Summer Internship - 2009

Final Project Report

By
Nitishi Gupta
MBA – HR
Roll No: 31214
Project Title

Human Resources
Management System:
Performance Management
System and Employee
Benefits

Prepared By -
Nitishi Gupta
MBA (HR)

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 Summary

This report is divided in two parts. The first part tells about ICICI Bank Ltd. as a
company. It tells about ICICI Group, awards and recognitions in 2009, leadership in
ICICI, SWOT analysis etc. Then I have told what I have observed being in that
company. Then the major innovations by ICICI, the services provided by it, it‟s
performance review and then its competition with other companies is being told.

The second part covers everything about the project which I did in ICICI Bank Ltd. as
a part of my summer internship programme. The project was regarding the
implementation of Performance Management System and Employee Benefits module
as a part of HRMS. The report gives general introduction, why ICICI is implementing
HRMS, the objectives of my project etc. Then it explains briefly the process of PMS
and the employee benefit policies. There are details of methodology adopted, logical
flow of the project. Then the implications and the advantages to the organization are
mentioned. There was a great value add to me as a student of management, which I
have written. Team dynamics plays an important role in the organization. I have told
what my contribution to the team was. In the end the report tells about the findings
and conclusion of the project I completed in ICICI Bank Ltd.

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 Acknowledgement

The success of this project is owed to a lot of people, and even though the list could
be long, it is certain that without their support the project wouldn‟t have seen the light
of the day. First, I would like to express my gratitude to ICICI Bank Ltd., for
providing me with this opportunity to work with their Human Resources Management
Group (HRMG), at Mumbai.

I am thankful to Mr. Joseph Abraham, Chief Manager, and my Project Guide, who
was a constant guiding light throughout this period.

I would also like to thank the staff at Human Resources Management Group (HRMG)
of ICICI Bank, Mumbai, for their whole-hearted support and, the following people in
particular :
Meghana Rao, Richa Singh, Richa Chopra, Manasi Thakur, Nimisha Mittal, Navjeet
and Savita Singh who helped me with the policies of the ICICI Bank Ltd.

Last, but surely not the least, I would also like to thank my faculty guide, Ms. Amita
Shiroor, for her support and interest.

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 Table of Contents
ICICI BANK LTD. ...................................................................................................... 6
1.About ICICI Bank Ltd. ........................................................................................... 6
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 6
2. ICICI Group ............................................................................................................... 7
3. Awards & Recognitions (2009) ................................................................................. 8
4. Leadership .................................................................................................................. 8
4.1 Board Members ............................................................................................... 8
4.2 Directors .......................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Strategy to be followed by Ms Chanda Kochchar .......................................... 9
5. SWOT Analysis ......................................................................................................... 9
6. Inside the Company ................................................................................................. 11
6.1 Internal HR Practices .................................................................................... 11
6.2 Hierarchy....................................................................................................... 11
6.3 Work Culture ................................................................................................ 11
6.4 Current size ................................................................................................... 12
6.5 Alumni in the Company ................................................................................ 12
6.6 Previous year project in ICICI Bank Ltd. ..................................................... 12
7. Major Innovations by ICICI..................................................................................... 12
8. Services provided by ICICI ..................................................................................... 13
9. Performance Review – Year ended March 31, 2009 ............................................... 14
Highlights ............................................................................................................. 14
Annual Results in brief (Rs crores) ...................................................................... 15
10. Competition............................................................................................................ 15
ABOUT THE PROJECT ........................................................................................... 16
1. About HRMS ........................................................................................................... 16
1.1 How value can be created through HRMS? ................................................... 16
1.2 Flow of HRMS Project .................................................................................. 17
2. ICICI and the implementation of HRMS ................................................................. 18
3. Objectives of the Study ....................................................................................... 19
3.1 Performance Management System ...................................................................... 20
3.1.1 APPRAISAL SYSTEM .............................................................................. 20
3.1.2 CONFIRMATION PROCESS .................................................................. 23
3.2 Benefits ................................................................................................................ 24
4. Details of methodology adopted .......................................................................... 26
4.1 Review of UAT Scripts ....................................................................................... 26
4.2 Fit Gap Documents ............................................................................................. 26
4.3 User Acceptance Testing .................................................................................... 26
4.4 Demo for modules............................................................................................... 26
4.4.1 Demonstrations meant for the Process Owners......................................... 27
4.4.2 Demonstrations meant for the Employees ................................................. 27
4.5 Analysis of questionnaire ..................................................................................... 27
5. Logical flow of the project adhering to road map ............................................. 30
6. Implications and value add to the organization ................................................. 32
7. Value Add to me as a student of management .................................................. 33
8. Team play in the organization and my contribution to the team ....................... 34
9. Findings and conclusion .................................................................................... 34
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 36

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 ICICI BANK LTD.

