What’s an HRIS? Any system that supports any aspect of the HR function Primary function: –Documenting the employment relation in all it’s complexity Basic technology: –Storing, retrieving and distributing information

Databases are central Consider the “Top Ten Calculations” for your HRIS: Healthcare cost per employee Pay and benefits as a percentage of operating expense Cost per hire Return on training... Time to fill jobs… All require database to get answers

Databases in LIR828 Objective: you will learn basic concepts and skills that apply to any HRIS system Use MS Access and HR/Vantage as examples Other examples: –Resume database –Activity reporter –HRIS product database

Databases are not like other programs Example: Creating a report In MS Word, you create a “.doc” file that contains a copy of the report In MS Access, you create a program that allows you to store and retrieve data –As the data changes, the content of the report changes

MS Access Popular product, widely used Basic relational database –Tables (“entities”) –Relations –Queries (“views”) –Forms & Reports You will learn all these basic features

Resume Project I will distribute example copies of resumes You will create a database for them, including: –Work history –Employment history We will provide step-by-step instructions (see web site for details) Learning by example & learning by doing