Did you know that about 30% of new hires quit within 3 months and replacing an employee costs 33% of their annual salary? A well-designed recruitment, onboarding, and employee engagement system can help retain staff. The need for appropriate software becomes even more pressing given that 98% of HR people report feeling "burned out" and 88% say they don't like their job.
Is there a silver lining? First, there is a need to rethink the hiring and onboarding process. Second, acute staffing problems can be solved with the proper Human Resources Information System (HRIS) in place.
Let's start with the basics - how to create a web-based HRIS system using IT outsourcing services and what the result of mobile development of such a system might look like.
What is an HRIS?
HRIS is defined as Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Other terms such as HCM or HRMS may also be found. This system can be integrated with any employee management app for greater efficiency, or you can turn to web development to extend the functionality of a classic HRIS.
Initially, HRIS was used solely for keeping administrative employee records. However, the more complex the HR industry became, the more features this software solution offered.
HRIS now covers areas such as onboarding, recruiting, onboarding (for example, to help you onboard a development team within a staff augmentation collaboration model), and employee data management. Anyway, modern HRIS is easy to use as it is cloud-based or on-premises.
What HRIS does:
- HRIS helps businesses to manage the personal data of employees (contact information, date of birth, etc.);
- Organizes work-related information (jobs, department, salary, etc.);
- Maintains records of leave requests and time-off data;
- Generates reports;
- It helps to choose services, make inquiries and use the employee self-service portal.
Why do you need a Human Resource Information System?
As businesses expand, the need for well-structured employee information grows. Keeping data structured and easily accessible becomes more and more difficult. You need to be a jack of all trades to be able to juggle business-critical things at once. This is why companies rely on HRIS implementation.
HRIS is either an all-in-one cloud-based system or on-premises software for storing and managing employee data in one place. It can be a customized or ready-to-use SaaS solution.
Features such as customizable reports, automated tracking, applicant screening, and automatic payroll let you keep all HR issues covered. At the same time, data centralization also helps businesses meet industry standards and requirements. Any urgent HR issues can now be easily tracked and amended.
HRIS can be of use to everyone - small business owners, large employers, and recruiters alike. However, the biggest obstacle in this process may not even be the complexity of the system, but how to hire software developers with the right skills. After all, expertise is the backbone of high-quality web development. We can state one thing: the DDI team's expertise in software development allowed us to deliver the best result to our customer.
What is the idea of the HRIS project?
Today, businesses face the growing challenge of building a workforce made up of the most relevant people with the right skills. The DDI Development team is ready to meet this challenge. Having extensive experience in recruiting software development, we know how to build a solution that will provide consistent and automated management of the recruitment and hiring process.
By properly setting up HRIS (even if it is MVP), you will get the following:
- A complete picture of each employee;
- Automated and standardized record keeping;
- End-to-end reporting;
- Self-service portal for employees;
- A streamlined structure that will provide recognizable accountability and operational consistency.
Harmonized data management leads to better employee engagement and therefore to the right career plans, professional development, and streamlined business processes to achieve strategic goals.
Structure of the Human Resource Information System project
Below you will find insights that shed light on issues such as technology, work methodology, team composition, and the HRIS creation process.
HRIS development process
The project is built on a proven scheme. From the very beginning, the Business Analyst of our team conducted meaningful conversations with the client to collect requirements for the future product.
All requirements were documented and structured in a single document. This information helped our specialists to get a clear vision of the product the client was looking for.
The next step was to create a specification for engineers, which stated who the users of HRIS are, how they should use the platform, and what, for example, the functionality of the system should be:
- Reporting and analytics
- Payroll
- Database management
- API integrations
- Clock-in and clock-out features
- Gamification, etc.
Once the milestones were defined and described, it became necessary to estimate the software development time. After that, the Project Manager handed over the HRIS project roadmap and estimated costs to the customer for discussion.
The client agreed with all the proposals of our specialists, after which a backlog (planned scope of work) was drawn up and divided into two-week sprints. In total, it took 12 months to implement the project, and therefore 24 sprints.
At the end of each previous sprint and at the beginning of the next one, the project team (which includes UI/UX designers, developers, QA engineers, and other specialists) reviewed the list of implemented features and the list of those that still need to be implemented.
