Human Resource Executive

Company, Know Thyself.
May 20, 2002
By Grae Yohe

Knowledge is power. Sure, it's a cliché. But it's a cliché that rings true. After all, having a clear picture of a company's corporate structure might help HR root out redundancies within the organization. The ability to swiftly and accurately catalog employee skills might reveal that tasks which are usually outsourced could better be handled in-house. An up-to-the minute snapshot of departmental profiles and budgets might help HR ensure that resources and personnel are being dedicated in accordance with the company's strategic goals.

Get the picture?
Knowledge is power-if you can keep track of it, that is. The good news for HR is that specialized organizational charting software, which is designed to help companies and their people "get the big picture," has undergone some significant improvements in recent years. Today, these applications can sync with central databases and leverage the Web, enabling users to avoid...

What If?
When it comes to software designed strictly for creating org charts, including scenario planning, OrgPlus from Mill Valley, Calif-based HumanConcepts is arguably the industry standard. OrgPlus comes in a limited version as part of Microsoft Office and in a full version as OrgPlus 4.0. (Big Three vendors Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP offer basic organizational charting tools as well, but partner with specialty firms such as HumanConcepts or TimeVision Inc. for advanced versions.)

The stand-alone version of OrgPlus can run reports and budgets based on "what if?" scenarios. What's especially notable about the new 4.0 version, however, is its automated data-handling.

"We use a lot of the features to either import or export," says long time OrgPlus user Phil Jones, regional vice president at BlueCross/ BlueShield of Georgia in Atlanta. Jones recalls a time when he tediously assembled charts by hand. Now, after a one-time setup, OrgPlus pulls information from the database and assembles a chart automatically. Or, an Administrator can schedule a nightly import, meaning that a current chart is always available when needed.

"I also love the ability to make the chart in OrgPlus and then publish it to PowerPoint or Word," Jones adds. "We had a large organizational change in our company, and for us to go out on the road to communicate it, a lot of times it's much easier to illustrate it in a PowerPoint presentation." When exporting to PowerPoint, OrgPlus breaks the charts up into indexed slides, usually by department or cost center.

In exporting to MS Word, the software creates a book with an index and a table of contents. OrgPlus can also publish charts to the web that can be viewed using the free, downloadable OrgViewer plug-in. Authorized users can then save those charts as native OrgPlus files so they can be edited, updated or revised as needed.

Meanwhile, biotech firm Affymetrix Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., has found that distributing information quickly to those who need it is much easier thanks to its corporate directory services (CDS) software from Montreal-based Nakisa.

"You can go into the database itself, make the change, and it shows up right on the screen, "says Affymetrix Business Analyst Manger Jim Curry, adding that the company had no problems hooking CDS Version 2.5 to its access front-end.

The data is real-time, displayed online in various navigable, searchable formats. CDS2.5's PhoneBook module lets user create a hyperlinked company directory. If a user wants to know where someone's office is, the FloorPlan module shows them on a labeled map. The OrgChart module, smoothly integrated with other modules can display the organizational structure as a branching, collapsible tree.

"I've used it frequently because I need information about a specific individual and would like to see the reporting structure," says Curry, adding that putting this data online allows for easy, cheap access to just about any informational tidbit a user might need. "It gives us a greater capability to get more information to people in the field."

Affymetrix is just getting started with another module, Scenario, which-similar to OrgPlus-allows authorized users to drag and drop org chart branches to try hypothetical arrangements, such as: What if we eliminate two vice presidents and put their subordinates under the remaining VP? Or what if we split payroll and accounting, which are currently together, into two separate units? When users conduct such scenarios, the software will automatically compute the changes in headcount and salary dollars. If budgets are allotted to managers who switch departments, the departments' budgets will change accordingly.

Using scenario planning, companies can shuffle elements on a chart and calculate the resulting budgets, head counts, and other information ahead of time. If the numbers look good, they can proceed. If not, they've saved themselves a lot of trouble. This capability is invaluable, says Curry.

"Business is being driven a lot faster today than it was two yeas ago and you have to respond quicker," he says. "You have to have the capability to do a 'what if?' scenario."

Collaborative Development.
The Difference between the OrgPlus tools and those offered by Nakisa, Boston-based AboutFace and Irving, Texas-based TimeVision is that the OrgPlus charts are relatively static, whereas the other double as real-time directories, with versatile search- and-sort abilities. The flip side is that OrgPlus costs about one-tenth as much.

