Key components of your HRMS demo script

To use an automobile analogy, the HRMS software demo is the test drive. After all, you wouldn’t buy a vehicle based purely on the brochure and how it looks, you’d want to get behind the wheel and see how it drives. Your average HRMS is little less glamorous than a Ford Mustang, but the principle applies.

But having decided to invite your shortlisted vendors to demonstrate their wares, what should you ask them to demonstrate exactly. One thing is certain, if  you leave it to them, they’ll show you what they want you to see and not necessarily what you need to see (which is no criticism of the vendors, that’s just how sales work). We’ve covered the basic HRMS demo template elsewhere. To recap, the basics include:

• System and vendor overview
• HR functions - self service, analytics, benefits administration etc
• Mobile functionality 
• Integration 
• Data security and compliance
• Implementation timescales 
• Pricing model

But how about those scripted scenarios that you send to the vendors? The ones that really put the system through its paces with a close-to-reality situation or two.

Use our guide to HRMS software demos to make the most of vendor presentations and get the information you need

HRMS demo script scenarios

Probably the first person to write about this subject was HR technology guru Naomi Bloom, coining the phrase “killer scenarios”, meaning situations that will expose any weaknesses in the system’s processes and architecture. And HRMS folks have been recommending their use ever since.

All credit to Ms Bloom, her original scenarios are still ‘killer’. The following have been adapted from those most relevant to today’s working environments:

• Workers of multiple or no fixed locations (e.g. sales or service employees) especially if their varying locations mean that their pay is taxable by more than one jurisdiction.
• Telecommuters or home workers working ‘non-standard’ hours.
• Non-employee workforce members – including independent contractors, leased employees, PEO services (professional employer organization), casual workers, and consultants.
• Employees who fulfil more than one part-time position within your organization (payroll, performance management, locations, etc.)
• A major legislative or regulatory change that impacts on different members of the workforce to differing degrees; e.g. changes to taxation/payroll, or healthcare provision, or mandatory breaks.
• Outsourcing of a major business process or function (such as HR!?) and how it impacts on the relevant employees.
• An acquisition, merger, partnership or joint  venture that brings two workforces (or parts of) on different terms and conditions together.

In essence, choose a scenario or two that fit your organization’s  business and then flesh them out with real-life (but not confidential, naturally) detail that will challenge each system to prove it is worth of being your next HRMS.