Applicant tracking system

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that enables the

electronic handling of recruitment needs. An ATS system can be implemented on an
Enterprise or small business level, depending on the needs of the company. ATS systems
are very similar to Customer Relationship Management Systems, but are designed for
recruitment tracking purposes.

Nearly all major corporations use some form of Applicant Tracking Systems to handle
job applications and to manage resume data. A dedicated ATS is not uncommon for
recruitment specific needs. On the enterprise level it may be offered as a module or
functional addition to a Human Resources Suite or Human Resource Information System
(HRIS). The ATS is expanding into Small and medium enterprises through Open Source
or Software as a service offerings (SaaS).

The principal function of an ATS is to provide a central location and database for a
company's recruitment efforts. ATS are built to better assist management of resumes and
applicant information. Data is either collected from internal applications via the ATS
front-end, located on the company website or is extracted from applicants on job boards.
The majority of job and resume boards (Monster, Hotjobs, Career Builder) have
partnerships with ATS software providers to provide parsing support and ease of data
migration from one system to another.

Functionality of an ATS is not limited to data mining and collection, ATS applications in
the recruitment industry include the ability automate the Recruitment Process via a
defined workflow.

Another benefit of an applicant tracking system is analyzing and coordinating recruitment

efforts - managing the conceptual structure known as Human Capital. A corporate career
site or company specific job board module may be offered, allowing companies to
provide opportunities to internal candidates prior to external recruitment efforts.
Candidates may be identified via preexisting data or through information garnered
through other means. This data is typically stored for search and retrieval processes. ATS
systems have expanded ATS offerings that include off-site, encrypted resume and data
storage, legally required by Equal Opportunity Employment Laws.

Applicant Tracking Systems may also be referred to as a Talent Management Systems

(TMS) and/or Talent Platform and are often provided via an application service provider
or software as a service (SaaS) model. The level of service and cost can vary greatly
across providers. In the UK and Ireland, Applicant Tracking Systems are often referred to
as Recruitment Software and this is a term used mainly in the recruitment agency
industry (representative bodies include the REC in the UK and the NRF in Ireland)
As the data held within Recruitment Software is predominantly personal data, it is often
tightly controlled by Data Protection legislation, preventing the data from being held
offshore.

The first[citation needed] open source Applicant Tracking System (CATS) opened in 2006
under a modified Mozilla Public License and moved to a closed source model in 2008, it
is now available within the SaaS model. In true open source tradition however, the users
have continued the project themselves (OpenCATS).[citation needed]

Bradford Factor
The Bradford Factor or Bradford Formula is used in human resource
management as a means of measuring worker absenteeism. The
theory is that short, frequent, and unplanned absences are more
disruptive than longer absences. According to the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development the term was first coined
due to its supposed connection with research undertaken by the
Bradford University School of Management in the 1980s. It was
developed as a way of highlighting the disproportionate level of
disruption on an organisation's performance which can be caused by
short-term absence compared to single incidences of prolonged
absence. It was originally designed for use as part of the overall
investigation and management of absenteeism. In contrast, if used as
part of a very limited approach to address absence or by setting
unrealistically low trigger scores it was considered short-sighted,
unlikely to be successful and could lead to staff disaffection and
grievances.

The Bradford Factor is calculated as follows:

where:

• B is the Bradford Factor score

• S is the total number of spells (instances) of absence of an individual over a set
period
• D is the total number of days of absence of that individual over the same set
period[1]

The 'set period' is typically set as a rolling 52 week period.

For example:
 • 1 instance of absence with a duration of 10 days is 10 points (1 x 1 x 10)
• 10 instances of absence each with a duration of 1 day is 1000 points (10 x 10 x
10)
• 5 instances of absence each with a duration of 2 days is 250 points (5 x 5 x 10)
• 8 instances of absence; two of 2 days, and 6 of 1 day is 640 points (8 x 8 x 10)

In May 2001, the UK Prison Service began using the Bradford Formula to identify staff
with high absenteeism due to illness.[2] The Bradford Formula is used to calculate an
"attendance score".[3]

Job analysis
The main purpose of conducting job analysis is to prepare job description and job
specification which in turn helps to hire the right quality of workforce into the
organization. The general purpose of job analysis is to document the requirements of a
job and the work performed. Job and task analysis is performed as a basis for later
improvements, including: definition of a job domain; describing a job; developing
performance appraisals, selection systems, promotion criteria, training needs assessment,
and compensation plans. [1]

In the fields of Human Resources (HR) and Industrial Psychology, job analysis is often
used to gather information for use in personnel selection, training, classification, and/or
compensation. [2]

The field of vocational rehabilitation uses job analysis to determine the physical
requirements of a job to determine whether an individual who has suffered some
diminished capacity is capable of performing the job with, or without, some
accommodation.

