1

Integrated HRIS Benefits and Implementation of HRIS in Banking Industry

Submitted By:
AnandKumar Gopalakrishnan

Abstract
Human Resources information is the most vital information for any organizations. Human
Resources Information system (HRIS) can play an important part in banks HR function.
Implementing an effective HRIS in banks can help HR to stay on the cutting edge in its bid to
deliver more effective and streamlined service. This study focuses on the role, benefits and the
implementation of HRIS in banking sector. Reference to various journals, articles, and books
carried out to identify the research results. A structured format was used to collect data from HR
Department, Recruiters, Hiring Managers, HR Representatives, Payroll and Benefits

Capstone Project

administrators, Software Engineers and network administrators. Also, various websites and HRIS
vendor sites are referred to get the results.
The results of this survey identified the need for integrated HRIS in banking sector and its
specific benefits of using in international banking operations and as a strategy decision tool. This
study shows that HRIS needs to offer more intelligent capabilities to increase the effectiveness of
HR planning. HRIS vendors need to win the trust of HR professionals through enriching features
and increasing the awareness and usage of HRIS in HR planning, especially its effectiveness. This
survey also helped to point the integration points to merge other related process like Payroll,
benefits, Time and Labor, Performance appraisal etc. to HRIS system.
Acknowledgment
My sincere thanks go to my mentor and professor Dr. Adam Marks, for his valuable
advice, suggestions and the support during the research of this paper. I would like to extend my
deepest gratitude to the group of people from my employers HR department and friends those
who working in HR systems, helped shape this research as it progressed.

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Acknowledgment.............................................................................................................................2
List of acronyms...............................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................5
1.1: Research background:...........................................................................................................6
1.2: Research Objective:..............................................................................................................8
1.3 Research Goals / Benefits:.....................................................................................................9

Capstone Project

1.4 Significance of the study:.......................................................................................................9

1.5 Outline of the research:..........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: Literature review:...................................................................................................10
2.1 - Historical Development of HRIS.......................................................................................10
2.2 - Need for HRIS in banking industry:..................................................................................11
2.3 - Benefits of using integrated HRIS in banks:......................................................................14
2.4 - HRIS in International Banking:.........................................................................................17
2.5 HRIS in banking industry of developing countries:.............................................................22
2.6 - HRIS effects on strategic planning and decisions in banking industry:..............................24
2.7: Functions of HRIS in banking sector:................................................................................27
2.7.1 - Employee Information:...............................................................................................28
2.7.2 - Recruiting and Hiring:................................................................................................28
2.7.3 - Employees Payroll system:.........................................................................................29
2.7.4 Employee Benefits: (EBIS Employee Benefits Information System)....................32
2.7.5 - Time and Attendance:.................................................................................................33
2.7.6 - Employee Self service (ESS):.....................................................................................34
2.7.7 - Performance Management:.........................................................................................35
2.7.8 - Training and Development:.........................................................................................36
2.8 - Corporate Governance - HRIS and U.S Laws:.................................................................38
2.8.1 HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)................................38
2.8.2 Sarbanes-Oxley Act:...................................................................................................39
2.8.3 - Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).............................................................................40
2.8.4 - Electronic Fund Transfer Act:.....................................................................................41
2.9 HRIS data model:.............................................................................................................41

Capstone Project

CHAPTER 3: Description of the research design used..................................................................43

3.1 Research questions:..............................................................................................................43
3.2 Data collection methods and procedures:............................................................................44
3.3 Data Analysis:.......................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 4: Discussion findings and recommendations.............................................................45
4.1 Research questions and its findings:..................................................................................48
CHAPTER 5: Summary and Conclusion:......................................................................................50
Reference:......................................................................................................................................51

List of acronyms
EBIS

Employee Benefits Information System

EFTA

Electronic Fund Transfer Act

ESS

Employee self service

FCRA

Fair Credit Reporting Act

HCM

Human Capital Management

HCN

Host-country nationals

HIPAA:

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HR

Human Resources

HRIS

Human Resources Information System

Capstone Project

HRM

Human Resources Management

IS

Information Systems

IT

Information Technology

PCN

Parent-country nationals

SOX

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

TCN

Third-country nationals

CHAPTER 1: Introduction
Human Resources Management (HRMS) and Information Technology (IT) are two eyes
of every organization. Almost all companies use HR and IT to some extend to achieve their
objectives. The business need for effective Human resources system is grown tremendously over
the past years, so its important for banks to understand how the integrated HRIS can help to
address the growing demand. There is an increasing realization that for organizational survival and
growth in a competitive environment, human resource is the most critical resource. This insight
drives the current inquiry into one of the principal levers of modern human resource management
identified as Human Resource Information System in banking sector. This research begins with
the background of the study, the objective and a snapshot description of the structure of this
presentation.

Capstone Project

1.1: Research background:

Banking sector has been instrumental for the economic development of a nation; recently the
banking activities worldwide are undergoing rapid diversification. To maintain the status in current
economic environment, it is essential for all banks to concentrate on their technological
advancement. Before the development of computer technology, banks were using the paper based
system, but the management of HR information is never easy with manual and paper based system
and it took tremendous time and effort to retrieve, manage and integrate HR data. In recent times,
the financial and non-financial processes of banks have undergone significant transformation. The
manual system adopted by the banks was the cause of procedural delays, outdated as well as
inaccurate information, improper documentation, higher expense of storing files and their safety.
This forced the banks to automate their financial and non financial activities to get better results,
this includes non financial activities like HR, Benefits, Pay roll, Training and Development,
performance management etc. This paper will detail the benefits and implementation of integrated
HRIS to banking industry. Further, this will help banks to realize the HRIS as strategic business
tool and the functions associated with integrated HRIS.
The usage of HRIS regards the computer based application that process human resources
information, regardless of where the information-processing resources are located. Based on this
view, (Mohan et al., 1990) defined, HRIS as a system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze,
retrieve, and distribute information regarding an organizations human resources.Human
Resource Information System (HRIS) is a concept which utilizes the development of Information
Technology (IT) for effective management of the Human Resource (HR) functions and
applications. HRIS is a database designed to allow tracking of all sorts of personnel related
information.Since the HRIS system can be customized to fit any number of Human Resource
needs, it is possible to adapt the system to any company or industry setting.The HRIS is capable

Capstone Project

of such tasks as identifying and tracking contacts with applicants, maintain essential data on the
status of each employee in the company, and in general make the process of Human Resources
management much easier to maintain. HRIS can also known as HRMS (Human Resources
Management System) and HCM (Human Capital Management). The differences with HRIS,
HRMS and HCM are usually the preference of the application provider. Overall, HRIS is refers to
the industry while HRMS and HCM are usually more representative of the systems.
An HRIS helps an organization plan and manage the intake, classification, staffing,
orientation, compensation and benefits administration, deployment, performance management,
employee and labor relations, development and competency of its workforce through effective
information management, reporting and analytics. Banks continuously invest substantial amounts
of funds for information system to reach competitive advantage in the market. However, if they
invest without identifying the current value and limitations, they may not reach the goal in this
rapidly changing business. HRIS is one information system in which banks should invest
intelligently. Most of the nationalized banks spend large money on HRIS, but unfortunately, many
of them utilize it just for human resource (HR) administrative purposes rather than for effective
and efficient human resource planning, because most of them dont realize the benefits and
contribution of HRIS into banking business. To make a human resource department more
effective and efficient new technologies are now being introduced on a regular basis so make
things much simpler and more modernized. One of the latest human resource technologies is the
introduction of a Human Resources Information System (HRIS); this integrated system is
designed to help provide information used in HR decision making such as administration, payroll,
recruiting, training, and performance analysis. This study aims to find out the contribution and
benefits of HRIS in human resource planning throughout recruitment, selection, training and
development for entire banking sectors. It attempts to examine how HRIS used in International

Capstone Project

banking and strategic tool for decision making. This also outlines the functions used in the
integrated HRIS system.
1.2: Research Objective:

The objective of this study is to present a comprehensive literature review of HRIS and
explores the benefits and implementation of fully integrated HRIS for banking industry. It is very
essential for banks to understand the benefits of HRIS before they invest any time, money and
effort for this. Due to the complexity of the HR and related functions, implementing an effective
HRIS system is very complex procedure. Banks needs to have a very clear understanding on each
HR process and its related activities to identify the correct integration points to get the maximum
out of the system. Also understanding the benefits of HRIS will help banks to estimate the return
on their investments. This project will help the banks to identify all the HR process and its
integration points to communicate with other systems. This will further help banks to create a
single integrated system to connect other non financial activities to increase the productivity. The
major intention here is to help the banks to reduce the administration tasks so they can spend
more time on their important business function. This will increase the compliance because of the
use of standard, best practice and adherence to policy. This study defines HRIS and examines the
current research and proposes an implementation model to integrate the different human resources
process into single management system.
1.3 Research Goals / Benefits:
To investigate the overall contribution of HRIS and its integrated sub systems to the
banking industry.