Nakisa focuses exclusively on Web distribution. According to Manager of Professional Services Sebastiaan Bos, a distributed chart quickly becomes an obsolete chart, whereas online access keeps everything current. "It's not a static picture of the organization a week or two months ago," says Bos. "It is 'As of today, what is in my data base?'" Everything created by CDS, Bos explains, is written in pure HTML for display in an ordinary browser. Security permissions, he continues, can be set up to allow only certain users access to budgets, salaries and other confidential information.

"Not only can we produce, for example, an employee hierarchy organizational chart, but we can produce a departmental, cost center, work unit or country hierarchy," says Bos.

The same functionality exists in OrgPublisher and OrgBuilder, two products from TimeVision. For companies with "who reports to whom" data already in the HRMS, OrgPublisher assembles an online chart similar to Nakisa's, viewable in a browser. OrgBuilder allows de novo chart assembly, but also allows users to import what data they do have and then provide reporting links.

OrgBuilder also allows for collaborative chart development because it's Web-based, anyone, anywhere, can access the charts. A team leader might initiate the process by outlining a chart's skeleton, then invite his or her direct reports to add their people via a secure link.

"Everybody can contribute," says CEO and Co-Founder Lois Melbourne, "but, if I only want to invite one person to that chart, I can make it so that no one other than who I invite can see it." Teams can then be maintained independently, without the need to hook up to one central location.

She adds one more thing, which Nakisa's Bos also points out: the products work backward, too. When administrators change a chart or a directory on the Web, the information in the HRMS is automatically updated. If a company chooses to activate employee self-service, employees can make the changes themselves, eliminating the need to go through HR for every little change and making it easier to keep information current.

This is also the case for AboutFace's software, which CEO Adam Grossman says focuses less on the "boxes and lines" of org charts. "Charts get pretty unwieldy pretty quickly,: he says. Instead, AboutFace works like a directory. Then, focusing on one-employee, users are offered one level of links up to superiors and one down to subordinates. In addition, a Windows Explorer-type navigation option organizes employee skills. If a manager needs a German speaker, she might look in the "languages" folder and then in "German." The program can compile these folders automatically.

What's Your Name?
Because AboutFace holds photos and so much employee information-including hobbies and interests, in some cases-it helps foster a sense of corporate culture, says Grossman. Cathy Ogletree, a human resource director at law firm Burr & Forman in Birmingham, Ala., agrees.

"It's really easy for employees," she says. "If they can't remember who to talk to in accounting, they can pull up the accounting department, look at the thumbnail photo, and see the person they have to talk to-if they met someone in person and can't remember their name. Or if they talk to someone on the phone, they can go see who that person is."

Ogletree adds that AboutFace has saved Burr & Forman time and money, owing to ease of use and lower distribution costs. "I think it pays for itself every month," she says. "The paper system is very hard to keep up to date. Now, when we hire someone, we have an outline that a new employee completes, it's very easy"

Burr & Forman pays monthly, having opted to lease AboutFace instead of buying it outright-an option that TimeVision also offers. It's cheaper, but there's a downside: the data and the software are on the vendor's servers, making synchronization with the HRMS impossible.

OrgPlus 4.0 Professional is definitely the most affordable of the specialized charting tools. Total integrated systems such as those from AboutFace, Nakisa and TimeVision cost considerably more. AboutFace and TimeVision charge by the user and Nakisa Charges by the number of records. Nakisa's fees are broken down into the different CDS modules, with costs for a company of 2,000 employees lying in the neighborhood of $15,000, while a company of 10,000 would pay $35,000.

Although the products aren't cheap, Grossman offers an ROI justification from one perspective client. Twice a year, the company prints indexes and directories for an annual cost of about $8,500. They estimate halving this with AboutFace, saving $4,250. They Further estimate a savings of $7,200 in man-hours by rededicating the duties of the part-timer who maintains these directories. This amounts to an estimated savings of $11,450 per year to offset the purchase price of $16,500. A lease on this amount would cost $625 per month.

Even an ROI such as this, vendors are quick to point out, doesn't take into consideration the less tangible benefits that come with good information.

"Suddenly, everyone knows who everyone is," says HumanConcepts CEO Martin Sacks. "You know who your boss is, you know who his boss is."