My, how time flies. In the beginning I said that I was hoping to learn about other HR software and I can safely say I learned about a lot of various HR software throughout this class. My initial success metrics were to see if I could solve three problems with the tools or ideas that I learned about in this class. If I measured that from the beginning until now, I would have to say I did not achieve my goal. But that does not necessarily mean that I won’t achieve it sometime in the near future. When it comes to the tools we saw this semester, one software that I might use in the future at my job is Workday (if everything goes well) but other than that, I probably won’t be implementing anything that I’ve seen this semester. What I WILL be using are all the ideas and techniques we’ve discussed. I’ve found that the software analysis piece is quite useful and have used it a couple of times at work already. I’ve been evaluating background check software and knowing what questions to ask and what to look for have really helped. I think that before the year 2012 is done, I’ll be able to review my success metrics again and say that I’ve done it. Thanks for an awesome class!

This week we had a presentation from Workday. I don’t really touch our HRIS system in my day to day so I can’t do a really in depth comparison to Peoplesoft but from what I’ve seen, I really like Workday more than Peoplesoft. There are a lot of pro’s to work day including; being all encompassed so they don’t sell it module by module, clean UI, simple to use. One big advantage in my eyes is the idea of consolidation of information and getting the system of record into Workday because getting the SOR in there would simplify things. The BIGGEST reason I like it is because of the control that the HR Admin would have, it seems like if I were the admin and I needed to alter something, I would be able to do it easily. 

We also had a demo from SuccessFactors. Interesting presentation, the first part was the video showcasing their mobile app. It really reminded me of a combination of a bunch of social networking tools. IMHO, tools like that are dependent on the users. If people don’t use it, it’ll be useless. It’s like Google+ if there’s no one there, you’re just talking to yourself. I don’t see our company using something like this. With all the social tools out there, this would just be another thing to keep track of so I don’t foresee people jumping on board for this. Also, it looks a little bit cumbersome compared to Workday. 

Nothing this week that I can apply professionally or personally besides the fact that I’m excited to see where my company is with Workday. Otherwise, I’m looking forward to our last class next week!

Successful implementation is the meat of what we’ve been talking about this whole semester. There were many many points that we went over regarding successful implementation, but my main three keys were:

● Be clear on why you are doing the project, focus on the customer and your business case!

● KISS (Keep it Simple Silly)

● Culture of Change

I chose these three because being clear and focussing is one of the biggest things, it ties into communication and that is key in anything you do. Keeping things simple is a no brainer, I’m a big fan of efficiency and conciseness and keeping things simple is the core of both of those things. Lastly, culture of change. I think this can make or break an implementation. You could do everything right but if you don’t have buy in from the people in your company or their just not on board, your odds of being successful will vastly decrease. 

You are an HR generalist, and your VP of HR has asked you to implement Successfactors for performance reviews.  She was at a conference where she saw the product and was very impressed.

How do you approach this request?

I thought that this was an interesting case study to try because it seems like this situation would come up a lot as a Project Manager. First I would ask the VP (in a nice and tactful way) if there was a problem with our current solution. This way we could determine what the problem was. If Successfactors was a solution, my next step would be to do get in touch with them and conduct the Please Don’t Get Sick On The Rug technique to analyze the software and then go from there. If they are a good solution, then we could start implementing, if they are not a good solution, then we could look at the problem and find another solution.

This week we learned about Taleo Enterprise OnBoarding. I like the offer acceptance feature and how it is highly configurable. Also like the fact that tax forms are in there. But the catch is the fact that there has to be a whole rebuild if you want to change things. This could possibly be implemented at my company. It would be convenient to have the tax forms and other forms pre-filled prior to a new hires first day. If we did decide to implement this, I think we would streamline the process so the new hire would have the least amount of work to do. All in all, it’s a good tool and a larger sized company would greatly benefit from it. 

