Adding a data field to the end of an existing interface file

1. Competent in-house programmer - 30 min $50.00

2. Outsourced hosting center - 6 weeks; $3,500

3. The look on Sr Management's face when they see their "outsourced savings" - Priceless

Nothing in = Nothing out

Here's a little tidbit for those of you who have to deal with us evil HRIS types:

If you screwed up your entry on self service, (or didn't bother doing it) it is not our fault.

There are many things that may be our fault, but your belief that thinking about a change actually makes it happen or terminating the wrong employee is not one of them.

There is no HRIS system that I am aware of that will change records from brain wave input transmitted across the ether.

So if you get a report with something that doesn't reflect the self service change that you didn't make, please don't give the HRIS team a ration of expletive deleted before bothering to find out all the facts. (or worse, go whining to the VPHR about how HRIS is incompetent and careless)

The first thing that I will do is to make you look foolish.
The second thing I will do is to put you on THE LIST.

What is THE LIST?

It's an unpublished list of annoying users that will be shared amongst the HRIS team (and sympathetic HR dwellers*).

Membership in this exclusive club will entitle you to the following:

Exactly what you ask for. I mean EXACTLY.

Automatic placement on the bottom of the priority list for non-urgent requests. (non-urgent meaning not specifically granted urgent status by VPHR, SrVPHR or higher)

Poked with soft cushions (no, not really, but I had to pad out the list with something)

*i.e. those HR dwellers that are not on THE LIST. Unfortunately, there are a few. (ironically most from employee relations)

Been a while

since my last post---I've been impressed into service with my local little league as a tball coach so my limited free time has been more limited. (somewhat ironic since I have almost no interest in sports--I do like baseball, but haven't watched a game since the 1986 Mets won the world series)

One thing I have noticed about herding a yammering gaggle of 5 year olds is that it is not much different than dealing with my much older (i.e. physically) user population.

Except for one thing---these wee lads are a heck of a lot more fun* and much more amusing.

*unlike performance appraisals

Some good observations

Over at HRagitator about HRIS and ERP. I'll have more to say on this when I have a chance.

It's a GOAL!!!!

Yep, it's that time of the year round these parts---setting your goals for the next fiscal year!
We have to set some goals and send to Sr Management for approval.

Any guidelines? nope

Any detailed dept/company goals to align too? nope.

Am I confused or should goal setting flow down from Sr management instead of the other way?

I have one goal in life: Get out of bed in the morning, the rest is incidental.

Anyway, I think Ill submit this to them


see more crazy cat pics

My primary philosophy for goal setting is:

Avoid anything that requires someone else to get something done in order for you to get your goal completed. If that cat has to wait for another department (or outsourced vendor) to do something first, he/she is out of luck!

You Call it Corn... I call it BOA009.csv

On an average day, we send out/update or monitor interfaces (manual or automated) that can number 10 - 50+ depending on the schedule, requests, outsourced host failures etc.

Am I intimately familiar with each one?
Actually, Yes.

Am I intimately familiar with what each user does with it?
Thankfully, No.

What you do with the provided data is your business. If you modify it, eat it, build a shrine to it, gather your co-workers and collectively mock it, more power to you.

However, (assuming it meets the specs) once it is your possession and you modify it, EHRIS guy does not warranty its fitness for use, nor will provide any support for it.

This includes referring to the file by anything other than the name that EHRIS christened it with.

So if you get a spreadsheet called Throatwarbler_Mangrove.xls and you decide to rename it Luxury_Yacht.xls, don't call me asking why your Luxury_Yacht report doesn't look right.

You can ask me about the Throatwarbler_Mangrove file that your boss Ms. Mazola received before she modified it and renamed Luxury_yacht, but asking me with self-righteous indignation about a modified file and getting bent out of shape when I ask you to identify the original will just relegate you to the infamous EHRISguy "list".

What is the "list"? I'll leave that for another blog (or perhaps for your imagination?)

Two Orders of Magnitude.

Here's a neat little tool for your HR surveys.

www.surveymonkey.com

For approximately 200 bucks a year you can design your own surveys and it does a decent job of collecting, analyzing and providing data. Even EHRIS guy was able to sell this to my penurious management.

I designed a quick 360 feedback that our department heads wanted and had it ready in a day (the wait for "executive final approval" could take weeks, but at least my part is done. ).

Our outsourced provider of eval software gave us a quote of 20,000 to do essentially the same process, but with less flexibility and restricted access to data for further analysis..

Beware the groupthink that says outsourcing always saves money.