1. Drive a Robust Systems Strategy for HR to Achieve HR Objectives and Enable the Business
Save time, optimize your resources, and engage the business by building a right-fit HR systems strategy.
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2. Overview and Introduction to Info-Tech Approach
Introduction and executive summary, outlining the content and the value proposition of this blueprint.
An overview of Info-Tech’s approach to creating a right-fit HR systems strategy.
A process outlining each step of the project.

3. Contents Overview and Introduction to Info-Tech Approach1
Overview and Introduction to Info-Tech Approach
Define Project Roles and Responsibilities
Document Current State of HR Systems
Define HR and Organizational Vision, and Assess Gaps in System Coverage
Evaluate Architecture Options
Evaluate Application Options
Develop an HR Systems Roadmap
Business Case Primer
Appendix 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4. Introduction
Evaluate your HR systems holistically to gain a strategic perspective and develop the appropriate functionality for your business needs.
This Research Is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
CIOs and Heads of Human Resources looking to make strategic decisions about HR IT systems.
IT Directors and Human Resources Directors evaluating the health of their organization’s HR systems and looking to develop a HR systems target state and roadmap.
Organizations looking to develop a robust HR systems strategy to address the issue of ineffective HR IT systems and time consuming manual workarounds.
Evaluate the effectiveness of your HR IT systems.
Identify and prioritize desired features to support HR, business, and the broader organization.
Identify the desired target state of HR IT systems and develop an associated roadmap.
Identify process owners and key stakeholders for effective project execution.
Offer guidance for developing the business case to gain stakeholder buy-in and approval for the project.

5. Executive Summary The Situation
IT systems for Human Resources are ineffective at supporting HR, organizational, and business goals, and involve inefficient use of HR and IT resources. Business support for HR IT systems is limited, resulting in the lack of a strategic view of HR IT systems, which further exacerbates the problem.
In most organizations, HR IT systems have evolved tactically on an as-needed basis resulting in unintegrated systems and significant effort on manual workarounds.
The relationship between HR and IT is not optimal for technology decision making. Systems-related decisions are made by HR, and IT is typically involved only post-purchase to fix issues as they arise and offer workarounds.
IT systems for HR are not viewed as a strategic differentiator or business enabler, thereby leading to a limited budget and resources for HR IT systems and subsequently hindering the adoption of a strategic, holistic perspective.
The Solution
Adopt a holistic perspective of IT systems for HR. Evaluate the health of current HR IT systems, understand the pain points, and identify the desired features to develop the target state and HR IT system roadmaps. A well-structured strategic effort can have several benefits:
Robust HR IT systems that support HR, organizational, and business needs efficiently.
More productive HR team that spends less time on manual processes and focuses on value adding activities.
Reduced IT effort on training, support, and maintenance.
HR activities aligned with organizational and business goals.
Info-Tech Perspective
Adopt a strategic approach to HR systems and get it right the first time. This will be more cost effective than addressing issues as they occur.
Be clear about roles and responsibilities: identify the right process owners and assign responsibilities to ensure success.
Get your house in order by supporting core HR functionality first before focusing on more ambitious business-enabling functionality. Moreover, tackling core HR functions first will free up resources that could be used to drive business-enabling functionality and support more strategic objectives.
Build a viable business case: spend time to communicate how HR IT systems can enable the business in order to gain buy-in and approval from business.

6. Guided Implementation Points
Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your project. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion.
Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points in the HR Systems Strategy project:
Section 1: Project Approach
Get off to a productive start: Discuss your current state of HR systems. If you are facing multiple issues (e.g. lack of integration, multiple systems for same functionality), we can offer a project approach customized to your situation.
Section 3: Gathering Requirements
We can guide you on building a comprehensive set of requirements that takes into account HR needs and business objectives. We can help translate business objectives into HR and HR system capabilities. Get guidance on prioritizing the compiled requirements.
Section 5: Evaluate Architecture Options
Once you have compiled your requirements and identified system gaps, we can help you decide on approaches to selecting your HR system solutions. For example, should you pick a point solution or a comprehensive suite? How do you approach the SaaS vs. on-premise question?
This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project.
To enroll, send an to or call and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.

