HR Software Should be User Friendly and Functional
When it comes to picking an HR software provider, user friendliness and functionality are the two most important qualities to consider.
According to an article by Clay Scroggin on SearchWarp, user friendliness is important when choosing an HR software provider, but is only helpful if the software is functional as well.
Scroggin compares two unnamed HR software products, both containing report writers that operated at completely different levels of ease of use and of complexity.
“The first HR system has the easiest report writer I have seen,” he notes in the article. “It demoed well and users loved the fact that it required little, if any, training to generate basic reports. The other HR system’s report writer required training and database knowledge to create reports. This system did not demo well and, frankly, it scared clients. If asked, nine out of 10 times most would have selected the first report writer; but there was, of course, a potential problem with that choice”
However, Scroggin noted that while the first program was easy to use, its report writer had limited functionality. The program did not allow the user to group information, add counts or totals or create custom fields or graphs. The program did create simple lists of employees, groups or totals.
“If you wanted, however, to create a detail turnover statistics report or detailed compensation report it would not meet the needs,” Scroggin adds in the article. “This is just one example of where the most easy to use HR system was not the best. My advice when reviewing HRIS products is to make sure the system can create the most detailed reports you need created. Include in your needs assessment, the type and complexity of reports you will require and ask the perspective HR software vendor to show the process of creating those reports.”
The ease of setting up the HR software is another important consideration. One product may be far easier to setup, but may also require more work for the company to maintain. It also should be noted that HR software that requires a more detailed setup initally Often, but not always, the more detail the setup, the less work later to maintain the data.