Personnel information system

A personnel information system (short PIS ) is used to capture, storage , processing, maintenance, analysis , use, distribution, scheduling , transmission and display of information that the human resources concern. Since personal information systems are now computerized information systems, the term PIS can be used synonymously for computerized PIS (CPIS). The term Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is used synonymously.

The PIS consists of hardware (computer or computer network), databases , software , data and all those application programs that are required for the management of the staff.

Components

The elements of the personnel information systems include:

Payroll accounting, time determination
Master data management
administration
HR reporting
Personnel planning
Working time determination

but also

Technical infrastructure

architecture

Interface view

In principle, all components should be linked to one another on a common database . Personal data should be able to be processed with common PC programs (word and table processing). To ensure data security, there should also be a connection to the backup systems customary in operation .

In view of the changes in the areas of “recruiting” and “employee self-administration”, a connection to the Internet and intranet should also be implemented (see section: Development trends).

Technology and data view

The provision of information is done nowadays largely via a PC network , often with Windows as the operating system at the workplace and to a host computer ( server ) in the background. Several factors play a role in the selection:

Availability of specialist staff
Knowledge of the specialist staff
Profitability : acquisition and operating costs , running and response times
Number of users and frequency of use
Data security during transmission, storage and modification
Integration into existing systems
Flexibility for future features
Ease of use (easy use, e.g. through a graphical interface)

The information about the workplaces, the areas of activity and the positions is stored in the workplace database.

One possibility of structuring such a database results from the range of stored characteristics:

Identification features
Job requirements, commitment and knowledge of employees, experience and education (knowledge and deployment characteristics)
Mental and psychological characteristics , work and social behavior, resilience, creativity, etc.
Physical characteristics with regard to physical strain, posture and environmental influences

The management of personnel and workplace databases is optimally organized when both are structured in a similar way. The intersections can be found out through a simple comparison .

Process view

Personnel information systems are not only used to manage personnel and workplaces, but should also support personnel management, particularly with the planning processes in a wide variety of areas. Essentially, the functions focus on the determination of personnel requirements, personnel recruitment , personnel development , personnel retention and employee release.

Personnel requirement planning

The personnel requirement planning determines the personnel capacities that are necessary for the smooth continuation of the operational task. PIS can take on the task of data acquisition and the comparison of the target and actual state (over- and under-cover with regard to location, time, quality and quantity ). In addition, PIS can also carry out a profile comparison with the vacant positions with the existing staff and thus provide the decision-makers with suggestions.

Recruitment

The aim of recruiting is to eliminate staff shortages. This shortage can in turn have qualitative, quantitative, temporal or local reasons.

A personnel information system can classify the workforce through appropriate statistics and reports and thus allow conclusions to be drawn about the qualification patterns of potential new employees. Here, too, the personnel and workplace databases ( interface ) cooperate . On this basis, job advertisements can then be developed which, when linked to the Internet, can be made available to appropriate job exchanges or job brokers and headhunters (see development trends).

If an applicant sends in their documents, the PIS can first be used to send an acknowledgment of receipt, the qualification profile can be compared with the job requirements and, as a result, an invitation or rejection can be sent with the PIS. Here the link to word processing systems with standardized modules becomes clear. The path of the application through the company can also be followed with the help of the PIS and information about the status of processing can be given at any time.

Personnel development

The task of personnel development is to qualify employees to cope with current and future tasks.

Cataloging the qualifications achieved with the help of the PIS is helpful in order to be able to determine a suitable successor in the event of personnel changes. Profiles of employees , as well as those of applicants, can be compared with the person to be replaced. In the case of component qualifications, the PIS can be used to document the level at which the qualifications of an individual employee, but also that of entire work groups, are and what the subsequent qualifications will be.

The other way round one can also go for individual employees are interested by the available data career planning will be developed, with appropriate qualifications by the existing positions can be found within the company. A further training requirement can also be determined with the help of the PIS.

Another development trend is that with the integration of CAL systems ( computer-aided learning ) and seminar management systems, employees can independently advance their development and thus expand their PIS data record independently.

Personnel development with the help of an HR scorecard

A balanced scorecard, called HR scorecard here , enables the development of employees to be viewed in an aggregated manner across various areas.