To investigate the implementation options of HRIS in banking industry

Capstone Project

1.4 Significance of the study:

Human Resources Management (HRMS) and Information Technology (IT) are two eyes
of every organization. Almost all companies use HR and IT to some extend to achieve their
objectives. Also, the business use of technology has grown tremendously over the past years.
There are lots of new innovations and advancement in technology is adding more benefits to
organization those who effectively use them. Integrating, HR and IT can be complex, especially in
banking that use it to a large degree. A number of vendors supply HRIS software to the market
under different names and prices. Banks spend substantial amounts to acquire HRIS software.
After a while, they suffer when they try to align the available HRIS functionalities with HR
planning. It is time to conduct a proper study to find out how HRIS could contribute to HR in
banking industry other than as a means of facilitating administrative matters. This study would not
only fill the existing knowledge gap in research studies, it would also encourage banks to
understand the importance and benefits the integrated HRIS can contribute to their successful
operations.

1.5 Outline of the research:

Chapter 1: Introduction: It consists of the study background, the research objective, and the
research methodology. This will give a snapshot of the subject matter and the premise of the
study.
Chapter 2: Literature review: This chapter analyses the existing studies and findings under
different topic. Topics like history of HRIS, need for HRIS in banking, HRIS benefits in banking,
role of HRIS in international banking, HRIS as strategic tool, Functions of HRIS and help of
HRIS with corporate governance are analyzed and reviewed.

Capstone Project

10

Chapter 3: Description of the research design used: This chapter lays out the conceptual
framework of the thesis. Research approach, methods and strategy are selected considering the
alternative actions. Conceptual framework is developed identifying the variables, their
relationships. Select the appropriate statistical methods that can be used to analyze the data.
Chapter 4: Discussion of findings and recommendations: This chapter summarizes the
findings of the study and highlights the future areas of the research.
Chapter 5: Summary and Conclusion: This chapter summarizes this study paper and
conclusion about the subject.
CHAPTER 2: Literature review:
2.1 - Historical Development of HRIS
The HRIS started in late 1960s as firms started converting the employees personal records
form hardcopy to punched form to computer storage. Earlier days, mainframe systems are used to
create, store and retrieve human resources data and it made it possible to produce personal
information much more quickly than manual hardcopy system. Mohan et al.(1990) present their
conception of the development of HRIS introducing the historical eras in HR from the pre-World
War II era to the 1980s and how the eras have affected the development of HRIS. In early days
the HR management was primarily involved only in clerical record keeping of employee
informations. In the 1990s there existed various expectations of how HRIS should have affected
an organizations HR activities and business planning. The role of HRM in the firm has changed
over time from primarily being concerned with routine traditional HR activities to dealing with
complex transformational activities. These transformational HR activities added value to
consumption of the firms product and service. During this time, various studies about advantages
of using HRIS and about users of HRIS were performed. In early 20th century, the evolution of

Capstone Project

11

HRIS intertwined with developments of IT. In the development of electronic services such as elearning, e-commerce and e-business became possible and common because of the invention of
internet and World Wide Web. Also, the internet services, integrated database and various
software development packages are really helped the organizations to design a very efficient
integrated HRIS systems that not only store or retrieve data, but also to make crucial business
decisions. The concept of electronic HRM (e-HRM) has also been launched as an internet
invention and implementation of HRIS.
2.2 - Need for HRIS in banking industry:
Banking is highly competitive industry. The key to success in banking industry is, having
best human resources. In fact, resources and capabilities are the two important factors that
determine the success of this industry. In banks, the quality and the amount of productivity mainly
depends on the skill and the knowledge of its employees. As we know, banks dont manufacture
any products; rather they offer variety of services to its customers. Its the people working for the
banks produce these services, so its very essential for banks to have a right set of people to
handle all the business transactions. Also, banks stores sensitive personal information about their
customers and clients. Bank employees, from executives to tellers, must have a higher level of
integrity and trustworthiness than any other industry employees, making the role of HR in banking
that much more important. Also, jobs in other industry do not really require a thorough
background check, but any job in a banking industry definitely does. Human resource departments
in banks must go the extra mile to uncover the criminal and financial history of job applicants, for
the safety of their clients and their organization as a whole. In order to perform these tasks and to
have a right set of people, banks heavily dependent on their HR department. Its the HR team that
hires, motivates, and develops the people that offer the banking services. T.Srinivas (2006)

Capstone Project

12

mentioned, the need of the HRIS in the banking industry has continuously grown because of the
effective role they are playing in the socio-economic development and rehabilitation. There are
high expectations of the society from the banking system, which cannot be met without the
development of integrated HR system. Below are some important task done by HR in banking
industry.

HR will make sure business hires best people for suitable jobs.

HR will help provide required training and development for all employees to satisfactorily
perform their job.

Very importantly, HR will make sure the highly qualified resources dont leave the bank
and retain as much resources and effectively utilize them for business.

Working with other divisions such as legal and compliance to help set company rules and in some cases communicating those rules to staff

Ensuring employees are treated fairly, that they know what their rights are, and that there
are measures in place when something goes wrong

Helping to develop people strategies to meet the goals of different parts of the business.

Timely issuing pay checks and other monetary benefits to employees

Taking care of employees safety, health and medical insurance and employee relation.

Various other tasks like employees performance appraisal, promotions, transfer all
handled by HR.

In order to perform these tasks in HR department, banks require an effective system to store,
retrieve and manipulate all HR data. Here is the place HRIS coming to picture. Human Resource
Information System (HRIS) is a concept which utilizes the development of Information
Technology for effective management of the Human Resource functions and applications. HRIS
enables systematic procedure for collecting, storing, maintaining, and recovering data required by

Capstone Project

13

the bank about their human resources, personnel activities and organizational characteristics. It
acquires stores, manipulates, analyzes, retrieves, and distributes information about an
organizations human resources. The need of HRIS in banking sector is mainly due to following
reasons.
1) The need of capable managerial manpower.
2) The greater need in the future increase the competition for available talents
3) The continued growth and development of banking business.
4) To cope with legal and social demands.
5) To integrate the human resources data.
In recent times, the financial and non-financial processes of banks have undergone major
transformation. The manual system adopted by the banks was the primary reason of procedural
delays, outdated as well as inaccurate information, improper documentation, higher expense of
storing files and their safety.HRIS has transformed banks financial as well as non-financial
processes from manual to automatic computerized systems. Banks are able to integrate different
HR functions by using third generation of feature-rich, broad-based and self-contained HRIS.
Also, it allowed banks to cut costs and offer more information to employees in a faster and more
efficient way. Especially in these difficult economic situations, it is critical for banks to become
more efficient in every aspect of the business including HR.
2.3 - Benefits of using integrated HRIS in banks:
A few scholars have studied the impact of human resources and HRIS benefits in the
banking industry, but these studies have important methodological limitations. Ann P. Bartel
(2005) noted a survey in his article about the senior human resources executives in U.S banks in
order to obtain information on the human resources polices and HRIS system used by the banks.

Capstone Project

14

The research results that X-efficiency, or how well management aligns technology, human
resources, and other assets to produce a given level of output, plays an important role in the
banking industry. In todays banking world human resources has come to play a very critical role.
Whether to hire and fire or to motivate and promote, the HR of banks enjoy a central role for
formulating and streamlining the banking process. The banking sector has been an instrument for
the economic development of any nation. Globally the banking activities are undergoing rapid
diversification. In order to maintain their status in present competitive environment, banks have to
concentrate in developing their human resources system. Managing a commercial bank is unique
and challenging as compared to any other business. Banking activities are highly regulated by
social value and other monetary considerations and very crucial factor in the management of
commercial bank is HR development. It is very important for banks to develop their HRIS system
in order to cope with increasing and changing demands in banking. Many studies cited HRIS
benefits, such as the improvement in accuracy, cost, time saving and speedy delivery of
information etc. However, there is not much research went in place to find the advantages in
banking industry. Using HRIS gives banks several advantages and they include the following.

HRIS merges banks human resource management with information technology to decision
making process and aid in complex negotiations that fall under the human resource
umbrella.