Detailed bug fixing and refactoring work was also carried out to ensure that HRIS meets all the functional requirements and wishes of the customer and users.
Methodology
To ensure that HRIS is up and running properly, our project team adopted an Agile project management approach. This choice is quite justified, as the Agile methodology has allowed us to achieve the following outcomes:
- The customer could make changes during the project implementation;
- The team could easily respond to the client's suggestions and make appropriate changes to the system in time;
- By the end of the forecast period, the project team received a fully functioning product that met the requirements of both the client and users;
- The project goals were achieved due to well-coordinated cooperation.
Team
A team consisting of the following specialists has been working on the HRIS development:
- Business Analyst (BA)
- Project Manager (PM)
- 2 Front-end Engineers
- 2 Backend Engineers
- UI/UX Designer
- Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer
- Android Engineer
- iOS Engineer
User Roles
Anyone with administrator permission can access the platform's functionality. Below we will outline three key roles within HRIS, although there may be many more.
HR Manager: This is the main user who has access to the personal and work-related information of employees, can generate reports, do analysis, manage payroll, and many other things.
User: Any employee of your company. People with the User role can sign up for the system, download the mobile application, enter their data, specify the clock-in and clock-out time, request time-off, and much more.
Administrator: This is a user with the highest level of rights and permissions within the Human Resource Information System.
HR Manager Dashboard
After logging in as an HR manager, you get access to all employee-related data. Personal data of employees, information about their performance, requests for time-off, salaries, etc. are available at a distance of one or two clicks. Let's take a closer look at the navigation list for the HR manager:
- Dashboard
- Employees
- Recruiting
- Onboarding
- Payroll
- Time Off
- Performance
- Reports & Analytics
- Settings
Employees
The Employees section provides information about each employee in the form of a well-structured table:
- ID#
- Name
- Position
- Department
- Type
- Status
- Location
- Contacts
You can check not only the name and position of the employee but also the location of each person and emergency contacts.
Recruiting
Once in the Recruiting section, the HR manager gets access to insights about the recruiting process. Here you can track vacancies, a list of candidates by position or department, a recruiting funnel, as well as general recruiting analytics for a selected period of time. In addition, any data can be converted into a convenient report and sent to your supervisor.
Onboarding
Once in the Onboarding section, the HR manager can set up the process of smooth entry of new employees into the company. Here you can enter the personal data of the employee who is undergoing the onboarding process, as well as provide him/her with the necessary training and introductory materials.
Payroll
The Payroll section provides the HR manager with data on salaries, benefits, and any other information related to employee payments. For ease of use, the list of payments is broken down by month, which allows you to see which employees should receive salaries or bonuses on each specific day of the week.
User Dashboard
For ease of use, employees are provided with on-the-go access to the Human Resource Information System. For this purpose, a mobile application is available, which can be accessed via a smartphone anytime and anywhere.
After the User downloads the mobile application on his/her phone or tablet, he/she will be presented with the following options:
- Home
- Personal
- Team
- Docs
Let's go through the key sections of HRIS for Users.
Home
The main content of the HRIS screen is optimized for the key tasks of the User. It is here that the User can indicate the time of arrival at work (the Clock In button), request a day off, sick leave, or vacation (the Time off button), as well as check the balance of time off at the moment.
We believe that such functionality on the main screen is more than enough for busy employees to easily use the application.
Personal
In the Personal section, each employee sees such subsections as Tasks, Calendar, and My Info. When going to the Tasks section, the User gets a list of tasks classified by status: In Progress, Top Priority, Done or Other. The My Info subsection contains information about days off, salary, bonuses, and other data to keep track of.
Team
Depending on the User's position in the company and the level of his/her access to HRIS, he/she can see in the Team section the organizational structure of the company or only his/her department. In any case, all key information about colleagues is available to the User "on the go". By clicking on the colleague's name, the User sees the position and department and can contact him/her by phone, e-mail or chat.
This significantly speeds up the solution of work tasks and makes it possible to maintain friendly relations, especially in the case of scattered departments and remote work.
Docs
In the Documents section, Users get access to the list of documents that are publicly available to all employees of the company. To make it more user-friendly, they are divided into the following categories:
- Leave
- Directory
- Help desk
- Performance
- Attendance
- Payroll
- Exit
Categories are customizable, which adds flexibility to the HRIS as a whole.
