Consultant's Corner

What Exactly Do You Mean By Process?

neil.jensen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:10:34 GMT

We run into this question many times when working with Enterprise clients on TM strategies. When asking process related questions during discovery interviews, inevitably the answers come with varying levels of understanding, confidence, and clarity on the state of talent management processes utilized within the organization. To remedy this issue, Knowledge Infusion recommends a three step method to define and transform talent management processes in the organization.

Business Process Transformation is the first step and takes a high level look at your talent management processes and offers the opportunity to rethink, blend, and challenge the way you are doing things today. It is a systematic way of putting down on paper the high-level tasks that a process must accomplish and blending together steps to ensure they meet defined business outcomes. A cross-functional team is typically assembled to do this work to ensure that the traditional HR functional silo mentality of process ownership doesn't influence end-to-end transformation. This work inevitably feeds the software/vendor selection process.

Business Process Design is the next step in the chain. This is usually performed after the software has been selected and the organization has knowledge of what the software can actually do. During this step, processes are refined to a more granular level of detail adding in the enabling technology that will support and drive the process in the organization. Roles and responsibilities, workflow, and other factors are also defined during this step.

Business Process Calibration is the final step in the chain and is performed during the software implementation process. During this step, processes that were refined in the design phase are calibrated to the exact capability of the software. There is usually some element of give and take to ensure the software can accommodate the process. As a result of calibration activities, the transformed TM processes are clearly defined, enabled by technology, and ready for roll out to the organization.

Some Assembly Required

neil.jensen — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:26:12 GMT

It was late on the evening of the 24th of December. Our children had gone to bed and my wife and I had pulled all the gifts out of the closet and began the task of putting things together. I drew the short straw and landed the elaborate train set that boasted over 100 pieces boldly on the outside of the packaging. How bad could it be I thought? Well, over an hour later when I had finished putting it together with no less than 3 extra pieces and no logical place for them to go, I knew what the warning "some assembly required" was really telling me.

As I shake off the after effects of what seems like a week long holiday celebration and prepare myself for the New Year, I can only think how this story has similar meaning to those of you contemplating a Talent Management technology initiative. Just like the instructions on the package warned that some assembly would be required to make that train set work, so must you adequately plan to implement your Talent Management software. As much as hosted solutions and software as a service give you a great platform from which to build, it doesn't do it itself. There is no magic box that, once turned on, will solve all your organizational ills. Talent Management software initiatives take work. They take planning and careful execution that if done right, will provide much traction with the talent in your organization. Knowledge Infusion has long advocated that technology initiatives are really 40% about the people, 40% about the process, and only 20% about the technology that enables the rest of it to work.

As you approach the New Year and begin to plan your Talent Management technology initiatives for 2008, take care to spend the time up front to really think about the people it will impact and the process you will have them go through. As great as the technology has become, it won't do the change management for you. Remember, some assembly is required to make your Talent Management technology initiative work.

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations – Final Installment

david.barron — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:13:48 GMT

Contributed by David Barron – david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

This final installment is dedicated to a good friend of mine, Jim Durham.

In this installment, we will conclude the investigation on the six steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections. The six steps are:

1. Define Desired Business Outcomes

2. Define the Decision Criteria

3. Assess the Potential Providers

4. Engage the Providers

5. Conduct Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

Final step – Selection

Once demonstrations are complete, there may or may not be a clear “winner”. There will probably be follow up items for most, if not all of the providers. Some follow up items may include: reference checks, parking lot items from the actual presentations, technology documentation, and maybe even a “sandbox” working environment. Remember the work (Define the Decision Criteria) done early in the process and don’t stray from it. The tendency is to see a product that “looks good” and start the decision process from a selection with backward validation. Don’t fall into that hole. Regroup as a team and make your decision based on your key criteria. Comparing providers side-by-side for each criterion through a slideshow and/or document are effective ways to ensure an objective and transparent decision.

When it comes to choosing a provider, keep in mind there is not always a perfectly right answer. In fact, oftentimes there is more than one viable solution available. Do not wait for the “silver bullet” and avoid “analysis paralysis” because you have multiple options. It’s easy to become overly concerned about making the wrong decision and waste time trying to find a single element that makes one better than the other, when both solutions are suitable to your needs.

Tip: If two providers are dead-even on most value-based criteria, focus on price as a differentiating factor and negotiate with both.

Thanks for reading this series and I look forward to providing more information in the future!

Talent Management - You Know We've Made It When...

heidi.spirgi — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:11:03 GMT

At Knowledge Infusion we work with both end user organizations and vendors helping to define the future of talent management. After three years of intense focus and growth of the industry, there are still wildly divergent points of view in the market of what true talent management is...WHAT it looks like, HOW it should function, and WHO is responsible for it. The verdict is still out whether HR departments, business leaders and talent management vendors will be able to transform to deliver to the potential.