HRIS provides comprehensive information as a single, integrated database and this enables
banks to provide structural connectivity across units and activities and increase the speed
of transactions.

HRIS maintain an up to date account of the decisions that have been made or that need to
be made as part of a human resource management plan.

Capstone Project

15

HRIS permits bank employees and other users of the system to see online a chronological
history of an employee from his /her position data, to personal details, payroll records, and
benefits information.

By using a (HRIS), the human resource department is able to keep better track of which
benefits are being availed by which employee and how each employee is profiting from the
benefits provided.

HRIS will help to improve employee satisfaction by delivering HR services more quickly
and accurately.

At the macro level, HRIS is critical for effective planning and budgeting of banking
operations. Efforts can be made to develop the required skills and competencies among
the human resources pool to meet the requirements by allocating adequate budgets on the
basis of their expected optimum use.

HRIS will help HR to transition from an administrate department to a strategic

management department.

By using the HRIS, banks can easily integrate their other non financial activities like
employee payroll, benefits, time and labor, recruiting and hiring. This will enable the HR to
perform all the tasks effectively and efficiently.

HRIS and its sub systems like payroll automates the entire payroll process by gathering
and updating employee payroll data on a regular basis. It also gathers information such as
employee attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes on salaries, generating
automatic periodic paychecks and handling employee tax reports. With updated
information this system makes the job of the HR department very easy and simple as
everything is available on a 24x7 basis, and all the information is just a click away.

Capstone Project

16

HRIS are seen to facilitate the provision of quality information to bank management for
informed decision-making. It supports the provision of executive reports and summaries
for senior management and is crucial for learning organizations that see their human
resource as providing a major competitive advantage.

HIS is the fastest way to perform reporting for HR data. A special method of accessing
reports is employed. A graphical display enables the bank HR resources to select the object
to be reported on and then start reporting without entering data in a selection screen.

HRIS would render flow of information and data faster and it leading to faster appraisal
and decision making. This would enable banks to make credit management more effective
besides leading to an appreciable reduction in transaction cost.

Further HRIS widely used to provide following benefits.

To provide improved budget management

To gain more efficient use of resources

To develop optimized fit between IT system and company

To develop systematic and efficient methodology

To build moral with in the company

The concept of a HRIS in banking environment is to keep track of relevant information company
wide related to paying all employees.
A Summary of the Key Offerings of HRIS
Employment applicant tracking
Process of hiring
Employee contact details
Dependent Information
Employee Education and Development
Employee work experience
Employee skills
Terminations, rehires

Reviews for work progress

Pay Rate history
Pay Rules
Work Rules
Hours Worked
Regular Hours
Over Time
Consultant hours
Benefit Hours

Capstone Project

17
Bonuses
Taxes
Performance appraisal

Eligibility programs for benefits

Mandatory benefits
Voluntary benefits
Medical and Life Insurance
Employee safety
Employee and infrastructure security

Employee self service

Management self service
Travel and Logistics
Administrative reports
Decision making tool
Government compliance
Industry compliance
Table 1

2.4 - HRIS in International Banking:

In the last three decades, there has been substantial liberalization of the banking sector and
financial innovation. These changes have been facilitated by reregulation of banks, which continue
to lie at the heart of all financial systems, and have themselves driven changes in prudential, and
monetary, regulation policy. The banking and wider financial markets are rapidly being globalized.
The process started in the 1970s with the internationalization of banking. The need for
international banking is growing tremendously. In the current business environment, banks are
forced to operate in global market to achieve their target profit. Due to this globalization, banks
are opening their new branches and business in foreign countries. Hiring workforce and retaining
the human resources in foreign land is not an easy option. Banks needs to have very solid system
in place to co-ordinate and integrate branches around the world. HRIS place a very large role in
integrating the business. With the help of HRIS banks can control and operate human resources
and related activities by single click. The entire employee and their pay roll informations can be
stored in single database to retrieve edit and update data. Employee performance and benefits can
be administrated remotely without the help of HR people in the country they operate. Diana

Capstone Project

18

Wicks (2010) pointed in his article about the use of HRIS in international operation. This will very
much applicable in international banking operations.
Remaining Competitive: HR decision making involves developing policies and strategies
that will keep a business competitive in a cutthroat global business environment. HR practices in
international business are evolving such that only the most competent and sustainable HR
practices succeed. In making decisions about the manpower needs of the banks global operations,
HRIS and its related subsystems plays a vital role and using this would develop a new
trends in international business HR practices within their banking operations.
Local Adaptation: Local adaptation entails molding banking operations with respect to
the values and cultures of an area. Businesses with international operations face the challenge of
localizing operations with regard to the HR practices of local personnel. In this case, HRIS
system can help the HR manager is to make decisions about how best to streamline the local
corporate culture of a subsidiary with the corporate culture of the parent company. Decision
making on local adaptation ensures that the parent company and subsidiaries maintain the same
levels of quality in areas such as recruitment, performance management and training. HRIS system
makes this possible.
A research paper by Morgan (1986) on the development of international HRM is helpful in
understanding HRIS role in International banking. He presents a model of international HRM that
consists of three dimensions.

Capstone Project

19

Figure 1
Morgan (1986) classifies the three broad human resource activities of procurement,
allocation, and utilization. These three broad activities can be easily expanded into the major six
HR activities (Human resource planning, Staffing, Performance management, Training and
development, Compensation and Benefits, Labor relations). The three national or country
categories involved in international HRM activities: (1) the host-country where a subsidiary may
be located, (2) the home-country where the firm is headquartered, and (3) Other- countries that
may be the source of labor or finance. The three types of employees of an international firm: (1)
host-country nationals (HCNs), (2) parent-country nationals (PCNs), and (3) third-country
nationals (TCNs).3 Thus, for example, Bank of America employs Australian citizens (HCNs) in its
Australian operations, often sends U.S. citizens (PCNs) to Asia-Pacific countries on assignment,
and may send some of its Singaporean employees on an assignment to its Japanese operations (as

Capstone Project

20

TCNs). Morgan defines international HRM as the interplay among these three dimensions
human resource activities, types of employees, and countries of operation. Banks having a
integrated system can effectively integrate this dimensions of HR, Employee and Operations.
Karen V. Beaman (2000) mentioned in this research that, a multinational HRIS is one that
takes a responsive approach to implementing and managing HRIS by being sensitive to local and
regional differences. In essence, a multinational HRIS is one that manages a portfolio of multiple,
national HR systems, allowing local operations a significant amount of freedom and organizational
autonomy.A global HRIS is one that takes an efficiency approach to implementing and managing
HRIS by building a single, standardized, centralized system. This will enable banks to see a
uniform global operating environment as the driving force and attempt to minimize national and
local needs. One sanitary solution is devised, based primarily on the mother companys
requirements, and each international subsidiary is expected to hop on board and do things the
same way. Karen V. Beaman (2000) further mentioned that, an international HRIS is one that
takes a learning and sharing approach to implementing and managing HRIS by transferring and
adapting knowledge and expertise to local banks, while continuing to retain considerable influence
and control over the local banks. It allows for the exploitation of the parent bank core
competencies through the adaptation of technologies, business practices, products, services,
knowledge and expertise to the local environment, while building on the strengths and core
competencies of the local entities. At the same time, it either calls for heavy modifications to the
system to the point that maintenance is a problem or it creates a situation where neither corporate
nor local needs are adequately met.
Karen V. Beaman (2000) further explains that, uniform treatment of foreign operations is
one of the major impediments to building the flexibility and responsiveness that HRIS needs
today. Such uniformity forces simplistic and dichotomous choices. To be responsive to local

Capstone Project

21

needs, we need to legitimize diversity and appreciate multiple perspectives. The below figure
graphically shows the divergent needs for global integration and local differentiation for various
HR and HRIS strategies, functions and activities. As can be seen from the diagram, some HR
functions that benefit from local flexibility include competency management, professional
development, rewards, salary and financial incentives, and the delivery of training programs.

Figure 2

2.5 HRIS in banking industry of developing countries:

HRIS is causing significant benefits for the banking industry of developing countries. In
order to ascertain the benefits, prominent banks in some development countries like Pakistan,

Capstone Project

22

Indonesia, India, Thailand, Srilanka and Kenya are selected by Dr. Harman Preet Singh et al
(2011). Their study summarizes the following benefits.
Country

India

Bank

SBI

Description

SBI uses HR software interfaces. Interfaces allow for data to be

transferred from one system to another. HRIS assures that the data
in system is up to date and accurate. So, it enables integrated HR

Pakistan

SBP

payroll software solutions.

