3 Steps to Making the Most of Your HRMS Demo

There are a lot of great HRMS applications on the market, and getting a demo is one way to get up to speed quickly on the functionality offered. But how easy is it to know if the HRMS is truly a fit for your needs after a short demonstration? There are a few ways to maximize the insight one can gain from an HRMS demo, and save your company from making a bad software decision in the long run.

Grill Them on Your Requirements

First, it’s good to have your documented HRMS requirements at hand, and to share those with any vendor prior to viewing any software, so that they can highlight key areas for you. It’s beneficial to rank your requirements into ‘must haves’ vs. ‘optional’ so that you are able to ask about any essential requirements in the HRMS demo. For example, if you are a government or higher education client you may have certain compliance requirements to fulfill or track in your HRMS. A large multi-national corporation will usually be interested in global topics such as country-specific legal requirements or the ability to deliver the software in a variety of languages. When you have these documented, it’s easy to stay on target not get overloaded by the software’s bells and whistles during a demonstration.

Recommended reading: learn how to master HRMS demos and select the right software for you with this step-by-step HRMS demo guide

Cover the Entire Employee Lifecycle

When possible, ask to see the functionality of the entire employee lifecycle, or at least representative pieces of it. So how does an applicant apply for a position, how does that applicant transition to employee status, how is the additional data then entered? Is there employee self-service for updates, and how about manager self-service? Is payroll a part of the HRMS, and is training data covered too? What do regular updates of employee data look like, and finally, what does a termination look like? If you see facets of each area during your HRMS demo, you have a better chance to get an overall feel for the software and not just bombarded with the vendor’s highlights, such as slick ipad enabled functionality for managers to view HR data while on the go.

Look Beyond the Bells & Whistles

A final consideration is how easy the software will be to maintain in the long-term. So it’s helpful to see the back-office operations such as reporting, data loading, security administration, interfaces to other systems, etc. These pieces need to be workable for your company as well, and often vendors spend more time in perfecting their pitch of front end bells and whistles than the back office essentials.

Overall, an HRMS demonstration is a helpful way to find out more about any HR System. As long as you come prepared, it will be an effective part of any software evaluation process.