Here are a few of the measures of success that will define the day when we (the collective human capital management and talent management community) will know we've made it...

Talent planning is as essential to the business planning process as the budgeting process
Talent dashboards show the correlation between business KPI's (sales, service,production, and quality) and talent attributes (competencies, training, compensation, performance, potential, source of hire)
Competencies are developed by the business, managed by HR
Talent management suites are bought by CEO's, CFO's, and GM's
All business leaders understand and measure the correlation between employee engagement and customer engagement
Talent management applications look and feel like consumer applications...easy, simple and content rich
Talent management applications leverage operational data to measure talent productivity and quality
Employees have access to relevant information to help them identify career and development opportunities that leverage their interests and abilities
Organizations know more about their employees than they do their candidates
Talent management include intelligence to identify employees at risk and alerts to managers about relevant development and mobility opportunities for their employees

For now, I'll take even one or two of these as a sign of industry health. Let's all think big and create change.

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Seventh Installment

david.barron — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:12:13 GMT

Contributed by David Barron ? david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will continue to investigate the six steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections. The six steps are:

1. Define Desired Business Outcomes

2. Define the Decision Criteria

3. Assess the Potential Providers

4. Engage the Providers

5. Conduct Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

Fifth step ? Conduct Software Demonstrations

Now comes the part you have been waiting on for so long, the software demonstration. I know it has been a long process and its fun seeing new capabilities, but now is not the time to lose focus. Everyone on the team needs to keep those well thought out decision criteria in mind while looking at the bells and whistles that the providers will invariably show you. Don?t get distracted by the show, focus on the content.

Some steps that we use at Knowledge Infusion (thanks Mike Brennan) to keep our heads in the game are:

? Conduct pre-demo briefings. Set the context prior to face-to-face provider introductions by covering relevant highlights from any documentation provided as well as from any third party sources you have leveraged.

? Focus on the product capability that matters to you. Develop a high-level scorecard for the audience to use as a means to compare each provider using the business requirements you have documented as section headers. This will focus their attention to the value delivered for each business objective. Avoid overly detailed score sheets that tend to be completely ignored or too much of a distraction from the demonstration itself to be useful.

? Ask them to show you. Follow the scenarios in process flow order to get the feel of a fully implemented product. When asking a question of the salesperson or engineer leading the demonstration, encourage them not to tell you how something works, but to show you. For any particular capability that requires exorbitant setup time, make a note to follow up with the provider for a remote demonstration.

? Ask questions. This is your time for everyone on the selection team ? from IT to functional experts - to understand how well each provider will satisfy your organization?s needs for years to come.

? Close the loop. Post-demo briefings after each demonstration offer collective insight through gut reactions.

Some final tips and things to think about when it comes to demonstrations:

Make sure the provider is showing the latest generally available software. The providers are very anxious to show you everything you asked for and sometimes that means they may have to show some prototype or ?demoware? that is still in development. Just make sure you know what to expect when the software is shipped.

Not all presenters are equal. Some will be good and some not so good. When that happens, it is not as easy to see the benefits of the software. Stay focused on the scenarios and not the speaker.

Not all organizations will fit the exact way a software package has been designed. So, try to determine those areas that you know will have to be customized. Keep in mind that every customization will have a cost in both dollars and time.

Enjoy the demo. In the next installment we will talk about the selection.

Next Installment ? Selection

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Sixth Installment

david.barron — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:14:06 GMT

Contributed by David Barron – david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will continue to investigate the six steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections. The six steps are:

1. Define Desired Business Outcomes

2. Define the Decision Criteria

3. Assess the Potential Providers

4. Engage the Providers

5. Conduct Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

Fourth step – Engage the Providers

Once you have your finalists, you are ready to contact the vendors. I always make personal contact with all the providers for two reasons: one, to explain to the ones who didn’t make the cut the reasons why (remember that every deal is a big deal to a sales representative) and reiterate the remainder of the process for the ones who did make the cut.

Up to this point, the details of any upcoming activities with the providers have probably been limited. Now is the time to share everything about the process with the finalists. (Remember, providers will always prefer to get engaged in a potential deal as early as possible. Try to time the creation of your business process scenarios to coincide with the determination of provider finalists.) The typical items that should be ready to share are: the RFI including the scenarios, the project timeline including detailed demonstration dates and expected contract signing dates, any supporting documentation (performance review forms, compensation plans, competency definitions, etc), and any details necessary about the procurement process.

Be prepared to schedule time with each provider to answer questions about the RFI and the scenarios. This will be a good test for you: if you can answer the questions and the scenarios stand up to provider scrutiny, then you have done a good job in creating them.

