Problem corner

Steve Foster from RebusHR advises on how to get an e-HR system to help with human capital reporting.

Problem: My firm is thinking about investing in a major e-HR system. How can it help with human capital reporting?

Solution: The DTI's Accounting for People Task Force along with other similar initiatives are raising awareness of the need for timely, reliable HR management information and you are right to be thinking about this now. Organisations investigating how an existing or planned e-HR system can help them with human capital reporting should consider the following:

1. Plan your information requirements early as part of an e-HR project

2. Information is only as good as the source - design business processes that support good practice and ensure data reliability

3. Don't measure everything - understand the key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive your business, make them relevant to your sector, culture and business (there is no single accounting formula or generic people measures). What will external people need to know?

4. Can HR information be combined with information from other systems? Consider a 'data-mart' combining HR, financial, customer and production data from across the organisation

5. Use web technology to let managers view HR KPIs directly

6. Display metrics in a 'dashboard' format by exception - shown only when measures fall outside agreed parameters. This focuses the user on what is important. Consider a balanced scorecard approach to set and display metrics

7. Why are you measuring? The real value of KPIs is that they bring about a greater understanding of the people dimension of an organisation. Interpret metrics in a meaningful way, using them as the basis for strategy and policy, and to support managers when KPIs reveal a problem. This is just as important as the technology used to derive the information.