PEO Resources

At one time or another, most people have dreamed of being their own boss, running their own business. Connecticut has been a hotbed of that kind of thinking; Sam Colt and his revolver, Eli Whitney and his cotton gin, Igor Sikorsky and Charles Kaman and their helicopters, even Louis’ Lunch and the hamburger.

Given the uncertainties of today’s economy, there might even be more people thinking of striking out on their own but wondering if they can do it.

Connecticut is a heavily regulated state. It might seem that you need an army of lawyers, accountants and consultants. Does this mean that ordinary citizens cannot start a new business without submitting to a complex and costly bureaucratic process?

Happily, the answer is no.

Unless a business license, permit, or some sort of regulatory approval is required (for example, a beautician, a plumber, a stockbroker, or a liquor store owner) and/or multiple investors are involved, most people can start a small business by simply following the following steps:

1. Select a name. You can use your own name or a trade name. If the name is fictitious (i.e., Cut and Trim Landscaping), you must file a trade name certificate in the town in which you conduct business. The fee is as little as $5.

2. Apply for a Sales Tax identification number from the Department of Revenue Services. Telephone number (860) 297-5962

3. If you are sole proprietor, you can use your social security number. You will need to file a Schedule C with your 1040 Income Tax Return.

4. If you decide to form a single member limited liability company (“LLC”), you can go online to www.sots.ct.gov and download the form entitled Articles of Organization. It is a one page document that is easy to complete. The filing fee is $60. If you are a single member LLC with no employees, you do not need a Federal Tax Identification number. Otherwise, you do. Go on line to www.irs.gov and download the application for a Federal Tax I.D. number. There are instructions available to help you prepare the application.

5. Buy some business cards and letterhead or, if you know how, print your own on your computer.

6. If you plan to work from home, check with the Town Planner in your town to make sure you are in compliance. For example, unless your residence is in the proper zone, you will not be able to operate a retail business from your home.

7. If you expect to operate from a store, office or industrial facility, you should have legal assistance, unless you can rent month to month or can negotiate a short term lease.

8. You should contact an insurance agent to obtain liability and comprehensive insurance, and, if you have employees, worker’s compensation insurance. There are other coverages available, such as products liability and business interruption, so check with your agent.

9. You should arrange to have sufficient operating capital to pay for 3 to 6 months of operating expenses until you can break even or start making profits. Some businesses require additional operating capital.

These general guidelines should be more than enough to get anyone started and on their way towards that goal of owning and operating a small business. Oftentimes in these ventures, the biggest stumbling block comes in worrying if such an idea is simply too difficult and too large for one person to pursue. With these helpful hints, though, hopefully it can be made clear to anyone that the dream of being your own boss may be closer than you think.

Attorney Martin A. Clayman is the Senior Member of the law firm of Clayman, Tapper & Baram, LLC; Three Regency Drive, Bloomfield, CT 06002; (860) 242-2221(mclayman@ctattys.com). Attorneys in the firm provide legal services in the areas of Accident and Personal Injury, ¬Business Law, Civil Litigation, Condominium Law, Criminal Law, Divorce and Family Law, Elder Law, Wills and Probate, Immigration, Franchis¬ing, Patent, Copyright and Trademark, Real Estate, and Zoning.

Visit our web site for more information and articles: www.ctattys.com.