Let the providers know that you are “an open book” on two fronts: one, you are open to questions throughout the evaluation and two, you will be honest with the negative/down side of the current environment. Those two things will ensure the providers can actually add value to your organization.

You are now engaged and moving toward product demonstrations. We’ll cover that in the next installment.

Next Installment – Conduct Software Demonstrations

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Fifth Installment

david.barron — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:56:20 GMT

Contributed by David Barron - david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com,

Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will continue to investigate the six

steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections.

The six steps are:

1. Define Desired Business Outcomes

2. Define the Decision Criteria

3.Assess the Potential Providers

4. Engage the Providers

5. Conduct Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

Third step - Assess the Potential Providers

Now that you know what your desired business outcomes are

and you have defined the criteria that will comprise your final decision, you are

ready to focus on which providers to invite to the party. There are many

sources which can provide a potential list as a starting point; these include:

industry trade publications (IRHIM, SHRM, etc), independent consultants, other

companies you know who have just gone through an evaluation, or even a

potential provider (ask them who their competitors are). The list may start

with as many as 10 potential prospects.

My experience is that there are probably only two to four that

can REALLY meet your needs. Use the outcomes you have painstakingly defined and

the critical decision criteria as your guide. Don't get sucked into the "well I

see their name everywhere" mentality of choosing the providers. Marketing

shouldn't drive you to any one provider. Do your due diligence! I have

suggested that each potential provider do a 1 hour overview of their software

so that the client can get a feel of how the application flows, the navigation,

the reporting capabilities, etc. Sometimes that alone can disqualify a provider.

Once you have your final list, you are ready to formally

engage them in the process.

Next Installment - Engage the Providers

SaaS Vendors (and Customers) Missing the Boat on Web Services.

andy.gebavi — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 03:38:23 GMT

Of the dozens of customers Knowledge Infusion has helped plan and execute their Talent Management initiatives, not one - ZERO - have chosen to use web services to integrate their Talent Management applications with their HRIS or other internal apllications. They all use flat-file feeds to pass data back and forth between HRIS databases and the vendor datacenters on a scheduled basis. Part of the reason for this is because although most vendors claim to support web-services, few try to convince clients of the value of this technology. On the customer side, many corporate IT departments are not convinced they can use web services to send data securely through their corporate firewalls to an external datacenter. This, despite the fact that companies like eBay and Amazon have conducted billions of dollars of business using web-services.

For the technically challenged among us, the term "web services" describes a standardized way of integrating web-based applications. Web services enable small chunks of data to be transmitted in real-time when a transaction is performed, rather than in a huge file with other transaction data on a scheduled basis. Web-services has been over-shadowed lately in the Web 2.0 world by social media (social networks, wikis, blogs), but folks, without web-services, Web 2.0 is much more static.

To put the use of web services in a talent management context, let's say your company wants to hire a candidate that has cleared the interview process. The hire can be executed in your onboarding system and instantaneously transmitted to your HRIS or other applications to begin all the tasks that are required to onboard an employee (schedule orientation, arrange equipment and office space, provide building and system access, etc...). By avoiding the usual 24 hour lag time for each time transaction data is transmitted between systems, the entire employee onboarding experience is improved. It could make a huge difference in the length of time it takes a new employee to become fully productive - not to mention creating a positive experience in general for the new employee when they show up on their first day and are all set to go.

We're curious why more vendors or their customers aren't taking advantage of web services. So if you're out there, whether you're a software provider or a customer, if you're using web-services through a corporate firewall for talent management processes, we would love to hear from you. Let us know what you're doing!

Is this the end of the face-to-face meeting?

neil.jensen — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:36:55 GMT

I was told a story last week about a kick-off meeting for a software implementation that was done exclusively using virtual technologies. The vendor chose not to send the implementation team onsite, but instead did all introductions using conference call and web meeting. All future interactions are planned to be done over the web as well.

While I can understand how this can be an effective way to save travel time and money in the process of configuring software, I also see it running a big risk. In my opinion, nothing can replace the benefits of face-to-face human interaction. There is much to be gained by shaking hands and putting a face with the name. Starting a project such as a software implementation with a solid foundation based on common understanding can contribute to a successful outcome. Without establishing this foundation, small issues can become big issues leading to project failure.

While the outcome of this specific virtual kick-off meeting remains to be seen, I wonder how this practice will be adopted across the HR technology industry. With the rapid advancement of collaborative technologies, will there ever be a time when the face-to-face meeting becomes obsolete?

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Fourth Installment

david.barron — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:00:09 GMT

Contributed by David Barron - david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com,

Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will continue to investigate the six

steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections.

The six steps are:

1. Define

Desired Business Outcomes

*2.

