Oracle adding value to HR management tool

Firm integrating new HR applications with its existing package

The emergence of India as a knowledge economy has thrown up unique human resources challenges for Indian companies -- mainly in the management of local human capital for addressing global needs.

At Oracle's India Development Center, the company is developing measures to meet the requirements of the new Indian global enterprises, and incorporating them into the Oracle Human Resources Management System (HRMS).

Oracle HRMS, a part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, helps businesses manage people-related activities and assets, including communication, collaboration, training and development, measurement, recruitment as well as compensation.

Oracle HRMS empowers enterprises to capture, extract and analyse data related to the entire workforce.

The application provides the intelligence and visibility required to rapidly deploy the best strategies and resources for maximum employee productivity, satisfaction and retention.

Improved visibility and analysis capabilities help companies take better human resources decisions, such as hiring cycles of key skill areas based on predicted future shortfalls and demand, for improved performance and cost savings.

SPS Grover, senior director, eBusiness, Oracle, says there have been interesting market trends in human relations with new sectors, including business process outsourcing and software, having redefined human resources practices.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to design a technology that caters to the demands of new human resources systems.

More often than not a small company with 50 employees, grows to a 15,00 strong community in a span of 18 months, observes Grover.

Therefore, it is a challenge for the human resources team to build a culture in short time frames. Apart from this, the work force in these companies is usually made up of freshers. With the increasing need to groom this category of employees, technology becomes force, a tool of communication for the organisation.

In a novel scenario when companies are not limited geographically and working hours spread across time zones -- popularly referred to as the 'follow the sun' model -- traditional interventions of human resources are not adequate.

As a fall out of deregulation, in telecom for instance, the industry has been booming, with companies like Bharti striking a billion dollar deal within 8-10 years of its existence. Therefore technological inputs in HR is required to keep pace with growth of such proportions, says Grover.

In the work environment today, human resources managers have to address a strong competency factor.

According to Grover, the roles of the human resources manager have changed. Far from being a provisional officer taking care of just payrolls, the human resources manager has to address the specifics of work force more creatively using various delivery systems.

In new age organisations, the way employee assets are measured have changed significantly as well.

He cites the example of the changes taking place in the manufacturing industry.

While most of the industrial work force had traditional blue-collared jobs, over the years, the share of white-collared jobs in manufacturing has risen significantly.

A large number of engineers have come into the system. Similarly, software companies have to manage both products and people.

Business intelligence has to be coupled with other applications. Therefore, human resources practices should be restructured by the proper use of technology.

The clients for Oracle's HRMS software include software, manufacturing, telecom and even pharmaceuticals companies. Oracle has 200 Oracle E-Business Suite customers in India. Oracle HRMS has been successfully deployed by customers across various industry segments in India.

Man management

• Oracle HRMS, a part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, helps businesses manage people-related activities and assets
• The package empowers enterprises to capture, extract and analyze data related to the entire workforce
• It provides the intelligence required to rapidly deploy the best resources for maximum employee productivity