Human resource management is a very critical and daunting task, especially if your organization is expanding, thereby, creating new data everyday. Let us first look at the various activities involved within the human resource (HR) function. They include:

• Recruitment, Staffing, and Applicant Tracking
• Learning Management System
• Training and Development
• Manpower Planning and Budgeting
• Workforce Management
• Personnel Administration
• Benefits Administration
• Time and Attendance Management with Leave Tracking
• Employee Performance Management
• Payroll Management

All these and more activities are not easy to govern in medium to large-scale organizations, unless one resorts to buying a program to take care of the various kinds of data or records. Buying an HRMS Most of the software available in the market today offer these various functions, either as separate modules or as a combined package. Therefore, it is extremely important that your organization conducts a requirement analysis before venturing into the market to purchase this solution. While doing such an analysis, the things to consider are:

• How many employees would be using the tool?
• What specific HR functions do I need inbuilt?
• Will your staff need to undergo any training?
• Do I need to have different role-based access rights? For example, should employees be able to access the system via the Internet or should they be able to change their personal data on the system.

After this step, your organization needs to decide upon a budget for this exercise. For this, one can research online and find out the average prices of various such software available in the market. The organization can also contact the respective vendors and ask for quotes. Once your needs and budget have been established, you can then look into the various benefits/facilities offered by the software. Here is a list of features you should be looking for:

• If your staff needs to be trained, does the software vendor offer comprehensive training facilities along with the purchase of the product?
• What kind of technical support options does the vendor offer?
• Is it possible to view a demo of the software?
• Is it possible to have a trial version installed in your organization so that you can try, before you buy the product?
• How many employee records would the program be able to support?
• What has been the performance record of the software in the industry?
• Does it offer cross-platform compatibility?
• If your organization is already using some other software solution for a section of the HR functions, then does the vendor offer various integration capabilities with that software?
• Does it offer web-based accessibility features?
• Does it offer self-service options for employees?
• Does it offer features where you can customize the visibility of different screens depending on the level of the employee?
• Does it offer reporting, which is customizable?

Once you have ascertained your needs and checked the features available in the system, and they are found to be suitable, then you can negotiate with the vendor for a good deal. Benefits There are several benefits of having such a system installed in your organization. Chief among these benefits is easy accessibility to all the relevant information about your employees, at the click of a button. The reporting module provides you the benefit of being able to customize and define reports from a range of criteria. Federally mandated forms can also be updated in the system for compliance to rules and regulations. Apart from this, the time and attendance management module collaborates with the payroll module to calculate the salaries and perks of all the employees efficiently. The self-service option, which is another important feature, helps employees to view or update their own data, and fill in performance review reports periodically. This helps to generate a feeling of participation among them. With the knowledge of the above factors, you can make an informed decision on which human resource management software is suitable for your organization.