PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING

HUMAN RESOURCE
INFORMATION SYSTEM
PREPARED BY
SITI ZUBAIDAH OTHMAN
BSMH 3093 HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION
SYSTEM
 WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE
INFORMATION SYSTEM (HRIS)?
HRIS IS
 Other definitions
Definitions of Human Resource Information System Authors

A system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve (Tannenbaum, 1990,

and distribute pertinent information regarding an organizations p.27)
human resources.
A computer-based technique of collecting, storing, maintaining (Targowski &
data and retrieving information about employees and their jobs. Deshpande, 2001, p.44)

The composite of data bases, computer applications, and (Broderick & Boudreau,
hardware and software that are used to collect, record, store, 1992, p.17)
manage, deliver, present, and manipulate data for Human
Resources (HR).
A total sum of all systems that store data, classify data and (Sadri & Chatterjee,
make it easily available to the decision maker in so far as the 2003, p.86)
human resource is concerned.
Any application of computers that an organization utilizes in (Romm, Pliskin, &
order to manage its workforce. Weber, 1995, p.63)

A functional database accessed on site or remotely, designed to (Tansley & Newell,

hold data on employees and to support HR activities such as 2007, p.350)
recruitment, selection, performance management, training and
development.
 Other terms used
Beside HRIS, terms like virtual HR(M), web-
based HR, e-HR, e-HRM, HR intranet,
computer-based human resource
management systems (CHRIS) and HR portals
are also widely used in the literature.

Even though to some people e-HR is

perceived as equivalent to HRIS, some argue
that there is a fundamental difference
between e-HR and HRIS.
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Ruel, Bondaruk & Looise (2004) claimed that
while the implementation of HRIS is basically
directed towards the HR department itself
where the users are mainly HR staff, the target
group of e-HR is people outside of the HR
department such as employees and
managers

Strohmeier (2007) believes that a term such as

HRIS is rather broad with respect to
technology application
 Different types of hris
Specific computer-based systems have been
created to support HRM at different
organizational levels with applications for
HRM
Compared to small organization, large and
global organizations have likely implemented
most, if not all, of these types of systems
Most organization would have some of these
systems in place and would depend on them
to support operations and decision making
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Operational Transaction Improved Payroll processing
processing system transaction Time and
speed and attendance entry
accuracy Online creation
Improved and dissemination
efficiency in the of application
processing of forms
daily business
transaction
Automation of
routine
transactions
Reduced
transaction costs
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Managerial Management Provides key Calculating yield
information data to rations for
system managers recruiting
Support
regular and
ongoing
decisions
Provides
defined and
ad-hoc
reporting
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Executive Executive Provides Succession
information system aggregate, high- planning
level data Aggregate data on
Helps managers balanced scorecard
with long-range
planning
Supports
strategic
direction and
decisions
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Boundary Decision support Interactive and Staffing needs
spanning system iterative assessment
managerial Labor market
decision making analysis
Supports Employee skills
forecasting and assessment
what if
analysis
Support
business
simulations
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Boundary Expert system Embed human Resume keyword
spanning knowledge into searches
information
systems
Automate
decisions with
technology
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Boundary Office automation Designing e-mail training-
spanning documents room
Scheduling scheduling
shared
resources
communication
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Organizational Types of system Major goals and HRM examples
level focus
Boundary Collaboration support communication
spanning technologies electronic support for e-
communicatio learning
n and online meeting
collaboration and shared
between documents
employees
 Why do we need an HRIS?
has been seen as an effort towards reducing
costs and improving the quality of HR
services.
HR can deliver better services, build a far
more accurate picture of their workforce and
produce more accurate information that
can enable both executives and HR to make
better decisions, especially decisions that are
related to the workforce
HR services can be delivered at a lower cost
and in a consistent, high quality and timely
manner
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makes it possible to increase transactions without
increasing resources, increase timeliness through
processing power, increase performance (e.g.,
accuracy, precision, completeness), and simplify
processes

organizations can become more collaborative,

connected and responsive to the changing needs
of the workforce, and work arrangements can be
modified so that work can be performed from many
locations at any time
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Kavanagh & Thite (2009)
Providing a comprehensive information picture
as a single, comprehensive database;
Increasing competitiveness by improving HR
operations & improving management process;
Collecting appropriate data and converting
them to information and knowledge for
improved timeliness and quality of decision
making;
Producing a greater number & variety of
accurate and real-time HR related reports;
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Streamlining & enhancing the efficiency and
effectiveness of HR administrative functions;

