HR manager's bookshelf

The Human Resources Software Handbook • Boundaryless HR: Human capital management in the global economy • Enterprise Knowledge Portals • The Information Paradox • Revolutionizing IT

These HR technology book reviews cover a wide range of approaches: from the tactical challenge of HR software assessment, selection and implementation to the futuristic directions of global HR management and global human resource management systems (HRMS), and emerging enterprise knowledge portals. It concludes with two books that take a serious look at how to increase the odds of success with any IT-related project, and how to maximize the benefits achieved.

The Human Resources Software Handbook
By James G. Meade
374 pages, Jossey Bass Pfeiffer (2003)
ISBN 0-7879-6251-1
Available from Wiley Canada,
1-800-567-4797,
www.wiley.com


Subtitled “Evaluating technology solutions for your organization,” this is a guide to the whole process of HRMS software selection and implementation. Beginning with questions like ‘Do I even need HR technology?’ and ‘Where do I start?’ the book moves through to a survey of specific human resource information system (HRIS) packages:

•low-end software including Abra, People-Trak and !Trak-It HR;

•mid-market players such as iVantage, hrWindows, UltiPro, Genesys and Abra Enterprise; and

•high-end systems: PeopleSoft, Oracle and SAP.

The book also provides an overview of specialized functional software for time and attendance, compensation planning, performance review, benefits management, skills management, employee self service and the many facets of candidate screening, applicant tracking and e-recruiting.

Comes with a CD-ROM packed with information including more than a dozen low- and mid-range HRIS product demos.

Target readers are HR professionals with little IT background or expertise and even those who have a strong IT department to support them. The author aims to build readers’ comfort level in dealing with software vendors and consultants offering various services, developing ROI estimates and taking a step-by-step approach to HR software projects:

•needs analysis;

•issuing the RFP;

•demos;

•references;

•selection of software using a matrix;

•negotiating an agreement; and

•planning the implementation.

The format includes brief software overviews and summaries, sample screen shots, package selection checklists and other practical tools.

Boundaryless HR: Human capital management in the global economy
Edited by Karen Beaman
346 pages, IHRIM (2002)
ISBN 0-9679239-4-8
International Association for Human Resource Information Management,
1-800-946-6363,
www.ihrim.org


Many HR leaders and HR technology professionals are members of IHRIM, publisher of this compilation of 19 chapters by thought leaders in business, HR, consulting and HRMS. Chapters dealing with HRMS topics in particular include:

•Globalizing HRIS: the new transnational model;

•Virtual global HR organization;

•Developing a global HR systems strategy;

•Global networks, local systems; and

•Global HRMS: making the selection work for you.

There are sections on global HR function and global human capital systems. Future trends and leading practices are emphasized.

The insights are relevant to HR leaders, strategists and HR technology practitioners whose organizations are facing the challenges of operating across national and regional boundaries, time zones and cultures.

“Making globalization work demands new types of expertise that traditional organizations often lack. While technology has eliminated a number of barriers to globalization (most notably those involving time and space), many significant barriers still remain, particularly those involving people and the organizations we build around them. The purpose of this book is to provide some insight to help HR professionals on how to overcome these barriers.”

Enterprise Knowledge Portals
By Heidi Collins
430 pages, Amacom (2003)
ISBN 0-8144-0708-0
At bookstores or 1-800-565-5758, www.mcgrawhill.ca


This book is not specifically about HR systems or portals, but there is a lot of applicable information for HR professionals. In many large companies, HR practitioners are involved in enterprise portal strategies from the perspective of planning for major change and business transformation that will alter the nature of work for much of the workforce.

“Where corporate portals helped streamline knowledge management between companies and their employees, enterprise knowledge portals are revolutionizing not only internal information and knowledge flow, but also business-to-consumer interactions from customer service to e- and m-commerce. Portal technology itself is evolving rapidly, with more scalable architecture and the flexibility to interconnect innumerable applications.”

Intended readers are business managers interested in designing and implementing a state-of-the-art portal solution, including:

•strategies for identifying the communities and work processes the portal effort will target;

•suggestions for organizational and team structures to maximize portal benefits;

•activities, tasks and templates that can be customized to build a portal project plan;

•methods for determining infrastructure and personnel requirements for portal design, development and maintenance work; and

•financial metrics for establishing and monitoring ROI on a portal project.

The Information Paradox
By John Thorp
301 pages, McGraw-Hill Ryerson (Rev. ed., 2003)
ISBN 0-07-092698-0
At bookstores or 1-800-565-5758, www.mcgrawhill.ca


Fujitsu Consulting’s (formerly DMR) Center for Strategic Leadership has updated its important 1999 book with this new edition. The information paradox lies in “the conflict between the widely held belief that information, and investment in IT to provide that information, is a ‘good thing’ and the all too frequent reality that we cannot demonstrate a connection between IT investments and business results.”

The book outlines a comprehensive benefits realization approach. The focus is on program design and management, investment portfolio management and governance through the full cycle.

Numerous tools, models and methodology examples are provided, using in-depth examples from companies such as banks (National Bank of Canada, Bank of America, Barclay’s Bank), Boeing, SaskTel, Qantas Airways, Ericsson and Nova Gas Transmission and public-sector organizations.

The author states his objective as follows:

•to expose business managers to the critical issues in managing information technology’s bottom-line impact;

•to expose IT experts to the key business implications of managing IT; and

•to provide all managers with tested perspectives, methods and techniques for bringing “information” and “technology” together into winning IT-enabled change programs that deliver value to the organization.

HR leaders need these insights and abilities when taking responsibility for HR technology. They can also use these insights and disciplines in coaching executives, in management development efforts and senior management discussions about technology directions and investments in their companies.

Revolutionizing IT
By David Andrews and Kenneth Johnson
237 pages, Wiley (2002)
ISBN 0-471-25041-4
Available from Wiley Canada,
1-800-567-4797,
www.wiley.com


This is a non-technical guide for tackling a lack of concrete business benefits from IT, projects that overrun budgets, initiatives that become more complex as they proceed, scope creep and unrealistic expectations from management.

The discussion addresses five widely held, but unrealistic, assumptions:

•the environment will remain stable during a project;

•users can define, in advance, exactly what is needed;

•complex problems can be solved completely on the first attempt;

•requirements can be precisely defined before packaged software is selected; and

•users will cheerfully accept changes in their work environment.

While the book does not focus on HR technology, all these difficulties frequently arise in HRMS projects.

The intended audience is business leaders interested in “the art of using information technology effectively.”

Readers will gain perspective and be exposed to new mindsets on:

•assessing, selecting and using packaged software;

•building software yourself;

•using outside services and consultants; and

•managing IT professionals.

While project management themes run throughout the book, the main messages are aimed more at the strategists and decision-makers who determine which IT priorities will be addressed, and how goals and project controls are established even before specific projects are launched.

Ray Brillinger is a senior consultant with IBM Business Consulting Services. He provides change management, business transformation and organization effectiveness services to client organizations. He can be reached at (905) 316-8733 or [email protected].

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