Three hours.
That’s how much time HR teams save each day with a Human Resource Information System (HRIS). But finding the right HRIS is easier said than done, and because it’s one of the most widely used tools across your organisation, making the right choice is important.
We’ll help you understand the components of an HRIS and identify which features are essential for your organisation. First, let’s define an HRIS and explore Martian Logic’s HRIS philosophy so you can decide what components are key to pushing your organisation forward.
HRIS is a comprehensive software solution that collects, stores and processes employee information. It is a central hub for managing all employee and HR related data and processes.
Martian Logic’s HRIS is made up of twelve key features essential for end-to-end human resource management like recruitment, employee onboarding, changes in employee conditions, off-boarding and more.
HRIS is often referred to as ‘HRIS software’, which is misleading because it implies that different HRIS systems have multiple platforms. While this may be the case for some, it’s not for Martian Logic’s HRIS which operates as one comprehensive solution with employee data flowing freely between all employee lifecycle processes.
Martian Logic’s HRIS philosophy is to streamline operational HR tasks and free HR departments from being bogged down in time consuming and manual HR work. We also empower our clients to give their managers the right level of autonomy to handle HR tasks and access their employee information on their terms.
The result? Managers are happier because they no longer wait on HR to complete operational HR tasks—we call this manager self-service. Meanwhile, HR teams can focus on strategic HR initiatives that drive organisations forward rather than getting bogged down in operational HR tasks, creating a win-win for HR departments, managers and the organisation.
Whether you’re exploring HRIS for the first time or you’re a seasoned professional, these components are your non-negotiables.
An org chart is a visual map of your organisation’s structure, showing employee roles, relationships, direct reports and remuneration details. Think of your org chart as the heart of your HRIS, an interconnected system that circulates employee data. Just like a heart needs strong veins to survive, your org chart depends on accurate and well maintained data to keep the system pumping.
An org chart enhances communication, streamlines workflows, and supports informed decision-making. That’s why at Martian Logic, we’ve updated our org chart functionality and given our clients the ability to customise the information displayed on each employee org chart node.
Your system is only as good as your database.
Your analysis, decision-making, and overall HRIS functionality depend on the quality of the data you import. If it’s compromised before it enters the HRIS, you risk undermining the integrity of features like your org chart and employee lifecycle processes. That’s why a strong HRIS starts with a modern import feature, ideally one that makes it simple to plug in directly from Excel.
At Martian Logic, we think the import feature is so important that we’ve integrated it directly into the dashboard menu. Our import tool is modern, powerful and self-service, making something seemingly complicated, straightforward. Nevertheless, our clients have access to our support team who are ready to assist you with importing and exporting your data.
Dashboards and reporting are crucial for transforming organisational data into actionable insights. With a powerful dashboard, you can quickly and visually track key metrics, monitor trends, and make strategic decisions on the fly with confidence.
Martian Logic’s HRIS takes dashboard capability to the next level by offering 16 customisable widgets that summarise your organisation’s data. Whether you need insights segmented by department, project, or diversity factors like gender, our dashboard delivers clear reports that help your team drive strategic outcomes.
Employee lookup is a cornerstone component for any HRIS because it provides a quick and reliable way to filter and find employee information. This component not only empowers managers to access the information they need but also gives your HR team valuable time back by reducing administrative search efforts.
The ability to instantly locate and view a list of employees you’re looking for and then take action, like starting a new workflow or making an employment change, makes this feature indispensable. Martian Logic’s employee lookup feature allows HR teams to manage data and initiate important HR processes directly from the employee lookup tool.
Think of this component as a catalogue of all the roles and positions related to your organisation. Like any good catalogue, it should be intuitive and make position management straightforward.
With Martian Logic’s roles and remuneration library component, you can do more than manage roles and remuneration. You can attach detailed job descriptions, build out remuneration and pay agreements (including awards, EBAs, and custom pay bands), and manage pay data for individual positions.
The employee lifecycle workflows support every stage of an employee’s journey within your organisation and revolve around three main components:
Each of these components encompasses essential components that are key to any modern HRIS. Let’s take a closer look.
