The HRIS: what capabilities must it have?
Unfortunately, there are no commonly accepted standards to guide personnel managers in evaluating HRIS (human resources information system) software. Until such standards developed, the advice offered here by author Sidney H. Simon (manager of personnel information systems and benefits administration of Bechtel Power Corporation) will stand the personnel manager in good stead. Focusing on the minimum capabilities that any HRIS should possess, he discusses the basic functions of input, data maintenance, and output in terms of both standard and optional items. This is not to say, however, that the personnel manager need do no homework. Simon emphasizes the importance having carefully and accurately defined the data required to support a company's personnel functions before software evaluation even begins. And he notes that human resources managers will have to familiarize themselves with some of the data processing terminology in use, just as the data processors have to familiarize themselves with personnel terminology. Simon illustrates the text with eight exhibits that clarify the functions explained to help the reader translate the concepts involved in terms of his or her organization's needs.
D003201:Computers; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008331:Management Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010559:Personnel Management / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States