HR Software: human resource management software, systems and solution packages

Many companies now understand the business value in implementing HR software (Human Resource Software) which can dramatically help HR and line managers to automate routine tasks and processes, resulting in reducing paperwork, improving efficiency and saving time. HR software is often the key to helping a company's growth.

Some of the key benefits of HR software by automating the common tasks and processes will typically provide savings in time of over 50%; such as employees change in personal details, holiday approval, sickness recording, appraisals, training & development, salary & career changes, etc. In addition, the more advanced HR software solutions often provide self-service facilities allowing managers and employees access to HR information and routine processes, with the benefit of ensuring much greater accuracy of records and data. By implementing an HR software system that is used company-wide, there are fewer chances for inefficiencies in data entry as well as reducing the chances for duplication of efforts, and to improve communication between locations, divisions, departments and HR.

A good HR software solution should form the backbone of a companies HR operation, delivering information and analysis on every individual, job, department and division. It should let you manage career progression, model salaries, monitor absence trends to handling appraisals and performance reviews, tracking training and qulaifications to planning competencies and succession.

By analysing absense trends with HR software it helps you to see the patterns, you can then take action to reduce costs and increase the effectiveness of your organisation.

HR software covers a range of different functions from core HR information, recruitment, time management, payroll and expenses, to training and skills management, and can operate across a variety of different IT technologies. Therefore it's important to choose the right type of HR software and technology platform for your business.

So with the popularity of HR software growing, it's very important to understand what will be required for the software to function correctly and truly benefit the company.

You need to decide the scope of the project and your specific needs before actually implementing an HR software system. There are various things to be considered such as the size of your company, locations, key access, routine tasks you are expecting the software to do, the technology platform, what data you already have and the best way to transfer it, training plans, etc.

Finally, it's very important for a company to maintain its HR database to receive maximum benefits from HR software. High-quality HR software can assist your HR department to improve the productivity of the organisation and help you to take better decisions by providing access to reliable and relevant up to date HR information.

Octopus as a company and solution were one of the first successful Human Resources system in the United Kingdom to be offered and implemented as Software as a Service (HR-SaaS), by providing a low cost, easy to use, fast and reliable on-line process. Octopus has helped transform the way human resources can be managed by truly empowering HR and the whole workforce, enabling HR, managers and employees perform all their important Human Resources reporting and management tasks easily, on demand, online. The key benefits of Octopus HR-SaaS is that it's really quick and simple to set up, low cost, minimal training required, and available 24/7 across your business accessed from any location.

At the hub our Human Resources software is OctopusHR, this is an HR award-winning complete solution, which provides all the core personnel requirements for the majority of companies. In one simple to use solution it offers a perfect blend of features from base HR functionality, compensation & benefits, communication & key alerts dashboard, full HR reporting & analysis. Informing and connecting your managers & employee community together, it will transform the way you can better manage, control and deliver HR across your business, creating significant cost savings and increased efficiencies. OctopusHR can then be combined with our other powerful modules within the Octopus solution family such as Recruit, Expense, Payroll, Time & Perform. So as your business needs change so Octopus can change with you. OctopusHR is a low cost subscription priced solution, it's fully web based and designed to be completely intuitive and used with minimal training.

Recruitment Software

OctopusRecruit will dramatically reduce routine administration workloads, keeping track of all your vacancies and candidates and providing meaningful recruitment analysis reports. It allows you to be able to match your applicants' skills much better so that you always get the best person for the job. OctopusRecruit is part of the award winning Octopus family of online applications and will help you to effortlessly manage your recruitment process from application to interview and from regret to job offer to new employee, whilst directly connecting with OctopusHR so no duplication of data and effort is required. You can seamlessly post your vacancies onto your web site, where external and internal applicants can apply and upload their CV. The unique graphical dashboard within OctopusRecruit highlights exactly what vacancies are open, the number of candidates and how the vacancies are progressing. Individual applicants and Recruitment Agencies also have their own login access to enable them to see just how they are doing. So that you can see which of the areas in which you are advertising works best, we've incorporated a 'Media Spend' analysis tool to help you make the right decisions and save money. And finally, when you've selected the right candidate, their details will be automatically transferred to OctopusHR and Payroll, saving you even more time and enhancing human resources efficiencies.