1. About ICICI Bank Ltd.

Vision of the company : To be the preferred brand for total financial and
banking solutions for corporates and individuals

Mission of the company : Our dealings with customers, public, shareholders

and employers shall reflect honesty and openness. Collectively, we shall establish a
standard in banking through outstanding performance, courteous service and a high
ethical benchmark

1.1 Introduction

ICICI Bank Ltd. is India's largest private and second-largest bank. The Bank has a
network of about 1442 branches and extension counters and over 4721 ATMs. Only
State Bank of India (SBI), controlled entirely by the Government of India has a bigger
business than ICICI Bank. ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI
Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its wholly-owned subsidiary.

ICICI was formed in 1955 at the initiative of the World Bank, the Government of
India and representatives of Indian industry. The objective was to create a
development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project
financing to Indian businesses.

ICICI then, was not a bank and hence could not take retail deposits and was not
required to comply with Indian banking requirements for liquid reserves. ICICI
borrowed funds from various agencies like the World Bank, often at concessional
rates. These funds were deployed in large corporate loans.

However, the scenario changed drastically in1990s when ICICI founded a separate
legal entity and named it "ICICI Bank". ICICI Bank, as the name would suggest,

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undertook normal banking operations like accepting deposits, issuing credit cards,
providing car loans etc. In the 1990s, ICICI transformed its business from a
development financial institution offering only project finance to a diversified
financial services group offering a wide variety of products and services, both directly
and through a number of subsidiaries and affiliates like ICICI Bank. The experiment
was so successful that ICICI merged into ICICI Bank and this "reverse merger"
happened in 2002.

ICICI Bank set up its international banking group in fiscal 2002 to cater to the cross
border needs of clients and leverage on its domestic banking strengths to offer
products internationally. ICICI Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United
Kingdom, Canada and Russia, branches in Singapore and Bahrain and representative
offices in the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and South
Africa.

Today, ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to
corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its
specialised subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-
life insurance, venture capital and asset management.

2. ICICI Group

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3. Awards & Recognitions (2009)

 ICICI Bank bags the “Best bank in SME financing (Private Sector)” at the
Dun & Bradstreet Banking awards 2009
 ICICI Bank NRI services wins the “Excellence in Business Model Innovation
Award” in the eighth Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services
Awards Programme.
 ICICI Bank's Rural Micro Banking and Agri-Business Group wins WOW
Event & Experiential Marketing Award
 ICICI Bank's Germany Branch has been certified by “Stiftung Warrentest”.
ICICI Bank is ranked 2nd amongst 57 savings products across 19 banks
And many more...

4. Leadership
4.1 Board Members

Mr. K. V. Kamath, Chairman

Mr. Sridar Iyengar
Mr. Lakshmi N. Mittal
Mr. Narendra Murkumbi
Dr. Anup K. Pujari
Mr. Anupam Puri
Mr. M.S. Ramachandran
Mr. M.K. Sharma
Mr. P.M. Sinha
Prof. Marti G. Subrahmanyam
Mr. T.S. Vijayan
Mr. V. Prem Watsa
Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO
Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi, Executive Director
Mr. Sonjoy Chatterjee, Executive Director
Mr. K. Ramkumar, Executive Director
Mr. N. S. Kannan, Executive Director & CFO

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4.2 Directors

Chanda Kochchar N.S. Kannan

MD & CEO Executive Director and CFO

K. Ramkumar Sonjoy Chatterjee Sandeep Bakhshi

Executive Director Executive Director Executive Director

4.3 Strategy to be followed by Ms Chanda Kochchar

On 1 May,2009, Ms Chanda Kochchar stepped into the shoes of Mr. K.V. Kamath
and became the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Ltd.
She has decided to follow the following strategy in the near future-
 Restructure the deposit mix
 Keep a tight control on out credit quality
 Raising CASA (Current and Savings Accounts)

5. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis enables a company to recognize its market standing and adopt
strategies accordingly. Here SWOT analysis of ICICI Bank Ltd. is made to
understand the positioning of the bank better:

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Strengths
 Brand name
 Market share
 Huge network
 Diversified portfolio
 Salary account: Most of the
companies have their salary bank
accounts in ICICI
 Working hours : ICICI is the only
bank which is having its working
hours from 8 to 8
 Treasury department : ICICI is the
only bank which is having its
treasury department especially for
Hyderabad Customers. So customers
can get the best rates for foreign
exchange.
 Aggressive marketing
 Technology: ICICI Bank is in a
position to leverage its technology
platform to further build cost and
service advantage. Currently ICICI is
adopting an HRMS system for its
37000+ employees.
Opportunities
 New IT/ITES companies: New IT/ITES
companies are mushrooming in the
market; it opens the door for ICICI bank
to capture the huge untapped market.
 Dissatisfied Customers of Other Banks
 Remittances: ICICI bank has very little
presence as far as the EEFC account is
concerned. Bank can promote its EEFC
account better and get the key to the door
of huge potential market.
 Business advising for smaller Players:
Concept of business advising though very
popular with the higher end players is
virtually non existent in the lower end of
the market. ICICI should take this
opportunity to provide business advising
to the smaller companies at competitive
rates and try to take the first mover
advantage.
Weaknesses
 Transaction cost : ICICI Bank charges
high cost for its transactions
 Main focus on high end customers
The bank targets the top bracket of
clients and caters less to the needs of
small customers. Due to this reason the
bank may sometimes loose good
clients.
 Defensive approach in lending:
Mainly to IT & ITES companies,
ICICI Bank do not provide loan as
these companies are not having
collaterals. Because of this policy
companies prefer nationalized banks
and ICICI Bank in turn sometimes
loose potential customers.
 Little presence outside India
Threats
 Advent of MNC banks
 Dissatisfied Customers: Due to the
high transaction costs, poor customer
service, dissatisfaction may be
created amongst the customers.
 Ever improving nationalized banks:
With PSU banks like SBI going all
out to compete with the private
banks and government giving them a
free hand to do so, it can prove to be
serious threat for banks like ICICI.
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6. Inside the Company

