The Human Resources Department has come a long way over the last two decades. Plowing further into the future by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and automating many of the once tedious and time-consuming HR tasks with Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS).

HRIS is software designed to streamline processes to help meet HR goals and initiatives, improve workforce productivity, and provide data analytics to guide business decisions.

An HRIS can really do it all. A good HRIS can store employee data, create reports, and manage HR processes like payroll, time and attendance, benefits administration, onboarding, applicant tracking, education, and secure documentation storage.

With all the functionality comes a price tag though that can quickly become a major expense. It’s important to run a cost-benefit analysis with Finance to gain a deeper understanding of how a new HRIS will impact the organization financially and culturally.

While the process for getting the funds for a new HRIS is riveting stuff, for the purpose of this article, we’re going to assume the HR team (a team of rock stars!) crushed the pitch to the executive team. After all the hard work, there is now a shared vision for what a new HRIS will bring to the business, so, now what?

Well, now it’s time to start learning more about the different HRISs on the market and determining which one is the right fit for your business. Finding the right HRIS can be the difference between a good employee experience and a bad one and a happy HR team or a sad one. But how do we go about the vetting process to make the right choice?

As it turns out, there are several best practices a business might use to ensure they are choosing the right HRIS. It’s important to find a system that can be customized to meet the unique needs of an organization. While the vetting process can feel painful at times, it is well worth it to find the right HRIS.

Consultants

All it takes is a simple Google search for HR systems consultants to find a plethora of suitors ready to help. Of course, do your due diligence when partnering with outside consultants to make sure they are reputable and have strong independently sourced reviews.

Consultants can be a great resource to your HR department and overall business needs by providing industry experience and an outside perspective. HR systems consultants should come equipped with years of experience within the field and a good understanding of how an HRIS will integrate into the business based on size and your existing structure.

Consultants are trained to find gaps in your current processes and can help identify a system that will mesh well with any systems you already use or make recommendations for areas to be streamlined into one.

One of their primary objectives will be to understand the different teams or Centers of Excellence (COEs) in your HR model including a deep dive into what each group does, how they do it, and why they do it this way.

As they do their research, they should be focusing on how an HRIS would benefit the department and employee population in terms of integration into the current model, ease of use, and specific differentiating features that will fit the unique needs of your business.

When all is said and done, your consultants should be able to provide you with their detailed findings including a list of their top HRIS prospects based on your needs.

Focus Groups

Getting feedback from your workforce is as good as gold. By inviting frontline employees, people managers, and any specialized individuals that might require a unique access type you can gather valuable information to help guide you in your selection process. Each end-user will have a unique perspective on what functions would be important to them in an HRIS.

Of course, the HR team’s feedback is critical as well, so be sure to conduct smaller focus groups within your own work group as these will likely be your back-office users with some form of administrative access.

Many HRIS companies will allow you a limited number of seats for a pilot or test drive. A trial to test out the features of an HRIS can be a game changer and allow you the opportunity to test on your focus groups as well.

Allowing your subject-matter-experts within the HR department the opportunity to navigate the system is an essential part of vetting an HRIS.

These individuals in your department should be able to provide feedback on how they see their HR function fitting into the system and can ask questions or bring concerns to the vendor or liaison working directly with the vendor. This is the perfect time to take note of the customer support being provided by the vendor who will be the customer support you will need to rely on as issues arise…and they will arise.

System Integration

Ideally, it is possible to find an HRIS that will encompass all your core HR functions while meeting your business needs. However, often that is not the reality, and you will need to find an HRIS that can talk to your current HR systems such as time and attendance, documentation and learning management systems, etc.

If you have ever experienced implementing a new HR system, you know all too well how complex and difficult it can be – from the communications and training that must occur to the culture shift that can happen as a result.

Understanding how a new system will fit into your existing systems is critical to the overall success of the implementation and must be thoroughly explored during the vetting process, as well as well-planned throughout the change management process.

Implementation

Finding the right HRIS for your organization is crucial, but once you have made the selection, you can breathe a sigh of relief and let the implementation planning party commence!

During implementation, you will want to carefully select your superusers. Superusers will be your HR folks with system administrator access. These superusers will be the individuals working closest with the vendor’s trainers.

Typically, once you begin your monthly or annual plan with your new HRIS, you will have time with the vendor to ensure everything syncs with your existing setup and to help with training and troubleshooting. This time is critical to the overall success of go-live as this is, by all intents and purposes, designed to be the time you work out the kinks.

It is also the time your internal team of superusers and change leaders need to learn as much as possible in preparation for organization-wide training—especially if your new HRIS includes daily processes. As you go about this implementation process, be sure to start building out knowledge articles and FAQs to help with the broader rollout.

It never hurts to equip leaders and employees with training videos and even open helpdesk hours in the initial few weeks to provide real-time support as end-users get used to the new system.

Researching and shopping the HRIS market can be a very fun and exciting time for your HR team as they imagine all the possibilities. Possibilities like more efficient processes, automation of repetitive and manual tasks, and functionality that enables scaling programs and initiatives like never before (yes, HR likes to nerd out too!).

Whatever it may be that you hope to gain from your new HRIS, be sure to take the proper steps to guarantee it meets and exceeds your expectations. As Murphy’s Law suggests, “What can go wrong, will go wrong”, therefore, be as prepared as you possibly can and leverage any opportunities to learn, educate, and support.

Most importantly, make sure to celebrate once you have identified an HRIS and fully implemented it. It will be a long and tiresome journey (keep the coffee coming!) but it is well worth the trip!