HRMS Implementation Plan: Your 8 Step Checklist

What are the secrets to HRMS implementation success?

To start, make a comprehensive plan. As with any ambitious project, it’s worth putting in the hours at the beginning to make sure things go right down the line. If you’re feeling a little lost and don’t know where to start putting together your HRMS implementation plan, then you’re in luck!

Find your way with our 8-step HRMS implementation checklist:

• Change management
• Hiring an HRMS consultant
• Data migration
• System testing
• User training
• Budget
• Go-live
• Challenges

1. Change Management

When implementing an HRMS, the impact of change on the people working in the organization should be taken into consideration. In the broad, people respond to change in broadly predictable ways. For your HRMS implementation to be successful, you need to build your communication strategy based on a structured model, such as the Lewis-Parker diagram below:

2. Hiring an HRMS consultant

First, assess the need for a consultant. You might consider hiring an external consultant for the following reasons:

• If your employee surveys indicate that HR is performing poorly, or is considered slow and unresponsive. 
• If you’re anticipating a major change to your current HR systems and processes. 
• If there are strong differences in opinion between major stakeholders. 

If you’ve decided to hire an expert for selecting or implementing your HR technology, choose a credible HRMS consultant with the right skills and a solid understanding of the HRMS market. Also, consider their ability to work with senior executives and their cultural fit within your organization.

References matter; look into the size and scope of their previous HR projects. If unclear, ask referees these key questions to better understand their experience:

• What was the scope of their HRMS project?
• What exactly did the consultant contribute?
• Was the expected ROI achieved?
• What problems cropped up and how were they tackled?

3. Data Migration 

When migrating data from your legacy HRMS to your new system, review your current data at the start, identify gaps, and check its accuracy.

As part of the stakeholder engagement exercise, ask everyone to check their own personal information. Security should be at the forefront of your mind, especially if your new HRMS is cloud-native. Your IT manager can help oversee this process.  

4. System Testing

Testing is a crucial part of any HRMS implementation. Use the employee lifecycle as a guide for your test scripts. If a process fails, retest only that specific part until it passes, then run it through your full end-to-end testing process to ensure everything works together correctly.

Your implementation plan should include a detailed schedule for testing, configuration, and system setup. Also, consider integrations with other business systems, data migration, and parallel runs with your old system, especially for payroll.

You'll need to conduct two main types of tests: functional and user acceptance with representative groups. For new capabilities without a previous benchmark, evaluate whether they are helping you meet your broader business objectives.

5. User Training

Poor user adoption can fail an HRMS implementation project. Tying your user-training plan to wider business goals, such as reduced costs, improved employee satisfaction, enhanced reputation, and better legislative compliance, will keep you on course.

Who should be involved in HRMS user training?

The table above outlines the minimum number of users you will usually need to train. Identify the capabilities of each group by identifying their current depth of knowledge or any skills gaps. Design appropriate levels of learning interventions required to bring users up to speed before go-live.

6. Budget

According to an HRIS report, you can expect to pay £6,125 per user for your software, but this is the average projected spend over five years. That creates a good idea of what your budget should be. But an HRMS budget can easily overrun.

Errors during planning can lead to issues later. A strong HRMS implementation plan should involve both HR and IT teams, with clear management of these relationships. Ensure functional specs are approved before developers start to avoid complications.

Don’t overlook updates and maintenance costs. Cloud systems typically operate on pay-as-you-go pricing based on users or employee records. For on-premise systems, check if an additional maintenance contract is needed. Ongoing user training is also essential for maximizing ROI.

7. Go-Live

When it’s time for go-live, users’ first experience should take precedence. You should put together a detailed risk assessment of everything that could go wrong with a contingency plan that outlines what to do if problems arise.

Establish what support will be available to users, for example:

• Super-users: particularly proficient users with an in-depth understanding of the project can be on hand for colleague queries.
• Technical support: for when a hardware or software problem occurs and needs to be solved straight away.
• Automatic reminders: that let anyone who logs onto the corporate system know that the new HRMS is about to go live.
• JiT: or ‘just-in-time’ training refers to learning resources that are on demand for well-supported users to quickly look up a piece of information they may have forgotten or missed.

Remember to make arrangements for bug and glitch reporting.

8. Challenges

Most HRMS implementation projects will face challenges. Here is a checklist of basic questions to ask post go-live:

• Are the features functioning as expected? 
• What errors are occurring, and are they within the expected margins?  
• Were the bugs and glitches fixed within the desired timeframes? (And, are the fixes being applied with the longer term in mind?) 
• How did data integrity stack up against expectations? 
• Is the system working with other integrated databases and systems as expected? 
• What ‘quick wins’ are emerging? And can you announce them so that you have some early positive news to give out?

Stakeholders who were involved in the earlier stages of implementation can give feedback in terms of whether their needs are being met. This will also help you identify fresh training gaps that should be addressed.

It’s rare that HRMS implementation runs completely smoothly. There will often be things we wish we had done differently. Learn by acknowledging these mistakes and doing your best to rectify them as quickly and thoughtfully.

A final thought…

Inevitably, there will be some pitfalls on the way, but by preparing yourself and putting contingencies in place, you can handle any unforeseen variables that would otherwise significantly disrupt the project.