LIR828: HRIS

• Brian Pentland– email: pentlan2@msu.edu– H: 347-7753

• Office Hours: TBA, but please email or call if you have problems.

“We can’t make you into a nerd in one semester… ...but we can sure try.”

Today’s Agenda

• Overview of assignments– Core Skills: Database & WWW– HR Applications

• Coordination and Feedback for course

• What makes this class hard?

• Skills assessment– Use to form project groups

Core skills assignments

• Resume database: create a database in MS Access

• HR/Vantage tutorial: Learn the query and reporting features of a full HRIS system

• Web site: Build and publish your own site

• These assignments are pass/fail, and you can “redo” them until you get them right

HR Application Projects

• “Best of Breed” software comparison project– Choose a product category– Get information from vendors– Review and compare products

• HRIS prototype project– Identify & map a work process– Create requirements and build a prototype

Class materials

• Course pack

• Textbook

• software documentation

• Web site

Coordination and Feedback

• I need feedback on pacing, content...

• Our group projects will require coordination– which products are in which categories?

• Three mechanisms– Coordinating Committee– Periodic individual feedback– E-mail & office hours

Coordinating Committee

• Each group will appoint a representative– Need not be the same person all semester

• We will meet periodically– After class (during office hours)?

• Responsibility: Providing feedback to the professor

What makes this class hard?

• Lots of software to learn– MS Access (relational database)– HR/Vantage (HRIS system)– Visual Page (HTML editor)– Visio (drawing & flowcharting tool)– Misc others (FTP, etc.etc.)

• Learning software can be painful

Error messages are a pain

Getting stuck feels awful

• “I don’t know how to get started…”

• “I don’t know what to do next…”

• Useful responses:– Take a deep breath, or a short break– Read error messages carefully– Read the manual; Ask for help– Try another route

Dealing with computers

• People at all levels of expertise and training hit “brick walls”– Upgrades and new technology make skills

obsolete– Problems can be extremely complex

• Feelings of helplessness and anxiety are common

Learning to deal with helplessness

• Most important skill in the IS world is learning– Overcoming fear and anxiety– Reading manuals, doing tutorials,

experimenting with new features – Asking for help and listening to suggestions

• Need to identify and confront our current state of mind (emotional and cognitive)

Group or individual work?

• Groups can shelter individuals from learning to deal with anxiety

• Individuals working alone can be overwhelmed

• Solution in LIR828:– Each individual must do the core skills

assignments– But please work together and help each other.

Self-assessment

• Two parts– Basic Win95/98– “Geek secrets” -- advanced topics

• Answer questions quickly; we will discuss and grade answers in class

• I will assign you to groups based (in part) on skill levels