Many company directors and owners of small to medium sized companies feel that there has developed over the past ten years an unjust and ever increasing burden of taxation. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that when people feel they are heavily and unfairly taxed they start to look for ways of getting around the tax system, which perhaps they would not have done, if they felt the tax system were fair.
As a contract hire company it is quite surprising to discover the proportion of vehicles that are being treated as pool cars, it does make one wonder whether they can indeed all be, in the true sense, pool cars. It is important for a company to be aware of the rules governing company pool cars, as they really are quite specific and restrictive and of course a pool car is like red rag to bull when it comes to Inland Revenue.
For a car to qualify as a pool care there can be no private use. It is important to keep a log of all the journeys and mileage that the pool car has done and this should correspond with the vehicle’s mileage. If occasionally an employee has to visit a client the following morning, it can be acceptable that they take the car home the previous evening, particularly if they have an early meeting and it would be out of their way to return to the office, to collect the car. If this were to happen on more than the odd occasion, Inland Revenue could well see it as private use.
There can be no private use of a company pool car; it cannot even be available for private use. The car has to be kept on the company premises overnight. Sometimes there is nowhere that a pool car can be kept on the company’s premises, or as can often be the case, nowhere that is safe. Under these circumstances it would not seem unreasonable that a director or employee takes the vehicle home at night. This however is rarely acceptable to Inland Revenue. They will usually want to treat this as commuting, which is private use.
An alternative would be to take it to a lock up garage. Inland Revenue are however likely to look at the proximity of the garage to the office and the directors home, if it is closer to the directors home they will again want to treat this as private use. You could write to Inland Revenue to try to get clarification. However this is really putting your head above the parapet and will almost certainly be followed by a letter from the Revenue telling you that you are going to get a visit by an Inspector, a prospect few company directors will relish.
There are clear advantages from a tax point of view to having a pool car; 100% of the Vat can be claimed back on contract hire, if a car is purely for business use. But the potential complications with Inland Revenue can sometimes outweigh the advantages.
The Revenue will of course be looking at the type and value of the company pool car If it’s a five year old Vauxhall or perhaps a Smart car its easy to see why that might not be everybody’s first choice for personal use. If however the pool car is an Audi A8, the next question will be, what is the director driving home in at night? If it’s a Ford Focus then it’s not difficult to see why the Inspector might be slightly sceptical.
It is worth considering whether you company pool car is indeed a genuine company pool car. If it is not and in practice is a car for the director’s own use, it may be time to consider making some changes to the way this is set up. If the car is on contract hire it can remain so but treated as a company car for the director. The tax that the director will pay could be grossed up and taken as a dividend. Alternatively a car could be taken on a personal contract hire basis rather than contract hire and again the cost of the car could be covered by a dividend that is paid to the director. The company accountants can usually help to advise which route may be more practical.

Managing a home business can be tough purely because space is limited. Assuming you find a business opportunity that does work, what you will find is that sooner or later you will need to take on more staff.
By outsourcing everything (ok, maybe not everything…) you can avoid this scenario completely. Outsource your bookkeeping, payroll processing, order processing & outsource your technology so that you can spend time doing what you love doing best… managing your business.
Let’s face it; it is difficult to keep up with all the new accounting rules and regulations that you have to comply with. It is far better that a professional book keeper does this for you. Do you know what an accountant uses for birth control? His personality. You were never meant to be an accountant!
Why bother trying to design and create new brochures and other marketing material when a professional can do the same job as you, but so much better? You might save money in the short term doing this yourself but it will definitely cost you money in the longer term.
The benefits of outsourcing are:
1) More resources available for customers.
2) Fewer employees and therefore more peace of mind.
3) Lower requirements for computers, printers, phone lines & ink.
4) Access to experts in many different fields.
5) More free space.
As you can see from the list above, outsourcing is not only about cutting costs. Rather it can be used as a strategic tool for planning your business growth.
By outsourcing all the items you hate doing or do not have the space to do, you are now free to focus on customers and ensuring that they get the best service.
Outsourcing works and makes small business sense. If you want to reduce your overheads and free up more of your valuable time then consider outsourcing.