SBP uses oracle based HRIS in different units like employees
database unit, service record & compliance unit, HR automation
unit etc. HRIS enables discovery of more efficient and less time
consuming processes. It also enables efficient performance

Indonesia

BI

management of employees.
BI employs HRIS to store data of more than 6000 employees. For
this purpose, it deploys a database application, known as
SIMASDAM. Strategically, the bank has strengthened IT support
and information system. However, it has been observed that BI has
not properly estimated its system requirements while employing
HRIS. Adoption of HRIS can help BI tremendously, if it correctly

Thailand

BT

identifies its system requirements and level of sophistication.

BT employs HRIS as a Management Information System (MIS)
for training administration, time management, customized payroll
management etc. Furthermore, HRIS is used for employee life-

Srilanka

SB

cycle, relationship and transaction management.

SB is using HRIS to re-engineer its business processes. It plans to
cover all records of employees from their recruitment till their
retirement. So, it intends to cover information like employees

Capstone Project

23
personal information, work details, leave records, payroll
information etc in HRIS. For this purpose, a sophisticated and well

Kenya

KCB

integrated HRIS need to be deployed.

KCB employs oracle based HRIS to keep pace with the changing
needs of organization and work force. HRIS helps KCB to
efficiently manage employee records. Oracle database is used as a
single source of information. This eliminates data redundancy,
reduces the possibility of conflicting data in different databases,
and creates a consistent, complete as well as a reliable picture of
every employee.
Table 2

This further proves that HRIS has a very wide scope in banks of developing countries.
This can be applied in many part of the HR functionalities, however its very important for banks
to clearly identify the requirements before implement them. This would lead to optimum
utilization of scare resources. HRIS database can be used as a single source for all information
and doing that would lead to the development of an integrated HRIS platform for the whole
banking operations.
2.6 - HRIS effects on strategic planning and decisions in banking industry:
Human Resource strategy is about the action the banks do in order to accomplish the
mission and objectives of the banks. Adopting such strategy when carrying out HR planning
ensures that employees can achieve the HR objectives. According to Kenneth A. Kovach et al.
(2011), by the time HRIS started reaching maturity from an administrative perspective, banks had
begun to recognize their value in providing management with strategic data not only in
recruitment and retention strategies, but also in merging HRIS data into larger-scale corporate

Capstone Project

24

strategy. Hassan et al. (2011) approve this in his article that, HRIS provides bank management
with strategic data not only in recruitment and retention strategies, but also in merging HRIS data
into large-scale corporate strategy. The data collected from HRIS provides management with
decision-making tool. Through proper HRIS, firms are able to perform calculations that have
effects on the business as a whole. Such calculations include health-care costs per employee, pay
benefits as a percentage of operating expense, cost per hire, return on training, turnover rates and
costs, time required to fill certain jobs, return on human capital invested, and human value added.
Further, various studies had offered a conclusive evidence to affirm the role HRIS plays in support
of strategic decision-making. Hassan et al.(2011) further mentioned in their article that, lately, the
increasing pressure to support strategic objectives and the greater focus on shareholder value have
led to changes in both job content and expectations of HR professionals and such major changes
included contemporary use of IS in support of the HRM process. More so, a careful analysis
indicated that increased HRIS usage enabled improved professional performance and thus
facilitated involvement in internal consultancy activities. In addition, using HRIS provides value to
the banks and improves HR professionals own standing in the organization and the need for HR
to become a strategic partner.
Hassan et al. (2011) further points a note from David Guest (1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1991)
that the key policy goal for HRIS, which is concerned with the ability of the organization to
integrate HRM issues into its strategic plans, to ensure that the various aspects of HRM cohere,
and to encourage line managers to incorporate an HRM perspective into their decision making.
Also another note from his article considers that, one of the common themes of the typical
definitions of HRIS is that HR policies should be integrated with strategic business planning.
Keith Sisson (1990) suggests that a feature increasingly associated with HRIS is a stress on the
integration of HR policies both with one another and with business planning more generally.

Capstone Project

25

Hassan et al. (2011) further points a note from John Storey (1989) that The concept locates
HRIS policy formulation firmly at the strategic level and insists that a characteristic of HRM is its
internally coherent approach. Therefore, HRIS can be conceptualized as collateral for developing
strategic decisions within organizations. Below are some aims of HRIS strategy in banking.

To ensure that business planning recognizes that the ultimate source of value is 'people'.

To make sure that all those involved in strategic planning understand the HR implication
of their proposals and the HR constraints if they fail to take action.

To match the objectives of the HR function to the corporate business objectives.

To help bring about corporate culture and processes that enable people to do their jobs
better.

To align the organization's competencies needs with the people who can satisfy those
needs.

To ensure organizational resources contribute to the development of people's

competencies.

To determine performance requirements to achieve the organization's objectives and how

employees can satisfy those requirements.

To determine levels of employee commitment and ways for improving them

Asafo-Adjei (2007) points out some important definitions mentioned by other scholars. As per
his article, Torrington et al.(2005) defines SHRM as means of accepting the HR function as a
strategic partner in the formulation of the companys strategies as well as in the implementation of
those strategies through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding
personnel. Whereas strategic HR recognizes HRs partnership role in the strategizing process, the
term HR Strategies refers to specific HR courses of action the company plans to achieve. AsafoAdjei (2007) also notes the definition from Bratton and Gold (2003) defines strategic human

Capstone Project

26

resource management as the process of linking the human resource function with the strategic
objectives of the organization in order to improve performance. To the authors, global companies
function successfully, if strategies at different levels inter-relate. An organizations human resource
management policies and practices must fit with its strategy in its competitive environment and
with the immediate business conditions that it faces. They however cautioned that the human
resource-business strategy alignment could not necessarily be characterized in the logical and
sequential way suggested by some writers; rather, the design of an HR system is a complex
iterative process.
2.7: Functions of HRIS in banking sector:
HRIS is a software solution for managing all the quantitative aspects of managing human
resources and other related functionalities. Managing human resources needs for banks is a very
complicated task, especially if a bank is large with hundreds and thousands of active working
employees. HRIS software helps to track people and resources, conduct payroll calculations,
manage responsibilities and do the accounting necessary to maintain an efficient department.
As with any type of business software, there are a number of different software packages available
covering different types of businesses and duties. HRIS systems consist of one or more related
HR function and this can include.
2.7.1 - Employee Information: The basic data stored in any HRIS system is employee
information like Name, address, sage, sex, pay rates, working hours, grade etc. This information is
critical for all the departments to identify the resources.. Without this system, HR cant mange and
run their activities effectively. This mostly been referred as Master data for HR and this should be
the first system that needs to be incorporated into integrated HRIS systems.

Capstone Project

27

2.7.2 - Recruiting and Hiring: Banking is a service industry and the customers do direct interact
with employees. It is very important for banks to choose a right candidate for right job. Darrag et
al. (2010) mentioned in this article that, recruitment represents one of the core staffing activities
that need to be efficiently and effectively planned and conducted for organizations to attain
success. Its the process of searching for and attracting an adequate number of qualified job
candidate, from whom the banks may select the most appropriate to field its staff needs. The steps
in recruitment process include identification of job openings, determination of job requirements,
choosing appropriate recruiting sources and methods, and finally, generating a pool of qualified
recruits.Job openings are identified through human resource planning or manager request. Based
on the requirement the recruiters will list the jobs into banks corporate website and other job
boards like internet, news paper ads, college recruiting etc for receive job applications from
various candidates. Upon receiving the application, recruiting team will contact various
screening and interviews to select the right person for the job. Data and information about
applicants regarding current employees, whether for a transfer or promotion, or outside
candidates for the first time position with the firm are collected and evaluated. Once the selection
process completed, the candidates will be given offer to join a position. It is very difficult for
recruiters and hiring managers to perform these tasks without having a necessary technology and
tools. Also, its very important that job applicant details needs to be communicated on time to
other systems like payroll, benefits, attendance system to further process the pay checks for every
month. Integrated HRIS system plays a major role in hiring and selection process to acquire
talented human resources to banks.
Based on the discussions with HR professions in my organization, I have illustrated the
below diagram on how the Recruiting and Hiring process can be integrated to HRIS system.
Recruiting and Hiring is the source application it receives job applicant data from external and

Capstone Project

28

internal career websites. Based on the other selection process hiring team will provide offers to
candidate. These offer details needs to be linked to integrated HRIS system to process payroll,
benefits and other functional areas of the HR activities.

