HRIS: The human resource information system means the collection, recording, storing, analyzing & retrieving of data about human resources. Different aspects related to the working life of employees are considered salary, compensation, leave, payroll, accidents & other benefits.
The information on all these areas of Human Resource is acquired by the human resource information system. The human resource manager utilizes this information to perform his functions in an effective way. In the olden days, the personnel officers in the organizations spent a lot of time & effort to collect simple data of their employees about the leave entitlement and salary & wage aspects.
The reason is that all this system is managed manually which does not cover the latest advanced aspects of human resources. This manual information was maintained to ensure the proper wage & salary disbursement, the notification of leave entitlement of employees & compensation & superannuating claims of the employees.
This human resource information was not properly utilized to ascertain future trends, identify & solve problems like long term staffing, etc.
Human Resource Information System
The Development of HRIS
At the early developmental stage of the human resource information system, the main focus is to use this system for operational & administrative purposes. Different forms were available for the collection of all the diverse data of the human resource like compensation of employees, leave requests, salary variation, accident data & superannuation claims, etc.
In the decades of the 1970s & 1980s, many changes have been raised in the area of human resource management that changes the functioning of the HR personnel. As the payroll systems became more complex, so more flexibility was required to collect & maintain the necessary information.
In light of such a needy situation, the development of a sophisticated information system is facilitated that can cover the new issue of human resources. In some big organizations, the Human Resource Functions were separated from the payroll processing system by developing separate sections of centralized payroll processing.
Moreover, some organizations gave contracts of their payroll processing to the external parties like bureaus, that can perform these tasks in a much more systematic & cost reduction manner due to the presence of more technological systems.
Nature & Benefits of HRIS
All the data of the human resource of the organization is recorded & maintained with a more comprehensive, accessible & accurate system called human resource information systems (HRIS) that directly helps in the organizational planning.
The main purpose of HRIS is to support or facilitate the operational & tactical decision making, to evaluate policies & programs, to avoid litigation & to assist in the daily operations. There are several benefits of employing the proper HRIS in an organization like
01- HRIS uses the decision support software that helps to improve planning & program development. This further speeds the information processing & improved the timing of the response.
02- The administrative & other human resource costs are reduced through it.
03- The information of the human resource remains accurate & updated.
04- The communication is increased at all levels of the organization.
05- There is no single system that can be considered as the best one to maintain all the relevant information of the human resource. Moreover, a suitable HRIS system in one organization is not useful for all other similar organizations. However, standard HRIS deals with information on the following aspects.
01- Employees
02- Positions
03- Jobs & conditions of work
04- Certain events of HR like recruitment, selection, training & development, etc.
Uses of the Human Resource Information System
The human resource information system is extensively used in operational, strategic & administrative fields by not only the human resource manager but also other managers of the organization.
In the case of operational uses, the HRIS point out the potential internal applicants for the vacant positions promotes career opportunities to the existing employees of the organization & saves the costs of external hiring.
An infield of strategic level, the current selection & promotional programs can be made effective along with the improvement in the organizational strategies by utilizing the value able information of the HRIS.
Strategic Planning & HRIS
The HRIS facilitates the strategic planning process of an organization which would in turn improve the performance. For this purpose, the proactive managers use the useful information of HRIS for developing quantitative measures & performance targets.
The HR plans can be purified on the qualitative as well as quantitative basis that results in the effectiveness of the functions performed by the HR Managers. The performance of different employees can be compared with the benchmarked performance of the industry & in this way the difference is reconciled.
The Security & Privacy of HRIS
It is the duty of the HR department that it must develop such policies & procedures that secure the important data of employees so that this data cannot be retrieved by any wrong person. For this purpose, the main check is to keep control of the access to the HRIS information.
Functions of the Human Resource Information System
The HRIS performs the following important functions.
- The information of job analysis is maintained by HRIS.
- HRIS contains such programs that can prepare the job description & job specifications.
- The record of rejected applicants is maintained by HRIS.
- The extra time & money in the compilation of reports are saved.
- The discrimination of women or minorities is prevented.
- The internal recruiting is facilitated.
- The jobs are posted for the applicants by HRIS.
- Applicants are tracked by it.
- The matching of requirements of the job & qualification of the applicant is made easily.
- The ability tests are administered & stored by HRIS.
- The structured interviewing process is promoted by it.
- It facilities the training process.
- It facilitates managerial & career planning.
- Different individual & group employees are rated by comparing their performances by HRIS.
- The accidents & their costs are recorded by it.
- It maintains contracts of employees & their seniority lists.
- It monitors the attendance of employees.
- Compliance with labor laws is facilitated by it.
So on the basis of these above benefits, strategic planning and functions of the human development information system, you may easily understand and develop it effectively.
Hello everyone! This is Richard Daniels, a full-time passionate researcher & blogger. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics. He loves to write about economics, e-commerce, and business-related topics for students to assist them in their studies. That's the sole purpose of Business Study Notes.
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