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Tianqing  Li  (Revo)  BSNS7449  Industry  Based  Learning  Project  Report  

H o s t   S u p e r v i s o r :   P a u l a   B e a t o n  A c a d e m i c   S u p e r v i s o r :   A l a n   L o c k y e r    

       

Evaluation  of  Human  Resource  Information  System  in  Body  Corporate  Administration  

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Executive Summary This report is conducted to introduce my project of Human Resource

Information System evaluation in Body Corporate Administration (BCA). This

project is undertaken based on my experience and investigation during two

months’ internship as Human Resource Assistant in BCA, which is mainly

focused on documentation of HRIS of BCA and making recommendation for

improvement. In this report, three information systems related to HR based

practices will be fully investigated and illustrated: time and attendance system,

training module system, and personal profile system. Corresponding

recommendations will also be given in order to provide solutions for

improvement.

This project is conducted under the supervision of my host supervisor Paula

Beaton and academic supervisor Alan Lockyer. Special thanks for their

suggestion and contribution.

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Table of Contents Introduction of Project and Workplace ··················································· 1

� Workplace ················································································· 1

� Project ······················································································ 1

Details of Work Carried Out/ Discussion ················································· 2

� Findings ···················································································· 3

Time and Attendance System ························································ 3

Training Module System ······························································· 4

Personal Profile System ······························································· 4

Conclusions ····················································································· 6

Recommendations ············································································ 6

References ······················································································ 8

Appendix ························································································· 9

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Introduction of Project and Workplace WORKPLACE

This semester (Semester One, 2013) I worked in Body Corporate

Administration Limited (BCA) for my IBL internship. Body Corporate

Administration Ltd is a company that specialising in the professional

administration of Body Corporate and Cross Lease entities, it is the largest

body corporate secretariat in New Zealand. BCA employs over 40 staff, some

of which are qualified in property law, accountancy, valuation, property

management, and property insurance. BCA also have developed and have

employed experts in community development to assist in the development of

management structures of body corporates. BCA also has expertise in conflict

resolution, team building and business negotiation.

My host supervisor is the general manager – Ms. Paula Beaton. Paula has

extensive experience in the Body Corporate industry with her company

managing in excess of 7000 units and having over 20 years experience in the

application of the Unit Titles Act. Property types under administration include

apartments, suburban residential units, townhouses and commercial/industrial

buildings.

PROJECT

As a student of Unitec who’s major is specialised in Human Resource

Management study, I was offered a placement as Human Resource Assistant

in BCA. According to my former investigation of BCA and consultation with

Paula, the project I will complete in this semester is documentation of the

Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and making recommendations to

improve it.

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Details of Work Carried Out/ Discussion According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright (2012), Human Resource

Information System refers to: “A system used to acquire, store, manipulate,

analyse, retrieve, and distribute HR information”. Although it is easy to think of

the HRIS as a computer-based system, this view can be misleading- for two

reasons. First, a relatively large number of HRISs are non-computer-based,

and second, the term also applies to the people who work with the computer

(McLeod and Schell, 2001). An HRIS can support strategic decision making,

help the company avoid lawsuits, provide data for evaluating policies and

programs, and support day-to-day HR decisions.

For HRIS is concerned with activities related to employees of the organisation

(Stair and Reynolds, 2010), it could be considered that most data and

information of HR practices can be included in HRIS. In the research of

McLeod and Schell (2001), one significant characteristic of HRIS is the wide

variety of applications that it performs. According to their study, there are three

input subsystems (accounting information system, human resources research

subsystem, human resources intelligence subsystem) and six output

subsystems (workforce planning subsystem, recruiting subsystem, workforce

management subsystem, compensation subsystem, benefits subsystem,

environmental reporting subsystem) related to HRIS database.

Considering the time limit and feasibility of conducting investigation, this

project primarily focused on Human Resource Information System that related

to three daily HR practices in BCA: time and attendance, training and

development, and personal profile.

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FINDINGS

TIME & ATTENDANCE SYSTEM

Nowadays, organisations of all sizes use time and attendance systems to

record when employees start and stop work, and the department where the

work is performed. It’s also common to track meals and breaks, the type of

work performed, and the number of items produced. In addition to tracking

when employees work, organizations also need to keep tabs on when

employees are not working. Holidays, compensation time, family and medical

leave time must be recorded. Some organisations also keep detailed records

of attendance issues such as who calls in sick and who comes in late.

As a part of HRIS, time and attendance system, in my point of view, has

already been professionally applied in daily work of Body Corp Admin. Time

and attendance system that BCA applied is a computer-based system, it could

track every single employee’s time of attendance and time off duty. In addition,

it could also reveal employee’s status while he/she is at workplace: busy, meal

break, come out on business, etc. Time and attendance system that BCA

adopted is simple for HR manager to monitor employee’s daily work, in order

to forecast related salary and bonus. In BCA, this system is also helpful in

providing services to body corporate customers: while a customer is calling up

or coming by for services, the receptionist could easily find out the status of

principal on the computer, thereby finding the best solution to help the

customer: transfer this customer to principal or another employee in charge. It

could save time for both the customer and the company. Moreover, BCA also

uses paper-based time sheet to track attendance of part-time employees,

which need to be signed by general manager.

