Pre-HRIS Product Selection criteria

When implementing a Human Resources Information System, there are a number of selection steps and criteria. The most important ones are listed below.

1.     Identifying user requirements and design criteria

2.     Price scoping of competing products

3.     Functionality scoping, including the specifics of reporting and metrics of competing products

4.     Vendor record & reputation analysis

5.     User and data security protocols/ compliance required

6.     Deep evaluation of customization and third-party integration of competing products

7.     Cost/time investment for the entire implementation lifecycle

8.     Post implementation support required

All of these steps are talked about in our course on digital HR strategy, where we include a module on HR technology implmenetation.

A typical implementation life cycle looks like the following:

Pre-HRIS Product Selection Process – Detailed Analysis

In order to define customer requirements, one can use a Quality Funcation Deployment, or QFD. QFD is a process and set of tools to define customer requirements and convert them into engeneering specifications. This tool can help in making a vendor selection by looking at requirements vs. time, money costs and end user experience.

In the Human Resources Information System selection context, QFD is a “system engineering approach” which helps transform the requirements of the customer (e.g. the HR department) into prerequisite features for the HRIS product. It is essentially an “explicit quantitative and correlative method” on the functional HR requirements vs. required features in HRIS system. It then deploys weighting functions to prioritize parameters of HRIS product selection.

This aids in the selection and customization priorities of the HRIS product. The outcome of this analysis will be different based on unique requirements of every organization. A typical QFD for a mid-level firm would be:

Quality Function Deployment Map for HRIS implementation. On the basis of a QFD, the whole exercise could be summed up in terms of narrowing vendor section, setting negotiation terms, prioritizing modules and giving an overview of the implementation roadmap.