Your company has just announced it is merging with another company. This isn’t just a small acquisition, it is big.
The problem is:
- You have to merge two or more data sources,
- You have to slot all the employees into the new organizational structure and pay scales,
- Both companies have different performance measurement metrics,
- The review means sharing data and slotting decisions across an international HR and management team,
And it has to be done in a very short time frame (yesterday usually).
Someone is likely to suggest using Excel.
But splitting data in Excel and merging it later is a big headache. But that does not even begin to touch on the real issues of e-mailing Excel files around. If you need to update the data or Excel macros, it means redistributing and re-merging all the work done to that point in time. Now you have multiple versions of the files floating around. How do you track who changed what? How do you work on the same file with different team members?
Forget it.
What you really need is an online tool.
But your internal development group is either too busy with other priorities during the merger or you don’t really want them having access to all the corporate employee data, at least during this process.
You can use an external software vendor. But the issue is that you have to pick one quickly because the clock is ticking.
Your best bet is to look at one you can trust. One that has been working with HR data and applications for a long time. Even better, one that can potentially partner with a reputable HR consulting firm to give value added advice on the slotting process and other merger “people” considerations.
We (Sunwapta Solutions) have been building serious applications and managing data for the HR, actuarial and financial services world for 10 years… and most recently, we have been building Employee Slotting and Salary Administration tools. The tools are new, fresh and web enabled. Just what you might need to manage your portion of the merger.
