Benjamin Franklin may have wryly observed that ´In this life nothing is certain but death and taxes´ [1], but these days a sure-fire contender to be added to that list of certainties is change. Recent research has shown that UK organisations are undergoing major periods of upheaval around once every three years while smaller scale changes are happening on an almost constant basis. There is no evidence to suggest this trend is slowing [2].

With the ongoing march of technological advance, the pace of change is even greater in the realm of IT and Information Systems. Couple this with indications that up to 50% of all IT projects ultimately fail [3], and you have a volatile mix. So, whether you are a Project Manager or an HR Executive providing direction, and whether you are putting in place a payroll system, Employee Portal or recruitment system, what can you do to ensure that the odds of success are stacked in your favour?

1)     Tie-in to get buy-in

Any new initiative (and this is equally valid for non-IT related projects) should be closely tied to organisational strategic business objectives. As well as encouraging buy in from senior management, this will help create a sense of purpose and urgency across the organisation. Nothing will turn off potential advocates more than a new system seemingly devoid of meaningful purpose.

2)     Ask around

Do you have any colleagues who have implemented similar systems in the past? What challenges and difficulties did they face? What would they do differently if they were able to have their time again?

If working with a third-party vendor, don´t underestimate the value of feedback from their previous clients. You might even widen your net to peers in your industry sector or IT/HR community. Though you should clearly take care not to disclose confidential information, there are a number of message boards and online user communities only a mouse click away [4].

3)     Build the right team

Right from the outset enlist the participation of a Project Sponsor from the ranks of senior management - someone who has bought in to your objectives. While having little active involvement in day-to-day operations they should be able to fight your corner at a higher level if required.

While IT involvement is clearly required before, during and after the implementation, HR must drive any business process related change. Imagine an HR Team attempting to design a new technical infrastructure. Now picture an IT Team creating rules for the purging of legacy candidate and employee data. Both prospects should make you shudder. It might be a good idea to consider appointing a Project Manager with a foot in both camps to act as go-between and ´translator´ when required.

If at all possible (and depending on the scale of the new system), try to allocate dedicated resource for crucial portions of the implementation. Don´t risk losing focus as your team try gallantly to juggle their project role with a day job during a resource-intensive period [5].

4)     Define the scope

What is the new system intended to achieve? Just as importantly, what is it not intended to do? As well as inviting unreasonable expectations a lack of clarity will act as an open invitation to ´scope creep´. Identify the constraints of your environment (whether budget, timescale, existing infrastructure or even the organizational culture [6]). If you have opted for a customized approach instead of an ´off the shelf´ product, don´t forget to factor in the time and cost associated with future upgrades.

Consider the best approach for your project. While opinions vary, you might decide to focus on small cycles of change rather than the arguably more risky ´big bang´ approach. As well as generating less resistance from the sceptics this may mean that expectations are more manageable and easier to meet [7]. You should also build an implementation plan - as well as keeping you on track it will serve as a tangible (and visual) guide to progress.

5)     Build from a baseline

It´s worth taking the time to find some way to measure your current process before implementation. For example, if you are installing a new recruitment system you might want to examine current figures for cost per hire or time to hire. From there, define how success will be judged. Try to be as specific as possible, for example ´we aim to reduce time to hire by 25% of the current baseline´.

When choosing a metric to adopt for the baseline, don´t just measure something because figures are readily and easily available or because ´it´s what we´ve always measured´. Try to capture data with intrinsic value which is related to strategic business objectives. These data items will almost always boil down to either revenue creation or cost reduction (and with HR often being viewed as a cost centre, it will usually be the latter).

You might even consider benchmarking your current process against an industry norm or other similar organizations to introduce an element of industry-driven improvement. If you´re not sure where to start try http://www.benchmarking.gov.uk/about_bench/whatisit.asp.

6)     Communication, communication, communication

Once your initiative is under way, be sure to keep all parties up to date on issues, workarounds and - crucially - progress. Celebrate each small and major milestone alike as vocally and publicly as possible. Allow yourself some quick wins that you can achieve early in the initiative - as well as boosting confidence it will display real progress. You could even decide to get the Marketing Department involved. They might be able to come up with some innovative ways to help target your internal end-user population, as was the case with Hewlett-Packard´s implementation of the @HP Employee Portal [8].

Don´t neglect the PR side of your initiative - as well as the project not stalling it should be clearly seen not to stall [9]. If you are going to miss a date, be up front and honest in your reasons why. It won´t do your credibility any good to be exposed as a fraud! Work hard to counter the dissemination of rumours and half-truths which are a sure sign that communication has broken down.

7)     Manage resistance to change

Research has shown that one of the most effective tools to manage resistance to change is the application of the 20-60-20 rule. On average, better initial results are obtained when efforts are concentrated not on the 20% of keen advocates nor on the 20% of die-hard opponents but on the 60% of your organization who are in neither one camp nor the other and are relatively satisfied with the status quo [10].

However, sooner or later you are likely to have to deal with those resisting change. At this point it is important to understand the individuals´ reasons for resisting change. For example, if you perceive that there is a lack of accurate information, you may decide simply to increase your level of communication. If, on the other hand, you encounter resistance from a group with considerable organizational weight you may need to pursue a path of negotiation and agreement. While time-consuming and potentially costly it can be a straightforward way to overcome difficult roadblocks [11].

8)     Revisit the scene

After a set period of time, revisit the process changed by the new system and compare it ´now´ to the baseline ´then´. Continue to encourage feedback post implementation. As well as enabling you to hone the process and make further improvements, this will give you hard evidence to back up your case and request further resource if needed. In this way you can also help foster a culture of continuous improvement within your organisation.

It should also give you peace of mind that you chose the right path in the first place!

Though the pitfalls of HRIS project implementation are numerous, the rewards are there for those bold enough to take on the challenge. As long as you do your homework there´s no reason why you can´t be an integral part of an organization-enhancing success story.

Sources

The following sources are suggested for further reading:

About Business and Finance (www.humanresources.about.com)

Action Leadership (www.actionleadership.com)

Benchmarking (http://www.benchmarking.gov.uk/about_bench/whatisit.asp)

CIPD (www.cipd.co.uk)

Computerworld (www.computerworld.com)

Harvard Business Review Online (www.hbsp.harvard.edu)

HR.com (crm.hr.com)

Onrec.com (www.onrec.com)

Personnel Today (www.personneltoday.com)

Jamie Barber is an Implementation Consultant for Vurv Technology (formerly Recruitmax), the leading providers of HR and e-recruitment solutions. In addition to managing client software projects for a number of blue-chip organisations within the UK, Europe and Australia, Jamie also has extensive hands-on and managerial experience gained with the UK´s largest specialist finance recruitment consultancy. He holds an MSc in Information Systems Management from the University of Stirling.

He can be contacted at jbarber@vurv.com.