System Life Cycle of Human Resource Information System

Detail the current situation for the company, focusing on the issues that the organization is currently facing from using a legacy HRIS.

The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is typically measured as the commonly used approaches of software development and acquisition in the technology (IT) domain.  Also, the Life-Cycle stages are going through an iteration of various names and number of steps, but the SDLC is robust in its tried-and-true deployment in government, industry, and business.  The SDLC used to be called one of the two dominant systems development methodologies today, the reason why studying the SDLC remains essential to all students.

The present case is related to the selection of a software package by Larson Property Management Company for use in the HR department of its organization.  The company (Larson Property Management Company) is located in California, with more than 1,000 employees.  The company is providing a full array of commercial management and development services and has experienced significant expansion that has resulted in the need to hire a large number of employees on an ongoing basis to staff its operations.

Larson Property Management Company has depended on a legacy HRIS to manage its applicant and employee databases, but the current system runs on a client-server computer system that was implemented approximately ten years ago.  Also, the current system’s functionality is limited to the storage and retrieval of employee and applicant data, the reason why these applicants’ files were sometimes misplaced, causing a problem when managers or end-users were trying to locate particular personal information.  At the same time, Larson’s current HRIS has reached its file storage capacity, which was too limited for applicant and employee records.

To provide the organization with a paperless hiring process, the Larson Property Management Company has decided to substitute its legacy HRIS with a sophisticated applicant tracking system (ATS).   For this plan to work the goal would be to use the three of the primary activities in the HRIS implementation: Configuring the ATS for the company’s hiring processes and policies.  Interfacing data with other systems and converting historical data into the new ATS and preparing all the associations to receive the new HRIS (ATS).

Based on the issues the organization is currently facing, identify the new system and needs.

The system that the Larson Company have now is a weak link, in the Larson Company’s chain of construction needs innovation, a reconstitution, and even a total transformation.  The implementation and development of the new system (ATS) need people who comprehend both the HR procedure and the HRIS.  So, there is a typical need for IT support and HR executives and analysts.  Due to the large amount of work to do, the HRIS project team must be constituted by IT and HR analysts who are fully dedicated to the implementation of the project.

The project manager, who should be an HR manager, will play a leading role in the project and will be accountable for its successful completion.  He/she will guarantee that the project is proceeding within a specified time frame and under an established budget.

Mostly the ITs that are team members will actively work on additional phases of the development, and they can be internal staff or external advisors, working round-the-clock or part-time on the development.

The development promoter (Larson Property Management Company) represented by a senior manager, will work carefully with the development manager by legitimizing the project’s objectives and plans.  They can help to resolve any issues that arise and delete any obstacles that occur through the project.

The executive promoter, which will be the senior HR manager, will be the decisive decision-maker, with final approval accountability on all points of the project.

The HRIS analyst, who is the senior IT manager, will outline needs and will recommend a solution to make the project better.  He/she will ensure that the project’s objectives solve existing difficulties or improve performance, and add worth to the organization even by exploiting the value of the project deliverables.

Determine how additional data will be collected regarding system needs.

Several companies have to look to their employees to collect vital data collection that is needed to be used in the field.

This situation lets managers increase the visibility of the remote operation.  Now the stakeholder leadership within the Larson Company must cautiously review the existing data gathering process and should progress upon a data collection plan for the good of the new HRIS.

The plan will consist of the Larson Property Management Company to use the interview process to collect additional data from employees.  The use of interview for managing data at the Larson Company will benefit from accomplishing highly personalized data, as well as to get underlying factors from users.  The change management team will proceed with the In-depth interview, known as an unstructured interview by which the team elicits information to achieve a holistic understanding of the interviewee’s point of view or situation.  The interview process will also help Larson’s change management team so they can explore exciting areas for investigation.  It is acknowledged that the unstructured interview includes asking informants opens-ended questions and searching wherever required to acquire data deemed useful, the motive as to why the change management team should use the interview process to achieve the project goal quickly.

One of the critical elements of the interview to be conducted by Larson’s change management team will be verbal interaction.  Hiscock (1989:79) said to stress that “central to the interview is the issue of asking questions and is often achieved in qualitative research through conversational encounters.”  This means it is crucial for the change management team to familiarize themselves with questioning techniques such as ask a clear question, ask a single question, ask truly open-ended questions, ask experience/behavior questions before opinion/feeling questions, and sequence the questions before conducting interviews.

Here are some questions that will be asked of end-users via interview:

Do you or does anyone in your household work in any of Larson Company?

Have you ever partaken in a group discussion, survey, or been asked to test any product for market purposes?

Have you purchased and consumed any wine during the past three days?

Are you currently under any medical treatment?

Have you ever have a problem with any of your supervisor or college?

How often have you experienced problems at work?

How do you manage you solve the problem?

Explain two to three reasons why the company would benefit from adopting an HRIS.

A Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is considering a valuable platform that brings benefit for businesses and Human Resource Management.  As a benefit for the organization, the HRIS enables owners, employees, managers, and HR workers to conduct vital HR activities electronically, saving time and resources to improve overall productivity. With HRIS, all employees’ information is in one central place, so there will be no more digging through files and folders.  Also, HRIS reduces human error, so there will not be any unintentional miscalculations and data errors from manual entry.

HRIS can then provide:

• Management of all employee information (data), including payroll report, Paid Time Off request and balances, W2’s, pay statements.
• In-depth broadcasting and breakdown of employee information.
• Resource library for pamphlets such as employee handbooks and safety guides.
• Benefits administration, including enrollment, status changes, and updating personal information.

References

• Frantzreb, R.B. The personnel Software census. Roseville, CA: Advanced Personnel systems, 1993.
• Hithcock, G.& D. Hughes (1989) Research and the Teacher: A Qualitative Introduction to School-based research. London: Routledge.
• Lawler, John J. Computer-Mediated Information processing and decision making in Human Resource Management, vol 10, edited by G.R. Ferris: JAI Press, 1992, 301-45.
• Michael J. Kavanagh, Richard D. Johnson 4e edition, Human Resource Information Systems.

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