Customer Reviews

Human Resources Management Systems

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By Ray Brillinger Canadian HR Reporter October 23, 2000

The Technology to manage intellectual capital

First, it was e-commerce, then e-business; now, increasingly we see developments and hear about trends in e-HR. While HR Information Systems (HRIS) have been around and evolved over many years for a quick history, see the first chapter in Human Resources Management Systems: A practical approach, reviewed in this column a more comprehensive and strategic HR function has recently adopted the term HR Management Systems (HRMS) to reflect the enhanced importance and capabilities of today's IS and IT applications in human resources. Despite the critical role HRMS plays in the HR world, there are relatively few books published to shed light on the topic. These recent titles will help readers to understand how information is being used in HR today, the technologies and software available to support the needs, how to select and implement systems successfully, and some strategic areas the systems serve including knowledge management and intellectual capitaldevelopment. The selection of an appropriate system is a critical HR managementdecision. However, the authors go beyond the usual examination ofselection criteria and maintenance of an HRMS, to look in-depth at theopportunities to use the HRMS as a critical management tool in theorganization." Co-authors Turnbull and Doran are frequentcontributors to CHRR in areas related to HR technology and informationmanagement. This second edition is updated to reflect newdevelopments, especially Internet use and related applications. Thecoverage and style are also revised to reach an expanded audience: HR and payroll managers, general management and IS professionals as well as college- and university-level teachers and students. The first part of the book describes the background and needs for HRMS, and presents a Return on Investment approach for cost justification and demonstrated value. Next, several chapters take the reader through the stages of planning, designing, implementing and maintaining the system. The last part of the book shows, in detail, how HRMS can support core HR functional areas: *HR planning and development; *Staffing; *Training and development;

*Compensation and payroll; *Benefits and pension programs; and *Occupational health and safety.

This is a terrific book to give anyone an overview of the issues surrounding human resource information systems.

It is clear, concise, and has chapters on every functional area of HR citing examples.

I have found it very useful.

I was forced to use this book to teach an HRMS course in 2006 (Canadian college course). This text is out-of-date and also poorly organized. Additionally, the supporting materials of PPT and end-of-chapter exercises said to be on one of the author's website are of very poor quality. The PPT consist of paragraphs of text copied and pasted from the textbook. This book needs a complete rework if it is to have any significance in today's world. If the book didn't have a Canadian author's name on it I don't think it would be used by a Canadian college. One other note... it's pretty bad when my students tell me at the beginning of the course that the textbook is terrible. Unfortunately I had to bite my tongue.

This book approach, reviewed in this column a more comprehensive and strategic HR function has recently adopted the term HR Management Systems (HRMS) to reflect the enhanced importance and capabilities of today's IS and IT applications in human resources. Despite the critical role HRMS plays in the HR world, there are relatively few books published to shed light on the topic.
Author delivered an HRMS system is an electronic data and file management system used by organizations to maintain and manage their personnel records, payroll and other HR functions. Often these are large-scale, mainframe systems that require a total IST integration.

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