From requisition to onboarding, the recruitment component of your HRIS manages and streamlines your hiring process. Every organisation is unique, so your HRIS should offer complete control over your hiring process.
For example, the request to hire module should allow you to personalise and tailor requisition forms. Martian Logic’s HRIS software provides an integrated ATS, a custom branded job board, and collaboration tools (SMS & e-mail).
By automating administrative tasks like job posting, bulk communication, and pre-employment checks, our HRIS eliminates inefficiencies and frees up your HR team to focus on more strategic initiatives. Because employee data flows effortlessly throughout our software, we can guarantee accuracy, reliability, and compliance at every step of your recruitment process.
A lot of work goes into onboarding a new employee, eleven hours on average to be precise!
Hiring a new starter is equally exciting for the organisation and the new employee. You’re excited to have landed a great candidate, and they’re pumped and ready to hit the ground running. You just have to get through a ton of paperwork. That’s why having a friendly, branded, and easy-to-use onboarding feature is essential to get them started on the right foot.
A good onboarding feature sets the tone for a new employee’s journey with your organisation. It’s their first real experience with your organisation's processes. A positive onboarding experience ensures your new hires feel welcomed, supported, and ready to contribute from day one.
Martian Logic’s onboarding feature is customisable and complete with branding. It boasts a mobile responsive candidate portal with two-factor authentication, protecting your organisation against phishing or spam attacks.
Our onboarding templates consolidate all necessary materials into a streamlined digital mobile-first experience. This makes the onboarding process efficient and less administrative for HR, as new employees can securely upload information on their terms, leaving them feeling confident and ready to hit the ground running.
Whether your organisation is big or small, employee updates and changes to working conditions occur regularly, and it’s hard to keep track of them all the time.
By simplifying the process with customisable forms, approval workflows and change tracking, what was once seen as a burden for HR teams becomes a seamless experience, ensuring everyone stays informed about an employee's latest updates.
Our changes to employee features have automated notifications that ensure all stakeholders are promptly informed about employee changes. These changes are immediately reflected in the org chart, dashboard, and employee database.
Employee self-service is a feature in an HRIS that empowers employees to manage their personal information, reducing the administrative burden on HR and enhancing employee autonomy. This makes it a key feature of an effective HRIS.
Traditionally, a manager or employee would email HR requesting a leave form or an old payslip. These tasks could easily be overlooked or lost in a busy inbox. However, with an employee self-service feature, these administrative requests are handled and actioned directly by employees in the employee portal.
With Martian Logic’s self-service feature, employees can manage, view, and download their personal information and submit administrative requests from the palm of their hands using the web portal or mobile app.
An HRIS streamlines performance reviews by automating administrative tasks like scheduling, reminders, and collecting recent employee KPI data. This allows you to focus on what truly matters, like feedback and conversations that drive employee development.
Martian Logic’s performance review feature includes an extensive list of pre-made sample templates and the ability to build your own comprehensive review template. We’ve also automated the stakeholder notification process, reducing the administrative workload on HR.
Offboarding occurs when an employee chooses to leave or is asked to leave your organisation. Without an HRIS, it’s a time consuming and manual process that involves coordinating multiple tasks, such as retrieving company property, conducting exit interviews, and ensuring compliance. But an HRIS streamlines the process and reduces the administrative burden on your HR team.
Martian Logic’s offboarding feature leverages advanced automation technology to trigger key actions for different stakeholders throughout the offboarding process. By automating exit checklists, interviews and separation letters, offboarding becomes efficient and hassle free ensuring that nothing is overlooked.
Compliance management is also a crucial component of any HRIS, and it’s particularly important in Australia due to recent changes and tightening of employment laws.
Because Martian Logic’s HRIS captures employee data at every stage of the recruitment process, it systematically collects and manages vital employee documents like licences, bank information, and other personal documents. This eliminates the often frustrating “cat and mouse” game of tracking down these documents when you need them.
More productivity means more savings.
And an HRIS does precisely that. And because with Martian Logic’s HRIS data flows freely between all lifecycle processes, your HR team can rely on a clear, accurate database and workflow system throughout your organisation.