6.1 Internal HR Practices

The HR practices of ICICI bank are quite sound.

 They have good Performance Management System in which they have tried to
have as less subjectivity as possible.
 They have different compensation and benefit plans for the employees which
the employees get when they reach a particular grade.
 They have an E-muster plan which forces employees to be punctual to office.
But it is not so stringent. A person may be allowed to be late to the office
maximum 3 times.
 They are particular about the HR promises like promotions made during the
recruitment of a candidate.
 ICICI doesn‟t tolerate even a single act of mistrust. It terminates the
employees who are disloyal to the organization within no time.
 Talent Management System involves 360 degree feedback. This system is
used when an employee is considered for promotion.
 ICICI has group code of conduct defined for its employees.
 In the Leave Management System, the approval is required from the boss
before taking any leave. Uninformed leave of more than 3 days makes the
employee „absconding‟ and action is taken.
 Other practices like resignation, transfer, payroll etc. are also quite in place.

6.2 Hierarchy

ICICI is not at all a flat organization. It has 15 levels starting from the officer to the
Director. An MBA student from a Tier 1 institute such as SIBM joins at MM1 level
which is the fifth level in the hierarchy. An MBA student from a Tier 2 institute joins
at AM2 level which is fourth level in the hierarchy.

6.3 Work Culture

As what I have seen in the office in which I was working,

 The employees try to perform their best at any point of time. The employees
are very dedicated.
 They have been made quite clear at the induction itself that they have to be
totally dedicated to the organization. The official working hours are 9.15 a.m.-
5.45 p.m. but it is generally not followed in the organization.
 Most of them are quite helpful and help you in the best of the way they can.
 The organization is open. The DGM (9th level in the organization) of my
branch asked me to meet him when I joined ICICI. He asked me to make most
of my summer training. He already knew my background before hand which
was quite commendable.

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6.4 Current size

ICICI bank has shown tremendous growth in the near past. With ICICI growing, and
also with the acquisition of Sangli Bank, ITC Classic Finance, Anagram Finance,
ICICI‟s employee strength grew from about 1000 to 37000+. The Bank has a network
of about 1442 branches and extension counters and over 4721 ATMs.

6.5 Alumni in the Company

As I am working in the Human Resources department, it was easy for me to find out
the alumni in the company. After asking Mr. Jitendra Tiwari, who maintains the
database of the employees, it was found that only two alumni are present in ICICI.

These were-
 Ms Sonal Desai- She is working in Bandra Kurla office Mumbai at an MM1
(Manager 1) level.
 Mr Virendra Savalgi- He is working in Pune office at AM2 (Assistant
Manager 2) level.

6.6 Previous year project in ICICI Bank Ltd.

Mr Pankaj Nimwal, SIBM batch 07-09 underwent training in ICICI under the same
mentor- Mr. Joseph Abraham. At that time Phase 1 of HRMS was being implemented.
He worked on the implementation of the modules of Phase 1 HRMS. By the time I
joined, Phase 1 had been implemented. The implementation of Phase 2 modules was
going on which includes PMS and the Benefits module.

7. Major Innovations by ICICI

ICICI encourages innovation to a great extent. Some of the practices that ICICI
follows to encourage innovations are:

 DNA Award on Innovation: Reinforces innovation to be in the DNA of the

organization.
 Idea Laboratory: Employees contribute ideas and gets points against these.
Business Units that garner maximum ideas are awarded periodically.

ICICI has been an innovator in the following:

 ICICI Bank was the first bank in India to introduce iMobile- complete mobile
banking services
 In spite of being a new entrant, ICICI Bank has been highly successful in the
microfinance sector, primarily because of its innovative microfinance business
models.

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  ICICI bank, along with Gitanjali Group launched India‟s first jewellery card.
The ICICI Bank-Gitanjali Card is a comprehensive credit card that allows
cardholders to avail of benefits across 200,000 Merchants in India and more
than 22 million merchants internationally.

ICICI bank was the first in India to introduce the following:

1982: ICICI became the first ever Indian borrower to raise European Currency Units.

