Assignment 3: Phase III – Project Management Roadmap: Gladwell Stores Assessment

QUESTION

Assignment 3: Phase III – Project Management Roadmap

With the justification of an HRIS solidified, you need to show your client how you will implement the HRIS by providing a project management roadmap, explaining the costs associated with implementation, and discussing metrics that you will use to measure the success of the HR function.

Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:

Project Management Process

1. Create a project management plan for your client that outlines how you will implement the HRIS in Gladwell Grocery Stores. Explain the various steps that should be included to ensure that the implementation runs smoothly.

HRIS Cost Justification

1. Create a cost benefit analysis matrix for the HRIS vendor you have chosen. Analyze the cost justification strategies that you will use to justify the cost of the HRIS, including data that identify each benefit and cost component examined, estimates of the dollar amount for each, estimates on when the organization will incur each cost and receive each benefit, and documentation justifying each decision you made in listing these benefits.

HR Metrics

1. Recommend the HR metrics that you believe will bring the most significant value to the HR function that the HRIS will be supporting. Justify your recommendation.
2. Use at least (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

5. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
   1. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.

1. 1. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
   2. Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze HR metrics to support the justification of the cost of an HRIS.
• Create a project management plan and prepare the organization for the implementation.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in human resource information systems.
• Write clearly and concisely about human resource information systems using proper writing mechanics.

Assignment Overview

Over the course of the next several weeks, you will go through the different phases of implementing an HRIS for the hypothetical company, Gladwell Grocery Stores. Read the case scenario details for Gladwell Grocery Stores below, and refer back to the information for each phase of the implementation. The HRIS implementation is separated into the four (4) phases described in the table below.

Gladwell Grocery Stores Case Scenario

Gladwell Grocery Stores has ten (10) stores in upstate New York. They have approximately 400 – 440 employees. Most of the employees are part time, with approximately 45% of them full time. The operations manager, Tom Bell, also acts as the HR manager and travels to each location each week to take care of recruiting, scheduling, hiring, and answering questions for the employees as needed. He also takes care of payroll using Excel spreadsheets and has computer software to print payroll checks.

Mr. Bell approaches you, an independent HR consultant and owner of your own consulting firm, for a proposal. He would like to greatly reduce his travel to each location each week, due to the increase in gasoline costs. He is curious to know if there is anything you can suggest in helping him complete his HR tasks more efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. He hopes there is some way he can do part of his HR tasks from his office instead of traveling to each location every week.

ANSWER

Gladwell Stores Assessment

Project Management for HRIS Implementation

Every HRIS software requires proper management to achieve intended success. Mismanagement of an HRIS would inevitably lead to its failure to meet intended purpose and cost-effectiveness. The adoption of any HRIS, such as Bitrix24, necessitates construction of a well-structured roadmap, with steps to be carried out one at a time, until the entire human resource management system is fully incorporated into the business. For the implementation of the Bitrix24 system at Gladwell Grocery Stores, the following steps would be very practical:

1. Considering the change in management. Whenever a new system is being introduced into a business, the impact of the change on the employees has to be taken into consideration. Employees respond to management changes differently. For the HRIS implementation to be successful, a proper communication strategy needs to be built to ensure that employees are aware of the system’s purpose and its benefits to them (Legare, 1995).
2. Next, hiring an HRIS consultant would be pivotal to the software’s implementation. A Bitrix24 consultant or a consultant from any other HRIS vendor, with a good understanding of the HRIS market, would help Mr. Bell understand better the functionality of the software and the changes that would come with its adoption into the firm.
3. Third, migration of data from Mr. Bell’s manual written records to the new HRIS system needs to be planned. The recorded data has to be reviewed to ascertain its accuracy. All the employees need to check and update their personal information. Also, proper security has to be ensured by the HRIS provider, as Bitrix24 keeps users’ private data into the cloud. The consultant hired will help in overseeing this process.
4. System testing is a vital step in the implementation of any HRIS. Every aspect of the HRIS needs to be run and tested to be sure that everything works as is expected. A schedule for the software’s testing, configuration, and its setup should also be made. After setup, check that payroll system is working correctly in sync with the other interfaces and programs.
5. Adequate user training. Every employee that will use the new system needs to be adequately trained, to achieve maximum output of the HRIS software.
6. This should be done to avoid expenses that were not planned for. Implementation of an HRIS can be quite expensive, involving IT experts and management. Mr. Bell requires preparing of a well-informed budget for the implementation plan.
7. Going live. After all the above steps have been done, the software may now be introduced to its users, for their first-hand use.
8. The HRIS software requires for the post going live assessment of difficulties and errors. All the system’s features need checking for proper functioning. Any mistakes and bugs occurring need to be fixed within a short time, by the vendor, Bitrix24. The system should also be checked to determine whether it is working with any integrated databases such as the payroll system.

HRIS Implementation Cost Analysis

After the successful implementation of Bitrix24, a cost-benefit analysis needs to be done, to assess whether the project is advantageous to Gladwell Grocery Stores or not. A calculation of the total cost of purchasing and implementing the software should be done, to compare it to the full benefits accrued from the use of the system, over a period. Gladwell Grocery Stores needs included solutions for payroll, employee to manager communication, and ease in recruitment and hiring of new employees. Mr. Bell, the firm’s operations manager, was also concerned with minimizing the costs he was continually incurring while traveling to sort employee needs at the firm’s outlets. Approximating monthly fuel expenses for Mr Bell as $108, and the cost for paperwork used in record keeping before introduction of Bitrix24 as $94, Mr. Bell saves $93 with the opening of the software because the cost for installation is quoted as $99, and monthly data costs for usage are approximated as $10. This data can be represented on an X and Y axis, to come up with a cost-benefit analysis matrix for Gladwell Stores implementing the Bitrix24 software (Kirkpatrick, Weiss, 1996).

Receipts to show the cost of fuel and paperwork used by Mr. Bell can be used to ascertain this data. These will be used as the documents for calculating the total expenses for the firm before the HRIS implementation.

HR Metrics

These are measurable targets that a firm uses to calculate the benefit or effectiveness of a system or project (Delorme, Arcand, 2009). Gladwell may use the following metrics to calculate the implemented HRIS’s value:

• A survey may be done to determine the correctness of information communicated to employees via the software, and the time consumed before the data reaches all the intended recipients. This should then be compared to the time it would take to project the same information without the use of the HRIS.
• Total hiring cost using the HRIS, compared to the cost of hiring with Mr. Bell carrying out the process by himself, traveling to do interview and employee training.
• Collaboration and teamwork. This can be assessed by weekly meetings to detail how the new HRIS has boosted teamwork at the firm (Lawler III, Levenson, Boudreau, 2004).

References

Legare, T. L. (1995). MINIMIZING RESISTANCE TO TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE A    Power and Politics Approach. INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, 12(4),       59-61.

Delorme, M., & Arcand, M. (2009). HRIS implementation and deployment: a conceptual      framework of the new roles, responsibilities and competences for HR professionals. International journal of Business information systems, 5(2), 148-161.

Lawler III, E. E., Levenson, A. R., & Boudreau, J. W. (2004). HR metrics and analytics: Use and impact. People and Strategy, 27(4), 27.

Kirkpatrick, C. H., & Weiss, J. (Eds.). (1996). Cost-benefit analysis and project appraisal in     developing countries. Edward Elgar Publishing.