In today’s world most people work in an office setting. How one’s office space is laid out can determine how productive that office is. Nobody wants to go to work and have to be in a crowded, cluttered office. An office should be laid out properly. There should be room to walk and have all of the supplies the office needs.
A business owner needs to take into account the number of employees that the office is going to have. It is not good if there is not enough office space to accommodate the number of employees that will be in the office. This can cause employees to be unhappy. When employees are unhappy their productivity can be affected.
The person in charge of planning the office space needs to take several factors into account. They need to consider the number of employees, parking areas, and budget. Other things should also be considered, such as how many restrooms, private offices and storage areas are needed.
The office space planner does not want everything to be too cramped. However, they also do not want everything to be too spread out. This can make for a drafty and cold office environment. I can also run up the heating bills in the winter. The employees need to feel comfortable in order to be productive. If they are too hot or cold then this can affect their productivity.
It is also the office planner’s job to make sure the office environment is inviting. There should be a few plants and pictures on the wall. This way the employees will feel cheerful at work thus increasing their productivity. Also, the people in charge of planning the office areas needs to think about the future. How much will the office need to grow? If the office is projected to grow then there should be space set aside for this. If there is no room for growth the business will outgrow the office area and become cramped. It is very important for the office planner to project the anticipated growth of the business. He or she then needs to make a plan for how the office will accommodate the extra space that will be needed.
Also make sure the office building is easily accessible. Is there a freeway nearby? If employees have to drive way out of their way to get to the office they will not be happy when they get to work. It takes alot of time to to get to work when an employee has to take side roads in order to get to work. By the time they get to work they will not be in much of a mood to be productive. It is a good idea to make sure customers also have easy access to the office building. If your business does not have customers visiting the office directly then do not worry about this.
Here is one last tip to take into account. Make sure to start early on the office planning. If you feel pressed for time it will be hard to do the office planning properly. The productivity of your office depends it.

The first wave of offshore outsourcing was in computer programming, sending software development and maintenance abroad, mainly to India. The next wave, well underway, is shipping back-office business tasks overseas, like finance, payroll, claims processing, procurement and the like. That’s business process outsourcing, or BPO, in nerd talk.

Just how much of this back-office work can be sent abroad, how quickly, is a matter of some debate. These are chores that are semi-automated, a blend of technology and human skills. The labor-cost savings are still considerable — certainly on per-worker basis — despite a weak dollar and rising wages in nations like India. But these are also tasks, more so than programming, that often require knowledge of specific industries, business practices, even local cultures. The customer-service travails of Dell, which put a lot of its call-center work in India and later brought much of it back, is a cautionary example.

A report presented this week to India’s big software and services trade association, NASSCOM, concludes that the offshore BPO can grow explosively for years to come. The report done by Everest Research institute, an outsourcing advisory firm, found that the addressable market for Indian BPO outsourcers will be $220 billion to $280 billion by 2012. Today, the report says, the total offshore BPO market is about $28 billion, with the Indian-sourced portion of that at $10.2 billion.

Rod Bourgeois, an analyst , who conducts joint research with Everest, notes that this means the current Indian BPO market is less than 5 percent of the potential market opportunity. So the Indian BPO market, including the big offshore arms of I.B.M., Accenture and others, should grow by 30 percent a year or more for a while.