Professionals developing certification exams use job analysis (often called something
slightly different, such as "task analysis") to determine the elements of the domain which
must be sampled in order to create a content valid exam. When a job analysis is
conducted for the purpose of valuing the job (i.e., determining the appropriate
compensation for incumbents) this is called "job evaluation."

Methods

There are several ways to conduct a job analysis, including: interviews with incumbents
and supervisors, questionnaires (structured, open-ended, or both), observation, critical
incident investigations, and gathering background information such as duty statements or
classification specifications. In job analysis conducted by HR professionals, it is common
to use more than one of these methods. [3]
For example, the job analysts may tour the job site and observe workers performing their
jobs. During the tour the analyst may collect materials that directly or indirectly indicate
required skills (duty statements, instructions, safety manuals, quality charts, etc). [4]

The analyst may then meet with a group of workers or incumbents. And finally, a survey
may be administered. In these cases, job analysts typically are industrial/organizational
psychologists or Human Resource Officers who have been trained by, and are acting
under the supervision of an industrial psychologist. [5]

In the context of vocational rehabilitation, the primary method is direct observation and
may even include video recordings of incumbents involved in the work. It is common for
such job analysts to use scales and other apparatus to collect precise measures of the
amount of strength or force required for various tasks. Accurate, factual evidence of the
degree of strength required for job performance is needed to justify that a disabled worker
is legitimately qualified for disability status. In the United States, billions of dollars are
paid to disabled workers by private insurers and the federal government (primarily
through the Social Security Administration). Disability determination is, therefore, often
a fairly "high-stakes" decision. Job analysts in these contexts typically come from a
health occupation such as occupational or physical therapy.

Questionnaires are the most common methodology employed by certification test

developers, although the content of the questionnaires (often lists of tasks that might be
performed) are gathered through interviews or focus groups. Job analysts can at times
operate under the supervision of a psychometrician.

Systems

The O*Net[6] (an online resource which has replaced the Dictionary of Occupational
Titles (DOT)) lists job requirements for a very large number of jobs and is often
considered basic, generic, or initial job analysis data. Data available from O*Net includes
physical requirements, educational level, and some mental requirements. Task-based
statements describing the work performed are derived from the functional job analysis
technique. O*Net also provides links to salary data at the US national, state and city level
for each job.

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a well-known job analysis method.

Although it is labeled a questionnaire, the PAQ is actually designed to be completed by a
trained job analyst who interviews the subject matter experts (e.g., job incumbents and
their supervisors).

Functional job analysis (FJA) is a task-based (or work-oriented) technique developed by

Sidney Fine and colleagues in 1944. In this method, work elements are scored in terms of
relatedness to data (0-6), people (0-8), and things (0-6), with lower scores representing
greater complexity. Incumbents, considered subject matter experts, are relied upon,
usually in a panel, to report elements of their work to the job analyst. Using incumbent
reports, the analyst uses Fine's terminology to compile statements reflecting the work
being performed in terms of data, people, and things. The Dictionary of Occupational
Titles uses elements of the FJA in defining jobs.

Task inventories use tasks gathered from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)about the tasks
performed by the job incumbents. Typically, subject matter experts rate long lists of tasks
on scales such as frequency, amount of time spent, or importance. The KSAO's required
for a job are then inferred from the most frequently-occurring, important tasks. In a skills-
based job analysis, the skills are inferred from tasks and the skills are rated directly in
terms of importance of frequency. This often results in data that immediately imply the
important KSAO's. However, it can be hard for subject matter experts to rate skills
directly.