Figure 3

2.7.3 - Employees Payroll system: Payroll is the one very important functions of HR
Department. Its the process by which an employer pays an employee for the work performed. By
legally and morally employers are responsible to issue the accurate pay checks to their works
based on the work performed or the time spends of the work. If employers fail in their payroll
duties, their workers will be less motivated to fulfill their end of the bargain. They'll be less
productive and suffer from low morale. Also, banks have legal obligation to governments to
withhold appropriate taxes from its employees. These taxes include the federal, state, and local
taxes the employees must pay, and the employee's portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes.
A fully automated payroll process involves the review and verification of hours worked and other

Capstone Project

29

changes as entered by the employees, followed by the processing and printing of payroll reports,
filing of direct deposit information and payroll taxes, and the distribution of paychecks.
Hoboken (2003) explains the basic end to end processing of payroll and process flow and
the integrated HRIS system in banks should cover all these basic process to issue pay checks to its
employees.
1. Set up new employees: New employees must fill out payroll-specific information as part
of the hiring process, such as the W-4 form and medical insurance forms that may require
payroll deductions.
2. Collect timecard information: Salaried employees require no change in wages paid for
each payroll, but the banks must collect and interpret information about hours worked for
nonexempt employees and contractors.
3. Verify timecard information. Whatever the type of data collection system used in the last
step, the payroll system must summarize this information and verify that employees have
recorded the correct amount of time.
4. Summarize wages due. This should be a straightforward process of multiplying the
number of hours worked by an employees standard wage rate. However, it can be
complicated by overtime wages, shift differentials, bonuses, or the presence of a wage
change partway through the reporting period.
5. Calculate applicable taxes. The payroll system must either use IRS-supplied tax tables to
manually calculate tax withholdings or have a computerized system or a supplier
determine this information. Taxes will vary not only by wage levels and tax allowances
taken but also by the amount of wages that have already been earned for the year-to-date.
6. Calculate applicable wage deductions. There are both voluntary and involuntary
deductions. Voluntary deductions include payments into pension and medical plans, while

Capstone Project

30

involuntary ones include garnishments and union dues. These can be made in regular
amounts for each paycheck, once a month, in arrears, or prospectively.
7. Create a payroll register. Summarize the wage and deduction information for each
employee on a payroll register, which can then be used to compile a journal entry for
inclusion in the general ledger, prepare tax reports, and for general research purposes. This
document is always prepared automatically by payroll suppliers or by in-house
computerized systems.
8. Verify wage and tax amounts. Conduct a final cross-check of all wage calculations and
deductions. This can involve a comparison to the same amounts for prior periods, or a
general check for both missing information and numbers that are clearly out of line with
expectations.
9. Print paychecks. Print paychecks, through a computer printer, with the print outs using a
standard format that itemizes all wage calculations and deductions on the remittance
advice. If direct deposits are made, a remittance advice should still be printed and issued.
10. Enter payroll information in general ledger. Use the information in the payroll register
to compile a journal entry that transfers the payroll expense, all deductions, and the
reduction in cash to the general ledger.
11. Send out direct deposit notifications. If a issue payments directly to employee accounts,
then a notification of the accounts to which payments are to be sent and the amounts to be
paid must be assembled, stored on tape or other media, and sent to the bank.
12. Deposit withheld taxes. The banks must deposit all related payroll tax deductions and
employer-matched taxes at a local bank that is authorized to handle these transactions. The
IRS imposes a rigid deposit schedule and format for making deposits that must be
followed in order to avoid penalties

Capstone Project

31

13. Issue government payroll reports. The government requires several payroll related
reports at regular intervals, which require information on the payroll register to complete.
When looking for an HR system, some banks may consider the HR module offered by their
payroll service provider. This may be a convenient option, however there is another option, one
that specifically addresses HRs needs: a fully-functional HRIS can talk to your payroll system.
Via a payroll link, data transfers electronically from one system to the other thus eliminating
duplicate data entry.
2.7.4 Employee Benefits: (EBIS Employee Benefits Information System). U.S.Small
business administration Sba.gov (2012) article explains the importance of employee benefit
programs. Employee benefits play an increasingly important role in the lives of employees and
their families and have a significant financial and administrative impact on a business. Most
companies operate in an environment in which an educated work force has come to expect a
comprehensive benefits program. Indeed, the absence of a program or an inadequate program can
seriously hinder a company's ability to attract and keep good personnel. Employers must be aware
of these issues and be ready to make informed decisions when they select employee benefits.
Designing the right benefit plan for your employees is a complex task. There are many issues to
consider, including tax and legal aspects, funding, and finding the right vendors or administrators.
Benefits plan protects employees and their families from economic hardship brought by sickness,
disability, death or unemployment. It also provides a retirement income to employees and their
families. Benefits are indirect financial payments given to employees. These may include
supplementary health and life insurance, vacation, pension, education plans, and
discounts on sale of company products. Furthermore, income and medical benefits to victims of
work-related accidents or illness and/or their dependents, regardless of fault are all part of
employees compensation. The employee benefits are so important, even the government do

Capstone Project

32

mandate certain level of benefits to all employees in all organization. Social Security,
Unemployment insurance and Workers compensation are some mandated by government. Also the
benefits like Health Insurance, Disability Insurance and Life Insurance are regulated by employers.
Integrating the benefits function of the bank with HRIS would give major advantage to HR
department to validate and process benefits for each employees. Integrating benefits to HRIS
would give faster and accurate data to payroll, finance and other HR functions.
2.7.5 - Time and Attendance: Manually tracking employee attendance is not an easy job. It is
highly intensive process that is error prone and susceptible to rampant cheating by employees.
Streamlining the management of both time worked and time away from the office is important.
The Time and Attendance system will monitor the activity and can pass the results on to the
payroll system. This streamlining is very important and should almost be made mandatory for all
businesses of this size and greater.HRIS helps automating the collection of employee attendance
data offers many immediate and long-term benefits. Also, integrating time and attendance into
HRIS provide the below key benefits.

Accurate attendance data into payroll processing.

Fair and uniform application of work rules and over-time authorization.

Ensure all state and federal regulations.

Can help track employee productivity.

Can help track true labor cost by product, project, task or process.

It will help to decrease time card cheating by employees.

Employees can track balance and accrual leaves

It will allow employees to tracks scheduled time-off.

They bring efficiencies in staff time, improvements in information, reduction in time

improperly accounted for and reduction in buddy punching losses.

Capstone Project

33

In addition to providing more accurate raw payroll data, and doing so in less time,
automating your time and attendance will produce new budgeting, scheduling and
management tools.

This research suggest that, integrating Time and Attendance to HRIS together can give a
tremendous amount of cost insight and control to a bank and ensure that they are getting the
maximum dollar value from their employees.This can also give greater employee satisfaction as
and more productivity.
2.7.6 - Employee Self service (ESS): Employee self service is another important function can be
integrated to HRIS system. The basic feature of ESS facilitates employees to change / update
their personal details, education, marital status, bank details etc. This system also helps
employees to submit leave application and help view the leave balances. This is a very powerful
tool for employees to manage their details without interacting with HR department. In recent
development, ESS can also helps towards empowering employees and managers to take more
responsibilities for their jobs and development. ESS is can be a popular tool for bank, where the
high number of workforce uses computer and internet access. Most ESS systems are designed to
work through web applications either internet or intranet. So, employees can access their data any
part of the day. Integrating ESS to HRIS would save lots of human resources hours and money.
HR resources dont need to deal with employee personal information and all employees are given
freedom and authority to manage their own personal details. This saves lots of time and dollars
for bank and also can have accurate and up-to-date information about employee personal details.
As a process flow, ESS sends the employee information to Payroll, time and attendance, benefits
and other functions of the HR. This will be the master data for all employees related
informations shared among other HR functions.

Capstone Project

34

2.7.7 - Performance Management: Performance management is the systematic process involves

all the employees and their performance at work. Often this been referred as performance
appraisal or performance reviews. The true goal for performance management is employee
development and organizational improvement and it sets the foundation for rewarding excellence.
The ideal system should help bank management to capture the below important aspects.

Performance Planning - provides information on establishing performance expectations

and goals for employees to channel their efforts toward achieving organizational
objectives.

Monitoring Employee Performance provides information on the requirements to conduct

at least one formal written progress review for all employees.

Employee Development provides information on the importance of evaluating and

addressing employee development to increase the effectiveness of an organization.

Evaluating Employee Performance provides information on evaluating employee

performance against the elements and standards in an employee's performance plan and
assigning a summary rating of record.