“Use the wisdom, knowledge and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed……Never do for yourself, what others can do for you…”- Robert GreeneTHE 48 LAWS OF POWERMost of the time, we are faced with what we consider to be very difficult and challenging tasks or assignments. Such tasks exert so much pressure and carry stiff deadlines requiring our efforts and close attention. We run around helplessly struggling to beat deadlines and achieve results. There are two reasons why we fall into this trap: Our mentality that people who can perform particular tasks/jobs are scarce or are not reachable; and an inner fear that no other person can perform certain assignments as perfectly as we would. But common wisdom tells me that we are better off building from what others have mentally, physically, etc. If we insist on doing everything for ourselves, we will not get too far. There is a natural limitation to what a single individual or organization can do; no matter how well endowed, or gifted such a person or organization is. Success cannot, as a matter of fact, be achieved in isolation.It is therefore advisable to gain knowledge and have jobs done through the smart efforts and results from people who are qualified, capable, willing and available. Does the word SYNERGY mean anything to you? Before the advent of the internet, world economy suffered some limitations and challenges. This is because of the difficulties in accessing the services of qualified people to work on particular projects. Emphasis was based on the physical presence of workers. Customs and Immigration policies and laws (especially on visas, residence and work permits, etc) of different countries also posed some challenges in hunting and attracting capable and qualified manpower. Today, the internet has reduced the world to a global village. It provides platforms and powerful database for virtually any category of human endeavor. For instance, articles and e-books are published for people to read in websites like http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com Recent technologies have also created avenues for borderless communication and interaction. People seek new friends and date online in websites like http://nigerlove.wetpaint.com , Companies employ staff world wide without physically getting in touch with them. Goods and services are advertised, purchased and sold by mere tapping on keyboards. People sit in the comfort of their homes and work for companies at distant countries. Workers get paid for services rendered via International Money Transfer Services like MONEYGRAM, WESTERN UNION, E-GOLD, VISA CARD, PAY PAL, MASTER CARD, and other electronic methods. Surprisingly, not many people/organizations recognize and make use of these opportunities. Unfortunately, the internet which was supposed to proffer solutions have been invaded by fraudsters, scam experts and conmen. Every year, universities and other institutions of higher learning churn out thousands of intelligent graduates (Accountants, Secretaries, Engineers, etc) who are eagerly looking for genuine on-line employment opportunities. It has been confirmed that these unemployed youths spend five to six hours every day searching the internet for online jobs without success. On the other hand, companies are looking for online staff with whom to establish symbiotic relationship. Regrettably, the gap between online employers and employees have been widened the more by the activities of some internet scam experts who exploit the gap to make money for themselves. To establish direct contact with qualified, capable and willing graduates from various fields of endeavor, send an email to me via victorizuogu@yahoo.com or victorizuogu@hotmail.com . Please remember to quote REF: “2024 Online Jobs” on the subject matter of your e-mail.(1) Are you a student looking for academic materials to enable you complete and submit your projects within a specified time?(2) Are you looking for writers to help you write on any topic and deliver to you on record time?(3) Does your company need a feasibility study from any state or location in order to establish presence in Nigeria? (4) Are you or your company looking for interpreters/qualified Secretaries or any category of workforce?(5) Is your company looking for staff, representatives, agents or partners in Nigeria?Contact Global Interchange Ventures via e-mail: victorizuogu@yahoo.com , globalinterchange@yahoo.com or write to: The Chairman, Global Interchange Ventures, P.O. Box 1291, Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Attention: Victor Izuogu In order to achieve your goals, you must engage the services of people; not just people, but people who are sincere, serious-minded, available, capable, qualified and willing to add value to your business. I believe that this article has given enough information that you can make use of.

N.B:Due to requests from my readers to write a book on the habit of MASTURBATION, I am pleased to inform you that I have written a book titled, MASTURBATION: How to Overcome and Quit the Habit. 

I strongly advise  everyone interested in this article to purchase my new book titled – MASTURBATION:How to Overcome and Quit the Habit. You can get the ebook version from the following link,

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3962841   

 While those interested in having the printed and bound copy of the book should send me an email via: donationsglobal@yahoo.com  Please quote REQUEST FOR BOOK on the subject line, to distinguish your mail from spam mails.

Corporate firms invest lot of money on employee comforts as much as they do in their client services. Higher productivity can be extracted from employees by providing comfortable and pleasant working environment and a relaxing office space. But it is not easy to set up the office space as per employees’ satisfaction level, especially in a company with thousands of employees. Companies have started conducting extensive surveys to find out the office improvement suggestions among their employees. Aquarium, plants and flowers have found their way into lots of corporate office spaces lately.Today, you won’t find windowless cubicles and bare fluorescent bulbs in any corporate company today. As per many surveys, bad lighting in offices creates grumpy and moody employees. Superior lighting arrangements and office decoration for employees help them feel more relaxed and better focused on their work. Spacious reception area, plush sofas, wide corridors, leather chairs, classy cafeterias, comfortable lounges, and soothing colors are all meant to relax the mind of employees from the pressures of work. There are some office spaces that even provide homely comforts to employees who are working under strict deadline to complete their projects.The key idea of providing comfortable office spaces is to keep employees working for long duration and produce profitable results. Over working concept has slowly transforming into working voluntary overtime, not because it comes with good incentive but it is no longer tedious task to spend few more hours in the office. Therefore, companies’ investment in few luxuries will generate more profits and great success in their business.If you are setting up a new business then you must visit some sample offices or you should search on the Internet for your office spaces or business center needs. You can also contact professional and experienced office spaces providers who will help you to find suitable office space in India.Incube business center has redefined the concept of business center and office spaces by providing technologically advanced and classy workspace solutions. Whether you are looking for office space in Bangalore or business center in Gurgaon, Incube is the one stop solution for your office spaces need.

