Case studies at the Center
Continuing series...
Subject:
Streamlining Human Resources By Implementing Manager Self-Service
The right way to design an efficient corporate Intranet
July 19th, 2001
In a medium or fairly large company, the human resources (HR) function costs an average of US $1,500 annually per employee, according to a recent study by the Hackett Group in Cleveland, OH. Yet Greg Hackett, the author of the study, says that many highly qualified and paid professionals spend much of their time on low-value added functions such as preparing organization charts and calculating headcounts. Today, the unprecedented shortage of skilled and especially technical staff has placed new demands on the human resources department to serve as strategic attributes in meeting the personnel needs of the organization. This trend has made it essential for HR staff to streamline administrative functions as quickly as possible so that they can better concentrate on strategic department goals such as recruitment, developing employee skills and providing growth opportunities.
Software developers and consultants have filled the gap with a wide range of packaged and custom employee self-service applications that offers these individuals the opportunity to enter demographic changes, enroll in benefits plans, submit retirement and apply for job postings. These applications have already demonstrated the ability to reduce administrative burdens on human resources staff while improving data flow within the organization. But to date, relatively few companies have gone one step further by addressing the considerable administrative burden that lies in supporting managers such as initiating new hires, administering promotions and salary increases, producing organization charts and management reports, approving vacation requests, etc.
The reason for the disparity is that manager self-service applications are typically far more complicated from a workflow standpoint and, for that reason, much harder to design, code and implement. Let’s compare the complexities involved in salary planning to the much simpler benefits enrollment process. For example, an application that provides self-service salary planning would have to give the manager access to historical information about each employee, such as previous performance ratings, salary history and other relevant information. Then it would need to provide tools for organizing the review process while ensuring that it complied with corporate standards and government regulations. Once the review process is completed, the application would need to automatically feed salary changes to the HR information and payroll systems.
Organization charting and headcount applications are another important managerial function that can be complicated to implement over the Web. Such applications should allow managers to easily understand and, if they are authorized, make transfers and changes to the reporting hierarchy. In addition, organization-wide reporting charts and headcount reports should be automatically rolled up based on current data. Recruiting applications must allow managers to collaborate in real time via the Internet with recruiters, enabling the process to rapidly move forward without the need for much of the routine personal communications required by traditional methods. Even the reporting and analysis capabilities of manager self-service applications can be challenging, because they must give managers access to information on employees, payroll expenses, vacation time, and other sensitive information while meeting essential security concerns.
The GCIS way...
At the Center, in developing and implementing a manager self-service application for our clients,
we start small and build from your successes. Once initial applications prove their value, momentum
will be spontaneously generated for new applications. That momemtum usually comes from within our
customer's premises and has a tendency to feed upon itself. The eventual result in many cases will
be a manager portal that streamlines all critical areas of the management process. For example,
when one of our largest customer, Domtar,
made the decision to overhaul its human resources system, it started with 4 of our strategic self-service
applications, one that is aimed at managers, allowing them to oversee the recruiting cycle and
research salary information. The success of our patented and highly
flexible Integratex Manager™ application helped all managers
at Domtar to recognize the immense benefits
they could achieve by having instantaneous access to information without having to rely on personal
contact with the HR department.
It almost goes without saying that it's very risky to rely upon your own perception of your customers' needs. At the Center, we employ techniques that are far more effective in letting managers who are the actual users of the system determine which specific administrative self-service applications should be given the highest priority and evaluate the approach we are considering on a prototype basis so they can express their opinion as to whether it meets their needs. Focus groups and usability studies provide an excellent method to determine without a major investment whether or not your Intranet is easy to navigate, delivers the correct image, contains the features and content that your managers are looking for, etc.
Finally, we make a careful determination of whether it makes sense to go with packaged applications largely as is, modify a packaged application to suit our client's exact requirements or build from scratch. Most companies will want to obtain the assistance of a partnering organization with extensive experience in developing manager self-service applications. This type of organization cannot only assist with technology development but, if desired, can even maintain your infrastructure and deliver your applications as a hosted service. This approach has the advantage of allowing you to focus on your core business operations and outsource the technology issues to IT specialists like GCIS. Whichever approach is taken, we develop a strategy that relies on the needs and perspective of our users and aligns with their overall strategy. In such a scenario, their chances of success will be high.
Intranet development at the Center
An excellent example of a manager self-service application is provided by a global compensation
and benefits Intranet we developed for a major telecommunications equipment supplier. Our
Intranex™ portal solution provides complete information on all company
compensation and benefits by region, company and business unit on a 24 X 7, 365 basis for the purpose
of assisting managers with salary planning and facilitating integration of mergers and acquisitions.
It follows a three-tiered business unit structure based on organization charts, reporting lines and
HR information system data. Our Intranex™ solution structure is highly
flexible, scalable and dynamic. It will easily accommodate future growth and restructuring. All our
Intranet solutions allow Human Resources professionals to focus on high value added activities since it reduces the time
spent answering routine, repetitive questions. It demonstrates that, while manager self-service
applications present a difficult challenge, the rewards make them well worth the effort.
(Click here to read the definition of what exactly is an Intranet and how does it differ from an Extranet).
The General Center for Internet Services can carefully design and build flexible and powerful Intranet portal applications and tools that will answer your most exacting and critical corporate needs in any industry. Upon contact, your GCIS technical representative will be more than happy to visit you and propose the best Intranex™ portal and Intranet solutions for your company or organization.
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