Recognition provides information on a large variety of informal and formal recognition

programs, which can be used to recognize and reward employee excellence.

Integrating performance management to HRIS system should give valuable information to payroll,
benefits and training departments. Ideally, end of every appraisal cycle employees are given pay a
pay increase based on the grade he/she received for the previous year. Also, managers arrange
necessary training plans to increase the skills and competency of the employees. All the training
needs and skill developments can be easily arranged if the systems are integrated and save time
and effort for HR department.

Capstone Project

35

2.7.8 - Training and Development: Training and development is one other important functions
of banking sector. It ensures that randomness is reduced and learning or behavioral change takes
place in structured format. Training both physically, socially, intellectually and mentally are very
essential in facilitating not only the level of productivity but also the development of personnel in
any banks. Banking operations are undergoing tremendous changes every year. Globalization
plays a major role in banking reform and the process and policies used in the banking operations
are changing frequently. In a more and more global, complex and turbulent environment,
knowledge is the only reliable source of competitive advantage. Knowledge is viewed as the key
of realization of a competitive advantage. Therefore the question of where the corporative
knowledge is located, how to release it and develop to achieve organizational goals has become
very important. The main objective of training and development function is to make sure the
availability of a skilled and willing workforce to bank. On a individual aspect, training helps
employees in achieving their personal goals, which in turn, enhances the individual contribution to
banks. On a organizational aspect, training will bring individual effectiveness. On a social level,
training and development ensures than an organization is ethically and socially responsible to the
needs and challenges of the society. Due to this importance, banks are spending hundreds and
millions of dollars every year for training needs and its been considered as more of retention tool
than cost.
Integrating this function to HRIS gives a major advantage to HR, finance and employees
of the bank. HR can easily track the training needs for each employee and arrange for a required
training sessions. Also, employees can be effectively used for the right jobs.Employee training and
development does not imply only obtaining new knowledge, abilities and skills, but also the
possibility to promote entrepreneurship, introduce employees to changes, encourage the changes
of their attitude, introduce the employees to important business decisions and involve them

Capstone Project

36

actively in the process of decision making. D.A. Olaniyan, Lucas B.Ojo (2008) points the
functions of training as follow: increase productivity, improves the quality of work; improves
skills, knowledge, understanding and attitude; enhance the use of tools and machine; reduces
waste, accidents, turnover, lateness, absenteeism and other overhead costs, eliminates obsolesce in
skills, technologies, methods, products, capital management etc. It brings incumbents to that level
of performance which needs the performance for the job; enhance the implementation of new
policies and regulations; prepares people for achievement, improves man-power development and
ensures the survival and growth of the enterprise.
2.8 - Corporate Governance - HRIS and U.S Laws:
Human resources is a key enabler for strategic objectives of the bank. HR develops and
recommends the companys approach to corporate governance including all set of laws needs to
be followed for banking operations. The integrated HRIS allows companies to comply with laws
and regulations and manage any risk associated with that. For banking operations the HRIS helps
comply with workforce eligibility verifications, labor and immigration controls, Data privacy and
data security. Below are some important laws that can be e configured to use in HRIS systems.
2.8.1 HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) This rule is mainly
for the benefit of employees and its imposed a series of regulations to guarantee health insurance
to individuals. WikiPedia (2012) explains that, HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for
workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the
Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for
electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans,
and employers. Ascentis (2001) explains the need for HR systems to be compliance with HIPAA.
One part of this law, labeled Administrative Simplification, is intended to reduce the costs and

Capstone Project

37

administrative burdens of healthcare by making possible the standardized, electronic transmission

of certain administrative and financial transactions which are currently carried out manually. To
accomplish this goal, the law requires to adopt national uniform standards for the transactions. By
making these new standard electronic data formats mandatory for all carriers and benefit vendors
across the country, the federal government has made it possible for Human Resource Information
System (HRIS) and benefit software vendors to create a common interface to these new data
standards. All electronic transmissions of the transactions covered by ANSI X12N from one
computer to another must comply with the standards. Electronic transmissions include
transmissions using all media, even when the transmission is physically moved from one location
to another using magnetic tape, disk, or CD media. This will enable electronic benefits enrollment
and premium remittance over the Internet, a virtual private network, or over a standard modem
connection. Also some benefits for using HRIS for HIPAA compliance includes, reduced benefit
cost, administrative savings, and improved efficiency and reduced errors.
2.8.2 Sarbanes-Oxley Act: (Employease, 2012) explains the basic details of Sarbox. This
white paper clears that, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was created to protect investors and
restore public trust by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. A key
element is that Sarbox makes unauthorized disclosure of nonpublic data, i.e., not widely
disseminated to the general public, a violation of federal securities laws. Not only should
nonpublic information be protected, but it also should be monitored to ensure it isnt disclosed
inappropriately. HR plays a vital role in this increasingly complicated and critical function of
ensuring good corporate governance policies and practices. So, whether the bank is public or
privately held, HR professionals can use SOX as a way to get company to comply the act.
A Kelly service (2012) explains the role of HR in SOX compliance. Many of the processes that
HR owns, including payroll and benefits have an impact on financial reporting, and could expose

Capstone Project

38

companies to significant financial risks if they don't function properly. But other HR processes,
including recruitment and incentive systems, can also be important in the context of SOX because
they can impact the entire culture of a bank and the mindset of its employees. Ultimately, that
mindset is one of the most important lines of defense against fraud or other misbehavior. As SOX
will continue to be an expensive proposition, banks will need to find efficiencies and smart ways
of complying. Having the appropriate infrastructure can certainly help, but even companies that
already operate automated HRIS systems to run many of their HR processes would be welladvised to review the reporting capabilities and standards built into these systems to determine the
extent to which they comply with SOX requirements. Here the HRIS plays a very major role in
producing such audit reports for companies to review and correct the required informations.
2.8.3 - Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) This law regulates the collection, dissemination and
use of consumer information including consumer credit information. BankersOnline (2012)
explains the law in detail. This act regulates the consumer credit reporting and related industries
to insure that consumer information is reported in an accurate, timely, and complete manner to
give individuals information when consumer reports are used to evaluate credit applications and
to protect the confidentiality of information. This act require that consumer reporting agencies
adopt reasonable procedures for meeting the needs of commerce for consumer credit, personnel,
insurance, and other information in a manner which is fair and equitable to the consumer, with
regard to the confidentiality, accuracy, relevancy, and proper utilization of such information.
Banks largely deals with consumer credit and personal data. Its a policy of any bank to
obtain credit report on a customer for legitimate need only determining in eligibility for credit,
bank loans and employment purpose. A HRIS system plays a major role for banks to compliance
for this act. Integrated HR system can help banks to obtain the credit details of consumer on-line
and take necessary decisions to approve or deny the loans. HRIS can be designed to communicate

Capstone Project

39

to TransUnion and other credit agency to get the on-line report of each customer. This saves lots
of time and effort to bank take business decisions. This law with HR system can greatly help HR
department to perform back ground check on the candidates before they provide offer.
2.8.4 - Electronic Fund Transfer Act: This (EFTA) law passed in 1978 mainly to product
individual consumers engaging in EFTs like Automated clearing house (ACH), transfers through
automated teller machines (ATM), telephone and on-line bill payments and remote banking
programs. This act requires financial institutions that provide electronic banking services to inform
consumers of policies concerning the disclosure of automated bank account information to third
parties Harvard.edu (2012). The banks primary operation deals with EFT transactions. Also the
pay checks from HR department issued to employees through direct payment through ACH
transactions, so all these process requires strict compliance of the law. Any issues and mistakes in
these process will result huge loss and heavy fines to the bank. Here the HRIS system can track
the list of transfers and produce the required audit reports and other transactional data to make
sure the act provisions are strictly followed. Banks can customize the reports to identify and
correct mistakes to avoid legal fines.
2.9 HRIS data model:
Raymond Mcleod, Jr, Gerardine Desanctis (1995) noted a finding of Andrew O.Manzini
and John D. Gridley, writing for the American Management Association in 1986. They viewed
HRIS in terms of interface with a corporate human resources database. As per this model, users
interface with systems like PCs, terminals and receive output in the form of hardcopy reports and
responses to ad-hoc queries. An administrative function called HRIC Human Resources
Information Center, exists within HR for the purpose of assisting users, providing database
security, and enforcing privacy controls.

Capstone Project

40

Figure 4
Diagram Source: Andrew O. Manzini and John D.Gridley. Copied from: Raymond Mcleod, Jr,
Gerardine Desanctis (1995).