The Fleishman Job Analysis System (F-JAS) represents a generic, skills-based approach.
Fleishman factor-analyzed large data sets to discover a common, minimum set of
KSAO's across different jobs. His system of 73 specific scales measure three broad areas:
Cognitive (Verbal Abilities; Idea Generation & Reasoning Abilities; Quantitative
Abilities; Memory; Perceptual Abilities; Spatial Abilities; and Attentiveness),
Psychomotor (Fine Manipulative Abilities; Control Movement Abilities; and Reaction
Time and Speed Abilities), and Physical (Physical Strength Abilities; Endurance;
Flexibility, Balance, and Coordination; Visual Abilities; and Auditory and Speech
Abilities).

JobScan is a measurement instrument which defines the personality dynamics within a

specific type of job. By collecting PDP ProScan Survey results of actual performers and
results of Job Dynamics Analysis Surveys completed by knowledgeable people related to
a specific job, JobScan provides a suggested ideal job model for that position. Although it
does not evaluate the intellect or experience necessary to accomplish a task, it does deal
with the personality of the type of work itself.

Learning management system

A learning management system (LMS) is software for delivering, tracking and
managing training/education. LMSs range from systems for managing
training/educational records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and
offering features for online collaboration. In many instances, corporate training
departments purchase LMSs to automate record-keeping as well as the registration of
employees for classroom and online courses. Student self-service (e.g., self-registration
on instructor-led training), training workflow (e.g., user notification, manager approval,
wait-list management), the provision of on-line learning (e.g., Computer-Based Training,
read & understand), on-line assessment, management of continuous professional
education (CPE), collaborative learning (e.g., application sharing, discussion threads),
and training resource management (e.g., instructors, facilities, equipment), are
dimensions to Learning Management Systems.
Most LMSs are web-based to facilitate access to learning content and administration.
LMSs are used by regulated industries (e.g. financial services and biopharma) for
compliance training. It is also used by educational institutions for enhance and support
classroom teaching and offering courses to larger population of learners across the globe.

Some LMS providers include "performance management systems", which encompass

employee appraisals, competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning,
and multi-rater assessments (i.e., 360 degree reviews).

For the commercial market, some Learning and Performance Management Systems
include recruitment and reward functionality.

LMSs are based on a variety of development platforms, like Java/J2EE based

architectures, Microsoft .NET, PHP, and usually employ the use of a database as back-
end. Some systems are commercially developed and have non-free software licenses or
restrict access to their source code, Other systems are free and open-source and
frequently used. Other than the most simple, basic functionality, LMSs cater to, and focus
on, different educational, administrative, and deployment requirements.

[edit] Characteristics

LMSs can cater to different educational, administrative, and deployment requirements.

While an LMS for corporate learning, for example, may share many characteristics with a
LMS, or virtual learning environment, used by educational institutions, they each meet
unique needs. The virtual learning environment used by universities and colleges allow
instructors to manage their courses and exchange information with students for a course
that in most cases will last several weeks and will meet several times during those weeks.
In the corporate setting a course may be much shorter, completed in a single instructor-
led or online session.

The characteristics shared by both types of LMSs include:

• Manage users, roles, courses, instructors, facilities, and generate reports

• Course calendar
• Learning Path
• Student messaging and notifications
• Assessment/testing capable of handling student pre/post testing
• Display scores and transcripts
• Grading of coursework and roster processing, including waitlisting
• Web-based or blended course delivery

Characteristics more specific to corporate learning, which sometimes includes franchisees

or other business partners, include:

• Autoenrollment (enrolling Students in courses when required according to

predefined criteria, such as job title or work location)
 • Manager enrollment and approval
• Boolean definitions for prerequisites or equivalencies
• Integration with performance tracking and management systems
• Planning tools to identify skill gaps at departmental and individual level
• Curriculum, required and elective training requirements at an individual and
organizational level
• Grouping students according to demographic units (geographic region, product
line, business size, etc.)
• Assign corporate and partner employees to more than one job title at more than
one demographic unit

[edit] Learning content management system

A learning content management system (LCMS) is a related technology to the learning

management system (e.g., Murray Goldberg's WebCT), in that it is focused on the
development, management and publishing of the content that will typically be delivered
via an LMS. An LCMS is a multi-user environment where developers may create, store,
reuse, manage, and deliver digital learning content from a central object repository. The
LMS cannot create and manipulate courses; it cannot reuse the content of one course to
build another. The LCMS, however, can create, manage and deliver not only training
modules but also manage and edit all the individual pieces that make up a catalog of
training. LCMS applications allow users to create, import, manage, search for and reuse
small units or 'chunks' of digital learning content/assets, commonly referred to as learning
objects. These assets may include media files developed in other authoring tools,
assessment items, simulations, text, graphics or any other object that makes up the
content within the course being created. An LCMS manages the process of creating,
editing, storing and delivering e-learning content, ILT materials and other training
support deliverables such as job aids.[citation needed]

