TM - February 2008 - (Page 50)

Figure 1: Business Drivers for TM Systems Business Value Improve individual and organizational performance, align people, make better people decisions, align L&D with skills gaps, improve the leadership pipeline, increase retention and quality of hire, create greater pools of internal candidates, increase business speed through talent pools and succession plans. Business and Talent Breakthroughs Improve individual processes, facilitate better decisions at manager level. Implement HR self-service, implement competency-based talent management, give HR better information for workforce planning. Process Improvement Automate, save paper, save time, reduce errors, meet compliance requirements. Automation performance management process is to be integrated with other processes, such as development and career planning, advanced capabilities may not be ready until the third or fourth year. When looking at these investments and decisions from a long-term perspective, vendor strategy and viability become increasingly important. See welldocumented product strategies from any vendor candidates to verify the company’s long-term needs and plans are well aligned and supported. Think Use Scenarios, Not Features What About Profile Management? Most employee-related decisions require a wide variety of data, that typically resides in multiple systems — or even on managers’ desktops. An employee profile can include many data elements, from salary and demographic information to career goals and training history. Before starting to build an integrated talent management systems strategy, it is very important to decide the system of record for critical data elements. Accessing, moving and maintaining the integrity of these data elements can be problematic. When evaluating vendors, also consider the breadth of the profiles created by these systems and match the profile elements with organizational requirements. Some solutions are so young that they may not be sophisticated enough to capture the required elements. Many companies build data warehouses to pull data from systems of record. Data warehouses serve as central repositories and make data available to those systems that need it. They can bring additional levels of data security, reduce data maintenance and make integration much more efficient. Enlist the counsel of the IT department to determine if this approach works best for the company. Consider Organizational Governance As talent managers define which processes to automate and how the system will be used, it is important to develop real-world use scenarios, or detailed descriptions of how processes work within the organization. Use scenarios include users involved in the process, levels of security and access required, all reports, data inputs and outputs, timeframes, dependencies with other systems, etc. Using scenarios helps determine how different solutions would work within a particular work environment. While demos often sizzle, scenarios will provide a better idea of how the system actually works — what the screens look like to a specific set of users, how reports are requested and formatted, the steps required to perform a particular task. Highlevel scenarios can be just a few pages long; detailed ones can be much longer. While feature lists are helpful in a general analysis of vendors, they will not do much good in making final selections. Using scenarios can identify vendors that truly understand an organization’s specific needs and have solved the problems important in a systems strategy. Do not underestimate the importance of organizational structure and governance in systems integration. Every IT system, particularly those used by employees and managers, needs defined owners. These owners make decisions about how the system will work, what reports will be available, who 50 February 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - February 2008

Talent Management - February 2008 Editor's Letter - Talkin' 'Bout My Generation Contents Human Performance - Achievement Motivation: Top Talent At Any Age Leading Edge - Who's On First? Foundations - Managing the Next Generation Workforce Viewpoint - Talent Strategies That Work Are Talent Strategies That Stick Those Who Have Left: The Value of Building Employee Relationships Alternatives to 360s: The Manager's Role Compensation and Benefits For X&Y Build A Multigenerational Performance Management Strategy Development's Role in Creating A Culture Of Inclusion Tomorrow's Leader: Identifying the Next Generation Integrating Talent Management Systems Strategically Seagate Uses Yearlong Evaluations to Help Integrate Talent Efforts Western Union: Connecting Strategy and People Globally Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential - The Best Time to Change? Right Now!

TM - February 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.