Capstone Project

41

CHAPTER 3: Description of the research design used

The objective of this study is to present a comprehensive literature review of HRIS and
explores the benefits and implementation of fully integrated HRIS for banking industry. It is very
essential for banks to understand the benefits of HRIS before they invest any time, money and
effort for this. Due to the complexity of the HR and related functions, implementing an effective
HRIS system is very complex procedure. Banks needs to have a very clear understanding on each
HR process and its related activities to identify the correct integration points to get the maximum
out of the system. According to Gerardine DeSanctis (1986), Human resource information
systems outline an integration between human resource management (HRM) and Information
Technology. HRIS support planning, administration, decision-making, and control.
3.1 Research questions:
This study purports to investigate the role of HRIS in banking sector by examining how
HR professionals in banks and organizations see the effects of HRIS on HR activities. A
quantitative method is used to achieve the research objectives effectively. Hypotheses are tested
using direct interactions with HR professionals, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Technical
analysts, Software Engineers and programmers. This study examines the following research
questions.

What are the advantage, disadvantage, and overall contribution of HRIS and
integrated subsystems to the banking industry?

What are functions / options available for banks to implement integrated HRIS?

Capstone Project

42

3.2 Data collection methods and procedures:

Interviews/Discussions: Multiple formal and informal interviews were conducted with the
heads of HR, Hiring Managers, Recruiters, Business analysts, software engineers and
programmers. Their experiences, knowledge, personal views of HRIS systems were documented.
Organizational reports: Various HR journals from banking sector were used to crossreference the methods used and functions incorporated into HRIS systems.
Internet/Websites: HRIS product websites, HR management websites, HR internet
forums are used to collect and analyze the findings. Wiki websites and CiteHR websites also been
used to gather definitions and data.
Journals, articles and references: Previous research documents, articles and findings are
used to report information on previous research related to HR planning and HRIS.

3.3 Data Analysis:

HR professions those who currently using the HRIS system for banks are involved in the
study. Bank of America and Bank of Montral HR systems were analyzed to understand the
benefits and the usage of the system. ERP systems like PeopleSoft, SAP are analyzed to indentify
the connection points to HR systems. Also, vendor tools like Deploy Recruiting and Hiring,
Deploy Career websites, Work force management, Work Brain tools are analyzed to get the usage
of the HR systems in bank. Hewitt Inc, Time and labor system and Hexaware Inc, performance
appraisal systems were analyzed to understand how this can be integrated to HRIS systems to
share data and HR planning. Most real time data and processing of HRIS transactions are
analyzed to understand the process model.

Capstone Project

43

CHAPTER 4: Discussion findings and recommendations.

The banking sector has been an instrumental for the economic development of any nation
and it play a major role in people life. Globally banking activities are undergoing rapid changes
and facing heavy competitions. In order to maintain their status and win the race in the present
environment, banks need to concentrate improving and strength their human resources. People
are the key factor to organizational success, innovation, and profitability. Managing Human
Resources plays a vital role in shaping the behaviors and attitudes towards the organization.
Continuous evaluation of employees' satisfaction is as well desired to ensure the maximum loyalty
and work efficiency to the organization. Improving employees' compensation plans and benefits
can be efficient drivers to increasing motivation and generating mutual benefits at the best of the
organization. Human resources development is an essential process to attain the baking objectives
and its very important to automate this process to get the maximum benefit of this process.
Technology is completely changing the way we do things. Technological development
would render flow of information and data transfer leading to faster appraisal and decision
making. This would help banks to make HR management more effective besides leading to an
enormous reduction in transaction cost. To reduce investment costs in HR, banks are investing
lots of money to computerize their process. The advent of new technologies could see the
emergence of new players doing financial inter mediation. The conventional banking system may
undergo changes due to technological changes T.Sreenivas (2006). The role of HRIS is increasing
and become strategic decision making tool. Availability of timely information, improvement in the
services played an important role. The implementation of integrated HRIS reduces the workforce,
save time and cost. It enables the banks to improve their data and enhance the competitiveness.
Research findings clearly show that HR managers and executes are well aware that they
can increase the efficiency of HR process through HRIS by saving time and cost. They all see

Capstone Project

44

integrating functions like payroll, benefits, time and labor, performance appraisal, benefits are
giving more power and strength to HRIS system. Using this module, HR managers really enjoy
the faster, accurate and error free delivery of data to enhance the HR operations. Reports
produced in HRIS systems helping the managers to take fast decision and provide suitable
solutions to various problems. Various studies on HRM propose that HRIS can contribute to the
creation of a long-term competitive advantage through integration of HRM functions with HR
technology. Asafo-Adjei Agyenim Boateng (2007). The recent advancement in technology like
iPad, iPhone, Black Berry are helping HR managers to view the HR data on the go using HRIS
system and helps to take wise decision on time.
Research further helps to understand that HRIS technology replaces the core HR activities
by streamlining them electronically. Josip Arneric et al. (2000). Recruiting and hiring, payroll, time
and labor, performance appraisals, benefit administration, training and development are other HR
functions integrated to strength the process.
The recruiting and hiring function automates the hiring process by postings jobs to various
job boards and collecting and searching for and attracting an adequate number of qualified
job candidates. This module process the back ground check on the candidates and follow
the complete hiring process like interviewing, screening, providing offer etc. This module
further sends the candidate data to Payroll, benefits, training and development and other
non HR operations.
The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and
attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating employee tax reports.
Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate
automatic deposit. This module sends accounting information to the general ledger, as
well.

Capstone Project

45

The time and labor management module applies new technology and methods to cost
effectively gather and evaluate employee time/work information. The most advanced
modules provide flexibility in data collection methods, labor distribution capabilities and
data analysis features.
The benefit administration module permits HR professionals to easily administer and track
employee participation in benefits programs (healthcare provider, insurance policy,
pension plan).
The training and development module helps HR to fulfill the training needs of the
employees. Using this module, they can arrange training, develop required skills and
introduce new process and procedure for banks. Trained resources are key to reach the
banking objectives.
Other administration modules likes Employee self service and Employee information
modules will provide additional help to HR department to fasten the movement of data.
This will help employees to maintain their personal data and give a freedom to edit the
data as on when it requires. This saves lots of time and provides accurate information to
other HR functions.

This study further shows the role of HRIS in international banking. Hiring workforce and
retaining the human resources in foreign land is not an easy option. Banks needs to have very
solid system in place to co-ordinate and integrate branches around the world. HRIS place a very
large role in integrating the business. With the help of HRIS banks can control and operate human
resources and related activities by single click. Also, HRIS in international banking gives
competitive advantage to banks and they can easily adapt to local culture of the business. This

Capstone Project

46

will help banks to operate their operations smoothly and effectively. Banks generally paid
attention to their money flow, but with the effect of HRIS they started paying more attention to
human resources flow. Now, the top management in the banks stated realizing the fact that HR as
a potential saving area by automating and applying enough controls. In the current globalized
market, banks are spending and developing abundance new HRIS systems to run the operations.
This study further address the below research questions in detail:
4.1 Research questions and its findings:
HRIS has become one of the most essential information systems in the banking industry.
Therefore, the study focused on the role and benefits of implementing a integrated system for
banking industry. This study has expected to explore the functionality and contribution of HRIS in
HR activities of the banks. One objective of the research is to find the solution to the previously
defined research questions.
What are the advantage, disadvantage, and overall contribution of HRIS and integrated
subsystems to the banking industry?
The objective of the first research question was to explore the advantage, disadvantage
and overall contribution of HRIS and its subsystem to banking operations. A study finding in
chapter/section (2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6) explores the benefits of using integrated HRIS in banking
sector. HRIS helps the banks in decision making process and provides comprehensive information
as a single, integrated database. It further helps bank employees to administer their own personal
data without taking time and effort of HR resources. It also helps in effective planning and
budgeting of banking operations. HRIS helps banks in integrate their other non financial activities
like employee payroll, benefits, time and labor, recruiting and hiring. This will enable the HR to
perform all the tasks effectively and efficiently. Further, Table 1 in Chapter 2.3 summarizes the

