How to successfully maintain an HRIS?

Any HRIS deployment has a lifespan which ends at Go-live. Go-live is often considered the official end of the project, but in reality it’s just the beginning of a new phase, the RUN (or follow-up phase). The post-implementation period will really determine the success of the project and the fate of the HRIS. So it’s crucial to plan and prepare well in advance.

So how do you prepare for the RUN? And what must be done to ensure successful support planning? In this article we’ll explain the key steps to follow to help you successfully maintain your HRIS.

What is HRIS support?

Once the HRIS has been implemented, the main challenge during the RUN phase is to maximize the system’s appropriation, and to ensure that employees make optimum use of the tool, via their feedback and requests for assistance.

A study carried out in 2023 by the Josh Bersin Company revealed that 42% of HR respondents felt that the implementation of their HR systems had failed, or had not been fully successful, two years after going live, due to a lack of follow-up and user resistance. Hence the importance of effective communication, change management and ongoing user training.

Not forgetting that the RUN aims to maintain thecontinuous improvement of the tool, and to implement new functionalities and new technical or functional requirements..

HRIS rollout: How to plan and prepare the RUN

1 – Definition of an HRIS support process

Before starting post-Go-Live support activities, it is essential to prepare the pillars of the RUN process well in advance.

The first step is to define the support structure according to the scope of the project (by module, by geographical area, by contact (HR / IS)…) and the levels of support (1st level of support, intermediate local level, central level…).Next, we need to determine the means of communication and information to be made available to users to contact the support teams (a ticketing platform, generic e-mail, hotline, guides, QA…) and the service evaluation and monitoring criteria (criticality levels, response times by type of problem…)..

2 – Identifying resources

Thesupport team is the key to RUN’s success. It is therefore important to establish clear governance and to define the scope of each team member (one contact person per module, per country/region, per functional/technical area, etc.).

A well-defined structure will facilitate communication between users and the support team, and enable them to be more efficient. Once the support actors have been identified, their access and permissions in the system must be clarified according to their roles and scopes..

3 – Planning and documents

Knowledge sharing between members is necessary to ensure that each member has the same level of information. In this context, collaborative tools are the support team’s allies for sharing project documents and user guides, which can be organized (by phase, by activity stream, by module, etc.).

It would also be useful to plan regular meetings between teams and exchange sessions to discuss difficulties encountered and actions to be taken..

4 – Training and communication

Guaranteeing the continuity of change management actions and ongoing user training is essential to facilitate HRIS adoption and minimize user resistance. Training methods and tools need to be diversified and adapted to each target population (webinars, e-learning, guides, virtual assistants, etc.).

This stage will also enable us to measure the level of user commitment through participation in training courses and theHRIS adoption rate. Sapient’s 2022-2023 HR Systems Survey revealed that only 25% of the 2,500 participating organizations track adoption rates of new HR technologies. ” When you don’t even track adoption, it’s hard to know whether a system has been successfully implemented or not,” explains one manager.

5 – Evaluation and measurement

To be able to monitor support effectively and measure the tool’s success, it is essential to define indicators, particularly post-hypercare (Hypercare is the additional support provided to customers during a project launch. It’s a stabilization period that ensures a smooth transition between the project phase and the operational phase).

This will enhance the team’s responsiveness and improve turnaround times for resolving requests.

KPIs (key performance indicators) can be defined according to user populations/profiles, types of requests received (error, bug, upgrade request), level of criticality…

Conclusion for successful HRIS maintenance