System Development Life Cycle: Phase III

Larry Ratliff

Strayer University

HRM 520

Dr. Love

February 9, 2020

System Development Life Cycle: Phase III – Design

Larson is among the highly-rated property management firms. The company has a large workforce estimated to be above 1000 employees. Therefore, human resource management is essential to ensure the company operations run smoothly. The company's efforts to improve the effectiveness of HR operations by implementing modern HR Information Systems were partly beneficial and partly detrimental. Not only was the HR department affected but also the employees raised numerous complaints about the implemented systems. These issues can easily be resolved by ensuring that the HRIS systems are updated to offer maximum utility. Larson needs an updated version of the HRIS systems that are currently in use at the company. Management of crucial HR applications and employee databases depends on the effectiveness of the implemented HRIS systems at the company, (Turulja & Bajgoric, 2017).

HRIS Perspectives; Data vs Process

A data perspective or process perspective can be adopted when assessing the usability and effectiveness of an HRIS system. A data perspective focuses on the type of information and record about individual employees that are stored in the database. This perspective also analyzes how and when a company uses the employee database. A good HRIS system facilitates the storage and management of information about a company's workforce, (Marler & Parry, 2016). Some of the details captured in an HRIS system include official names as captured in government registries, work permit certifications, personal addresses, national IDs and social security numbers as well as details of an employee's dependents. As such, an HRIS can be considered as a simplified form of employee database in a company. More utility can be gained from an HRIS system if it is configured to initiate a process that involves reporting of crucial information stored in the database. On the other hand, a process perspective focuses on the specific activities that a company engages in. This perspective also analyzes the flow of information through HRIS systems within a company. Generally, a process perspective attempts to describe a company’s operations based on the processes initiated in the HRIS systems.

Merging these two perspectives would be the best approach for Larson's HR department. This kind of approach will promote the effective management of change processes to enhance the effectiveness of the HR department. However, the company will need a change management team to assess the overall costs associated with controlling ROI on human-capital investments. By so doing, it will be possible for Larson to identify benefits as well as the disadvantages of implementing the HRIS systems through its change team. Embracing both the data and process perspectives of looking at the HRIS systems will enable Larson’s HR department to improve its effectiveness and competitiveness. It will also be possible for the change team to shift its focus from daily processes to better organizational goals and objectives, (Kavanagh & Johnson, 2017).

Logical Process Modelling

The activities and processes undertaken by an organization are often designed to promote the realization of overall organizational goals and objectives. As such, the processes and activities are inclusive of the relevant data sets needed to accomplish a specified task, and individual or teamwork activities. Some of the key business activities include conducting a review of the data and decisions made for each business process. Execution of data-related tasks is another business process in the HR systems. These activities can be viewed in terms of manual or automated, knowledge-based or documented, simple or complex, and flexible or rigid. All the business activities are interlinked and could be initiated either in parallel or sequential order.

A good starting point is to determine the most appropriate data flow diagram that fits the company’s operations. This involves analyzing the current HRIS systems in the company to identify how they work. In most cases, many change teams focus on the proposed logical process model and omit the analysis procedures. Unnecessary procedures in the data flow process should be eliminated or replaced with new procedures that improve data flow in the HR systems. This kind of approach, if adopted, ensures that relevant features in the already existing HR systems are retained in the new HRIS systems. Implementation of new HRIS systems does not necessarily mean that the old systems should be eliminated, (Johnson, et.al., 2017). Furthermore, this approach promotes a smooth transition from old to new systems through a gradual process.

Selecting the Appropriate HRIS Vendor

Choosing the appropriate vendor requires an analysis of what the company needs for its HR department, (Al-Dmour, et.al., 2017). The software that effectively offers services that are consistent with company goals and objectives and falls within the budget should be considered. Some of the best HRIS vendors in the market include SAGE business cloud people, Kronos, and APS payroll. All these vendors offer quality software; however, selection must be based on specific company needs. In this case, Kronos would be the most suitable vender for the HRIS systems. The software allows automation of all processes and activities including task scheduling, productivity evaluations and also constantly records the time taken by each employee to complete a task. This software is very flexible and can easily be customized to suit the changing needs of any organization. The cost associated with acquiring this software is moderate especially if matched with the level of utility gained from the software. Therefore, Kronos software stands out as the best option to resolve Larson's HRIS issues.

HRIS Vendors