When it comes to choosing a Human Resource Information System (HRIS), the stakes couldn't be higher. Investing in the wrong system can be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole—a costly and frustrating exercise that can leave your organisation struggling to manage its most critical asset: your people.
The allure of fancy features or a lower price tag can sometimes overshadow the importance of aligning the HRIS with your company’s specific needs. However, a mismatched system can result in a host of issues. Instead of streamlining processes, the wrong HRIS may lead to inefficiencies, data inaccuracies, and increased manual work. Your HR team, intended to be more strategic, ends up bogged down with the very administrative tasks the system was supposed to alleviate.
Moreover, the implications extend beyond just the HR department. Employee satisfaction can plummet if self-service tools are cumbersome or if payroll and benefits errors become frequent. In worst-case scenarios, compliance risks can emerge, exposing the company to legal and financial liabilities.
The key to avoiding this pitfall is due diligence during the selection process. Understand your organisation's unique needs, involve stakeholders from different departments, and don’t rush the decision. An HRIS should not only fit your current processes but also be scalable to accommodate future growth.
In the end, an HRIS that fits like a glove will not only enhance HR efficiency but also contribute to overall organisational success. The right system is an investment, not just in technology, but in the future of your workforce. Choose wisely, and avoid the costly mistake of trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
Embarking on an HR transformation journey is a critical decision for any organisation. A key aspect of this process is evaluating your current Human Resource Information System (HRIS) versus adopting a new one. Both options present unique advantages, and the right choice depends on your organisation’s specific needs.
Why Consider a New HRIS?
Switching to a new HRIS can offer numerous benefits. Modern systems often come with advanced features, such as AI-driven analytics, improved user interfaces, and better integration capabilities with other business software. These enhancements can streamline HR and Payroll processes, provide deeper insights into workforce trends, and improve employee engagement by offering self-service options and mobile access.
Additionally, a new HRIS may be better equipped to handle the growth and evolving needs of your organisation. It can support more complex operations, comply with changing regulatory requirements, and offer enhanced security features to protect sensitive employee data.
Why Stick with Your Current HRIS?
However, sticking with your current HRIS and enhancing it can be a strategic move, especially if it already meets your core needs. Upgrading your existing system can be more cost-effective, as it avoids the expenses associated with a full system overhaul, such as implementation, training, and potential downtime during the transition.
Enhancing your current HRIS can also provide continuity for users, minimizing the learning curve and avoiding disruptions in daily operations. You can often address gaps in functionality by integrating third-party tools or customizing the system to better align with your business processes.
Conclusion
The decision to stay with your current HRIS or switch to a new one depends on a careful assessment of your organisation's needs, budget, and long-term goals. Whether you choose to upgrade or replace, the ultimate goal should be to enhance your HR and Payroll capabilities and support your organisation's growth.
If you are kicking off your transformation process and require some assistance in understanding your gaps why not drop us message to see how we can help.
Sector: Healthcare
Services - Project Management and Consultancy
Lite Consulting is collaborating with an NHS teaching hospital trust to craft an Outline Business Case (OBC) addressing issues within their People Management Function (HR dept). The trust has identified challenges in record-keeping and seeks an IT solution for improvement.
With multiple sites, the trust plans to consolidate two hospitals into one central location, aiming for a paperless back-office operation. Stakeholder engagement workshops clarified issues: lack of file tracking process, inconsistent and unlinked file structures (both paper and electronic), inconsistent filing practices across the Trust, and an IT system comprising disparate systems with perceived insufficient functionality.
Lite Consulting has guided the trust in understanding the core issue, emphasizing process inputs and outputs. We've proposed a pathway to help achieve their goal: a legally compliant, automated, auditable, and affordable People Management System.
Our approach in crafting the OBC pathway is marked by transparency, proposing an emotionally manageable journey aligned with the trust's organizational development stage. It is affordable and adds tangible value to their change journey.
Sytsem :- Selecthr and Selectpay
Sector:- Charity
Services :- Consultancy and system advice ( Oct 2022)
About NAS :- The UK's leading charity for people on the autism spectrum and their families. Since 1962, they have been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.
Project Background:-
The strategic investment made by the organization in The Access Group Software, featuring essential products such as HR, Payroll, Screening Recruitment, People Planner, and Workspace, signifies a commitment to advanced technological solutions. Despite the initial implementation of the software in 2018, the journey was not without its share of challenges. The entry of Caroline Foster as an interim HRD and Paul Benton as the HRIS Systems Administrator necessitated additional expertise to effectively address specific software issues and optimize the system's performance.
Our defined mandate included a close collaboration with Paul Benton to tackle challenges associated with the organizational structure, rectify duplicate records, and establish an efficient workspace. In synergy with the Access teams, our overarching goal was to enhance the organization's overall software utilization. Initially contracted for a period of 12 weeks, extending until December 2022, we successfully met and exceeded our objectives within the specified timeframe.
Following the initial phase, our focus shifted to addressing challenges within the outsourced payroll provision, requiring seamless collaboration with the NAS team. Together, we streamlined processes and initiated steps to bring payroll operations in-house. The ongoing project, set for completion in June 2023, involves a comprehensive partnership with NAS. This collaboration encompasses thorough process reviews, the recruitment of a dedicated payroll team, and the formulation of a clear operational strategy aimed at continual improvement.
As part of our continued commitment to the organization's success, LitE Consulting remains retained in an advisory capacity throughout 2023. This ongoing role ensures sustained support, enabling the organization to navigate and facilitate transformative changes seamlessly, reinforcing our dedication to long-term success and partnership.