In today’s economic state of affairs as well as business setting accounting outsourcing services play a very significant role. With the growing competition for endurance and excellence, it becomes extremely essential for the companies to devise some strategy to survive and prove its worth in their respective field. The owners of business are under immense pressure to cut down the costs in several business operations as margins of profit is becoming diminished in the present times. Slashing down the costs related to the financial as well as the accounting activities has been witnessed in times of recession is an effective way to chop down overhead costs, enhancing productivity. Accounting activities are outsourced to achieve the set target. Outsourcing means handing over the entire task related to accounting plus bookkeeping to an external party. The firm of accounting outsourcing is responsible for carrying out all the activities of accounting of a business which comprises maintaining everything from apt book entries, making ledgers, giving a detailed analysis of the business operation to preparing the financial statements. Accounting outsourcing services is gradually getting colossal recognition in the world of business as several companies are routing to it as it offers several advantages in the long run.  Accounting outsourcing services is a money-spinning way of getting all your accounting work done by proficient and professional people. Nowadays, the management of a top company is not interested in spending huge sum of money to recruit an in-house staff for maintaining accounts. With accounting outsourcing companies, a company can save this money and invest it wisely in some other activity. Accounting outsourcing services liberate the company’s management from the supervision of work related to accounts and finance department. They can duly pay attention to the core activities of the business which could not be handled in the required manner for being involved with the accounts of the company. This will enable them to enhance the overall productivity and in turn raise the profit margins. There are times when the company has to hire professionals for these activities which acquire massive cost as they charge a high salary. In comparison to in-house services accounting outsourcing firms demand a very reasonable cost for their services as they own payroll professionals specialized in various aspects of accounting. Without any doubts these firm provide much value to your money by offering you excellent services, but it is important to check their background thoroughly prior to entrusting them with your company’s valuable accounts detail. The company must ensure that those confidential details and documents are in safe hands and no misuse of the information is done. The accounting outsourcing services firm should also have a firm security system in order to avoid leakage of vital information to an outsider or a third party. For this a thorough search on the Internet can be made, subsequent to which the target firms should be short-listed. A comparative study of these firms will enable you to make the best possible choices that suit your criteria.

