The successful introduction of CIP Outsourcing, an excellent new service that allows us to deliver a wide range of on-demand HR services to you, has led to the evolution of our Helpdesk into a Service Desk.

As part of this change, we’ve created a new mission statement that reinforces our focus on you, our Clients -

“Our mission is to be the single point of contact for you when providing support. Our focus is on delivering exceptional results when completing service requests, resolving user incidents and
answering user questions.”

Our telephone number will remain the same, 01628 814 040;  however we’ve updated our email address to reflect the transition, servicedesk@ciphr.com. Please note that all emails sent to helpdesk@ciphr.com WILL still be responded too.

If you’d like to find out how we can help you with your day-to-day tasks, or have any other questions at all, please get in touch with us on the details above.

We hope you enjoy using our new Service desk.

Kindest Regards,

Alex Ashley-Roberts

Head of Training and Support

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These articles will help you resolve some errors that you may encounter, improve your report writing skills and help you manage your system:

• How do I create a subset to exclude secondary records?
• How do I resolve the error 2147206458 in Ciphr report designer?
• How do I remove one of the Training icons from my menu tree?
• How do I resolve error 2147467238 when launching Ciphr?
• How do I resolve a 401 error when launching Ciphr?
• How do I use the Ciphr absence summary report?
• How do I show a person’s age at a point in time using a Ciphr report?
• How do I use parameter fields in Ciphr reports?

To view the latest articles, use Live Chat and more, visit our Online Support Site now.

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This report analyses the findings of a survey of 100 HR directors and managers in the UK, carried out by Webster Buchanan Research. The survey examined a broad range of people management issues, from absence management to investment in software and services. Key findings include:

Shortcomings in managing absence

• Respondents were comfortable with their ability to handle several
  operational aspects of absence management, such as running back-to-work interviews and managing the disciplinary issues, but poorer at more strategic issues. 35% admitted they were poor at intervening effectively in long-term absence, and 55% confessed they were poor at taking preventative steps to encourage well-being
• From a data management and analysis perspective, 42% conceded they were poor at promptly capturing data about absence episodes and storing it centrally, and almost half (49%) said they were poor at
  analysing and acting on the root causes of absence. This is reflected in
  separate findings that show many HR managers lack either the tools to manage and analyse data effectively, or the skills to do so

Philosophies on recruitment

• The majority of respondents (62%) agreed that “recruitment is a sales and marketing exercise, not purely an HR task” and that organisations need “a good corporate image, marketing skills to identify the best candidates, and sales skills” to encourage them to join their organisation
• Almost half of respondents (49%) agreed that “HR will start to lose out in the race for talent over the next twelve months if it fails to get involved with social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In to reach potential recruits”, while a third (34%) disagreed.

Drivers for investing in HR software or services

• Despite relentless focus on cost, the top driver for investing in HR software or services was to improve the quality of service for employees and managers (ranked as important by 89% of respondents), followed by improving the quality of management information (76%). Reducing HR administration costs was third (73%), followed by reducing IT costs. Webster Buchanan suggests that in some cases, these priorities may need to be reordered to win business case approval
• One third of respondents (33%) conceded that expanding their personal experience and enhancing their CV was an important factor in determining whether to invest in HR software or services. While that attitude may be frowned upon in the boardroom, it indicates how critical software and services are to running today’s HR function

Investment priorities

• Learning and development topped the list of HRIT investment priorities, ranked a priority by 81% of respondents – suggesting that with headcount under close scrutiny, HR is working hard on improving the capability of its existing employee base
• Recruitment was the second biggest target for investment (69%),
  reinforcing the fact that even if overall headcount is constrained,
  organisations continue to hire to redress natural attrition. The finding suggests that many HR managers see benefit in automating recruitment processes at a time of high unemployment – in fact, dealing with a high volume of applicants was cited by respondents as their biggest recruitment challenge, alongside lack of HR/recruiting resource
• Other priorities for investment were Performance Management
  (prioritised by 66% of respondents), Reporting and Analysis (also 66%) and Absence management (65%)

Maximising existing investments

• Many organisations are not taking full advantage of their existing HRIT investment, with 39% aware that they’re not using all the useful
  functionality available to them, and almost two out of ten (18%) conceding they’ve implemented very little of their system’s potential capability. The survey suggests one reason is lack of training for existing and new staff