1986: ICICI, along with UTI, set up Credit Rating Information Services of India
Limited, India's first professional credit rating agency.

1996: ICICI Ltd became the first company in the Indian financial sector to raise GDR.

1997: ICICI Ltd was the first intermediary to move away from single prime rate to
three-tier prime rates structure and introduced yield-curve based pricing.

2000: ICICI Bank became the first commercial bank from India to list its stock on
NYSE.

2005: First rural branch and ATM launched in Uttar Pradesh at Delpandarwa, Hardoi.

2006: ICICI Bank became the first Indian bank to issue hybrid Tier-1 perpetual debt
in the international markets.

8. Services provided by ICICI

The following are the services provided by ICICI Bank Ltd.-

Personal banking NRI Banking Business banking

Deposits Money Transfer Corporate Net banking
Loans Bank Accounts Cash Management
Cards Investments Trade Services
General Insurance Loans FXOnline
Life Insurance SME services
Demat Services Online Taxes
Wealth Management Custodial Services

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ICICI bank also provides the facility of mobile banking, internet banking, IVR
banking, iMobile and ATM Banking.

9. Performance Review – Year ended March 31, 2009

Highlights

 Dividend of Rs. 11 per share proposed, same as previous year.

 Profit before tax of Rs 5117 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009
compared to Rs.5056 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008.
 12% YoY increase in operating profit for the year ended March 31, 2009.
 14% YoY reduction in costs.
 Current and Savings Bank account (CASA) Ratio increased to 28.7% at March
31, 2009.
 Increase of Rs. 5286 crore in CASA deposits in quarter ended March 31, 2009.
 Strong capital adequacy ratio of 15.5% and Tier-1 capital adequacy ratio of
11.8% after proposed dividend; Tier-1 capital adequacy ratio highest among
large Indian banks.

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Annual Results in brief (Rs crores)

Mar’09 Mar ' 08 Mar ' 07 Mar ' 06 Mar ' 05

Total Income 64153.08 60053.08 41363.79 25761.09 16931.39
Operating profit 9480.04 7242.70 5674.86 4746.52 2841.35
Interest 26487.25 25766.97 17675.72 10101.48 6804.38
Net profit 3576.95 3398.23 2760.63 2420.09 1852.33
EPS (Rs) 32.13 32.19 30.92 30.96 25.45

Looking at the trends, ICICI bank Ltd. shows a continuous improvement in its
financial performance till 2007-08. In financial year 2008-09, according to a news in
The Economic Times, 25th April, 2009, ICICI Bank Ltd. has reported a 9.6% drop in
net profit after tax at Rs. 3758 crore for the year ended March 31,2009 against Rs
4,158 crore for the year before.

10. Competition

ICICI mainly faces competition from the public sector banks. ICICI‟s main
competitor is State Bank of India. It is the only bank in India which has more number
of ATMs than ICICI. Other competitor is Punjab National Bank in the public sector.

In the private sector- HDFC Bank Ltd and IDBI bank Ltd are major competitors.

An excerpt from Mr. K.V. Kamath‟s interview(former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank
Ltd.) (Source:http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/may/10inter.htm)

How would you assess the competition in the industry today?

You need to put the competition in context. We need to look at the systemic ability to
do a certain type of business. I'm the first one to admit that we did not have the skills
four years ago.

Anybody who wants to get in a serious way has to build skill sets. It's going to take a
little time for widespread competition to come in; as of now it will be between a few
players.

There has been, to some extent, a settling down of the competitive landscape. Today
foreign banks are not of any consequence; they have ceded territory. I can be bold
and say they were prominent players four years ago, but frankly today they have
really no influence on the market.

Established private sector banks have done a great job in consumer credit. We will
have to wait and watch the newer banks. The big unknown competitor is the public
sector; they will drive the market ultimately but in what time frame is unknown.

Even Mr. Kamath considers public sector as their competitor.

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 ABOUT THE PROJECT

1. About HRMS
HRMS refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource
management and information technology. It merges HRM as a discipline and in
particular it‟s basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field.

1.1 How value can be created through HRMS?

 By better decision making through improving organisational communication

and coordination
 By enhancing organisational flexibility
 By coordinating supplier linkages
 By improving quality and delivery techniques
 By redesigning business processes to improve efficiency and/or quality
 By enhancing existing products and services
 By delivering improved manufacturing techniques
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  By establishing and sustaining customer relationships

1.2 Flow of HRMS Project

Process Specifications Requirements

Workflow from service
provider

Fit-Gap Customisation Beta-phase

analysis implementation

Building UATs Testing and Live launch of

Improvement system

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2. ICICI and the implementation of HRMS

Earlier, in ICICI Bank Ltd., core HRIS (Human Resources Information System) was
used to capture only the work related and personal information of employees. The
centralized server was run on Ramco systems. Routine tasks like managing
employee records and information like performance management, attendance, salary,
training, benefits, applicant tracking, resignations etc. were being done from various
servers or were handled offline. It had 33 different Sub-Systems installed initially.
As ICICI‟s employee strength grew from about 1000 to 37000, and with the
acquisition of Sangli Bank, the issues like scalability, integration and speed evolved.
So, to solve all these issues and bring all the processes under a common umbrella,
ICICI is implementing the Human Resources Management System. After narrowing
down to two experts, namely, PeopleSoft and SAP, its HRIS team gave green signal
to PeopleSoft (an Oracle product).