[edit] Learning management systems (LMS) vs. learning content

management systems (LCMS)

In addition to managing the administrative functions of online learning, some systems

also provide tools to deliver and manage instructor-led synchronous and asynchronous
online training based on learning object methodology. These systems are called Learning
content management systems or LCMSs. An LCMS provides tools for authoring and re-
using or re-purposing content (mutated learning objects) MLO as well as virtual spaces
for student interaction (such as discussion forums and live chat rooms). Despite this
distinction, the term LMS is often used to refer to both an LMS and an LCMS, although
the LCMS is a further development of the LMS. Due to this conformity issue, the
acronym Clcims (Computer Learning Content Information Management System) is now
widely used to create a uniform phonetic way of referencing any learning system
software based on advanced learning technology methodology.

In essence, an LMS is software for planning, delivering, and managing learning events
within an organization, including online, virtual classroom, and instructor-led courses.
For example, an LMS can simplify global certification efforts, enable entities to align
learning initiatives with strategic goals, and provide a means of enterprise-level skills
management. The focus of an LMS is to manage students, keeping track of their progress
and performance across all types of training activities. It performs administrative tasks,
such as reporting to instructors, HR and other ERP systems but isn’t used to create course
content.

In contrast, an LCMS is software for managing learning content across an organization's

various training development areas. It provides developers, authors, instructional
designers, and subject matter experts the means to create and re-use e-learning content
and reduce duplicated development efforts.

Primary business problems an LCMS solves are

• centralized management of an organization's learning content for efficient

searching and retrieval,
• productivity gains around rapid and condensed development timelines,
• productivity gains around assembly, maintenance and publishing / branding /
delivery of learning content.

Rather than developing entire courses and adapting them to multiple audiences, an LCMS
provides the ability for single course instances to be modified and republished for various
audiences maintaining versions and history. The objects stored in the centralized
repository can be made available to course developers and content experts throughout an
organization for potential reuse and repurpose. This eliminates duplicate development
efforts and allows for the rapid assembly of customized content.

[edit] Learning management industry

In the relatively new LMS market, commercial vendors for corporate and education
applications range from new entrants to those that entered the market in the nineties. In
addition to commercial packages, many open source solutions are available.

In 2005, LMSs represented a fragmented $500 million market. The six largest LMS
product companies constitute approximately 43% of the market (needs citation). In
addition to the remaining smaller LMS product vendors, training outsourcing firms,
enterprise resource planning vendors, and consulting firms all compete for part of the
learning management market.

LMS buyers generally report poor satisfaction based on survey results from the American
Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and the eLearningGuild. The ASTD
respondents who were very unsatisfied with an LMS purchase doubled, and those that
were very satisfied decreased by 25%. The number that were very satisfied or satisfied
edged over 50%. (About 30% were somewhat satisfied.) Nearly one quarter of
respondents intended to purchase a new LMS or outsource their LMS functionality over
the next 12 months. eLearningGuild respondents report significant barriers including
cost, IT support, integration, and customization. They also report significant effort[1] to
implement with a median of 23 months being reported from requirements gathering to
implementation for corporations with more than 2,000 employees.

Channel learning is under-served. For many buyers channel learning is not their number
one priority, according to a survey by Trainingindustry.com[2] Often there is a disconnect
when the HR department oversees training and development initiatives, where the focus
is consolidating LMS systems inside traditional corporate boundaries. Software
technology companies are at the front end of this curve, placing higher priority on
channel training.

Most buyers of LMSs utilize an authoring tool to create their e-learning content, which is
then hosted on an LMS. Buyers, however, must choose an authoring software that
integrates with their LMS in order for their content to be hosted. There are authoring
tools on the market, such as Lectora and ToolBook, which meet AICC and SCORM
standards and therefore content created in tools such as these can be hosted on an AICC
or SCORM certified LMS..

