confidentiality levels appropriate to the processing of this data.
A single solution with an integrated reporting tool would therefore seem to be the best option to meet today's security requirements.
ERGONOMICS OF THE SOLUTION
As in any software implementation project, the rate of adoption by users is a key factor, often synonymous with success.
Within the same company, the level of digital skills and mastery of tools can indeed vary greatly, depending on the employees (age, function, experience...).
The HRIS software must therefore be easy to use and accessible to all. It must have easy-to-understand functions and optimized ergonomics, regardless of the complexity of your HR processes.
The time spent on training, whatever the level of use, will be strongly impacted: the less complex the HRIS will be to use and to learn, the less training time will be required.