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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3. Objectives of the Study
Objective of the project was to implement Performance Management System (along
with the Confirmation and the Appraisal module), Company Quarters, Company Car,
Lease and Licence (called Leave & License in ICICI), Soft Furnishings as a part of
HRMS with PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft is a world leader in HRMS.

I did it through the review of UAT scripts of these modules, writing the UAT scripts
myself of one of these modules, doing the User Acceptance Testing after
understanding the policies and then making the demos for each of these modules.
As a part of my own initiative, I analyzed the PMS and employee benefits related
practices across various organizations and tried to figure out that why the practices
were being followed in ICICI, and if possible, try to make some suggestions to ICICI
on my findings.

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3.1 Performance Management System

PMS is a way to manage performance of the employees. It is used to improve

employees in terms of productivity and to make them a better fit for the organization.
PMS is of two types-
 Appraisal System

 Confirmation System

3.1.1 APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Appraisal system sets the goals of the employee in the beginning of the year and
expects them to perform keeping these goals in mind. An evaluation is done half
yearly which tells the employee about his strengths and areas of improvement. A
proper feedback is given. In the final appraisal, a final rating is given which decides
his variable salary component for the next year. The process is explained as follows-

CREATION OF GOALSHEET

Manager and the employee create the goalsheet

of the employee after mutual acceptance. The
Manager and the employee can edit it side by
side. The goals, targets and measures are
mentioned for the employee.

Manager finally completes (approves) the

goalsheet. No changes could be made after that.

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HALF YEARLY FEEDBACK
In the half yearly feedback process, the rating is not given on the goals. Instead the
competencies of ICICI (called behavioural indicators) are mapped to each goal and
comments are given.

Manager attaches the

competencies to each goal and
gives comments.

The employee can view the

feedback given and work towards
his/ her improvement.

SELF APPRAISAL AND FINAL RATING

At the end of the year, the employee enters his self achievements against each goal
and the Manager gives goal-wise rating to the employee.

Employee enters self

achievements

Boss gives goal-wise

ratings and submits for the
evaluation by his manager
(Super Boss)

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SUPERBOSS RATING

Super Boss views the self

achievements entered by the
employee

Super Boss views the goal-

wise ratings given by the boss

He/she gives the overall rating

to the employee and submits it
to the administrator

NORMALISATION

The administrator normalises

the ratings of each employee

Fits them into the bell

shaped curve

The normalisation is done

3 times before the final
ratings are released.

RELEASE OF FINAL RATING

The final rating for each

employee is released at
the end of the year.
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Also there are special cases-
 If the manager/ employee gets transferred, the goalsheet of the employee can
also be transferred to the new manager.
 If an employee reports to more than one manager, he can create a goalsheet
which caters to the goals of all these managers. The ratings would then be
given by all these managers and then approved by the main Manager. In this
case also, the superboss would give the final rating.
 If the Manager is on leave, the goalsheet moves to the Superboss after some
days.

3.1.2 CONFIRMATION PROCESS

ICICI has certain DNA anchors such as Managing change, Passion, Leadership,
Sensitivity etc. each DNA anchor is based on certain behavioural indicators
(competencies). They are divided in two parts-
 Enhancers and
 Stoppers

During the confirmation process, the manager gives feedback on these behavioural
indicators. This helps in finding out whether the employee is fit for the organization
or not.
ICICI takes special care about the HR promises made at the time of recruitment.

Half Yearly Feedback

During half yearly feedback process, which happens 6 months after the employee has
joined the organisation, the manager gives the feedback on these behavioural
indicators and tells whether to continue or not to continue.

Final Confirmation
During the final confirmation, which takes place exactly after an year, again the
employee is weighed on these behavioural indicators. The final confirmation rating is
given and the employee is confirmed/ not confirmed.

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3.2 Benefits
Company Quarters, Company Car, Lease and Licence, Soft Furnishings are the
benefits given to the employees of ICICI after they reach a particular grade.
ICICI has 15 designations, or grades(as it is called in ICICI).

As an employee moves up these designations, he can start availing these benefits.

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Company quarters –
The Company provides its own quarters to the employee to live in. This is open to all
the employees irrespective of the grades. These quarters are meant for-
 Family

 Bachelors

The bachelors and families are given quarters in different places. The quarters are
given according to the grade of the employee.

Company Car –
Above Assistant General Manager level, the company allows the employee to buy the
car on their own. The eligibility is decided according to the grade. When the
employee buys the car, the company pays in full, but at the time of resignation, the
employee has to compulsorily buy it back. The company also considers the written
down value (depreciation through straight line method). It is 20% currently.

