HRMS Data Analysis: Choosing a Staffing Model

HRMS data analysis can be a complex topic! It’s important that you find the right people to handle the job but there are many possibilities to choose from when it comes to staffing. What option makes the most sense? Should you staff with a team of HRMS generalists or a ‘jack of all trades’? Or do you need a data specialist who is highly skilled in concentrated data tasks? Or is the answer to be found in the middle, in a hybrid approach? The solution to this conundrum will depend on your HRMS environment, and here are some things to keep in mind.

Identify Your Goals for Data Analysis

Some companies only require general management reporting, in particular where regular metrics are already in use on manager dashboards. A generalist can do this ‘usual’ reporting quite easily. As well, staffing with an HRMS generalist has advantages, as this person usually supports areas across the system and therefore knows the HRMS data analysis landscape quite well. This allows the generalist to take an HR partner’s business request and translate it into ‘system talk’ in order to extract the data.

An HRMS data analysis specialist however, offers different advantages. Analysts in this role are usually skilled in working with large volumes of data, especially relevant when you are combining data from different sources such as an HRMS plus finance or sales numbers. An analyst in this area will often have statistical training and expertise in heavy data toolsets. So rather than an HR Manager trying to get at a headcount, a data analyst will massage the data and use data mining techniques to identify trends and opportunities that can be presented to management for proactive decision making.

Review How the Pieces Fit Together

It may be that your company can benefit from having both types of HRMS roles simultaneously. You need operational HRMS generalists who can fit in and perform a variety of tasks in a busy environment, where someone must be able to do a little bit of everything from ad hoc to scheduled reporting. Having such a flexible and versatile HRMS team helps you to remain nimble and responsive to business requests. A strategic HRMS data analysis specialist can provide that more forward thinking aspect, as well as offering deep insight into datasets. While such resources may not be experts in the HRMS, they can bring your business intelligence to new levels through their data skills.