Poor HR analytical skills

• More than half of respondents (55%) agreed that the level of businessrelevant information provided by HR to line managers and the board needs to be significantly improved, with 44% disagreeing. Almost three out of five (58%) of respondents agreed that the difficulty of getting relevant data together undermines their reporting and analytical capability
• In addition, 44% of respondents agreed that they do not have the
  software tools they need to do anything beyond basic HR reporting – and 43% said that even if they had the right tools, they do not have sufficient analytical skills within the HR function to take advantage

Perceptions of Software as a Service (SaaS)

• The survey showed some continuing confusion among HR managers about the definition of software as a service (SaaS)
• The potential benefit cited most often by respondents (61%) is that the initial investment tends to be lower and can limit capital expenditure, since SaaS services are usually provided on a subscription basis. A similar number (59%) pointed to the fact that because it’s internet-based, HR employees can access the system from multiple sites, including home
• A third of respondents (38%) said concerns about data security might be a barrier to adoption of SaaS, while a quarter (25%) cited concerns about privacy

Download the Free Survey :  Assessing HR’s Priorities now!

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There are four Computers In Personnel Service Packages to choose from; comprising a scaled selection of the most frequently requested Client services there will undoubtedly be one to suit your ongoing needs. As an introductory offer these are now available with an attractive discounted package price, our Service Packages offer Support Scheme Members greater flexibility to deliver a superior service to their own organisation.

View the Service Packages PDF for full details.

For further information, contact your Account Manager on 01628 814 060 or email CM@Ciphr.com.

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Executive Summary

With the corporate bonus culture under fire and productivity top of boardroom agendas, effective performance management is once again a business priority across the public and private sector. Yet many organisations measure and manage performance in a piecemeal way, often held back by inadequate infrastructure and the limitations of their performance metrics.

This Briefing Paper assesses the practicalities of effective performance management in HR and payroll, and argues that:

• There’s a gulf between management theory and common practice. In principle, performance management is a top-down discipline where board-level objectives provide the framework for activity across the company. In practice, it’s more often run as a series of discrete, disjointed activities
• Taking a coordinated approach requires a reappraisal of your metrics; a coherent infrastructure to manage individual processes and workflows; and a vision that sees performance management as one component of an overall talent management strategy
• A performance measurement system is only as strong as the metrics that underpin it, and many organisations continue to rely on yardsticks that are inward-looking and narrowly focused. For example:
  • In HR, conventional recruitment metrics focus on factors such as ‘days-to-hire’ – which is important in its own right for trend analysis, but serves only a limited purpose unless it’s supported by metrics such as direct and indirect costs, quality of hires, or first-year retention rates
  • In payroll, cost analysis varies widely, accuracy metrics sometimes fail to assess the cause of errors, and assumptions around metrics such as quality of service can be misleading
• While HR and Payroll functions rely heavily on benchmarks, they should be approached with some caution, taking account of a wide range of contextual factors that can make it hard to compare like with like. In addition, it’s not always worth making the investment to pursue ‘world-class’ benchmarks: in many cases, ‘industry standard’ may be enough
• The IT infrastructure that supports effective performance management needs to scale from individual employee assessment to enterprise-wide planning. Vendors’ capability varies in areas such as the richness of products and services they offer; how easily they can be adapted to meet customers’ specific needs; the ease of integration with other HR software or services; and the extent to which they’ve embraced the software as a service (SaaS) model

Download our free Performance Management Briefing Paper now.

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We’re just about to launch our all new Online Support area, to better support our Clients in using their systems, and we wanted to give you a quick sneak preview of what’ll be included when it launches!

The Online Support Homepage

The new Online Support homepage contains the most recent Training & Support articles that CIP have published, updates on the latest Training & Support news and acts as a hub to access all our “How Can I?” articles, Interactive Training Tutorials, Training Videos, Training Calendar and Report Downloads.

Built into the Online Support site is a helpful footer toolbar that contains links to frequently access pages and tasks:

The toolbar can be minimised/maximised whenever you need it (and it remembers your preference!).

