Meaningful metrics have the power to inform and influence a business through data insight. Leveraging powerful reporting and metrics will allow organizations to add more value to their businesses and overcome hurdles in the functional pillars of HR and beyond. A recent presentation shows users how to utilize metrics and overcome hurdles in order to achieve strong data analysis that leads to true business results within HCM Cloud.

In the past, people have looked at reporting as a transactional and static. It’s been about looking backward and historical data during a snapshot in time. As time goes on, people have gotten better at looking at reporting as something that can increase the business value. Now people realize that reporting and metrics can help inform decisions that impact and predict the future.

4 Common Challenges

There are four common challenges that users face when trying to implement more meaningful HCM metrics in their organization.

1. The lack of data management/governance
2. Implementing too many metrics
3. The lack of a clear or consistent definition
4. Establishing targets with no context to current performance or process capability

Lack of Data Management/Governance

Challenges that can occur as a result of the lack of data management or governance include inaccurate data and a lack of data ownership. To counteract those challenges, it’s important to define and prioritize metrics that you want to implement and then identify data elements in your system that will be needed to implement those metrics. Creating a data dictionary can also be helpful because it will define the meaning, intended use, and format for each field, which will provide a common understanding among the people that are providing and consuming metrics. It’s also important to educate the HR population about the metrics—when they’d be available, how to find them, what to use them for, etc.

Implementing Too Many HCM Metrics

Challenges that might occur as a result of implementing too many metrics include data consumption challenges and poor perception of HR’s understanding of the business. To counteract these challenges, you’ll need to start with an analysis of your current reports and metrics to understand what each one is tracking and being sent to. From there, you can narrow down the audience that is receiving the metrics and decide what should be automated and what should be self-service. It’s important to rationalize and decide which reports and metrics are actually needed to support business functions and which are being done simply because the data is easily accessible.

Lack of a Clear or Consistent Definition

Challenges that can occur as a result of the lack of a clear or consistent definition include manual data manipulation and lack of trust in data. To counteract these challenges, start with an analysis of current reports. Gather information from your stakeholders about what data is being run, what manipulation is taking place and why, and what challenges are coming up. From there, it’s important to establish a consistent data definition and address any data gaps. Once you’ve established a clear, consistent definition, it’s easier to move forward with designing dashboards, automating metrics, and creating filters.

Targets with No Context

Challenges that might occur as a result of targets that have no context to current performance or process capability include unclear expectations and recruiter burnout. To counteract these challenges, you’ll want to start by documenting your current processes and establishing a performance baseline. From there, you’ll want to evaluate your existing metrics and compare your baseline to your target. If necessary, you can realign your performance measures and establish a realistic target from there. You’ll need to discuss an action plan for how to achieve your target.

To learn more about how you can overcome these hurdles and implement more meaningful HCM metrics in your organization with Oracle HCM Cloud, check out the full presentation.