Lease and License –

The company pays the security amount to the landlord, whose house the employee
wants to rent. The eligibility of the security amount is according to the grade. In some
cases, the company also pays the rent to the landlord and deducts it from the
employee‟s salary. Also, at the time when the lease expires, the security amount has
to be paid back to the bank.

Soft Furnishings –
This benefit is available for the grades AGM and above. In this, the employee can buy
his/her household items from company‟s expense. He can buy the items starting from
a bedsheet to an air-conditioner. The eligibility is as per the grade. The employee has
to compulsorily buy back these items at the time of resignation. In this also, the
company considers the written down value. It is different for different items.
The objective was to implement these modules in the live system of ICICI Bank Ltd.
The PMS, Company Quarters, Company Cars, Lease and License and the Soft
Furnishings modules went live on 18th May,2009.
Hence, the objectives- implementing the PMS and the benefits module were met.
These modules have gone live recently, so the repercussions are yet to be seen.
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4. Details of methodology adopted

4.1 Review of UAT Scripts

The implementation of these modules needed reviewing of the UAT (User
Acceptance Testing) scripts. It involves analytical skills and the business knowledge
of each process. I also made the UAT script of PMS.

4.2 Fit Gap Documents

Fit Gap documents were referred to. Fit gap documents tell what are the processes
different from original PeopleSoft HRMS software and need to be changed only for
ICICI by Oracle.

4.3 User Acceptance Testing

UAT of each of these modules (PMS, Soft Furnishings, Company Cars, Lease &
License and Company Quarters) was done. This included testing each and every
single point in the processes.
(User Acceptance Testing would make sure that PeopleSoft works properly at the
ICICI‟s end. UAT Scripts include each and every case to be tested keeping the HR
policies in mind.).

4.4 Demo for modules

I was asked to prepare demos of all these modules. This was done keeping in mind
that- as the Peoplesoft System is new in the company, the employees would be quite
reluctant in using the same. They are used to working in the older ways and they
would take time to adjust to the new system. So the demo which was made was very
user- friendly- keeping all the questions in mind which an end user may have.
These demonstrations were of two types-
 Those which were meant for the process owners

 Those which were meant for the employees

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4.4.1 Demonstrations meant for the Process Owners
The demonstrations which were meant for the process owners were presented to them.
E.g. the process owner Company Quarters would be the Administrator who grants the
Company Quarters to the employee those who apply for it. He/ she has to keep certain
things in mind- that the employee applying for Company Quarters should not be
possessing a Company quarters already, or should not have an accommodation under
Lease & License Policy of ICICI etc.
These were certain issues like these which were not handled by the system and were
to be checked manually. So, while presenting the demo to the process owners- all
these things were kept in mind. They were made to understand the loop- holes of the
PeopleSoft system.
There were certain ways in which the employee could exploit the system. These
things which were to be taken care of, were told explicitly in the demo. Also, in the
training which would be given to them, they would be asked to make a note of these
loopholes.

4.4.2 Demonstrations meant for the Employees

In the demonstrations meant for the employees, they were being made to use the
system in a very user friendly way. Earlier, an application request was just an email
away. E.g. if one had to apply for a Company Car, Company Quarters or a Lease &
License, he/ she just had to email it to the process owner and then send the necessary
documents. Now, instead of writing an email, it has to be done through the PeopleSoft
system. The employee may find it cumbersome (though it is not) to apply it online,
and may not like the new system. The demo was designed in such a way that it tried
to portray the new system as a very user-friendly one.
The employees are also told the conditions which they have to keep in mind before
using the system.
Regarding the PMS demo, the PMS process was tried to be simplified for the
employees. Hence, separate modules for the employee and the manager were not
prepared; rather it was shown as a whole process.

4.5 Analysis of questionnaire

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 ICICI is flexible in terms of making changes in its policies as the time demands. As
ICICI is implementing a new system, so it‟s time for ICICI to re-think about its
policies.
This time ICICI would have been open to suggestions.
In various organizations, employees would have undergone the performance appraisal
process some time or the other. Many organizations have implemented PeopleSoft
HRMS themselves.
I sent a questionnaire to the employees in various organizations.
Then, I analysed the process followed in ICICI:
 Why a particular way is being used in ICICI and not something else

 Thinking about the pros and cons of each process

 If a process A is being implemented, I would analyse why process A is being

implemented in the organization and why not process B

Then I planned to make suggestions to ICICI if I found a policy which would be a

better fit, justifying my reasons.
The questionnaire which was sent across different companies was analysed.