Software as a service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced 'sass') is a model of software

deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service
on demand. SaaS software vendors may host the application on their own web servers or
download the application to the consumer device, disabling it after use or after the on-
demand contract expires. The on-demand function may be handled internally to share
licenses within a firm or by a third-party application service provider (ASP) sharing
licenses between firms.[citation needed].

[edit] Aims

The sharing of end-user licenses and on-demand use may also reduce investment in
server hardware or the shift of server use to SaaS suppliers of applications file services.

[edit] History

The concept of "software as a service" started to circulate before 1999.[1] In December

2000, Bennett et al. noted the term as "beginning to gain acceptance in the marketplace".
[2]
Whilst the phrase "software as a service" passed into common usage, the TitleCase
acronym "SaaS" was allegedly not coined until circa 2000 to 2001 in a white paper called
"Strategic Backgrounder: Software as a Service", which was published in February 2001
by the Software & Information Industry's (SIIA) eBusiness Division, but actually written
in the fall of 2000 (according to internal Association records).[3]

One of the first SaaS applications was SiteEasy, a website-in-a-box for small-businesses
that launched in 1998 at Siteeasy.com. Developed by Atlanta-based firm WebTransit co-
founded by Gary Troutman and Drew Wilkins, SiteEasy was sold on a subscription-basis
for a monthly fee to its first customer in the Fall of 1998. [4]

[edit] Philosophy

As a term, SaaS is generally associated by software professionals and business associates

with business software and is typically thought of as a low-cost way for businesses to
obtain rights to use software as needed versus licensing all devices with all applications.
On-demand licensing enables the benefits of commercially licensed use without the
associated complexity and potential high initial cost of equipping every device with the
applications that are only used when needed.

Virtually all software fits the SaaS model well.[citation needed] Many Unix applications already
have this functionality whereas EULA applications never had this flexibility before SaaS.
A licensed copy of a word processor, for example, had to reside on the machine to create
a document. The equipped program has no intrinsic value loaded on a computer that is
turned off for the night. Worse yet, the same employee may need another fully paid
license to write or edit a report at home on their own computer, while the work license is
inoperable. Remote administration software attempts to resolve this issue through sharing
CPU controls instead of licensing on demand. While promising, it requires leaving the
licensed host computer on and it creates security issues from the remote accessing to run
an application. SaaS achieves efficiencies by enabling the on demand licensing and
management of the information and output, independent of the hardware location.

SaaS applications differ from earlier applications delivered over the Internet in that SaaS
solutions were developed specifically to leverage web technologies such as the browser,
thereby making them web-native.[citation needed] The data design and architecture of SaaS
applications are specifically built with a 'multi-tenant' backend, thus enabling multiple
customers or users to access a shared data model. This further differentiates SaaS from
client/server or 'ASP' (Application Service Provider) solutions in that SaaS providers
leverage enormous economies of scale in deployment, management, support and through
the Software Development Lifecycle.

[edit] Key characteristics

Characteristics of SaaS software include:[5][dead link]

• network-based access to, and management of, commercially available software

 • activities managed from central locations rather than at each customer's site,
enabling customers to access applications remotely via the Web
• application delivery typically closer to a one-to-many model (single instance,
multi-tenant architecture) than to a one-to-one model, including architecture,
pricing, partnering, and management characteristics
• centralized feature updating, which obviates the need for end-users to download
patches and upgrades.
• frequent integration into a larger network of communicating software - either as
part of a mashup or as a plugin to a platform as a service. (Service oriented
architecture is naturally more complex than traditional models of software
deployment.)

Providers of SaaS generally price applications on a per-user basis, sometimes with a

relatively small minimum number of users and often with additional fees for extra
bandwidth and storage. SaaS revenue streams to the vendor are therefore lower initially
than traditional software license fees, but are also recurring, and therefore viewed as
more predictable, much like maintenance fees for licensed software.

In addition to the characteristics mentioned above, SaaS software turns the tragedy of the
commons on its head and frequently[weasel words] has these additional benefits:

• More feature requests from users since there is frequently no marginal cost for
requesting new features;
• Faster releases of new features since the entire community of users benefits from
new functionality; and
• The embodiment of recognized best practices — since the community of users
drives the software publisher to support best practice.

