Allocate Software plumps for cloud HR to escape spreadsheet hell
- Summary:
- Old, not fit for purpose and too many spreadsheets…time to implement a cloud-based HRMS.
Jan Watson, HR director at workforce IT firm, Allocate Software, is looking forward to end of next month.
That’s when the company will no longer be dependent on an old rostering system, following the introduction of a cloud-based Human Resources Management System (HRMS) from Fairsail.
As Watson explains:
We use the rostering system to provide us with a database of employees and some of their details, but no way is that a fully-fledged HR system. It doesn’t provide workflows and it doesn’t provide rules for the global business we now run. Coupled with that, a lot of data is based on spreadsheets.
Information, such as who was on maternity leave, part time workers, contractor numbers and headcount generally, are all held on different spreadsheets.
In short, she says:
There are lots of reasons why that system has to go.
Watson did, however, at least consider the existing system as part of its evaluation for an HRMS – after all, as she points out: “it’s free and on-site”, but it would also have required a huge amount of time and IT resources to make it fit for purpose.
So, while it was a perfectly respectable rostering system, it was clearly time to put in a ‘proper’ HR system in place.
By banishing spreadsheets and the other inefficiencies, Allocate hopes to be able to free up the five full-time HR team, as well as others who take on HR admin on top of their other roles, from repetitive admin tasks. With more time on their hands they will be able to focus on tasks that add business value to the 330 or so Allocate employees.
Until now, HR has had to rely on IT to fix any problems that occur with the rostering system. So the opportunity of changing to a cloud-based solution, which doesn’t require any on-site IT input, was an attractive prospect.
Adopting a cloud and mobile-enabled solution was also a factor because the company has multiple locations, including most recently the addition of a new software development center in Macedonia. Having a multicurrency facility was therefore also important.
Integration was another significant factor in its decision. Although the company’s existing performance management system will in future be taken over by the Fairsail solution, Allocate’s benefits system and rostering systems will remain separate.
So Allocate needed to find a solution that was able to interface with these tools, as well as payroll, which Fairsail’s Payview tool provides.
Watson is also hoping that the new system will ensure tighter integration with the finance department, enabling HR and finance to be working from the same data and able to cut and dice that data to pull out different reports. As Watson sums up simply:
It will enable HR and finance to utilise the data in different ways.
Selection process
While there are many cloud-based HRMS to choose from, Fairsail appealed specifically, says Watson because:
We liked the look and feel of it and the fact that it was on modern architecture and the ease of interfacing through the Payview tool.
Watson explains that, this “modern architecture” means that Fairsail has been built as a cloud-based HR system, rather than, for example, a payroll company that has added on HR functionality.
When diginomica spoke to Watson at the end of July, the company was still in the data gathering stage, pulling together data, workflows and documentation before implementation begins.
The company is using this implementation as an opportunity to examine its existing workflows and processes to establish whether some things can be done more efficiently. Watson points out:
We are reviewing every process as part of the implementation plan – it’s a lot of work.
Watson is hoping that this hard work put in at the planning stage will pay dividends when these new workflows are automated. On-boarding, for example, will be much easier with the new system.
When a starter joins, there’s a chain of people and actions that need to be followed. Fairsail can send out documents to the relevant people automatically in the right order and they can electronically sign any documents they need to.
This cuts out the annoying to-ing and fro-ing as people send in a form only to have it sent back because they haven’t filled it in properly or need it signed off by someone else first. Automation will make it a much faster, cleaner process for everyone concerned, hopes Watson.
Another clear benefit is that headcount will be in real time. Previously, the spreadsheets would only be updated once a month, which meant that people wouldn’t necessarily have accurate headcount data at meetings. Now, records can be updated immediately. Watson adds:
The other thing we quite like is that the leave booking system is quite user friendly and configurable and when someone’s leave is approved it appears straight in their calendar.
Over the next week or two, Allocate will complete its workforce and process review, and then begin implementation and training with a view of going live end of September.
Once established, the HRMS will become its main portal for all employee information, housing information such as company values and announcements.
With the new system in place offering efficient, timely HR information that’s easier for all employees, not just those in the HR department, Watson hopes that it will enhance the standing of HR in the company:
I think it may help with the image of HR, because we can it may help with internal communication because can be seen as a little bit because we have so many remote works and people who don’t know what we do all day hoping we can portray a modern up to date image for the function.