4.5.1 Performance Management System

The companies included- Aricent, TCS, GSK, Aditya Birla, Intel, IBM, Sapient,
Erricson etc.
Each of these companies had its Performance Management System in place. The table
of comparison for PMS is shown for some of these companies

ICICI TCS GSK Intel IBM Aditya

Birla
Is PMS in place Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Frequency Half Half Yearly Half Yearly Annual Annual Annual
Yearly
Methodology Balance Personal Personal 360 360 Balance
Score Development Development degree degree Score Card
Card Program Program feedback feedback
PMS uniform Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
against all
designations

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The PMS for ICICI was in place.
The frequency for PMS is half yearly as compared to some other companies, which is
good. This is because, giving an annual feedback may get biased as to whatever the
employee has done in the last few days.

The methodology adopted in ICICI is- Balance Scorecard method. The Balanced
Scorecard (BSC) is a performance management tool for measuring whether the
smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale
objectives in terms of vision and strategy. By focusing not only on financial outcomes
but also on the operational, marketing and developmental inputs to these, the
Balanced Scorecard helps provide a more comprehensive view of a business, which in
turn helps organizations act in their best long-term interests.

During appraisal, the feedback of the employee is given only by his manager and
superboss, not by his peers and subordinates. It may be possible that the manager may
have not seen some aspects which could only be felt by his peers/ subordinates. E.g.
spirit of teamwork would be better judged by the peers and sensitivity would be better
judged by the subordinates. The other aspects like performance etc. may be judged by
the manager better.

During my analysis, I felt that ICICI should follow a system of 360 degree feedback
in addition to the Balance Score Card method. This was the suggestion I made to them.
The weight of the feedback by the manager should be more than the subordinates and
the peers, say 80% by the manager, 10% each by the subordinates and the peers. The
implication would be that the system would become more complicated but it would
become less subjective at the same time. ICICI asked me to re-think about my
suggestion by giving the following reasons-

1) In India, 360 degree feedback may be dangerous, as the subordinates may not
be very frank in giving their opinions about their managers. They feel that
giving a negative feedback, or something which their boss does not want may
affect their own performance.
2) This would make whole process very complicated. The employees find the
present system very complicated even when the proper demonstration of how
to use the module is there. In the present system, the feedback/ rating is given

29
 by the boss and the superboss. In the 360 degree feedback, the rating would be
given by the boss, superboss, peers (number of peers could be more than 1)
and subordinates (number of subordinates could be more than 1), which would
include many people in the appraisal of a single employee, hence making the
system very complicated.
3) They already use 360 degree feedback in Talent Management System where
they consider the employees for promotion. Performance Management System
only considers how the employee performs, the aspects of team spirit etc. are
covered while the employee is considered for promotion, which may be a fair
argument.

PMS in ICICI is uniform across all designations. The method of appraisal remains the
same, just the goalsheet for different grades is different.

4.5.2 Benefits
In all the companies to which I sent the questionnaire, the benefits were grade related,
except Intel. In ICICI Bank Ltd. also, the benefits are grade related. They are only
given to the senior management.
The junior level doesn‟t get these benefits in ICICI. They only get a salary raise
during their performance appraisal. I suggested the following-
For higher grades, the bank should follow the same policy as before. But for lower
grades, the employees showing benchmark performance (rating 1) should be offered
some of these benefits as well. This would encourage all the lower grade employees,
who constitute a major part of the ICICI to work better. But nearly all the companies
are undergoing cost cutting measures these days. This suggestion if implemented,
would take long.

5. Logical flow of the project adhering to road map

6 Apr- 10 Apr-
As stated, this week was spent in background reading, understanding the why of the
policies of Performance Management System, Company Quarters, Company Car,

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Lease and Licence, Soft Furnishings in ICICI. I questioned the philosophy behind
every policy that why is it the way it is.

13 Apr-17 Apr –
I reviewed the UAT Scripts of PMS, Company Quarters, Company Car, Lease and
Licence, Soft Furnishings according to the HR policy parameters. I made the UAT
script for PMS

20 Apr- 24 Apr-
I did discussions with the process owners of each of these processes. I went through
the Fit- Gap documents provided by Oracle.
I designed a questionnaire for the survey and sent to the employees/trainees of
different organization.

27 Apr-8 May-

I did analysis of the data collected through the questionnaire. I made the above

mentioned suggestions to ICICI.

The User Acceptance Testing of PMS, Company Quarters, Company Car, Lease and
Licence and Soft Furnishings started on 27th April. The defects were fixed by Oracle.

11 May-15 May-
Retesting of these modules was done.

18 May- 29 May-
The PMS, Soft Furnishings, Company Quarters, Company Cars, Lease & License
went live on 18 May. I prepared a demo for all these modules as mentioned above.

1 June- 5 June
This is a week of training, which means all the process owners are to given training
on their specific modules. The process owners who could come to Mumbai centre

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were trained by our team using the demos I had made. The process owners who could
not come for the training were trained online using my demo.

6. Implications and value add to the organization

Value additions to the company by implementing PMS-

 Made the PMS process less subjective and would help to judge an employee
better in terms of his performance

 Would streamline the PMS process

 Make the process faster and accurate

 Involve the employee in the process thereby making the process transparent.