**Define the

Decision Criteria*

3. Assess

the Potential Providers

4. Engage

the Providers

5. Conduct

Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

*Second step - Defining

the Decision Criteria*

The first place to start looking for this information may be

in the Procurement Department. Some companies have specific rules on the

procurement process including whether an RFP is a required element in a

Provider Assessment. If there are previous RFP templates in place, take a look

at the types of things that your company typically views as important. If there

aren't any available or no rules in place, here are some key criteria I have

seen used before (not an exhaustive list, but a start):

Provider's Viability - In a market of consolidation, how

likely is it that this company will be acquired?

Provider's Vision - What long-term product and market

strategy does this provider have to support your long-term goals?

Product Roadmap and Commitment - How well defined is the

plan for future enhancements to the products you are evaluating? Is this a

product they are phasing out in the short or mid-term future?

Functionality Fit - How well does the product deliver value

to the desired business outcome?

Usability - This should be viewed from within and across

applications

Desired Technology Platform - Can you use your existing

technology investment to support the new product?

Customer Experience and References - What kinds of

experiences have other customers had with the product? Make sure you ask

references about their customer service experience.

Total Cost of Ownership over X years - Your company may look

at 3 years, others at 5 years. Make sure you include license or hosting

(depending on the model), maintenance, implementation, data migration and

interfaces, incremental on-going support, hardware and database costs,

training, etc

If you use others, please send them along. I would love to

have them.

Next Installment - Assessing the Potential Providers

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Third Installment

david.barron — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:00:00 GMT

Contributed by David Barron - david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com,

Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will start investigating the six

steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections.

The six steps are:

*1.

***Define Desired

Business Outcomes

2. Define

the Decision Criteria

3. Assess

the Potential Providers

4. Engage

the Providers

5. Conduct

Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

*First step - Defining

Desired Business Outcomes.*

So many times I have seen companies spend tremendous amounts

of time and money defining detailed functional requirements down to a field

level. This may have given them plenty of items to score on, but nothing of

actual value they could relate back to a business process or a specific business

outcome. So, I recommend the focus shift from data requirements to *scenario requirements tied to business

outcomes.*

When defining business outcomes, you need to start your

thought process a little higher. First, you have to look at the overall

corporate goals and identify any strategies the organization has in place. Your

business outcomes should align with these goals. If there are no clearly

defined strategies, spend at least an appropriate amount of time to think how

this software could potentially impact the business. Secondly, the outcomes are

made up of one or many business processes. It is important that you involve the

business line team members to evaluate the processes to make sure they are up

to date. I say this only because I have seen many situations where an old

process is carried forward when it is clearly not valid anymore. Thirdly, your

business processes are a combination of individual value drivers. These drivers

are the building blocks of every process and the basis for defining your

demonstration scenarios. Lastly, you want to define illustrative demonstration

scenarios that will highlight the software's ability to deliver value. The

vendors will use the scenarios to build out their demonstration environment.

This concept may be new to some Product Consultants/Product Engineers, but they

should embrace it as a great equalizer. Every product has its strength and

weaknesses, but scenarios get past the field-level quagmire and give them the

opportunity to show how their product solves business issues and ultimately

business value.

Next Installment - Defining the Decision Criteria

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? Second Installment

david.barron — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:42:26 GMT

Contributed by David Barron - david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com,

Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

Previously, I suggested that a new name, Provider

Assessment, be proposed for the process of selecting a new technology solution.

We focused on non-software decision criteria. In this installment, let's look

at the process of evaluating the software. I'll ask you to look at it in a

completely new way - a value-based way.

How do you arrive at value when you're looking at features

and functions? Can I put this field over there? Can I change the screen color?

What value do those things add to your organization? None! That is the problem

with the way that most companies conduct a selection process. The focus is on

the breadth and depth of functionality, but not how that functionality drives

their business. Almost anyone that has worked in the Human Capital Management

industry for very long has heard the "horror stories" of failed implementations

and the proverbial "the software didn't work". Did the software really not work

or did it just not add any value to the business? Before companies even think

about software, they should have defined *objectives

with specific business outcomes* in mind. Then, and only then, can you get

value from software.

Next Installment - The Six Steps to Value in Software

Selections

REPOST from September: Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations ? First Installment

david.barron — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:39:21 GMT

Before I get to the obvious in the next installment, a quick

observation on something that may not be so obvious - the name. By the title,

one would immediately conclude that we are looking at software

feature/functions to evaluate the best fit for an organization. Well, while

that is certainly an important piece of the puzzle, it isn't everything. An organization

should be assessing other factors

like viability, vision, product roadmap, cultural fit, technology path,

hosting, and of course cost. With the newer SAAS (Software as a Service) model,

the non-software items become even more important because of what the vendor is

providing. Maybe it should be OBVIOUS that we change the name from

Software Evaluations to Provider Assessments.

Your thoughts?