Capstone Project

47

key offerings of HRIS to banks. Also, the section 2.4 explores the role of HRIS in international
banking and how this helps the banks to run the operation globally. Section 2.5 and 2.6 discusses
the contribution of HRIS to developing countries and how its been utilized for strategic planning.
Further the study noted that lack of top management support, funds, HR knowledge of system
designers and HR solutions are the main factors keeping banks away from HRIS and those are
few disadvantages. All these findings help to address this first question with clear evidence.
What are functions / options available for banks to implement integrated HRIS?
The objective of the second research question was to investigate the list of HR functions
that can be integrated into HRIS system. Chapter/Sections (2.7, 2.8 and 2.9) help to explore these
options in detail. These sections proves that HRIS can be integrated to various non-financial
functions of banks like Recruiting and Hiring, Employee information, Employee Payroll, Benefits
administration, Time and attendance, Employee self service, Performance Management and
Training & development. This section further helps to indentify the options available for banks to
integrate the centralized HRIS database. Also, section 2.8 details the list of laws and regulations
HRIS should comply with and the advantages the banks get by complying these laws. Section 2.9
further explains the data model that HRIS can have to integrate into one single database. All the
findings in section 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9 are addresses this question with clear evidence.
CHAPTER 5: Summary and Conclusion:

Banking industry is undergoing major transformation in the present decade. Increased

penetration, consolidation and international integration are the primary driving forces behind this
transformation. In order to cope up with this transformation, banks need to pay more attention to
its technological advancements. One of the advancement they can consider is the creating a
integrated HRIS system. HRIS is one of the information systems out which transforms the role of

Capstone Project

48

the HR department incorporating records for employee resource, rewards, training, etc.Many
studies cited HRIS benefits, such as improvements in accuracy, cost saving, timely and quick
access to information through HR reports, decision-making and increased competitiveness. This
advancement helps banks service delivery and would influence the business by reducing cost of
delivery of transactions and they can concentrate acquiring new customer and maximizing the
available opportunities in the sector.
According to literature, HRIS is a must have and essential software in banking sector. This
helps banks to hire a best people for suitable jobs and retain as much resources and effectively
utilize them for business. HRIS helps develop people strategies to meet the goals of the business.
Also helps to cope with legal and social demands of the banking operations. Further the study list
out the benefits of using HRIS systems in banks. This single integrated database enables banks to
make wise decisions about the resources and helps as a strategic decision making tool. Also,
plays a major role in international operation by linking various aspect of the business and local
adoption. Decision making on local adaptation ensures that the parent company and subsidiaries
maintain the same levels of quality in areas such as recruitment, performance management and
training. HRIS system makes this possible. Study further concludes that HRIS gives significant
benefits for banks operating in developing countries. Developing countries like India, Pakistan,
Thailand and Kenya uses a integrated HRIS system to stream-line their operation and get better
results. Further the study explored the HRIS effects on strategic planning and decision making in
the industry. Study proves that HRIS provides bank management with strategic data not only in
recruitment and retention strategies, but also in merging HRIS data into large-scale corporate
strategy. The concept locates HRIS policy formulation firmly at the strategic level and insists that
a characteristic of HRM is its internally coherent approach. Therefore, HRIS can be
conceptualized as collateral for developing strategic decisions within organizations.

Capstone Project

49

The systematic approach of HR and its related functions are studied through literature
review. HRIS facilitates recruitment and section processes, training and development and of the
banks. The training and development function is essential for changing behavior and culture and
reinforcing the new behavior and culture in an organization. Also, the paper reviewed the HR
functions like Payroll, Employee benefits administration, Time and attendance, Employee self
service and Performance management. How these functions can be integrated and how this will
enables the banks to create a one single integrated database to transfer information from one
system to other. Study further explains what laws the HRIS should comply and why. U.S. Laws
like HIPPA, SOX, FCRA and EFTA are reviewed in detail to understand the usage and its
benefits. This study also reviewed the Manzini-Gridley Hardware Network Model that was
presented in 1986 by Andrew Manzini and John D. Gridley. They viewed the HRIS in terms of
interfaces with a corporate human resources database.
Technology is completely changing the way we do things. The roles of HRIS are
increasing and become strategic. Availability of timely information, improvement in the services
played an important role. It enables the organization to improve their data and enhance the
competitiveness. But the implementation of HRIS also causes some problems such as lack of
expertise, technical problems, lack of funds, time consumption by the untrained staff. In spite of
barriers in implementation, HRIS has more positive effect on the banks performance.

Capstone Project

50

Reference:
Ann P.Bartel (2004). Human Resource Management and organizational performance:
Evidence from retail banking. Retrieved on April 09th 2012 from
http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/abartel/papers/human_resource_
management.pdf
Asafo-Adjei Agyenim Boateng (2007). The role of HRIS in strategic human resources
management. Retrieved on April 16th 2012 from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49889885/33/HRIS-functions
Ascentis (2001). HIPAA, Electronic benefits Enrollment & the impact on Employers
Retrieved on April 24th 2012 from http://www.trupay.com/hr_docs/HIPAA.pdf
BanksOline (2012). Fair Credit Reporting Act. Retrieved on April 28th 2012 from
www.bankersonline.com/tools/fcra_proced_cc.doc
D.A. Olaniyan, Lucas B.Ojo (2008). Staff Training and Development: A vital tool for
Organizational Effectives. Retrieved on April 24th 2012 from
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_24_3_01.pdf
Darrag, Menatallah, Mohamed, Ahmed and Aziz, Hadia Abdel (2010). Investigating
recruitment practices and problems of multinational companies (MNCs) operating in
Egypt. Retrieved on April 22nd 2012 from http://bit.ly/M8INMZ
Diana Wicks (2010). The Advantages of HR Decision Making in International Business
Operation. Retrieved on April 29th 2012 from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-hr-decision-making-international-

Capstone Project

51

business-operation-15908.html
Dr.Harman Preet Singh, Dr.Sunita Jindal, Sekh Abdul Samim (2011). Role of Human Resources
Information System in banking industry of developing countries. Retrieved on May 2nd 2012
From http://www.inrit2012.com/inrit2011/Proceedings2011/02_44_19C_
Harman%20Preet%20Singh_[4].pdf
Employease(2012). Strategic Human Resources and Sarbanes-Oxley. A white paper on
Industry Trends. Retrieved on April 25th 2012 from http://targetreachmarketing.com/
TRM%20Files/Samples/WhitePaper_Employease_Sarbanes-Oxley.pdf
Gerardine DeSanctis(1986). Human Resource Information Systems- A Current
Assessment MIS Quarterly Vol. 10.
Hassan Rangriz, Javad Mehrabi and Alireza Azadegan (2011). The Impact of Human
Resource Information System on Strategic Decisions. Retrieved on April 08 2012
From www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/cis/article/download/.../7073
Harvard (2012). Consumer Privacy. Retrieved on April 28th 2012 from
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ecommerce/privacytext.html
Hoboken (2003). Essentials of Payroll. Retrieved on April22nd 2012 from
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/89/04712510/0471251089-2.pdf
Josip Arneric, Daniela Garbin Pranicevic, Ivana Tadic (2000). THE USE OF HUMAN
RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM (HRIS) IN CROATIAN HOTELS ON THE
ADRIATIC COAST: A SURVEY. Retried on May 2nd 2012 from
bib.irb.hr/datoteka/354706.HRIS_in_Tourism.pdf
Karen V. Beaman (2000). On Globalizing HRIS: Moving to a transactional solution.
Retrieved on April 14th 2012 from http://www.jeitosa.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/10/On-globalizing -doc.pdf
Kelly Services(2012). HR & SOX: An update. Retrieved April 25th 2012 from
http://www.smartmanager.us/eprise/main/web/us/hr_manager/articles_
july06_hr_soxupdate
Kenneth A. Kovach, Allen A. Hughes,Paul Fagan, and Patrick G. Maggitti (2010).
Administrative and Strategic Advantages of HRIS. Retrieved on April 08th 2012 from
http://jashotta.tripod.com/hris2.pdf
Mohan Thite & Michael J. Kavanagh, Evolution of Human Resource Management and
Human Resource Information Systems. The Role of Information Technology, TMH.
Morgan (1986). International human resource management: fact or fiction, Personnel
Administrator, 31 (9): 4347.
Raymond Mcleod, Jr, Gerardine Desanctis (1995). A resource-flow model of the human
Resources Information System. Retrieved on May 2nd 2012 from

Capstone Project
http://jitm.ubalt.edu/VI-3/article1.pdf
SBA.gov(2012). Managing employee benefits. Retrieved on April22nd 2012 from
http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/
serv_pubs_pm_pdf_pm2.pdf
T.Sreenivas (2006). Banking sector and Human resources (changing scenario).
Discovery publishing house, New Delhi.
WiKiPedia (2012). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Retrieved on
April 24th 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_
Accountability_Act

52