Value additions to the company by implementing Benefits -

 Made the processes automated and hence accurate

 Saves time and increases the productivity of HR employees

 It would help in reduction in manpower cost

 It would make the employees loyal to the organization

The implications of implementing PMS in HRMS are-

 It is a very complex process. It may confuse the users if proper training is not
given. This is where the role of the demo which I made comes. The process
has been shown as simplified as possible.

 There are some new concepts introduced because they could not be changed
due to the limitations of PeopleSoft.

 The Module may take time to get used to.

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  Specialised people need to be trained to use the process effectively and to the
full capacity.

The implications of implementing Benefits would be-

 They are only given to the employees above a certain grade. This may produce
some dissatisfaction in the organization.

 They are not linked with PMS. Means they would be given as per the grade of
the employee. These can be linked with PMS so that the employee performing
better may get better benefits.

Overall, ICICI has to expose organisation‟s database and internal policies to the
vendor implementing the product.
Also, by implementing the HRMS through PeopleSoft, the biggest limitation is that
ICICI has to compromise on certain points of certain policies due to limitations of
PeopleSoft software. There were some changes which ICICI did not want to
implement, but have to be incorporated because it could not changed in PeopleSoft.

7. Value Add to me as a student of management

The value add to me as a student of management was-

 I studied the policies of ICICI Bank Ltd. thoroughly. Understood the
philosophy behind each policy. Became well versed with Performance
Management System of ICICI and the other benefits which are provided by
ICICI to its employees.

 Analysed the PMS and other benefits of other organisations.

 More than the project I was working on, the learning came from working in
the live environment of the company. Every time meeting the deadlines
became very challenging. I learnt to set up small steps/ goals for myself and
achieved them.

 Learnt multi-tasking – Learnt to do several tasks at hand side- by- side. Started
managing a lot of things together.

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8. Team play in the organization and my contribution to the team

We were a team of six people, including me. I observed that the team dynamics
played an important role- the team members were more concerned in getting the work
done- instead of concentrating on what was assigned to one particular individual.
ICICI pays special attention to team play. There is a behavioural indicator which the
employees are rated upon- „works for the organizational goals rather than the
individual goals‟ and it is seen that the employees pay special attention to it.
During my tenure in the organization, one of our team-mates got sick due to typhoid.
The work which was earlier assigned to her was divided amongst us.
When I had just entered in the organization, I had taken help from my team members
to understand the processes. But later, when I had adjusted to the culture of the
organization and had started understanding the processes fully, I was in a position to
help my team members. Me, being from IT background was a big advantage to
understand the HRMS (which is a combination of HR and IT). There were certain
issues where my team mates got stuck, and I was able to help them out. This consisted
of the PMS policies, the policies of the benefits module, as well as the IT aspects.
At some places, when a defect was raised, I was able to guide the ICICI team that
what was the severity of the defect and how much time it should take to be fixed. If
Oracle team was asking for more time for a particular defect than required, then we
could pressurise them to do it faster.

9. Findings and conclusion

The Performance Management System and the benefits module which I worked on,
made me analyse the policies of ICICI. I became well versed with these policies.

I was able to understand how a Human Resource Management System is

implemented. It involves the full knowledge of each and every HR process of the
organisation. A little knowledge of IT is useful. There is a lot of vendor interaction,
which calls for the need of negotiation skills being good. Project management plays a
huge role in the implementation of HRMS. A lot of project management is required-
coordination with several people, meeting the deadlines etc.

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Working with ICICI Bank Ltd. gave me a great learning experience. The HR policies
of the company are very well thought of. This is what I found out while I was doing
the analysis of different organisations. ICICI has a reason for every philosophy in
every policy.

There are some DNA anchors defined by ICICI like passion, customer first and
integrity. It is believed that these characteristics are present in the DNA of the ICICI
employees. They believe in winning, but do not believe in winning at ANY cost; they
promote competition, but do not promote competition at ANY cost.

The company is growing very fast but is firm on its roots.

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 REFERENCES
Intranet of ICICI Bank Ltd.

Fit Gap documents of PeopleSoft and ICICI

http://www.icicibank.com

http://www.rbi.org.in/

http://finance.indiamart.com/investment_in_india/banking_in_india.html

http://finance.indiamart.com/investment_in_india/nationalisation_banks.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_India

http://www.citehr.com/79764-history-banking-india.html

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Speeches/PDFs/81434.pdf

http://fiuindia.gov.in/relatedacts-bankingregu.htm

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/55663.pdf

http://www.allbankingsolutions.com/CRR-SLR-BANK-RATE-REPO-
REVERSE.HTM

http://cii-innovation.blogspot.com/2008/06/services-innovation-icici-bank.html

http://www.openpr.com/pdf/35630/ICICI-Bank-launches-iMobile-First-bank-in-India-
to-introduce-complete-mobile-banking-services.pdf

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2004/01/26/stories/2004012600661300.ht
m

http://www.apnaloan.com/car-loan-india/ICICI-bank-car-loan-floating-rate.html

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47031,00.html

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/may/10inter.htm

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