[edit] Implementation

Historians can generally classify SaaS architectures as belonging to one of four "maturity
levels", whose key attributes are configurability, multi-tenant efficiency, and scalability.[6]
Each level is distinguished from the previous one by the addition of one of those three
attributes:

• Level 1 - Ad-Hoc/Custom: At the first level of maturity, each customer has its
own customized version of the hosted application and runs its own instance of the
application on the host's servers. Migrating a traditional non-networked or client-
server application to this level of SaaS typically requires the least development
effort and reduces operating costs by consolidating server hardware and
administration.

• Level 2 - Configurable: The second maturity-level provides greater program

flexibility through configurable metadata, so that many customers can use
separate instances of the same application code. This allows the vendor to meet
 the different needs of each customer through detailed configuration options, while
simplifying maintenance and updating of a common code base.

• Level 3 - Configurable, Multi-Tenant-Efficient: The third maturity level adds

multi-tenancy to the second level, so that a single program instance serves all
customers. This approach enables more efficient use of server resources without
any apparent difference to the end user, but ultimately comes up against limits in
scalability.

• Level 4 - Scalable, Configurable, Multi-Tenant-Efficient: The fourth and final

SaaS maturity level adds scalability through a multitier architecture supporting a
load-balanced farm of identical application instances, running on a variable
number of servers. The provider can increase or decrease the system's capacity to
match demand by adding or removing servers, without the need for any further
alteration of applications software architecture.

SaaS architectures may also use virtualization, either in addition to multi-tenancy, or in

place of it.[7] One of the principal benefits of virtualization is that it can increase the
system's capacity without additional programming. On the other hand, a considerable
amount of programming may be required to construct a more efficient, multi-tenant
application. Combining multi-tenancy and virtualization provides still greater flexibility
to tune the system for optimal performance.[8] In addition to full operating system-level
virtualization, other virtualization techniques applied to SaaS include application
virtualization and virtual appliances.

The development of SaaS applications may use various types of software components
and frameworks. These tools can reduce the time-to-market and the cost of converting a
traditional on-premise software product or building and deploying a new SaaS solution.
Examples include components for subscription management, grid computing software,
web application frameworks, and complete SaaS platform products.[9]

[edit] SaaS and SOA[10]

Much like any other software, Software as a Service can also take advantage of Service
Oriented Architecture to enable software applications to communicate with each other.
Each software service can act as a service provider, exposing its functionality to other
applications via public brokers, and can also act as a service requester, incorporating data
and functionality from other services. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software
providers leverage SOA in building their SaaS offerings; an example is SAP Business
ByDesign from SAP AG.

[edit] Adoption

[edit] Drivers
The traditional rationale for outsourcing of IT systems involves applying economies of
scale to the operation of applications, such that a service provider can offer better,
cheaper, more reliable applications than companies can themselves. The use of SaaS-
based applications has grown dramatically, as reported by many of the analyst firms that
cover the sector.[citation needed] But as of 2009, SaaS has only truly flourished in recent years.
Several important changes to the way people work have made this rapid acceptance
possible:

