The Epic Lifecycle of HCM Systems

For those who have been in the industry for a while, you know that HR and payroll technology can make our work lives easier and improve the overall employee experience.  However, it is a complex ecosystem that you need to continuously assess, optimize, and leverage to the benefit or your employees. It’s for this reason that we like to think of HR system management as a lifecycle as opposed to a process with a beginning and an end.

This is the beginning of a series dedicated to the fascinating HCM system lifecycle. Subsequent articles will look at each step more in-depth.

Planning

You’re not going to wing planning a birthday party, so don’t wing implementing and stabilizing your HCM systems. In the planning phase, it’s all about aligning your system strategy with the goals and needs of the organization and mapping out the path from where you are to where you want to be.

During the planning phase, you’ll want to establish the objectives upfront. This includes:

1. Seek feedback from end users
2. Align on priorities
3. Document requirements
4. Set scope and budget
5. Determine timing
6. Identify your team

Why? Well, we want to make sure the system caters to our unique needs. To do this, we recommend you start with the end in mind. Consider the following questions and analyze your responses:

• What are the goals of the project?
• What does the business need?
• What do the employees need?
• What issues do you need to solve?

Now, replace the “need” in the questions above with “want” and repeat the process.

With these important questions answered, it’s time to develop that plan! Understanding the needs and wants is one thing. Now you have to establish the scope, timeline, budget, and resources available to accomplish those goals.  What are the obstacles that might impact a successful outcome?  Other company initiatives?  Key employee conflicts?  Contract timing?  Once you have this information, you can start to develop a go forward plan.

Analysis

In the analysis stage we need to examine every nook and cranny of existing processes, data, and workflows. We’re hunting for areas that need a little sprinkle of HR magic. We need to understand how everything works together before we start thinking about changes.

Our team uses the following tactics to analyze your HR technology’s current state:

• Artifact review
• Discovery interviews
• Shadowing
• Process walk-through
• Data validation and reporting

Gathering data is key here. Employee data, payroll information, HR policies – they’re clues to solve the problem. But it’s not just about quantity; it’s about quality. Accurate and relevant data is imperative for an effective HCM system.

Don’t be surprised if this prompts a discussion on what SHOULD be done moving forward, not just what you’ve always done. You might have to complete some work outside the system in order to make this happen and bring things forward.

We’re fans of the STOP-START-CONTINUE (or KEEP) method of interviewing system users. This allows people to tell you what they hate, what they want to see, and what is working well. The goal is to validate your policies, seek different perspectives, and understand the employee experience. Read the ebook to learn more about STOP-START-CONTINUE.

Process mapping can absolutely help you understand where activities are streamlined and where you might have too much going on. This also includes how it moves between your HR system and other applications. For critical processes:

1. Starting point
2. Decisions
3. Approvals/Notifications
4. Bottlenecks
5. Ending point

From here you can analyze your documentation and reports for missing data and opportunities to standardize.

Along the way, one key factor to mention…

Document.

Document.

Document.

If documenting doesn’t sound fun, then think about it like creating a wish list for your dream HCM system. It is from this documentation you will be able to start prioritizing the issues and lay the ground work for a change plan. And here’s a pro tip: involve all the stakeholders. It’s a team effort to make sure everyone’s needs are considered.

Design

Your documentation informs your design process. Maybe that’s why the text above has document and documentation all over the paragraphs! The design phase is where you create the blueprint for your future state. You want to ensure you have a list of requirements:

• Business requirements
• User requirements
• Tech requirements
• Functional requirements

Now rank these requirements and include if they’re “must haves” or nice to haves.”

Right about now we can look within.  Does your current tech stack meet 80% of your requirements?  If so, you may simply need to stabilize and/or optimize.  While seemingly interchangeable there are some differences between the two.

Stabilization addresses critical issues with structural elements, security, calculations, and process gaps to have compliant, accurate, and reliable data and outcomes in the platform. These initiatives should be prioritized first.