Online Support Articles

Each Online Support article is structured for ease of use, with breadcrumbs so that you know your location within the site, relevant images and diagrams — and automatically generated ‘related articles’.

To ensure our articles are of a high quality, we’ve also added the ability for visitors to rate the articles & comment on them.

Interactive Training Tutorials

In order to provide more advanced support for some of the more complex areas of the systems, we’ve created a series of interactive training tutorials that can be viewed and interacted with online.

Download Free/Paid Reports

Another new feature of the Online Support site will be access to free/paid custom Ciphr reports. These can be quickly and easily imported into your system for immediate use. For our initial launch there will be a set of reports available for download - entirely free. There will also be a selection of paid reports that can be paid for and downloaded immediately via the Online Support site.

View Upcoming Training Dates & Course Outlines

The new Online Support site also has a Training Calendar, displaying upcoming Training Courses — linked through to the relevant Course Outlines.

These are just a few of the features that will be included in the Online Support site at its launch. If you have any questions or ideas for content, please do not hesitate to contact us!

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On this free event for supported Clients, we’ll look at how you can produce valuable management information directly from Ciphr and exploit the full potential of your system.

Following the success of our November 2009 event, Computers In Personnel will be running another free Managers Overview event following a similar theme. The aim of this event is to enable you to view the full extent of the system’s capabilities and understand how the solution can best be exploited, thereby supporting you and your team in a more effective manner. This will enable you to gain the maximum benefit from your solution and add true value to your organisation.

Event Agenda

10.00 am: Open and Introductions – Carina Jordan

10.05 am: Meet the Helpdesk team – Alex Ashley-Roberts

10.20 am: Getting the most out of Ciphr – Rob Oehlers

Covering – Year end, Reporting, Compliance, Business Continuity, Decisions, Notifications

12.30 pm: Lunch and refreshments

1.15 pm: Getting the most out of Ciphr Questions and Answers session – Rob Oehlers

2.15 pm: OrgPlus

2.45 pm: Quiz – Suzanne Munro

Close – Carina Jordan

Register your interest in attending this event by contacting your Account Manager on 01628 814 060 or emailing CM@Ciphr.com.

This event will be hosted at the Intellect Offices in London, please find address details below:

Intellect Offices
Russell Square House
10-12 Russell Square
London
WC1B 5EE
0207 331 2000 (Intellect Office Reception Number)

View this address on a map

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Endemic talent shortages, challenging economic conditions, the rapid growth of web-based recruiting and opportunities in social media are combining to bring about significant change in the way organisations go about recruiting. From adopting techniques used by sales and marketing teams to assessing the business case for investment in web and other technologies, HR managers face a wide range of issues as they look to build an effective talent acquisition strategy.

This Free Briefing Paper assesses the challenges organisations face, arguing that:

• Whether they’re filling new positions to support an expansion drive or plugging vacancies in their existing workforce, most organisations will find themselves competing to acquire high-performers in 2010. Success will depend on a combination of HR philosophy, how effectively they embrace the web, and how far they can drive through operational efficiencies, particularly in cutting costs and streamlining internal recruitment processes
• While the balance of power may shift towards recruiters in times of high unemployment, talented individuals typically still have a choice of employer, and the onus falls on HR to promote its value proposition to candidates as much as on candidates selling their skills and experience. HR managers are encouraged to seek advice from their colleagues in sales and marketing about techniques they can use to extend their reach, promote their brand and proposition, and close deals
• The shift to web-based recruitment – classified by Webster Buchanan as either informational or transactional - is irreversible, and organisations will fall behind in the race for talent if they fail to embrace it both for marketing purposes and to improve efficiencies (for example, by eliminating paper job applications)
• The ability to beat competitors to hire high-performing candidates will depend in part on internal efficiencies. As restrictions on IT spend are tentatively eased, organisations should weigh up the business case for automating their internal recruitment processes, either by extending their existing HR management system, using third party software, or outsourcing. Software as a Service, an IT outsourcing model, is particularly suitable for standalone business processes such as recruitment
• Even if talent acquisition is automated as a single HR discipline, the
  greatest benefits come when it’s addressed in the context of a broader
  human capital strategy, particularly in relation to performance
  management, employee development, succession planning and contractor management.

Download The Changing Dynamics of Talent Acquisition Paper.

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