Employee Self-Service Project Scoping Questions

Employee Self-Service (ESS) provides employees access to their personal records and details such as Address change, employee directory, benefits-enrollment, training & events management. ESS features include allowing employees to change their contact details, banking information, benefits and many more core functions of Human Resource Management System. Employees are able to transact with their Human Resources office remotely, through ESS.

The project scoping session should be attended by Project Manager, Sponsor, and key functional (HR) / technical individuals (systems, security, network, web developer) who fully understand the technical requirements and business processes impacted by the scope. The attendee list should be small – no more than 6-8; but should be adequate in addressing the items below and any relevant issues that could have an impact on the proposal for implementation.

The project scoping session should address the questions related to following areas:

1. Global Functional Questions
2. Local Functional Questions
3. Technical Infrastructure related Questions
4. Technical Personalization related Questions
5. Technical Integration related Questions

Project Scoping Session

What are the Global Functional Questions in Employee Self-Service Project?

• How many employees do you have?
• How many sites do you operate in?
• How many different business units are there?
• How many countries do you operate in?
• How many languages will be required?
• How many currencies will be required?
• How many system users will there be?
• Define what HR modules have already been implemented?
• What are some of the key assumptions related to the project?
• What are some of the prerequisite to the start of the project? (i.e. installation of necessary hardware/software, appropriate work facilities, team members available & appropriately trained, system support available, no infrastructure/systems issues –firewall/proxy, component systems accessible, project standards, project plan & detailed requirements doc)
• What will be the location for the project team?
• Do you have an idea of how many people could be made available for a potential project? Identify who, how much time each of following types of individuals has available as well as the strength of their backgrounds/skillsets
  • Project Manager
  • ESS Role Admin Team Member(s)
  • Systems Administrator
  • Web Security Administrator
  • Web Developer (s)
  • Graphics Specialist (branding web site)
  • Extended Team of Business Process Experts
• What are the expectations related to project team training and knowledge transfer?
• Do you have strict time deadlines that need to be followed for the project to be considered a success? What is the target start date? End date?

What are the Local Functional Questions in Employee Self-Service Project?

• How many employees do you plan on having access to ESS?
• Are the users all internal users or are there external users as well?
• How will you set up ESS users (manually, automated)?
• How will you terminate /revoke ESS access?
• What languages does the client want ESS available in?
• How many ESS roles will be created/maintained? Will there be separate roles for HR managers, expatriates, retirees, and foreign language offices/users?
• Are the users PC/web literate? How much end user training does the client envision being required? What are their requirements related to consulting support in the areas of end user training/change management?
• Are there lot of customization in ERP that could lead to potential issues with ESS?
• What information would you like to access via ESS? List all of the ESS scenarios that you would like to see? (i.e. Address change, employee directory, benefits-enrollment, training & events management)
• Are you considering using life and work events?
• Will workflow be utilized (some ESS transactions are workflow enabled, i.e. W-2 re-issue, training & events-approval related to bookings)
• If the ESS Service Address is maintained what are the implications of changing the address (i.e. w4, residence tax area, 401K provider, etc)
• Will the client utilize ESS web reports? If so from what sources
• Will the client want to hide/remove buttons, change header/text, alter programming functions, create/modify ESS services/transactions.
• What other requirements do you have?

What are the Technical Infrastructure related Questions in Employee Self-Service Project?

• Describe the planned technical infrastructure- hardware (i.e. web servers, ITS, WP server, Plug-Ins)
• Define sizing requirements (how many concurrent users do you think you will have)

• Define the security related expectations. Will the implementation utilize single-sign-on? If so will it be 1) cookie 2) ticket based and/or 3) X.509 Certificate 4) other?
• Identify the systems to be linked via Single Sign-on.

What are the Technical Personalization related Questions in Employee Self-Service Project?

• Identify the # of user roles; define the roles- what components/mini apps (i.e. Microsoft outlook) need to be accessed for each role
• Branding – will the client require branding. Please provide examples of branding requirements (i.e. screenshots). Highlight any specific branding requirements.

What are the Technical Integration related Questions in Employee Self-Service Project?

• Are there any other systems besides ERP, ESS that will be integrated into the Portal?
• Is there ESS related content (instructions, guides, directions) that the client would like to utilize? Is the content developed in-house? Will the content reside on the ESS templates or accessible via URL?
• Are there any 3rd party Application systems that will be integrated to the Portal? Are they URL enabled?
• What Information sources (i.e. weather, stock ticker) will be integrated to the Portal? Are these services URL enabled?
• What Services (i.e. online banking, travel) will be integrated to the Portal? Are these services URL enabled?