Personnel deployment

Personnel deployment can be controlled with the help of PIS in such a way that the optimal employees can be assigned to the upcoming operational tasks, taking into account qualitative, quantitative, temporal and local components. In the case of more frequent personnel deployment planning, this also requires a work model that keeps the employees flexible with their working conditions.

The personnel deployment planning of a call center can be named here as an example: With the help of long-term call statistics, the need for operators can be calculated. A personnel deployment tool can develop a duty roster, taking personal working hours and time preferences into account . In conjunction with a payroll program , automated remuneration can then take place.

Personnel maintenance and release

A fundamental instrument for binding employees to a company in the future is fair pay for work. However, staff retention includes all measures that are necessary to retain existing employees in the company and to maintain their performance . In the administrative area there are possibilities for support, e.g. B. in the systematic job evaluation and thus the individual wage determination.

The release of personnel is used in the event of excess personnel in terms of quality, quantity, time and / or location. The planning can be realized across most PIS: Personal use of alternatives determined conditions, costs determined and social consequences of the alternatives and finally decided.

Functional view

The operational PIS can be designed very differently depending on the area of responsibility and level of development. PIS are developed with individual modules as open, task and goal-oriented systems that are specially tailored to the company's needs and can also be updated at a later date.

The personnel-specific tasks and questions that have to be fulfilled by a PIS are divided into the main fields of administrative and dispatching tasks.

Administrative tasks include recurring processes, such as:

Monthly payroll accounting
HR master data management
Generation of personnel statistics
Storage of personal data

The use of PIS results in a considerable rationalization and time reduction, so that information can be made available much faster, more up-to-date and more comprehensive. HR administrators can concentrate on other HR management tasks by saving time, such as looking after employees.

Dispositive systems support decisions within the framework of human resource management. They support the preparation of data material and provide a better information basis and decision-making aid for future problem areas in personnel planning and control. This includes, for example:

Applicant selection
Initial and continuing education
Personnel development
Comparison of requirement and ability profiles

An important property that HR information systems must include is the flexible implementation of the software to meet current and future technical requirements. One speaks here of functional power.

The following functions characterize a PIS:

Payroll

Calculation of wages and salaries
Management of wage and salary costs
Wage tax accounting
social insurance
Garnishment and loan
Telephone billing

Master data management

Personal data acquisition for new hires
Employment contract data
Training dates
activities
Previous occupation
Assessment data
Change services for personal details
Applicant management
Address data
Date of birth

administration

Administrative work for recruitment, dismissal, transfers, promotions
Deadline monitoring
Certificates

HR reporting

Table evaluation
Creation of internal personnel statistics (e.g. age structure, fluctuation statistics, etc.)
Statistics for external users
Determination of key figures
Graphic preparation of key figures and statistics
Reports to internal and external addressees

Time determination

Attendance control
Absence management and evaluation
Vacation accounting
Shift schedules
Sick leave

Personnel planning

Personnel requirement planning (position plan)
Workforce planning
Personnel development planning
Personnel recruitment / redundancy planning
Personnel cost planning, salary extrapolation

User view

A distinction must be made here between active users and potential addressees. The group of users is divided into participants with active-indirect contact (use of information without using the PIS directly) and those with active-direct contact (use and operation).

The group of potential addressees whose information requests are met from the PIS comprises a much larger group than the active participants. Within the company, data is required from the HR department, managers and employees.

Outside the company, information from the PIS is obtained from government agencies that collect statistical data and from the public (shareholders, associations, press, community, etc.). But applicants and temporary employment agencies also access personnel information via the intranet and internet.

The HR department can communicate with many departments via the PIS:

Works councils,
Associations,
Employment offices,
Temporary employment agencies,
Libraries,
u. v. m.

Due to the high sensitivity of the personal data, there are high requirements for use and access options on the part of a large group of users in terms of security for access, storage and transmission:

Confidentiality of personal data (protection against unauthorized reading),

Data integrity (protection from falsification),

Authenticity of the communication partner (protection from masquerade ),

Proof of data entry (non-repudiation),

regular data backup (protection against data loss),

timely destruction of expired data, such as warnings ,

generally strict compliance with all data protection regulations.

To this end, control and prevention must at least be carried out by assigning restrictive user authorizations and by logging and monitoring all processes.

Affected view

With PIS, the fundamental difference to other information systems with a functional focus is that the characteristics, skills and behavior of employees are recorded by people. Basically, only personal data such as tax class, address , qualifications are fed in, whereby partial images of the individual personality of an employee can also be stored. According to § 83 BetrVG, every employee is entitled to inspect his or her personnel files, including the information stored in databases.