• Computers have become widespread: Most information workers have access to a

computer and are familiar with conventions from mouse usage to web interfaces.
As a result, the learning curve for new applications is lower and less hand-holding
by internal IT is needed.
• Computing itself has become a commodity: In the past, corporate mainframes
were jealously guarded as strategic advantages. More recently, the applications
were viewed as strategic. Today, people know it’s the business processes and the
data itself—customer records, workflows, and pricing information—that matters.
Computing and application licenses are cost centers, and as such, they’re suitable
for cost reduction and outsourcing. The adoption of SaaS could also drive
Internet-scale to become a commodity.
• Insourcing IT systems requires expensive overhead including salaries, health care,
liability and physical building space.
• Applications have tended to standardize: with some notable, industry-specific
exceptions, most people spend most of their time using standardized applications.
An expense-reporting page, an applicant screening tool, a spreadsheet, or an e-
mail system are all sufficiently ubiquitous and well understood that most users
can switch from one system to another easily. This is evident from the number of
web-based calendaring, spreadsheet, and e-mail systems that have emerged in
recent years.
• Parametric applications are usable: In older applications, one could often only
change a workflow by modifying the code. But in more recent applications,
particularly web-based ones, significantly new applications can be created from
parameters and macros. This allows organizations to create many different kinds
of business logic atop a common application platform. Many SaaS providers
allow a wide range of customization within a basic set of functions.
• A specialized software provider can target global markets: A company that made
software for human resource management at boutique hotels might once have had
a hard time finding enough of a market to sell its applications. But a hosted
application can instantly reach the entire market, making specialization within a
vertical market not only possible, but preferable. This in turn means that SaaS
providers can often deliver products that meet their markets' needs more closely
than traditional "shrinkwrap" vendors could.
• Web systems show reliability: Despite sporadic outages and slow-downs, most
people are willing to use the public Internet, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and
the TCP/IP stack to deliver business functions to end users.
 • Security is sufficiently well trusted and transparent: With the broad adoption of
SSL, organizations have a way of reaching their applications without the
complexity and burden of end-user configurations or VPNs.
• Availability of enablement technology: According to IDC,[5] organizations
developing enablement technology that allow other vendors to quickly build SaaS
applications will play an important role in driving the adoption of SaaS. Because
of SaaS' relative infancy, many companies have either built enablement tools or
platforms or are in the process of engineering enablement tools or platforms. A
Saugatuck study shows that the industry will most likely converge to three or four
enablers that will act as SaaS Integration Platforms (SIPs).[11]
• Bandwidth of wide-area networks has grown drastically following Moore's Law
(more than 100% increase each 24 months) and is about to reach slow local
networks bandwidths. Added to network quality of service improvement this has
driven people and companies to trustfully access remote locations and
applications with low latencies and acceptable speeds.
• SaaS has the effect of democratizing software, allowing small and medium
businesses to have access to functionality formerly the domain of large
enterprises. Many analytical software tools have been released as SaaS
applications and are available on a monthly subscription basis
• Data Aggregation. Instead of collecting data from multiple data sources, with
potentially different database schemas, all data for all customers is stored in a
single database schema (i.e. multi-tenant). Thus, running queries across
customers, mining data, and looking for trends is much simpler.

[edit] Sales channels

With products below the $100 range and its focus on the mid market, direct selling can
become an expensive undertaking. SaaS companies seek alternatives by selling through
value-added resellers (VARs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Master Managed
Service Providers (MMSPs) and similar alliance partners. But since SaaS is not only a
different delivery mechanism but a different business model and different technology as
well, selling through channels has its own challenges.

[edit] Alternative pricing models

One reason for developing SaaS applications is the opportunity to implement alternative
pricing models that focus on establishing and maintaining recurring revenue streams.
Most SaaS vendors charge some kind of monthly "hosting" or "subscription" fee.
Opportunities also exist to charge per transaction, event, or other unit of value to the
customer. These alternative pricing models come about because customers actually
"lease" the software from the vendors and the vendors have the ability to view all
transactional activity within the system.

!
 Organizational chart
An organizational chart (often called organization chart, organigram(me), or
organogram(me)) is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the
relationships and relative ranks of its parts and positions/jobs. The term is also used for
similar diagrams, for example ones showing the different elements of a field of
knowledge or a group of languages. The French Encyclopédie had one of the first
organizational charts of knowledge in general.[citation needed]

[edit] Overview

An organizational chart of a company usually shows the managers and sub-workers who
make up an organization. It also shows the relationships between the organization's staff
members which can be one of the following:

• Line - direct relationship between superior and subordinate.

• Lateral - relationship between different departments on the same hierarchical
level.
• Staff - relationship between a managerial assistant and other areas. The assistant
will be able to offer advice to a line manager. However, they have no authority
over the line manager actions.
• Functional[1] - relationships between specialist positions and other areas. The
specialist will normally have authority to insist that a line manager implements
any of their instructions.

In many large companies the organization chart can be large and incredibly complicated
and is therefore sometimes dissected into smaller charts for each individual department
within the organization.

There are three different types of organization charts:

• Hierarchical
• Matrix
• Flat

[edit] Limitations of an organizational chart

There are several limitations with organizational charts:

• If performed manually, for example when using manual software such as

Microsoft Visio or Powerpoint, org charts will very quickly become out-of-date,
especially in large organizations that change their staff regularly.