Time Sheet Software

OctopusTime runs in a secure online environment which allows employees and managers to record their timesheets on any internet browser whenever they want and wherever they happen to be. If you're in a business that needs to log time sheets from employees and managers and have them passed to the relevant finance and payroll departments for processing, quickly and efficiently, then you need OctopusTime. It helps speed up and automates the whole process, it will improve the accuracy and integrity of the timesheet and human resources data and it will also reduce your costs at the same time.It has a multi level approval facility which means you can configure OctopusTime the way that suits you and you can view 'real-time' work in progress based on client, project or whatever other criteria you choose. And, as with all Octopus products it seamlessly integrates with OctopusHR, and comes with comprehensive reporting with data graphing, data export facilities, automated reminders and detailed analysis at a touch of a button.

Expenses Software

OctopusExpense will not only automate your expense administration and processing but it will also help you to better control and reduce the costs of general company expenses within your business. Fully integrated into OctopusHR, it allows expenses incurred by an employee to be seamlessly recorded, authorised and delivered to finance for payment. It has a multi level approval facility which means you can configure OctopusExpense the way that suits your organisation. And, as with all Octopus products, it comes with comprehensive human resources reporting with data graphing, data export facilities, automated reminders and detailed analysis. OctopusExpense is a low cost subscription priced solution, it's fully web based and designed to be completely intuitive and used without any formal training.

Employee & Manager Self Service Software

Octopus is all about true 'Empowerment', with continuous positive feedback from our customers proving that both employees and managers alike love Octopus in that it's helped to improve and enhance their Human Resources tasks and business life. And in turn has helped HR management in those companies to have much more productive time for more strategic activities having been able to empower their managers and employees to manage their own hr tasks and thereby release previous bottlenecks of HR work. Employee & Manager self service functionality is completely built into OctopusHR so no additional 'modules' or costs are required.

Payroll Software

The OctopusPayroll solution substantially reduces payroll processing costs; it achieves this by creating a powerful single-point of entry for payroll information, so ensures quality and accuracy of information whilst at the same time helping to eliminate any duplication of both effort and data. OctopusPayroll allows you to choose the very best and most appropriate payroll integration for your requirements, for example we can provide a fully managed Payroll service for you, we can link to your existing provider whether that be an in-house payroll system or a payroll bureau service.

Performance Software

To help successfully grow a business you need to continually develop the skills and performance of both managers and employees. If this can be achieved you have a much higher chance of business success. The difficulty is just how you do that objectively, based on fact and not just emotion. OctopusPerform will help you accomplish this successfully, it's an exclusive and powerful collaborative tool which will enable human resources, managers and employees to identify and monitor behaviours, objectives, competencies and skill gaps, which will create individualised PDP's (Personal Development Plans) that will enhance overall performance. OctopusPerform has a series of well designed and intuitive employee and manager forms, OctopusPerform will dramatically reduce the time and money spent conducting and recording employee appraisals and at the same time, will align the goals and priorities of employees and managers with those of the business. OctopusPerform is an online fully web based system; it has been developed and designed to be fully intuitive with minimal training required. It is a low cost subscription priced system as is the whole of the Octopus family of Human Resources solutions.

HR Communication

There are few things in any organisation as important as good communication. At the heart of the Octopus family of HR solutions are a powerful set of great communication tools, from automated alerts that can be based on set dates or regular recurring events, through to email broadcasts, mail merge, workflow authorization's, key anniversary reminders and much more. The reminder alerts enable automated system emails to be generated to any number of employees and managers informing them of any key tasks or events Alerts can be sent once, every day, weekly, monthly, bi-annually, or annually for as long as required. These alerts are ideal for assisting with human resources & business processes and many other aspects of day to day working. The Octopus Company Handbook allows you to centrally store company documents such as HR forms, policies and procedures or benefit information. The Activity reminder facility tracks key employee related events enabling far more effective people management. Managers and administrators can update their own or any employees activity schedule. It's a great way of improving team management, communication and task preparation through to completion.

HR Software Implementation & Service

Just as important as the quality of the software is how well a human resources management solution is implemented, trained and supported. The Octopus solution family are all backed up by a simple and proven implementation process and support team which means you can be up and running in matter of days, with excellent customer service always at hand. There really is no such thing in our book as a 'silly question', all support calls are answered promptly by professional support people who know our solutions inside and out. Octopus is branded to your business to create an even better look and feel to the system that matches your company's logo and colours. There is no need for any complex installation or additional hardware as Octopus will use your existing Internet connections, with access to the system instantly available across the business.