What Does an HRIS Analyst Do?
An HRIS analyst uses information technology skills to manage human resources data and ensure accuracy and reliability. They work with HRIS, which stands for Human Resource Information System and is a software system used by companies to store information about their employees.
An efficient human resources department is crucial for organizational success, regardless of industry or niche. Modern software plays an essential role in ensuring the efficiency of HR workflows, and HRIS is a prominent example of such software. It helps HR departments with employee data and payroll management.
The HRIS analyst role is a versatile position that requires a diverse skillset since its job description has varied duties. Therefore, you should know about the general responsibilities of an HRIS analyst to practice and upskill yourself in the required areas and benefit from great HRIS analyst opportunities.
This article will explain the HRIS analyst role, what duties they handle, and what tools they work with. To learn more via video, watch below or skip ahead to read more.
HRIS Analyst Role
The HRIS analyst role varies from company to company. Some HRIS analysts are responsible for managing the entire system, while others focus on specific areas such as payroll processing. An HRIS analyst may also be a business intelligence specialist, business systems manager, enterprise resource planning consultant.
The HRIS analyst works closely with other team members, including those who work in finance, marketing, customer service, sales, and more. They collaborate with these teams to develop strategies and implement solutions. Therefore, their role involves project management or business process management too. Regardless, all HRIS analysts need skills in computer science tasks and project management practices.
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Duties and Responsibilities
Since the role varies within different industries and organizations, the duties and responsibilities of an HRIS analyst can look different too. Nevertheless, most responsibilities revolve around ensuring human resource data quality and using tools that promise an efficient workflow.
Some of the main responsibilities common to all HRIS analyst roles are described below.
Maintain Data Consistency
One of the primary responsibilities of an HRIS analyst is to make sure that the information in the database is correct. The HRIS analyst will need to check and confirm data before entering it into the system. Data entry errors can cause significant problems later and cause financial damage.
Therefore, the HRIS analyst needs to verify that there are no duplicates in the records and the data is consistent throughout.
Ensure Data Accuracy
Another responsibility of an HRIS analyst, as per common HRIS analyst job descriptions, is ensuring the information stored in the database is up-to-date and accurate. For example, if someone changes their address or phone number, the HRIS analyst must update the database accordingly for data consistency and more efficient future searches.
Analyze Data and Report Trends
Some job descriptions require the HRIS analysts to perform statistical analysis on the data for better decision-making. Their responsibilities include assisting the department whenever they need aggregated data analyzed according to specific requirements. In addition, HRIS analysts work with reports and dashboards to show managers their analyses and general trends within the organizational data.
Use the Best Software Tools
An HRIS analyst works with different kinds of tools to fulfill their responsibilities. However, there are many options available on the market for each type of tool. For example, there are different types of HRIS databases available today, and each type has its advantages and disadvantages.
Therefore, an HRIS analyst has to choose the best tools for their duties based on the scale of the organization, resources available, and complexity. It is a crucial responsibility since they have to train newer analysts, and the choice is tools will determine the difficulty of the learning path.
Develop and Document New Features
No organization constantly has the exact human resource needs, and such an aspect significantly changes as the organization grows. Therefore, the HRIS analyst has to analyze the requirements and create features that fulfill them in an optimized fashion.
Such new features must focus on the rapidly changing needs of the HR department’s workflows. They also have to prepare detailed documentation for the benefit of future HRIS analysts.
Automate and Optimize Workflows
Since the HRIS analyst job description involves tasks of varying nature, efficiency often gets compromised if they don’t automate some of them. After all, not all duties involve concentrated brainwork, so HRIS analysts write automation scripts to handle such mundane work.
Additionally, optimized and automated workflows help others in the HR department while ensuring the efficiency of HRIS analysts. Therefore, they must optimize their automation and provide significant productivity improvements.
Provide Technical Support
The HRIS analyst is the first point of contact for the HR department and anyone in the organization who needs assistance with HR data. Therefore, the HRIS analyst must have solid communication skills and significant technical knowledge to assist others with technical support. In addition, they should create automated support systems to satisfy support requests efficiently.
Conclusion
The HRIS analyst role ensures that the HR department uses the best tools for their work and that their data is stored in an optimized and safe manner. Apart from maintaining the data, they work closely with it and analyze it to gather meaningful insights. Such duties make the HRIS analyst a crucial position within the human resource department and the organization.
Since the role is at an intersection between human resources and computer science, you need proficiency in both fields to become a masterful HRIS analyst. Now that you know the role’s responsibilities, you can train better and nurture abilities that will help you become a talented HRIS analyst yourself.
FAQs
Here are the most common questions about the HRIS analyst role:
Who is an HRIS Analyst?
An HRIS analyst is a person who uses data analysis tools to work with a human resources information system. They also go by the name of HRIS consultant or HRIS specialist. An HRIS analyst answers questions about how data procedures operate, what reports a software can generate, and anything related to digitized HR tasks.
What Are the Responsibilities of an HRIS Analyst?
An HRIS systems analyst typically works with the data analytics administrator to create reports from the data stored in the database. Additionally, they must maintain data quality throughout all HR systems and improve existing workflows. An HRIS analyst also provides technical support and training for newly hired analysts.
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