Admin Dashboard
Once you have entered the Human Resource Information System as an Administrator, you have access to all sections of the portal. The detailed data is structured on the left side as follows:
- Dashboard
- Company
- Insights
- Reports & Analytics
- Surveys
- Calendar
- Documents
- Settings
Below we take a closer look at the Company, Reports & Analytics, and Insights sections.
Company
Going to the Company section, you can access such modules as Employees, Company Structure, Changes and Reports. You can see the overall picture, as well as detailed information about each employee, including their position in the company, work results, and contacts for quick access. You can also add a new employee on this page by using the Add employee button.
Insights
In the Insights section, you have both an overview of key data (Overview) and multi-level access to detailed information in subsections such as Skills, Performance, Engagement, 1 on 1, and Training.
Let's take a look at the Training subsection. Since training is critical for the professional development of each of your employees, you can track the learning progress of both departments and each individual.
Thus, on the Training page, you can see data on active employees, an analysis of procrastination during training, and the number of hours spent per week on corporate training. You can also choose the most suitable day of the week for training so that the learning process does not interfere with the work tasks of your staff.
Reports & Analytics
With this section, you will get insights into employee engagement, turnover, retention rates, movements within departments, employee career growth, and so on. All this is there to help you navigate when you need additional information to make vital business decisions.
Documents
Using this section, you get instant access to information about who reports to whom, what the situation with bonuses is, what the organizational structure of the company looks like, what changes have taken place in the company in terms of hiring or dismissal over the past six months or a month, etc.
No more multi-stage requests and waiting. Just a few clicks - and the entire list of necessary documents is at your disposal at any time, even during off-hours.
Key features of the Human Resource Information System
Employee sourcing and onboarding: Keeping track of all candidates, screening them, and analyzing hundreds of CVs is time and effort-consuming. Now, these tasks are automated and solved with the help of an integrated HRIS. Typically, an applicant tracking system (ATS) can be implemented in combination with other key enterprise statistics such as employee retention data.
Staff retention options: With AI-based tools, you can analyze employee behavioral patterns, salary level, position, and other data to predict their professional growth or possible dismissal.
Employee database: The company's management and each employee have access to contact information about colleagues and a directory of other work-related materials.
Customizable reports and analytics: Reports and analytics based on numbers allow you to make data-driven decisions and identify weaknesses in your business to strengthen it.
Administration of benefits and related queries: HRIS provides centralized tracking of the delivery and use of employee benefits.
Payroll processing: HRIS functionality allows employers to track the attendance of employees and calculate salaries accordingly, and employees - to clock in and out, claim payments and check payslips.
What are the benefits of the Human Resource Information System for your business?
Let's take a look at the main advantages of HRIS for your business.
Data and documents are organized and under control: You and your HR specialists can access the database in a few seconds and, thanks to the search system, find any detail that might have been lost during the paperwork.
Work issues are streamlined: With an implemented HRIS, employees get answers to their queries faster and feel valued as you invest in HR management tools and therefore improve the working environment for employees.
Focus on more business-critical issues: Instead of spending valuable resources on tedious day-to-day issues, you can focus on more important issues like employee retention, corporate culture, and brand loyalty.
Regulatory compliance: HRIS keeps you on the right track with local, national, and industry regulations and avoids fines.
Improved HR staff efficiency: Tasks that used to take hours or days can now be completed in minutes or even seconds, which is especially beneficial in remote and hybrid work settings.
Automated processes: By reducing manual data entry, the risk of human error is reduced.
Increased employee experience: A robust records management system makes it possible to quickly provide employees with updated company policies, employment agreements, and other confidential documentation.
Bottom line: Are you ready to get employee data management up and running and thus boost your business efficiency?
As businesses automate, HR-related operations are also becoming more digital. However, unlike other advanced digital HR software solutions, HRIS makes interactions with employees more streamlined and transparent, which turns HR processes into a more human experience.
With the right HRIS, you can get a feel for what your employees want and be ahead of the curve by offering them better ways to work and therefore be more productive.
Let us help you with the transformation of your workplace, where technology goes hand in hand with your employees toward the shared goal of achieving better business results for you. Tell us what challenge you are facing. We are ready to share our rich experience in building HR platforms to successfully meet your HR management needs.