Commissioning an HR and payroll system: 5 tips
Commissioning an HR and payroll system is no longer a massive IT project. Modern systems can be easily modified and come equipped with many of the most common features.
However, you should pay attention to the following five things in procuring and commissioning an HR and payroll system.
1. Put together a comments group from the future users of the HR and payroll system
Once you have successfully procured an HR system, it is a good idea to enlist some of the future users for a comments group in the project phase of the commissioning process. The group can indicate their needs relating to the HR and payroll system and comment on the planned solutions. At the same time, the comments group provides a pool of agents to help with the deployment of the software.
2. Train the users before commissioning the HR and payroll system
The proficiency of the HR and payroll system’s end users is directly proportionate to the benefits provided by the system – both in terms of time saved and the accuracy of the information. This means that user training is one of the most important aspects of system commissioning.
Good training methods include joint events and video materials. The training organised for the commissioning of the HR system of our customer PerkinElmer is an excellent example of how to ensure the deployment of a new system in the most painless way possible.
Obviously, we no longer need to rely on face-to-face training alone and can instead include a wide array of end user instructions in the modern software solutions themselves.
3. Consider the GDPR in the context of HR and payroll systems
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has introduced new requirements to be considered in terms of the data security of software. For this reason, the commissioning process should only entail entering the company’s essential information in the HR and payroll systems and documenting the processes and purposes of data processing.
4. Accept help from the system supplier
We at Accountor HR help customers make the right decisions and train main users to make future changes independently. It is for the customer to indicate how the processes implemented in the software should run and what kinds of access rights should be provided to the staff. After commissioning, our support service can provide assistance.
Ideally, the commissioning of HR and payroll software is a path of learning which includes discussions, sparks new thoughts, creates new electronic methodologies for the company and provides an introduction to the new system’s features and their use.
5. Look into the future of the HR system
You do not need to do everything at once. It is advisable to divide the commissioning of an HR and payroll system into smaller parts to keep it from feeling like such a massive undertaking.
First, the management of employment relationships and possibly payroll processing must be added to the system. After this, it is easy to supplement the software with modules for competence and performance management.
It is a good idea to listen to and consider users’ views especially during the initial months of use, since user experiences will be beneficial for the future development of the entire system. Ideally, the development is a process of continuous dialogue between end users, business units and main users of the software.