We also finished up our software analysis discussion a couple of main ideas I took away were asking the question “What’s your system of record?” , be careful with implementation, look out for best of breed approach vs niche approach. Will definitely be able to use all of this info since I’m looking at some different vendors for background check services. In fact, I just got off the phone with a vendor and asked a few questions with our slides in front of me haha.

This week we got a demo of Sonar 6. Super cool, never heard of them before, so I was quite excited. Sonar 6 is a performance review software which solves the problem of that the performance reviews aren’t getting done in companies.

In terms of the actual product, I like the idea of engagement and the fact that the employee has their own portal to track their own performance. It looks clean and a really good benefit they offer is that they offer resources and content for feedback which is really good because it’s not just “canned” material and I can see managers utilizing it. 

Besides seeing how Sonar 6 worked, I really liked the ideas that they were talking about, specifically how they compared the managing styles with the type of TV shows the generations watched and how the future is moving towards something more social and more continuous. Good presentation overall, but i wish they demo’d a little longer and got into the nitty gritty of configuration and processes.  It would be pretty cool to implement this software at my company, but I don’t really have experience with performance review software so I can’t compare it with anything. 

Last thing we did was sign into Google+. I’ve been using it for a while now and it seemed like everyone got on pretty quickly. It will be interesting to see what other people think about it compared to Twitter. 

I decided to analyze Talentwise. I know it’s something we haven’t talked about in class, so just a bit of background. We may be looking into some employment screening services and I was interested in seeing what was out there. We are in the very early stages of implementing a background check process, so I have not received all the details on my end so I went out to just test the waters to see what I could find in regards to what was out there. I found two popular ones which were HireRight and Talentwise. I’ve worked with HireRight before so I chose to blog about Talentwise because they are new to me. 

They started back in 2003 and specialize in background checks, verification services and drug screening. I was able to get a demo of it and I thought it looked pretty good. I was also able to speak to a rep and they had a lot of good qualities (pluses and deltas listed below)

Right now, my pluses outweigh my deltas but that could change once I get more information on our needs as well as finding out more about HireRight. 

● PROBLEM being solved - Need a Background Check service

● Delivery Model - Saas

● Technology - Browser based

● Security - Very secure. Encrypted. 

● Support Model - Dedicated support

● Integration - Integrates with Taleo

● Implementation - Need to implement Taleo integration

● Client Software - Run on IE/Firefox/Safari

● Cost - Depends on which services. Pay per use. And implementation cost

● Customer - Recruiting/HR dept 

● Company - Existed since 2003, recommended by Taleo

● Configuration/Customization - Not too configurable

● Reports - Comes with a reports module

● Upgrades - Software updates

● Usability - Easy to use

● Global - Global, can be used for background checks from different country

● Governance - Governed by state and federal laws

● Guarantee - Unknown

This week we talked about Taleo, Hirevue and Slideroom. And we continued talking about software analysis.

First we talked about security, this would be the number one concern for most companies especially when employee data is concerned. If you’re at a company that has people that are not comfortable with having data in the cloud, it would be very important to find a way to get buy in from sr management (if you’re looking at cloud computing as a solution). We also talked about how Saas is different from on premise software. They both have their pros and cons and we discussed those last week. The bottom line is that either one would work depending on what problem you’re trying to solve.

We also talked about SLA’s and speaking from experience, it is VERY important. If there’s a problem with your software, this is pretty much your support. With Taleo, we started with general support, which was great but it did not feel like we were getting the level of support that we needed, so we had to upgrade to dedicated support. This shows that you really need to think ahead when researching vendors because if you don’t have a flexible budget. Last thing we talked about is integration. This could be a good or bad thing. On one hand, it would be beneficial because it streamlines the process, on the other hand, it has the potential to get chaotic because there would be “too many cooks in the kitchen” resulting in duplicate data or losing sight of the scope of your problem/process. Integration would be a good thing to think about in the downstream portion of a problem charter.