Shifting the focus of HR from the processing

transaction to strategic HRM;

Reengineering HR processes and functions;

Improving employee satisfaction by

delivering HR services more quickly and
accurately to them
In short, the purpose of having an HRIS are to:

Provide services in the form of

information
Support planning, administration,
decision making; control HR activities
In general, potential benefits of HRIS include:
Increase data accuracy,
processing speed, create more
useful and sophisticated results,
increase productivity
Eliminates overlapping of
processes, maintain files, and
reduces the cost of processing,
computers and staff
Improves planning and
developing of a program,
expedites the information
processing process, reduces
administrative costs, generates
accurate information, increase
communication among
employees
Increases productivity of the
organization
Increases the efficacy level of
daily operations
Reduces the bulk of
administrative tasks
Increases performance of
employees and motivates the
knowledgeable employees
Increases effectiveness of
decision-making, enhances the
communication among
employees and offers a variety
of new services
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One-stop shopping - you enter information only once for many HR-related
employee tasks (you need to update only one place when employee
information changes).

Integration of data - different parts of the system can talk to each other
allowing more meaningful reporting and analysis capabilities, including
internal evaluations and audits and preparation of data for outsiders.

Self service - can be a great timesaver for HR. Employees may enter the
system to change data (for example, change their own addresses) and
managers and supervisors may enter the system to enter data (for example,
performance reviews) or to retrieve data without bothering HR. A

Automated reminders - systems can schedule events, such as performance

appraisals and benefit deadlines, automatically notifying and nudging if
actions have not been performed.

Hosting company-related documents - the system can host materials such

as employee handbooks, procedures, and safety guidelines. The materials
are easily updated in one place. Benefits administration.
 Research on HRIS effectiveness

Though the potential benefits of adopting IT into HR

have been emphasized in the literature, the reality
shows that:

Many organizations are not implementing HRIS as

effectively or as widely as expected
Many HRIS projects are not as successful as expected
and users are not happy with the outcomes as they
expected they would be
The implementation of HRIS does not help in
increasing accountability, making better decisions
and better communications and shifting the HR focus
to strategic issues (Pearson, 2001)
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HRIS project has been reported to be unable to deliver the
expected outcome such as:
The system failed to provide what the organization needs;
Have inaccurate or insufficient data
Difficult to access
Have disappointing end functionalities or are lacking the
important functionalities
The information needed is not available on time or it is out
of date
Lack of interaction with other systems
(Bondaruk & Ruel, 2008; Caplan, 2004, Chapman &
Webster, 2003; Kavanagh et al., 1990; Macy, 2004; Russell,
2006)
REASONS FOR UNSUCCESSFUL
HRIS PROJECT
Several reasons have been proposed in the
literature:
1. Lack of financial support
A survey found that the greatest barrier to the
adoption of HRIS was insufficient financial support
The introduction of HRIS always involves a substantial
amount of money, and in many cases it is not easy to
justify (Huo & Kearns, 1992)
If HR tasks have been done well previously in a
manual fashion, top management may not see any
good reason for investing in the computerization
process unless HR people are able to demonstrate
tangible return on investment
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2. Lack of top management support
Top management support is related to the
adoption of innovative systems (Teo, Lim, &
Fedric, 2007; Thong, 1999)
Greater support from top management not
only implies getting greater resources for the
development of HRIS applications, but also
overcoming user resistance to ensure a
quicker pace of change and more HRIS
applications can be adopted
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4. Human resource strategy

Broderick & Boudreau (1992) argued that the nature

of HRIS usage is determined by a firms human
resource strategy

- cost leadership strategy - a transaction system is more

likely to be developed to best support more routine,
high volume HR decisions with well-defined
information needs and outcomes
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- Quality / customer satisfaction strategy [emphasis on
improving the existing work methods, products /
services and customer relations] an expert system is
more suitable as it posses a developmental focus
that is suitable for distribution of knowledge and
experience

- Innovation strategy - A decision support system

allow users to pull together information, analyze it
and represent it in many forms, and also assists the
user with electronic memory aids and references
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5. Users ability to use the system
Users are said to be unaware of the
way an HRIS can be used, or they are
lacking the skill to retrieve information
(Macy, 2004)
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6. Lack of proper planning

Because of poor planning, managers are found to

underestimate the scope of IT project, and fail to
take into consideration that projects take longer
than expected and cost more than budgeted
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7. Ability to adopt changes

The ability and motivation of

employees in adopting change, such
as increased automation across and
between function (Ngai & Wat, 2004)
The end