HRMS analytics: an essential tool for modern HR departments?

An HRMS provides many benefits to HR staff, managers and employees. A system that includes core HR is central to daily operations. If you’re looking to make a bigger impact, implementing HRMS analytics should be on your critical path. The 2017 Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey places metrics in the top five priorities of leading companies. Here are four key reasons why HRMS analytics are a necessary feature for modern HR departments.

Forecasting enables efficient planning

HRMS analytics provide the foundation for any forecasting or predictive metrics. How many new hires will you need in the next fiscal year? How can you efficiently schedule your workforce to deliver the best results? Without HRMS analytics you can spend hours or days to try and get to the same result. Analytics is the mechanism that helps you to deliver intelligence and efficient planning to the business in a timely manner.

Embedded analytics deliver value

Embedded analytics is the provision of reporting capabilities inside of your HRMS transactions. A manager who is using self-service to promote an employee can see relevant information like salary ranges or the employee’s compa-ratio compared to others on the team. Embedded analytics provide the exact information at the right time for a manager to make informed business decisions. If your HRMS does not provide embedded analytics a manager’s option is to contact an HR partner who needs to run and provide a report. It costs the manager and HR team time and effort to do manual steps when an HRMS can be configured to provide the data automatically.  

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Data visualization provides understandable insights

Data visualization is a feature provided by many HRMS reporting modules. It brings the data to life or tells a story by displaying the analytics in a pictorial format. Data visualization is often seen on dashboards with drilldown functionality. Data visualization provides new and extensive business insight and intelligence. Analytics provide the data to power visualization efforts. Laying the foundation for visualization is not something to be taken lightly or that can be done manually.

HRMS analytics are an improvement over Excel

Seasoned HRMS professionals remember when Excel was the primary method of HRMS data compilation. Metrics were created after reaching out to HR in the field to get headcounts that would be put together in Excel for further analysis. HRMS analytics remove the manual efforts to obtain data. Most HRMS reporting modules contain smart features that automate the creation and running of reports. If your HR department is still doing its primary number crunching in Excel it’s probably time to evaluate your options in a new HRMS.