【正文】
ine performance appraisal. According to a survey conducted by The Hunter Group (now called Cedar) and published in 2000, the number of panies implementing (or planning to implement) some sort of selfservice technology has grown in each of the last three years.There are still costs and plications to implementation, but the math behind the ROI promises no longer has to be fuzzy and in fact, is rarely allowed to be. According to the Hunter Group (Cedar) survey, about twothirds of panies that explore the possibility of a selfservice solution now require a business case that quantifies the anticipated return on investment. There are methodologies and tools available with which to develop very sound estimates of real, harddollar savings that can be expected from a selfservice application. HR can build a business case for investment in this technology that even a CFO will love.Beyond that, a strong case can be made for expected increases in productivity among both employees and managers when selfservice applications are available. Really useful HR selfservice does not happen without the kind of data that is available from a fully functional HRMS. SummaryThere are many kinds of analyses that can be used to measure and demonstrate HR39。s value to the organization. Do they have any relationship to the performance of the organization itself? Many of them do. The following items are just part of a list of HRrelated measures that can be tied to high levels of pany performance: Number of qualified applicants per position Percentage of jobs filled from within Number of hours of training for new employees (less than 1 year) Number of hours of training for experienced employees Percentage of employees receiving a regular performance appraisal Percentage of employees whose merit increase or incentive pay is tied to performance Percentage of workforce eligible for incentive payHR information systems have long been regarded as sort of a black box that was purchased because (a) the pany had grown too big to use spreadsheets for tracking its employees, or (b) the payroll system that HR relied on was written in a programming language that had bee obsolete, or (c) Y2K issues forced the pany into buying something, or (d) _____ (fill in the blank!). In short, a necessary expense without much promise of a return. Major systems are very expensive to buy and to implement, and by themselves do not result in greater efficiency or productivity, and certainly not in reduced transaction costs.However, if HR practitioners understand the strategic value of the data that an information system can provide, and if they understand that the system can provide the foundation for technology that has a very visible, concrete financial return, then you really can see an ROI from an HRMS.6 / 6