Definitely would apply all of what we talked about to my strategy if I ever were doing research for a potential software vendor. Looking forward to more software analysis next week.

Later!

Case Study: You are the HR Technologist for an organization with 1200 employees.  You receive a call from an employee that claims that their department data is incorrect in the employee directory.  You check the HRIS system, and it appears to be correct.  What can be going on?  How do you approach this problem?

I like this case study because I have experience in troubleshooting problems like this. There could be a couple of things going on. It could be the software or even hardware issues. To approach this, I would do the following and would stop if I found the problem.

• First, I would check the software, make sure that the software isn’t using a “nightly upload” system. If it is, the employee might have updated the info, but it hasn’t updated yet. It could also be something else in the software, but without more information, I can’t be sure.

• Second, I would check the process. There could have been a disconnect in whatever the data entry process is. By double checking all the steps, you would be able to see if something was amiss. If that’s where the problem was, you would be able to restart the process and correct the data discrepancy the employee claims to have.

• Lastly, I would check the hardware on our end first (meaning making sure the server is up and running) and then the hardware on the employee’s side. Their computer may not be connected to the internet. In that case, we would fix the hardware and then have them resend the data.

That would be my basic approach. If I had more information, such as what the specs were for both the hardware and software, I could come up with a deeper approach.

Today we learned about Zoho recruit. I like it because it’s easily configurable, it automatically posts to other job boards (Indeed, SimplyHired) and it looks easy to use.
This technology would be REALLY good for a small non profit or a startup. It definitely gets the work done but is not that robust. Don’t like the fact that there is no offer letter feature. Depending on the size of the company, ADP and Zoho have their pros and cons. If it was a mid range sized company, the ADP software is a little bit better than Zoho recruit just because after a certain amount of applicants, it looks like Zoho wouldn’t be too organized because of the amount data. Zoho recruit is a good software but it probably wouldn’t hold any applications for me in my personal or professional life.

In our lecture section we learned about the Critical Path, which is “The sequence of activities that must be completed on schedule for the entire project to be completed on schedule.” While we were talking about the Critical Path it totally reminded me of grad school and my project management class. I had flashbacks of using Microsoft Project.
We also talked about DICE, and learned that the most important piece of DICE is Integrity and Sr Mgt Support.

Will I be applying these two concepts into my professional or personal life? Yes, I take pride in my efficiency skills and applying project management into it will really help me. I will also definitely be using what I learned about DICE in my near future since I remembered that it was one of the questions on the test. Ha!

Still looking forward to seeing all the other HR SaaS’s out there. See you next week!

Learned about the way opentable uses ADP as their ATS/HRIS system. Seeing how it works from a candidate and managers perspective, I like it because it’s clean and it looks like it’s quite easy to navigate. Also, I like how it integrated data from start to finish (ATS into HRIS). It’s more efficient than having two separate programs which potentially can cause a disconnect. Also, I like the way they use a google site for their new hire documents, it’s exactly the same way we do it at my company. Even though ADP had a lot of good qualities there are definitely spots where it would be hard to sort or manage data and I also am not a fan of no offer letter capability. 

Probably wouldn’t implement any of the specific solutions from what I learned today mostly because of the lack of customization BUT I really do like the fact that the ATS and HRIS is integrated which I definitely think would be very advantageous at my company. 

We also learned about the method of Project Management (6 D’s). This was very helpful to me and I can implement this to small and large projects that I work on in both my professional and my personal life. I’ve helped in many projects in the past at either school or work and I’ve followed this method in one way or another but I never really wrote down my plan. Seeing this is very helpful in writing down your thoughts. 

PLEASE DONT GET SICK ON THE RUG! software analysis. This was super helpful to learn about. My HR Strategy is to keep a focus on technology and this is something that I can definitely take with me to conferences, networking events, or wherever to ferret out what a vendor/software can do.  

Charter - Paperless Offer Approval Process

Problem Statement

The recruiting team currently uses a manual offer approval process in which an offer letter is physically printed out and wet signatures are collected from each approver. This process is inefficient and has room for improvement.  