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TRAINING MODULE SYSTEM

Training module system provides a system for organisations to administer and

track employee training and development efforts. The system, normally called

a "learning management system" (LMS) if a stand alone product, allows HR to

track education, qualifications and skills of the employees, as well as outlining

what training courses, books, CDs, web based learning or materials are

available to develop which skills. Courses can then be offered in date specific

sessions, with delegates and training resources being mapped and managed

within the same system. Sophisticated LMS allow managers to approve

training, budgets and calendars alongside performance management and

appraisal metrics.

Actually, according to my investigation, the application of training module

system in BCA is not so obvious at the moment. The training system that is

being used in BCA is simply drafting training plans and goals, then arranging

trainer to perform training tasks. In BCA, for the primary business is

administration of body corporates, which is mainly related to accounting and

financial knowledge and skills, most trainers are experienced employees.

Computer is chosen as related assistive tool in training. Although after training

the results might be recorded in paper format, they are not systematic

collected as a reference for future training. Thus, HR manager couldn’t review

and evaluate the past training effectively.

PERSONAL PROFILE SYSTEM

Personnel data elements are relatively permanent and are nonfinancial in

nature. Examples are employee name, sex, date of birth, education, and

number of dependents. These personnel data elements are created by HR at

the time of employment and are kept current as long as the employees work

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for the firm. Similar data is also kept for retired employees (McLeod and Schell,

2001). No matter an employee is being recruited, retired, or left job, his

personal profile is closely related to his career.

Since BCA employs 42 employees at present, there are 42 employee profiles

in its personal profile system. These profiles are prepared in paper-based

format, except basic information of employees like name, sex, age, they also

listed more details include education and qualifications, training, skills and

experience, personality and intelligence. As a Human Resource Assistant of

BCA, one of my tasks is to make documentation of personal profiles, including

sorting, filing, and also updating. Though these personal profiles have

provided completed information of employees, they are not convenient to be

updated under the restriction of paper format.

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Conclusions As a result of former research, it can be seen that the HRIS has been

preliminary applied in Human Resource Management of BCA. To a certain

extent, the application of HRIS in BCA has improved the daily operation of HR

function, and then provided convenience to administration of the company.

However, since some traditional HR solutions are still being used, they

become obstacles that prevent HR function of BCA moving forward. Here are

some conclusions and recommendations, which could be helpful in improving

HRIS of BCA.

Recommendations For the time and attendance system that BCA adopted is reasonable and

efficient, the only part that needs to make amendment is the attendance track

system of part-time employees. Tracking attendance of part-time employees

should abandon the traditional paper-based time sheet, which is redundant. It

could be integrated into the current computer-based attendance system.

Through this arrangement, it could be more easily for HR manager to get

access in tracking an employee’s work time, no matter this employee is a

permanent employee or a part-time employee. It could also save general

manager’s time, for there’s no more time sheet needs to be signed.

When it comes to the training module system, considering the training model

that currently being used by BCA is traditional and unsystematically, the

training module system that BCA adopted should be amended or changed. A

better way is to keep every training session tracked in computer-based system,

including training plan, training methods, training efforts. Changes of

qualification and skills of trainees should also be updated before and after

each training session. Thus, training and development information could be

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complete gathered, HR manager could also find an easier way to follow up and

analyse each training session, so as to amend current training methods and

obtain more effective training efforts.

For the personal profile system that BCA adopted, it can be said that

information this system provided is normalised and completed. The only

suggestion for improving this system is to transfer this paper-based

information into computer-based data, which are accessible for both managers

and employees. Thus, HR manager could revise and update employees’

profiles without blacking out or adding papers, add and delete profiles could be

easier handled and save resources.

Although my internship in Body Corporation Administration was only two

months’ time, I appreciate that BCA could offer me such a precious work

experience and I treasured everyday I worked here. I sincerely hope that my

project for BCA could come in handy someday, and I wish business of BCA

could become better with each passing day.

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References

McLeod, R., Schell, G., (2001). Management Information Systems. 8th ed.

New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc..

Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B., Wright, P.M., (2012). Human

Resource Management: Gaining A Competitive Advantage. 8th ed. New

York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Stair, R., Reynolds, G., (2010). Fundamentals of Information Systems. 5th ed.

Boston: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

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Appendix

Appendix 1. IBL Project Plan

© Unitec New Zealand IBL Programme 2012 Page 1 of 1

Bachelor of Business Industry Based Learning (IBL) Module

IBL Placement Plan Please complete ALL questions in consultation with your Host Supervisor

Project Planning & Timeframe Details

Briefly describe the project (other work tasks will be covered on the next page)

Documentation of the HRIS and making recommendations to improve it.

Estimation of working hours

At least 220 hours

What is the required final outcome of your project?

Get well known about current HRIS and point out its shortage, give enough suggestions to help improve the current HRIS.

What are the critical milestones (deadlines) you will need to achieve to meet this outcome?

By when for each?

1. Get familiar with workplace and company rules, handle basic abilities of finishing work tasks. (By March 15, 2013)

2. Obtain an objective attitude of current HR system through self experience and research. (By April 26, 2013)

3. Evaluate and give recommendation. (By May 24, 2013)

What actions will you need to take to meet the milestones?

I will come to meet both academic supervisor and host supervisor during each milestones, to get evaluation and suggestions which could help me in meeting these milestones.

What challenges do you anticipate facing at any of these stages?

How will you deal with them?

Communication is the biggest challenge that I may face during internship.

I will keep on improving my language skill and perform confidence while working with colleagues.

What resources do you anticipate requiring from your host organization? e.g. Computer

1. Computer

2. Rules and regulation of company

3. HR documentation

4. Guidance of HR manager and host-supervisor