The journey of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) can be traced back to the 1950s and 1960s when the first automated payroll system was introduced (Martinsons, 1997). Back then, with the increasing importance of Information Technology (IT) applications in Human Resource (HR), the functioning of HR department has been undergoing a radical change in strategic HR decision making. During the 1990s, extensive studies were undertaken on the advantages of introducing HRIS in an organisation and its influence on the overall human resource strategies and business planning. Now, it is confined to not only the administrative milieu but changed to an academic content so that future human resources can get a strong base of early learning.
So, the concept 'HRIS' is a systematic, customised and integrated software solution designed for storing data and information about the human resources of an organisation regarding the performance of the people, processes and key organisational strategies by automating key HR processes like employee profile, absence report, salary administration, recruitment, training, manpower planning, performance appraisal and job analysis & design.
The application of HRIS is widespread but in comparison the scope of learning is limited. So, it is the high time to introduce the HRIS course in academic learning. Some institutions are running this course for Human Resource Management (HRM) major graduates only. Thus, the students can get the professional level of application of HRM processes through the wide implication of HRIS at academic field and can also ensure the following competencies of the future HR leaders:
- Automated HR practices, which implies the ability to design and implement the strategic staffing, employee development, compensation and collective learning.
- Adaptability of change management to face the real challenges.
- Fostering a climate of learning a vibrant value-based corporate culture.
- Providing a strong and complete background of HR information by observing legal compliance.
Hence, it is one of the benchmark HR practices in the today's corporate world. Beyond the cost controlling concept of traditional HRIS, now it is working on widespread and stratified information of HR along with the effective decision making motive. There is a practical example of HRIS implementation: Christy Gigandet, senior HR partner at Sarnova Inc., a medical products company in Columbus, Ohio says that when Sarnova got doubled in size with nearly 500 employees through mergers they also had no HRIS. After implementing an HRIS tool from ADP called 'Workforce' to replace its paper-based system, they could be able to track the individual employee not only by the pay class but also by regions, titles and categories.
In Bangladesh, the importance of HRIS is being felt by the HR professionals and entrepreneurs. There is a large Bangladeshi local organisation that took up HRIS software recently. The organisation was a group of 13 SBUs (Strategic Business Units) where 4000 employees were employed from almost 50 locations across Bangladesh. So it was a challenge for the group to accommodate such diversity in work. Later, to make processes faster, it was a business as well as a strategic decision for the company to match all the HR processes in the software. In this regard, a team from both HR and IT decided to go for customized software considering cost, positive track record and goodwill in the market. Despite many challenges, the software was launched within six months of issuing the work order. Following some required modification the company is satisfied with the software considering the benefits they are getting from it.
In a nutshell, HRIS offers distinctive advantages to the organisations by automating various functions of HRM.
HRIS AS ENORMOUS INFORMATION BANK: Now-a-days, several companies have started integrating HRIS system to other HR systems such as payroll, leave, travel and expense, time and attendance, career planning, and skills inventory to store, retrieve, update, classify, and analyse data easily. The integrated system makes easy access to the information about all HR processes. Faster information processing with improved access to metrics helps take more accurate and faster decision making and better HR planning.
HRIS AS COST CONTROLLING MECHANISM: Additionally, by using HR applications, a company can calculate the overall costs incurred per employee and its effects on the business as a whole (DeSanctis, 1986) where HR services became a self-contained service rather than paper based transaction that resulted in building a more efficient HR department. Some information systems allow automation of processes, such as payroll tax calculations, while others streamline processes by minimizing the need for manual data entry and paper records, thus increasing accuracy and efficiency.
HRIS AS A STRATEGIC PARTNER: With passage of time, there is a significant impact of HRIS on strategic human resource planning. Human resource information systems are electronic systems that compile information in databases to be easily accessed and analysed. However, along with this huge information source, HRIS is working as a pivotal strategic tool though it shares crucial data with the management-related HR practices for strategic decision making and aligned with the overall corporate strategy for realising the organisational objectives of growth.
HRIS AS AN EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING TOOL: Initially, HRIS systems were used only as an information resource that allowed data input and storage capabilities. But in the past decade, the focus of HRIS has shifted from an information system (Office Automation System) to a fully operative decision-analysis tool (Transaction Processing System, Decision Support System, and Communication System). Hence, the new forms of HRIS such as Employee Self Services (ESS) and Manager Services have provided the ability to employees and their managers to complete the HR-related transactions without the intervention of HR. This has significantly reduced the administrative burden from the HR. Thus, it helps effective decision making through availability of information on wide range human resource analysis, quick reporting, forecasting and planning.
Moreover, HRIS is one of the modern HR tools that has become popular since the beginning of this century. In Bangladesh, corporate organisations have been implementing HRIS for the last five years. But its implementation is still limited to the big corporate houses. Small corporate houses and public organisations have failed to realise the benefits of HRIS and taken very few initiatives to implement the system. The major barrier to the success of HRIS is the lack of management commitment and efficient human resources. It is the demand of time to spread the knowledge and practice of the HRIS concept in the gigantic milieu of the competitive business world.
The writer is a Faculty, School of Business Studies, Southeast University.
