Q: What did you learn & what do you hope to learn next class? Anything that your can apply right away personally or professionally?

A:  We talked about a simple yet incredibly important idea..."Make sure your solution solves your specific problem".  So many times we have something we want to be done better, different, or more efficient.  In the race to make our lives easier we don't stop to think, REALLY think, about what the problem actually is and therefore, how good is our solution?  Recently we set out to bring on a time and attendance solution.  We spoke to the sales people, the price was right, the demo looked good, but we failed to make it all the way through implementation.  The product was far from intuitive to the end user and the vendor provided absolutely zero training materials for our employees.  We forgot to ask the most basic question, "is this going to be a solution that our employees will use?"  The system made sense from an administrative and compliance standpoint but we forgot to ask the end users.  In the end we scrapped the implementation.  We fought (and succeeded) to get the monthly fees back from the company but we were out the one time, up front fees.

GOOGLE SITES!!!  This is 100% something that I can use right away.  I feel that (especially in smaller organizations) so much is done with so little time/staff/dollars.  I am responsible for all on boarding activities in both the US and Canada.  This means different health & welfare plans, different tax forms/rules, different handbooks, holidays, legally required notices...and the list goes on and on.  A Google site is a highly visible way to make the new hire process less confusing for the new hire and adds immediate cache to the organization.  It is no small thing to successfully on-board an employee.  The more an employee feels welcome the longer they will stay.  Ummm, not that I have any hard data but that must be true, right?!?!

Q: Define a business problem & articulate a charter

A: GROSVENOR USA LIMITED: System of Record Charter

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Problem Statement

The Grosvenor HR department currently utilizes a hodgepodge of different IT solutions to capture employee data pertinent to dates of employment, benefits, payroll, compensation history, tenure, benefits eligibility, employee data (address, dependents, DOB, degrees, certifications, spouse, etc), titles, time & attendance, and various other recordkeeping.  The most predominantly used applications are Excel (as an employee database) and Ceridian (as a payroll, tax, compliance system) but there is also a shared HR drive that only HR personnel have access.  At this time we are implementing a time & attendance software that should integrate seamlessly with Ceridian.

This system is cumbersome, often times inaccurate, time consuming to keep updated, and provides for a great deal of manual data input.  The HR department is looking for an integrated system that is accurate and automates much of the daily/monthly/annual work of the department.  Preferably with a self service option for managers and employees.

Customers

1. HR department
2. Senior Management
3. Managers
4. Employees

Business Case

Time is money.  It is predicted that 25-30% of HR time used to complete these tasks could be freed up to focus on supporting Senior Management and Managers.  Reporting is a key takeaway from having a system of record.  With this kind of functionality HR can provide the data that managers need, when they need it, and how they need to see it to make better business decisions.

In Scope

1. Solution to replace current Excel spreadsheets that house employee data
2. Solution that will integrate with current Ceridian and time & attendance solutions
3. Solution that will contain both the US & Canadian employees

Out of Scope

Not yet determined.

Success Metrics

1. Automated process that reduces the amount of time needed to access employee data
2. Capability to deliver metrics to Senior Management
3. More accurate employee data

Deliverables

1. Evaluation of options to replace spreadsheets
2. Evaluation of metrics to be reported
3. Evaluation of integration with current software
4. Discovery of data to be uploaded into new solution
5. Communication Plan

Resources

1. Sponsor - HR Generalist
2. Core Team - HR Director/HR Generalist
3. Senior Management
4. Finance Manager

Solution Options