Starting off the New Year Right

Welcome to my brand new blog for 2009. With the global economy being as challenging as it is, there is no better time to begin to talk about how to get the most of your HR Technology with a limited budget.




This weeks topic is about how to start your new year right. Just like every retail or manufacturing organization takes a beginning year inventory to understand exactly what they are working with, so must you. Even if you already have an inventory of every piece of technology that supports Human Resource processes, you must refresh it as I can assure you it has changed.




When I say inventory all of the technology I mean ALL of it this includes those access databases, excel spreadsheets, third party applications and legacy databases that are out there and use or process HR Data. This inventory must include all HR Data so you will need to talk to your Compensation Analyst and find out what they are using for job evaluation and market pricing, your Benefits Analyst and find out what they are using for benefit cost reporting, your Occupational and Development specialists and ask what they are using for competency management. You need to go beyond the traditional borders of the HRMS to really understand all of the technology that supports the Human Resource processes in your organization. Talk to everyone and ask what they use to manage the HR information they need to do their job.




Some of you are right now thinking about how this inventory should look, I know you are you are thinking of what type of spreadsheet format I should use or should it be a PowerPoint? Create a 4 column list with column 1 being the process column 2 the technology and column 3 being where the information comes from and column 4 the primary user of this information.





This inventory will be referred to in subsequent blogs and serve as a foundation for all getting the most out of your existing investment.




Focus on creating this list and next week I will talk about the next steps to take now that you have your new or updated inventory in hand.