• It only shows 'formal relationships' and tells nothing of the pattern of human
(social) relationships which develop.
 • It shows nothing about the managerial style adopted (e.g. autocratic or
democratic)

• When starting a business, or when changing from one organizational structure to

another, it's appropriate that owners consider advantages and disadvantages of
each structure in meeting business, personal and family goals.
• The best structure for one type of business may not be the best for another. The
best structure for a new business may not be suitable as the business expands.

In some cases, an organigraph may be more appropriate, particularly if one wants to show
non-linear, non-hierarchical relationships in an organization.

[edit] Example of an organizational chart

The following is an example of a simple hierarchical organizational chart is the image-

chart on the right.

An example of a 'line relationship' in this chart would be between the general and the two
colonels. These two colonels are directly responsible to the general.

An example of a 'lateral relationship' in this chart would be between "Sergeant A", and
"Sergeant B" who both work on level and both report to the "Captain A".

Various shapes such as rectangles, squares, triangles, circles etc. can be used to indicate
different roles. Colour can be used both for shape borders and connection lines to indicate
differences in authority and responsibility, and possibly formal, advisory and informal
links between people. A department or position yet to be created or currently vacant
might be shown as a shape with a dotted outline. Importance of the position may be
shown both with a change in size of the shape in addition to its vertical placement on the
chart.

E-HRM
E-HRM is the (planning, implementation and) application of information technology for
both networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared
performing of HR activities.[1]

E-HRM is not the same as HRIS (Human resource management system) which refers to
ICT systems used within HR departments.[2] Nor is it the same as V-HRM or Virtual
HRM - which is defined by Lepak and Snell as "...a network-based structure built on
partnerships and typically mediated by information technologies to help the organization
acquire, develop, and deploy intellectual capital."[3]
E-HRM is in essence the devolution of HR functions to management and employees.
They access these functions typically via intranet or other web-technology channels. The
empowerment of managers and employees to perform certain chosen HR functions
relieves the HR department of these tasks, allowing HR staff to focus less on the
operational and more on the strategic elements of HR, and allowing organisations to
lower HR department staffing levels as the administrative burden is lightened. It is
anticipated that, as E-HRM develops and becomes more entrenched in business culture,
these changes will become more apparent, but they have yet to be manifested to a
significant degree. A 2007 CIPD survey states that "The initial research indicates that
much-commented-on development such as shared services, outsourcing and e-HR have
had relatively little impact on costs or staff numbers".[4]

E-HRM is a way of implementing HR strategies, policies, and practices in organizations

through a conscious and directed support of and/or with the full use of web-technology-
based channels. The word 'implementing' in this context has a broad meaning, such as
making something work, putting something into practice, or having something realized.
E-HRM, therefore, is a concept - a way of 'doing' HRM.

The E-HRM business solution is designed for human resources professionals and
executive managers who need support to manage the work force, monitor changes and
gather the information needed in decision-making. At the same time it enables all
employees to participate in the process and keep track of relevant information.

[edit] Types

There are three tiers of E-HRM. These are described respectively as Operational,
Relational and Transformational. Operational E-HRM is concerned with administrative
functions - payroll and employee personal data for example. Relational E-HRM is
concerned with supporting business processes by means of training, recruitment,
performance management and so forth. Transformational E-HRM is concerned with
strategic HR activities such as knowledge management, strategic re-orientation.[2] An
organisation may choose to puruse E-HRM policies from any number of these tiers to
achieve their HR goals.

[edit] Goals

E-HRM is seen as offering the potential to improve services to HR department clients

(both employees and management), improve efficiency and cost effectiveness within the
HR department, and allow HR to become a strategic partner in achieving organisational
goals.

[edit] Features

The E-HRM solution excels in:

• Modularity
 • The solution can be accessed and used in a web browser
• Security of data, protected levels of access to individual modules, records
documents and their component parts
• Parametric and customizability
• Access to archived records and documents
• User-friendly interface
• Connectivity with the client's existing information system (payroll accounting,
ERP, attendance registration, document systems…)
• Multi-language support

[edit] Advantages

Advantages of the e-HRM solution:

• Gradual implementation
• Adaptability to any client
• Collection of information as the basis for strategic decision-making
• Integral support for the management of human resources and all other basic and
support processes within the company
• Prompt insight into reporting and analysis
• A more dynamic workflow in the business process, productivity and employee
satisfaction
• A decisive step towards a paperless office
• Lower business costs