With the multitude of platforms, vendors and system capabilities, the selection of a talent management system can be a larger and more complicated project than anticipated. There are several steps that HRchitect recommends to its clients (and that HRchitect utilizes when assisting companies in this complex and puzzling process) and we will cover these in a series of upcoming blogs. These steps and accompanying descriptions should give you an appreciation for the potential magnitude and complexity of doing a thorough talent management system software evaluation. Certainly, in the space of a blog we won’t be able to go into complete detail for each step (nor should we give away all our best practices!) The typical software evaluation project usually runs 3-5 months. Timeframe may be shorter for smaller employers with potentially less users, processes and complexity and possibly longer for larger employers replacing a robust legacy talent management system.
The primary message here is that this project should be treated with the same level of respect as any other corporate mission-critical project with quality project management and enough time, resources and budget to do it right the first time. Some companies perform virtually no requirements analysis, “throw a dart” at a few vendors they have heard of, skip due diligence and quickly acquire a software license. Yet, more often than not, these companies obtain some level of Return on Investment (ROI) with their new talent management system. However, you will only get back what you put into this – the more thorough the evaluation, the better the selection thus yielding a vendor product with the best fit for your organization with the longest potential life cycle. (You don’t want to keep evaluating talent management systems every 2-3 years!).
There are ten steps that we want to cover over the course of a couple weeks worth of blogs:
- Project Resources and Initiation
- Strategic Planning
- Develop Requirements
- Identify Vendors
- Distribute RFPs (or RFIs) and Score Responses
- Develop Demonstration Scripts
- Conduct Scripted Vendor Demonstrations
- Select Finalists and Perform Due Diligence
- Develop Business Case and Obtain Management Approval of Selected Vendor
- Contracts Negotiation and Implementation Planning
Stay tuned for all the exciting details!
Solving a piece of the puzzle…
Matt Lafata, HRchitect
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Tiffany Appleby
Ron Hanscome
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