Contract hire is a very straightforward and inexpensive way of running company cars. It couldn’t really be simpler you have fully budgeted costs over a fixed term, off balance sheet borrowing, without the complication of disposing of existing vehicles, when the time comes to renew company cars. Even maintenance can be included in the monthly rental. It is however important to avoid some of the pitfalls that can be encountered when choosing this route.
Firstly if the contract hire company is not one of the large and better know companies it is important to establish their policy with regard to the condition of the vehicle when it is returned at the end of the contract hire term.
Most of the established companies say that the vehicle must be returned in a condition that is deemed as fair wear and tear for the age and mileage of the vehicle, as set out in the BVRLA guidelines. It is important to establish that you are not dealing with a company that plans to profit from charging for work to be carried out on the vehicle that is not reasonably required considering the age and mileage of the vehicle. It also is important to have someone from your company present at the handover; one hears of cases of contract hire companies, charging for missing service records, when the hirer was certain they were in the glove box.
A contract hire agreement will be for a fixed term and there will be a specified number of miles the vehicle can be driven during that term, this will be the mileage that has been requested by the hirer. Sometimes it can be difficult to predict how many miles a vehicle is going to do and of course circumstances can change. It is therefore a good idea to check what the charge will be for excess mileage.
On occasions you will see a vehicle that appears quite inexpensive but has a higher than normal charge for excess mileage. Most companies are flexible and will allow you to renegotiate mileage, part way through the term it is worth checking that this is the case with the company you are considering. The whole idea of contract hire is that you have fully budget costs and finding yourself with a large bill at the end of the term, rather defeats the object.
It is also important to make the employee who drives the vehicle responsible not only for it’s condition but also for ensuring that the vehicle is serviced at the appropriate service intervals. It should not be the company that has the responsibility of making sure the vehicle is serviced on time; the driver of the vehicle will after all see the appropriate warning come up on the screen and should advise the company accordingly.
Failing to service the vehicle within the designated time can have serious consequences; it can invalidate the warranty leaving the company exposed to the cost of any further mechanical or electronic problems that the vehicle may encounter. This again defeats the object of fully budgeted fixed costs.
There are cases of employees continuing to drive a vehicle for many miles after an engine warning light has appeared. It’s difficult to understand the thinking behind this action. One possibility is that perhaps they believe that they can take the vehicle into the dealership some time later and say that the warning light has just appeared; electronics these days are very sophisticated and very often the dealership, with the help of it’s diagnostic equipment, can see not only when the warning first appeared but also how many miles have been driven since.
This again is likely to invalidate the warranty, the same can apply if you fill a diesel car with petrol and then drive it. Under those circumstances you will be responsible for the cost of repairing anything else that may go wrong with the vehicle for the remainder of the contract hire term. Cars tend to be very reliable these days so you could be lucky but contract hire is not about being lucky, it’s about knowing where you stand financially.
There is potentially another problem should this happen and that is that if the contract hire term of the vehicle is less than three years, it is unlikely that the contract hire company will be willing to take the vehicle back without looking for some form of compensation. This is because most vehicles have a three-year manufacturers warranty and they will then be selling a vehicle without the remaining warranty. This can significantly affect the value of a second hand vehicle.
To summarise check the contract hire company’s policy with regard to their requirements for the condition of the vehicle at the end of the contract hire term and also the charge for excess mileage. Make the employee responsible for the condition of the car and for advising the company when a service is due. It also seems sensible to make them aware that they are responsible if they do anything that invalidates the vehicle’s warranty. This should help the company to enjoy the fully budgeted costs of contract hire.

This HRIS Software or HRMS software selection advice is based on my experience of more than 15 years within the HR software industry. I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of companies during that time do a good job and unfortunately, many who did a poor job with this process. You certainly don’t want to go through the process a year or two down the road again because you ended up making the wrong selection. That type of thing is what’s called a career limiting move.

Ten step plan for HRIS Software Selection

1. Improve your HRIS software knowledge 2. Determine your Needs 3. Create a detailed HRIS software needs and requirements spreadsheet 4. How much can you spend? 5. Pick a handful of HRIS software systems to evaluate 6. Demo advice 7. Research the short list 8. Determine the implementation scope 9. Make the decision 10. Getting approval

1. Improve your HRIS software Knowledge

Before you can determine your needs, budget, or anything, you have to understand what the overall capabilities, features, and options are of the various HRIS software applications. There are a number of ways you can educate yourself on these capabilities. One is to look up articles, such as this one. There are tremendous online resources and articles created on this exact subject. There are also a number of sites that show a number of HRIS software applications and provide helpful information for your education, as well.

2. Determine your needs

Everything you read about buying HRIS software is going to say exactly the same thing. Telling you to determine your needs is nothing new. The concept is used so often it is almost considered a cliché. The point of this section is to tell you what this statement means and why this step is extremely important when starting your search for HRIS software.

There are currently hundreds, if not thousands, of HR software providers doing business in North America. There are numerous vendors who list themselves as either an HRIS vendor or as an HRMS vendor. There might be as many as 100 of these companies. When creating your needs and requirements for either HRIS Software or HRMS software, you need to think of your job as narrowing this list from 100 vendors down to 10 or fewer.

