United Manufacturing Ltd. produces agricultural chemicals and currently has 800 employees stationed in its four branches. The company has been experiencing very rapid growth in the last few years and the number of employees is expected to increase. To maintain its competitive edge the company has been training the existing employees and improving their benefits. Recently, a new human resource manager was appointed and he has suggested that the company should invest in a computerized human resource information system to replace the manual system. Required: Outline the steps the company should follow in the planning, development and implementation of the human resource information system

Steps to follow
(i) Problem definition
We need to define what the current manual system is not meeting adequately, that is the inaccuracy, time consuming retrieval, bulk records, problem in updates.

(ii) Feasibility study
Carry out a study to analyze how the above problem can be handled. The solutions should match with the current internal environmental conditions such as the organization structure, the technology in use.

(iii) System design and analysis
Then the proposed information system is designed to match the requirements of the study. A blue print of the whole program is developed at this level.

(iv) System implementation

This has three stages; testing, training and actual implementation. The program developed is tested, the staff is trained and relevant documentation developed. The program could then be implemented either on a department basis (pilot run). It could be let to run parallel to the existing manual system, or implemented directly.

(v) System evaluation and control
The system is the evaluated to see whether it is meeting the requirements.