How an HR help desk supports an HCM rollout

Case management to handle HCM user questions

When employees start using your new HCM system, your team will likely see a significant influx of questions. In order to ensure you capture and resolve all questions from employees, you can use the help desk application's case management feature. Case management is one of the most important features of an HR help desk application, and an area that is often lacking in HR departments. This feature provides one location for employees to go for help as it relates to your HCM system. No more guessing about who to contact in HR with their questions or how to do it.

Self-service FAQs to educate employees

You can save your employees' time by providing answers to common questions using the HR help desk application to house answers to frequently asked questions. The HR team can also use questions raised by employees to supplement the FAQ and truly serve employees' needs.

Workflows to route questions, approvals

Post HCM go-live, your employees may have requests that require approvals, such as managers requesting access to salary information for their employees. Using your HR help desk application, you may be able to configure workflows to ensure the system routes questions and approvals to the correct person. The help desk application may provide an easy way to capture the request, route it for approval and provide an audit history for future reference.

Chat features so HR and employees can connect

Providing employees with multiple options to get help following the rollout of the HCM system will ensure employees can quickly get answers to the questions they have in a way that best suits them.  Using a chat feature, HR employees can provide an answer quickly to employees in real time. They can create a ticket using the case management functionality for questions that are more complex so the system can track it. An advantage of using a chat feature as part of the HR help desk application is that HR can turn each chat into a ticket at the conversation's end, adding to the metrics collected about the new HCM system rollout.

Analytics to prove HCM success

You typically need metrics to support the HCM system rollout analysis and prove it was a success. An HR help desk application provides the ability to measure the volume of questions and severity, FAQ usage and employee question response time. As employees become accustomed to the system, you should see a decrease in employee questions and the severity of the issues employees ask in the system logs over time.

Online forms to upload into the HCM

You may not be able to migrate all the forms you currently use to capture data to your new HCM system. An HR help desk may provide a bridge in these cases. For example, you may be able to build a form in the HR help desk application and then potentially upload that data into the HCM system.

Enhancement requests tracking

As with any project, you'll have to limit the number of HCM system features you implement in the first phase of the rollout. As employees begin using your new system, they will likely start making requests for new features or point out shortcomings in the current implementation. Your HR team will also find areas where the functionality is lacking. You can use the HR help desk to capture and prioritize these requests so you can address them in future phases.

Anytime, anywhere help for a remote workforce

With many employees and HR team members working remotely, an HR help desk application provides a way for employees to get the help and answers they need anytime. It also supports an HR team that works from multiple locations and countries since the application provides a centralized location of all open and ongoing requests, eliminating the need for in-person communication between HR team members and supporting the assignment of each request.

Artificial intelligence to automate answers

Most HR help desk software systems offer some form of AI, such as suggesting solutions to a problem an employee is having or via the chatbot functionality. Not only can this functionality assist employees when they have questions about the HCM system, it can also highlight that the HR team is innovative in its approach to supporting employees within your organization.

HR help desk vendors to research

The following vendors offer an HR help desk application to support HR teams. This list is not exhaustive. However, it does offer insight into the applications that are available and the various features you may want to consider when searching for your HR help desk application.

Deskpro

Deskpro is a system built for HR teams. It provides all the typical help desk functionality as well as mobile support. The system also allows your employees to provide instant feedback on the employee portal. This enables your team to learn from your customers -- your employees -- how they want information delivered. The system also easily incorporates predefined text in HR replies, saving time when similar text is required on many tickets.

Dovetail Software

In addition to standard HR help desk functionality, this vendor offers an employee portal, a feature to track employee relations issues and functionality related to tracking COVID-19 in your employee base.

Happyfox

This system goes beyond the HR helpdesk functionality and includes features to support recruiting, such as tracking applications from candidates as a ticket. You can also use the system to track candidate referrals and survey employees.

LBi Software

LBi Software offers a feature-rich system built for HR teams. The vendor's website provides a thorough list of features the system offers, many of which you'd want to consider when investigating other HR help desk applications.

Oracle HR Help Desk

Oracle HR Help Desk is an HR help desk application built for customers using the Oracle HCM Cloud system. The integration with Oracle HCM Cloud shows real-time employee data, using the same security offered in the HCM system to ensure unapproved users don't accidentally get access to confidential information. This system also offers all the standard case management features available in a full-featured system.

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center

Similar to Oracle HR Help Desk, this system best serves organizations that already have the corresponding HR system -- in this case, SAP SuccessFactors. Employee Central provides employees with one spot where they can go for all their HR needs, from updating their contact information to getting support from the HR team.

UseResponse

You can use this vendor's application as a recruiting tool and for onboarding new employees. The system also provides many of the standard HR help desk features. What's unique is you can license their software as cloud software or install it on premises.

Wowdesk

This vendor offers a help desk application with many features that will help an HR team simplify and automate manual tasks. The company's website provides valuable information on the benefits of an HR help desk application and some considerations if you choose to implement one for your HR team.

Zendesk for HR teams

This vendor offers help desk software for both customer-facing and internal employees. You can use its system to simplify request tracking, automate workflows and report on the level of effort required of the HR team. Other teams within your organization, such as IT, can also use the system.