The recruiting team would like to look into and possibly implement an electronic approval system which would streamline the process. The new process would allow hiring managers and recruiters approve offers digitally through e-mail and would allow the recruiting coordinator to monitor outstanding and completed approvals. 

Customers

1. Hiring Managers
2. Recruiters 
3. Recruiting Coordinators

Business Case

By moving to an electronic offer letter approval process, it will save time and money. It will also be more convenient for all customers involved. 

In Scope

1. Solution to replace current process 
2. Taleo 

Out of Scope

TBD

Success Metrics

1. Faster and more efficient offer letter process
2. Ease of use and efficiency for the recruiting team and hiring manager

Risks 

Deliverables

1. Communication Plan
2. Workflow 
3. Evaluation of electronic approval process 
4. Implementation of new process

Resources

1. Technical
2. Sponsors
3. Recruiting Team
4. Hiring Managers

Solution Options

1. Use Taleo’s offer feature
2. Get a new software (Docusign)
3. Do Nothing

About Your Company

1. Size, Industry, Year Founded
2. Culture Overview
3. Tech/IT Culture
4. OS/Browser/Mobile

HRST week 2! Today we learned a little about Peoplesoft watched the “Did You Know” video and discussed the future of work. My current company uses Peoplesoft and we utilize it so that employees and managers can do self serve on some things. When I think back to my past companies, I wish we had something similar in place. I remember how much time and effort it would take to do the simplest thing. When you think about it, this is one example of how software is able to clean up processes and make things more efficient in HR.

I’ve seen previous “did you know videos” and the data is always surprising, but the theme is always the same. Things are changing and if you don’t keep up, you’ll be left in the dust. I noticed this particular one focused a lot on mobile tech which is the direction I think everything is going in. I went to a conference a few months ago that really focused on mobile apps which is awesome. They made an app specifically for the conference which was great, but it was really buggy and frankly it didn’t really add value to my experience. Hopefully they’ll fix it and in the near future it will actually be usable.

Next class, I hope to learn about any new software or technology that I can use in my strategy for the future of work. One thing that I want to apply professionally is what my strategy would be given what we know about the future of work (refer to blog 4). I really want to apply my strategy and measure how well I’m doing with it in the coming year. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to focus on tech in HR and I’m already thinking of what more I can do.

Watching the “did you know” video made me think about the future of technology in general which will eventually trickle down to the future of our work and essentially HR. The future is an abundance of mobile devices, instantaneous information and smaller/faster technology. HR traditionally has an abundance of paper records and moving to digital records will result in a saving of time and money. 

My HR strategy would be focusing on HR technology. With everyone moving to a new mindset of such fast and easy information it would make sense to have HR tech available on mobile devices. Taleo for example can be used on an iPad. I actually had an experience where I was able to do recruiting work on an iPad which was very convenient. As time goes on, I think there will be more and more mobile apps developed specifically for HR and guess what? I’ll be there to utilize and implement it!

One topic that particularly sparked my interest that came up tonight was using Twitter to recruit. From a recruiters point of view, recruiting through Twitter is a double-edged sword. Good news is you get TONS of candidates, but, are these the right candidates? If you’re recruiting for a job with a very specific skill set and your followers happen to have that skill set, you’re golden. But if you have a bunch of random followers, you’re going to get a whole bunch of candidates that you don’t necessarily want. From a job hunters point of view, Twitter can be a great tool. I know a lot of folks in this class are looking for a job, I definitely suggest following:

@JobSanFrancisco 

@ebc_jobs 

@caitjobs 

@BAJobs

They tweet about job openings every day. The only catch is that it’s very random. I can go on and on about Twitter and how the general public perceives it or how effective it can be from a business standpoint. At the end of the day Twitter is a tool and it’s up to users to utilize it to its maximum potential… or to talk about what they ate that morning.