7. Situation Overview (1/2)
Depending on HR and business objectives, and the state of HR systems in your organization, you may be looking to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
Situation
Key Questions
Prioritize Spend
Your organization has been growing and you are faced with increasing needs that your current IT and manual systems may not satisfy.
You are looking to determine which functional areas to invest in.
How do I prioritize functional areas for investment?
Your organization has multiple HR IT systems, e.g. through acquisitions or different systems in different business units.
You are looking to develop an overarching strategy and consolidate into one system.
Which system should I consolidate into?
Should I consider marketplace applications on top of ones we already have?
Consolidate

8. Situation Overview (2/2)
Depending on HR and business objectives, and the state of HR systems in your organization, you may be looking to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
Situation
Key Questions
Upgrade
Your organization has point solutions that are not well integrated and you seek a comprehensive industry standard solution.
Should I go for a SaaS solution or a suite hosted in-house?
Will working on improving integration be a good short term solution?
Your organization has systems that support all HR functions.
You adopt a strategic perspective and seek additional areas (e.g. talent management) where HR IT systems can support and enable business goals.
Which functions can best enable business?
How do I pick systems to enable these functions?
Specialize

9. Regardless of your organization’s current situation, your HR and IT teams are likely facing multiple issues (1/2)
Strategic and organizational issues
Lack of business support for HR systems
IT for HR is not viewed as an area of strategic business differentiator and a focus area that impacts the bottom line.
Lack of business support/ budget for HR IT.
Even positive ROI projects may have difficulty being approved due to business priorities.
Strategic perspective and approach to HR systems lacking
Lack of business support contributes to HR adopting a piecemeal approach to systems.
Unplanned growth in systems leading to multiple systems offering the same functionality.
Decision making in silos: Business Units (BUs) make their own decisions, and BUs with more money tend to go their own way without consideration for the rest of the organization.
Systems not consolidated during acquisitions.
Weak HR-IT relationship hindering decision making
Purchase decisions made without IT involvement.
Priority of HR systems low on IT’s horizon.
Key systems integration issues not given due consideration.
Organizational discomfort
Multiple logins.
Lack of consistency/ uniformity across interfaces (self-service).

10. Regardless of your organization’s current situation, your HR and IT teams are likely facing multiple issues (2/2)
Operational issues
Data quality issues
Lack of one source of truth.
Lack of a comprehensive view.
Point solutions not integrated well, so it’s difficult to get a unified perspective.
Too many sources of data.
Potential security issues.
E.g. if employee information is manually input in multiple systems, all records may not be removed when the employee leaves the organization presenting potential security risks.
Manual workarounds and excess manual intervention
Lack of integration across point solutions leads to manual intervention. Integration becomes an afterthought as IT may not be involved in purchase decision.
Pain can be felt across the organization, e.g. org. structures not updated.
Data manipulation outside systems, e.g. in Excel.
Numerous ad hoc requests for help sent to IT and excessive effort spent on manual tasks/reports.
Analysis and reporting compromised
Even simple reports are difficult to produce due to lack of integration.

11. Case Study: Graymont’s unintegrated systems trigger evaluation of HR IT systems
Situation
Issues
Outcome
Industrial company with 1,500 employees.
Business owns business processes and associated IT systems decisions.
IT viewed as support function not critical to business success and assigned a limited budget.
20 IT employees to support organizational IT needs.
Unintegrated point solutions for different HR functions:
ERP module for Benefits and Workforce Management (Time and Attendance, Vacation).
Standalone system for payroll.
Rarely-used point solution for Learning and Development.
Manual systems for Talent Acquisition, Performance Management and Talent Management.
Healthy relationship between HR and IT:
IT input sought in systems related decisions.
IT involved in integrating HR systems and generating custom reports.
Workarounds and excessive manual effort to generate reports:
Custom reports necessitate manual input and effort.
Difficulty in supporting organizational goals:
No IT system support for talent acquisition and onboarding.
Almost impossible to match skillsets of employees to requirements of new job openings.
Employee development proving difficult because Learning and Development cannot be linked to Talent Management.
Client has reached the tipping point and recognizes that issues with HR systems impact business functioning and growth.
Business understands and supports the need for a strategic re-evaluation of HR systems.
Business appetite and budget support for new HR system.
HR and IT working together to decide on a strategic solution for HR systems.
Targeting pre-integrated solutions:
Focusing on pre-integrated systems to avoid pitfalls of unintegrated point solutions.
SaaS solution preferred:
Lesser in-house support and training required.
Concerns:
Loss control around system upgrade schedule.
Ease of integration with other internal systems.

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