Jamie Barber, senior implementation consultant, Taleo

Building the right framework

Benjamin Franklin may have wryly observed that ‘In this life nothing is certain but death and taxes’, but these days a sure-fire contender to be added to that list of certainties is change, in particular organisational change.

Change often means a new IT system, but the implementation often fails.  How can you ensure the odds of success are stacked in your favour when installing a new payroll system, employee portal or recruitment technology?

1) Tie-in to get buy-in

Any new initiative should be closely tied to organisational strategic business objectives. This encourages buy in from senior management, helping to create a sense of purpose and urgency across the organisation. Potential advocates need to see purpose in the new system

2) Ask around

Do you have any colleagues or associates who have implemented similar systems in the past? What challenges and difficulties did they face? What would they do differently?

If working with a third-party vendor, don’t underestimate the value of feedback from their previous clients.

3) Build the right team

Right from the outset enlist a project sponsor from senior management - someone who has bought in to your objectives. While having little active involvement in day-to-day operations they should be able to fight your corner at a higher level if required.

HR must work with the continuous involvement of IT. Imagine an HR Team designing new technical infrastructure or IT creating rules for the purging of legacy candidates and employee data - both make you shudder. A Project Manager with a foot in both camps to act as go-between and ‘translator’ could help this.

4) Define the scope

What is the new system intended and not intended to achieve? A lack of clarity could result in ‘scope creep’ and attract unreasonable expectations. Identify the constraints of your environment i.e. budget, timescale or culture.  If you have opted for a customised approach instead of an ‘off the shelf’ product or ‘software as a service’ model, factor in the time and cost for future upgrades.

Consider the best approach for your project. You might decide to focus on small cycles of change rather than the risky ‘big bang’ approach. As well as generating less resistance from the sceptics this may mean that expectations are more manageable and easier to meet (this is an interesting read).  Build an implementation plan; it keeps you on track and gives a tangible (and visual) guide to progress.

5) Build from a baseline

Measure your current process before implementation and define how success will be judged as specifically as possible.  For example ‘we aim to reduce time to hire by 25% of the current baseline’.

Don’t just measure something because figures are easily available or ‘it’s what we’ve always measured’, capture data with intrinsic value related to strategic business objectives. It will almost always be revenue creation or cost reduction (HR is often viewed as a cost centre, so usually the latter).

Benchmarking your current process against an industry norm or similar organisations can introduce an element of industry-driven improvement.

6) Communication, communication, communication

Once your initiative is under way, be sure to keep all parties up-to-date on issues, workarounds and progress. Celebrate each milestone as vocally and publicly as possible. Get the marketing and PR departments involved to help you target your internal end-users, as was the case with Hewlett-Packard’s implementation of the @HP Employee Portal.

If you are going to miss a date, be honest in your reasons why. Work hard to counter the dissemination of rumours - a sure sign that communication has broken down.

7) Manage resistance to change

One of the most effective tools to manage resistance to change is applying the 20-60-20 rule.  Efforts are concentrated on the people (60%) who are undecided and relatively satisfied with the status quo rather than the keen advocates (20%) or the die-hard opponents (20%) (interesting read).

Sooner or later you are likely to have to deal with those resisting change, so understand their issues, while time-consuming and potentially costly it can be a straightforward way to overcome difficult roadblocks (interesting article).

8) Revisit the scene

After a set period of time compare the system ‘now’ to the baseline ‘then’. Encourage feedback which will give you hard evidence to back up requests for further resource if needed, and also fosters a culture of continuous improvement within your organisation.

It should also give you peace of mind that you chose the right path in the first place!

Though the pitfalls of HRIS project implementation are numerous, the rewards are there for those bold enough to take on the challenge. As long as you do your homework there’s no reason why you can’t be an integral part of an organization-enhancing success story.