I have reviewed a large number of these HRIS systems. In my opinion, these vendors offer 60% of the same functionality. So if you approach 100 of these companies and state that your requirements are to have a system that tracks job history, performance review dates, birthday report, turnover reports and other reporting capabilities most, if not all, of these applications will show you the same capability. This would be like looking for a house and telling the realtor that you need any number of bedrooms, any square footage, and in any neighbor hood.

When creating your needs and requirements, look at it from the perspective that if you were to design an HRIS software application what would you include in the software. Exactly what reports do you need, what data do you need to track, how would you populate the database fields, and would you need to interface with any of your other software applications?

In this process of determining your needs and requirements, make sure to also confer with other departments who might end up utilizing portions of your HRIS product, as well.

3. Create a detailed HRIS software needs and requirements spreadsheet

You will likely look at a number of systems and, like looking for a house, eventually you are going to forget which system did what and offered what advantages. I recommend creating a detailed spreadsheet to assist with this process. Down the left side, list your needs and across the top, list each vendor. If you want to offer more detail, you might end up reviewing each HRIS application to score each product.

4. How much can you spend?

Now that you have improved your HRIS knowledge and you have a detailed list of your needs, you need to determine how much you can spend before deciding which applications you want to evaluate.

How much you can spend can be a little tricky because of the various pricing options vendors offer. Hosted solutions will offer their applications at so much per employee per month. The advantage is that over the short term, your up front investment is going to be far lower with these applications than purchasing an application, where the investment is largely made on the front end. Even with purchase options, you might look at a lease to own contract where you pay for the software over a five year time frame and you own it at the end of the contract.

5. Pick a handful of systems to evaluate

The first thing to do is find the short list that seems to meet your needs. Perform a few searches and you will find a hand full of sites that list a number of HRIS systems on their sites. Some even offer the capability of filtering the products by options or features.

The hard part is figuring out which systems not only meet your needs but also match your budget. In a perfect world, buying HRIS software would be like buying a car. With a car you can go to a web site, type the kind of car you want, the price range, and you get a list. This is, unfortunately, not the case with HRIS software. The less expensive systems will gladly provide their prices. The more expensive systems are, in general, going to expect you to run through the whole dog and pony show before providing the prices.

The sales people for those companies, while they might not offer the prices up front if you call and tell them what your max budget is, will at least tell you if that is possible or not. At the end of this process, you should have your list scaled down to four or five systems of which you will want to see a demo.

6. Demo advice

With each demo, have your spreadsheet in hand and make sure that each need or requirement you have identified is shown during the demo. With your score spreadsheet in hand, provide a score for each need. This step is actually pretty easy because you did your homework up front.

7. Research the short list

After reviewing the four or five products, you will likely cut this list in half. From here, do a little research on each company. Ask for references, see how long the company has been in business, and how many installs they have. To receive unbiased opinions, hit the SHRM technology boards and post a message asking if anyone else has used the product and see what their opinion is. Add scores, the prices, years in business, and the number of installs to your spreadsheet.

8. Determine the implementation scope

You will know exactly what you are paying for the software, service and/support. Some companies may fix cost the implementation costs. Others will provide an estimate of time to complete the work and training. In either case, if the scope of the project is not determined in detail before the project begins, this is where you are going to go over budget. Make sure you receive an implementation quote that shows hours for each phase of the project. Look it over and make sure that each of your needs is met with the process.

9. Make the decision

Looking over your spreadsheet is the easiest step in the entire process. By now, you have likely narrowed your list to two or three systems and there is no confusion because the best solution is scored the highest on your spreadsheet. Of course price, references, and your company research will play a part, as well. Congratulations on a successful search!

10. Getting approval

Sadly, many companies view HR as a cost center. As a cost center, it can be difficult to get approval for a system that may benefit a single department. This is part of the reason, under determining your needs, I recommended involving other departments. Determine what the company objectives are and try to tie your case for HRIS software to these objectives. A system that benefits the entire organization makes a stronger case for need.