Optimization leverages the features and functionality of the system fully to improve the end user experience, process efficiencies, people insights, and overall return on investment (ROI).

For those requirements your current technology can’t meet, the design stage looks at the overall system architecture to see how an integrated solution with a new point solution might work, whether it’s a stand-alone timekeeping system, LMS, or benefits administration platform.  How they all play together is key to a seamless experience.

Of course, we’re not just going for looks – we want brains too. An intuitive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design are the keys to a system that not only works but is a joy to use. Always design with the end user experience in mind.

But, the heaviest lifting might come from your change management plan and strategy. People tend to hate change even if they’ve been asking for things to change. You’ll want to ensure you have a solid stakeholder communication plan, everyone understands the impact to system users, and a plan for future training needs.

Phew, we’re ready to move onto the execution phase, right?

Not quite yet.

Now it’s time to revisit and revise your plan. Build in some time for careful evaluation and time to think about possible iterations. It can happen that the parameters of the project or the needs change over time. Make sure you’re taking into account if you need additional expertise/resources, budget, time, or if there are any new risks to the project’s success.

Implementation/Execution

Time to roll up your sleeves and get to work! The implementation phase is where we take action on all our carefully made plans. Building, testing, communicating, and training are all key activities in this phase however some areas take precedence over others as we (hopefully!) planned out already.

First thing’s first – you have to work with a stable and secure foundation. In the stabilization stage, the key areas of focus should be on the system structure, key integrations, security, compliance/data integrity issues, critical functionality, and workflows. Pay careful attention to any data validation as well as system configuration testing – the secret ingredients to ensure everything runs like a well-oiled machine.

The stabilization areas are mission critical but aren’t typically what end users notice.  For that, you need to get to phase 2 – optimization – where we look at additional functionality desired, custom reports & dashboards, and employee experience upgrades.

Deploying the plan and integrating it into HR and payroll operations is like a grand finale, but we need it to be more fireworks than fizzle. We want a smooth transition and happy users. To this end we have to bring them along on the journey by executing the communication and change management plan alongside this implementation work.  Your build might be flawless, but unless your employees are comfortable and prepared to use it, you won’t see the fruits of your labor.

Maintenance

This phase can often be overlooked, but regular updates, clean data, bug fixes, upgrades, and security patches are the tools that keep the HCM system running smoothly.

Practitioners who learn their system and take the provided training tend to be the HR professionals who can leverage their system best and use it at a competitive advantage. How do you do this? Here are our recommendations:

• Identify system owner and back up(s)
• Complete available system training
• Find user groups or external support
• Request and read update notices – please do not forget this! An out-of-date system is a security risk!
• Test safely and thoroughly

Then we need to establish system governance. This includes documenting (yes – again!) the roles & responsibilities, policies, updated system configuration, and audit requirements, for ongoing system management.  It also is good cross-functional accountability to have a partner in IT to help with risk assessments. Finally! It’s important to monitor performance and gather feedback.

Wait, didn’t we start by gathering feedback? That’s correct! From gathering feedback in the maintenance phase, we might cycle back through to the planning phase.

We’re listening to user feedback, adapting to evolving HR and payroll needs, and making sure our system stays ahead of the curve.

And there you have it – the epic HCM system lifecycle! We’ve covered planning, analysis, design, implementation/execution, and maintenance. Understanding and managing each stage is like having a cheat code for HR and payroll operation.

Remember, HCM systems aren’t just a set and forget tech tool. They’re systems that need your hands-on approach to streamline process, ensure data integrity, and make employee feel comfortable with the system.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with your HCM system? Fret not! If you need a guiding hand, consider reaching out to Willory’s consulting services. They’re ready to help you optimize and stabilize your HR tech world.

Stay tuned for more s in our series on the system development lifecycle. Until next time, may your HR systems be seamless and your payroll be error-free!