Most of the Human Resources (HR) management systems that organizations use do not have the ability to fully and unanimously organize and accumulate data related to the activities of employees, and they are not fully adapted for the future in general. Even in large, well-known organizations, I’ve seen how tasks involving different areas of accumulation of organization’s data, such as HR administration, payroll, tasks related to employee qualifications, training, performance evaluations, recruiting and selection, or salary budgeting and monitoring, are often administered in different systems, with the data stored in different formats of files and in different locations, like somewhere on the organization’s servers or just on a certain employee’s computer. How can practices like this be avoided? First, let’s discuss what problems emerge.
What problems are encountered?
Using different systems, saving data in different file formats, and storing them in different places causes additional problems in duplicating individual records and data entry through different systems, and checking their correspondence and compatibility in order to capture and use them in a structured manner. Often, the availability of such data depends on the “master” who administers the data, without whose help another employee simply cannot extract and/or understand them independently.
It goes without saying that situations like this can cause a lot of trouble when the manager (or someone else from HR) urgently needs to access the data and sometimes also “decode” the file names that someone saved them with, and once they do find the data, they also have to navigate a system that is only understandable to the “master” of the data. And if this “master” leaves the organization, it might become impossible to find the necessary data at all, leaving you with having to recreate them or simply admit that they have been lost.
Having different systems requires separate support for each of them in the sense of licenses, smooth operation of the system, and their development and integration with other systems. This undoubtedly leads to spending more time and money than you want to, as well as a high probability of errors, which may, for example, result in inaccurate data analysis and thus – an erroneous action plan. So, how can this situation be solved?
Data structuring and a single system
In my 13 years working in HR departments at several large organizations, I’ve had the opportunity to see the challenges faced by my fellow HR professionals, economists and others, trying to find solutions for how to organize the accumulation of HR-related data in databases and transfer them to other branches of the organization (management, department heads, accounting and other responsible departments) in a wise and structured manner. Experience has shown that it’s best to have as much data as possible in one system and to structure it based on good HR management practices. This helps to avoid chaos and data loss at the organization, and makes it possible to save time, avoid errors, and be able to form action plans and forecasts based on reliable data.
After joining Columbus, I had the opportunity to use the experience and knowledge I had gained in the field of HR and, together with my colleagues, develop the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central HR|Payroll module for our clients so that each area of HR management, based on good HR management practices, is integrated into a single system in a structured manner.
The HR management areas that are already integrated into the D365 BC HR|Payroll module are:
- Recruitment, working conditions management, resignation,
- Organizational structure, position management,
- Compensation policy,
- Employee training and qualification,
- Employee performance evaluation.
What do you think, what important areas of HR management have we missed? How are you currently managing the data mentioned above? What challenges do you face?