Development trends

E-recruiting

Employees are increasingly being found for companies via the Internet. More than 80% of the companies use their own website to recruit staff; online job markets are regularly visited to recruit qualified staff. In contrast, classic advertisements in print media are only placed by around 30% of companies.

Advantages:

Reduced costs
Global distribution (print media - low degree of distribution)
Longer presence
Time advantage through the internet (24/7)
Interactivity (company information, low inhibition threshold )
Preselected user group (internet knowledge)

E-recruiting does not currently have an exclusive substitute effect in the recruitment process. Rather, it is currently complementary to traditional recruitment. However, PIS offers the potential to take on a stronger role here.

HR Marketplace

Not only electronic B2B and B2C markets have become indispensable on the Internet, but also markets that aim to support business-to-employee relationships. As part of this development, the range of providers is also expanding towards the HR portal and HR marketplace. There are now even labor auctions.

The development will be that almost all transactions will be carried out on the future marketplaces for services around the factor of labor .

Electronic personnel file

The conventionally managed personnel file is kept as a paper file, which is kept for as long as the statutory provisions provide. Larger companies have advanced the introduction of electronic personnel files, and the use of document management systems with CD-ROM archives and workflow integration is becoming increasingly popular.

The electronic personnel file stores many types of information:

Application documents, travel documents, employment contracts, tax cards, work permits, certificates, correspondence or certificates count as so-called uncoded information.
Pay slips, personnel statistics or employer reports to external bodies are considered coded data because of their explosive nature.

Document management systems can be connected to a PIS via an interface. Such a programming interface can be used to scan in original documents and to search for and display archived documents. The advantages of the electronic personnel file are the quick accessibility and cost advantages in the storage of the personnel data.

Employee Self Service

When using Employee Self Service (ESS), employees and superiors manage some of their personal data themselves and relieve the HR department of routine tasks. Changing personal data, requesting information about training courses or vacancies, vacation planning, travel expense reports and the option to print out certificates yourself are among the most common functions of the ESS. Sensitive data cannot be viewed via the ESS. Access is via a simple user interface from the workplace or at home via the Internet or intranet. After an automated data check, approval by a superior can be activated.

criticism

Implementation problems

The problems result from tensions between different stakeholders in the company:

The employees concerned attach great importance to maintaining their intimate and private sphere. Increased control, as well as the fear of replacing the workplace with a PC application, lead to uncertainty. Management usually has a more positive attitude to this issue as there is clear streamlining.

Rigid occupation policy

If you stubbornly pay attention to requirement profiles, there is a risk that the better applicant will not necessarily be filled for an open position. Information about learning speed, flexibility and other so-called soft skills can often not be compared in the first application steps, although they may more than compensate for technical deficits.

Overflow of data

The more storage space is available, the less one thinks about the information to be saved. Due to the mass of stored data, it can happen that the necessary data is overlooked. There is a particular danger of this movement for the “electronic personnel file”: Everything can be called up with IT, and thinking about data quality stops entirely.

One-size-fits-all - mentality

With increasing standardization and the advancement of integrative total solutions, the specific business needs of customers increasingly faded into the background. After the innovative lead had been realized with the so-called " island solutions ", everything was soon overtaken by prefabricated standard processes. Apart from the somewhat more modern-looking surfaces, you have sometimes returned to the old "stupid terminals " after the Internet connections have also been disconnected ( data protection !) .

Resources remain unused

Again and again there is talk of optimizing HR work by shifting it to the computer and thereby creating capacity for strategic HR management. If you sum up what the current applications are used for, then this is, in addition to processes relating to payroll accounting, above all the administration of business processes (such as application or training): This is positive in itself, but not enough in itself. There is a lot of potential, especially in the area of personnel selection, but also in education and training.

Employee self-service without sustainability

You need and want a lot of data and it is best for the employee to provide it himself. Of course, it makes sense if the employee enters his change of address himself. But does he also have to book trips? Register for training? And fill out questionnaires after the training ("education controlling")? The resulting torrent of data (see above) remains largely unseen. This is precisely why the euphoria at ESS has subsided. It makes a difference whether an employee self-service system is used to integrate the employee into the processes for reasons of motivation or to make processes more efficient.

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