Selecthr/ SelectPay/ Access XD
Sector:- Charity
System Procurement / Project Management & Data Migration support (Project start - Oct 21)
About Ormiston Families: Ormiston Families plays a vital role in supporting families across the East of England, aiming to build resilience and empower them to make choices that enhance the life chances of their children. The organization adopts a proactive approach by taking early and preventative actions to ensure the safety, health, and resilience of families. All services provided by Ormiston are geared towards helping individuals strengthen their networks, learn from experiences, and regain control over their overall well-being.
Project Background: Ormiston was already an Access customer utilizing SelectHR and SelectPay. However, due to a suboptimal implementation and the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business operations, these systems were not meeting the specific needs of the charity. In response to these challenges, our engagement with Ormiston began with the primary objective of assisting them in identifying alternative HR and Payroll providers.
Given budget constraints, we collaborated closely with Ormiston to establish essential functionalities as "must-haves" while also developing a wish list of additional requirements. This meticulous process aimed to present credible alternatives for Ormiston's review. The Access Group was included in this evaluation, reflecting our commitment to exploring incumbent suppliers' alternative solutions or potential upgrades. Post the selection process, it became apparent that the project's requirements and budget would not permit the procurement of an alternative solution. As a result, our recommendation was to continue with the Access products, opting for an upgrade to the Access People XD application to align with the required functionality within the budget constraints.
Lite Consulting was subsequently entrusted with the responsibility of project managing the migration, including the transition to the cloud for The Access financial software. The project is currently in the Getting Started phase, with a focus on data cleansing as the primary activity in progress. The migration from SelectHR and SelectPay to Access People XD is underway, marking a significant step towards enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of Ormiston's HR and Payroll systems.
Software: From Access Select HR & Select Pay to Ceridian – Dayforce Application – Data Migration Project.
Sector: Media
Size: 1,000 Employees
The Brief
Lite Consultancy has worked with Telegraph for 7 years providing, consultancy and implementation services on the SelectHR and SelectPay. In 2021, The Telegraph decided to review the market to see what alternative solutions were available and took the decision to move to the Ceridian Dayforce product.
Lite provided support to the project by extracting the data from the Access systems in the upload template format to ensure it would import into Dayforce successfully. Due to the fact that multiple exports were required at different phases of the implementation program our technical team created SLQ scripts to extract the data in the required formats that can be run as and when it is required.
Since providing the SQL scripts, the project has been put on hold due to commercial reasons but the data migration exercise has been completed as far as possible.
Selecthr / Selectpay
Sector:- Healthcare
Services:- PM and consultancy ( Project Start Sept 21)
About Totally:- Totally was established to help ensure patients could quickly access the healthcare they need. They partner with healthcare commissioners and hospitals across the UK and Ireland to deliver services that help manage demand and reduce waiting lists. The corporate customer services also play a role in reducing reliance on healthcare by promoting healthy lifestyles and good physical and mental health.
Project Background:- Totally's Project manager was off sick and Access recommended that Totally contact LitE Consulting to assist them as interim project manager until the PM returned. The role was to provide PM services to the team for a period of three months. The project was in a very poor position with no clear target dates for launch and the project fundamentals did not exist. Totally had a target to have the system Live by Dec 22. I advised that this wasn't possible based one the quality of the data but agreed to have the system Live to the HR teams by the end of January 2022 and self service to be rolled out to the business for holiday management from April 2022. We also agreed to have the payroll Live for the Group payroll from April 2022. The payroll target was met but due to staff changes the payroll required resources with Selectpay experience so LitE provided payroll staff to compliment the Totally team until stability of the operation was in place.
In addition to providing project management our role expanded to include implementation consultancy and we worked with the Access implementation teams to roll out the API connectivity to the Qyuinyx workforce management system. This involved configuration, testing and ongoing support of the custom configuration.
Totally have a large requirement for online recruitment and the Access recruitment application was configured and rolled out by the Access and LitE teams. In addition to this this a large amount of work was undertaken by LitE on the Statutory and Mandatory training compliance which involved using the Access standard training module and configuring it to meet the requirement. Finally there has been a huge amount of work undertaken to report on the data in the system to ensure they meet compliance in all areas.
LitE have supported all stages of the project and provide an ongoing business as usual support service to Totally ensuring they continue to enhance there data and use of the system.
Selecthr / Selectpay
Sector:- Construction/Building
Services:- PM and Managed Service Support (Project start - December 2021)
About Bellway:- Bellway are proud to have heritage rooted in the north east of England, where the business was founded over 75 years ago. Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, the 22 divisional offices cover the main population centres across England, Scotland and Wales. The divisional structure allows local management teams to respond to specific demands in their geographical areas and, through their detailed local knowledge, acquire land on which to design and build homes that meet or exceed the expectations of their customers, contributing to the creation of strong, local communities. The divisional teams are supported by the Regional Chairmen and by the specialist Group Head Office teams.
Project Background:- Bellway approached the Access team to see if they could recommend any project managers to manage the project for them and Access referred them to LitE. The project brief was to provide a full project management service to ensure that the project was delivered on time and to budget. Bellway had legacy systems that have limited functionality and with the number of employees within Bellway they were looking to provide self service for absence managements and enable their divisional teams to be able to manage employee changes through the system. The HR function is devolved within a regional structure so the system was a way of centralising data and processes.
The project commenced in December 2021 with payroll scheduled for go live in April 2022. Bellway have stand-alone online recruitment and learning management systems and were looking to integrate with these via API to further improve the processes and accuracy of the data. LitE consulting have provided application support working alongside the Access delivery teams and the Bellway system Administrator.
