Friends and family often ask me, “What exactly do you do at your job?” I could tell them that HRchitect specializes in Human Capital Management (HCM) and supports the complete life cycle of HCM technology, but what exactly does that mean? For simplicity, I tell them that as an HCM Consultant, I help clients set up or support their human resources and payroll systems. Plus, if needed, we help companies select the HCM system that best fits their needs. An HCM system includes payroll, employee benefits, workforce management, and other systems that allow an organization to manage its employees’ needs.
My job is as an Application Consultant (AC). I enjoy that no day is the same in my role but let me tell you about a typical day in the life of an HCM consultant. There are some days that I am building an HCM system from scratch and other days when something breaks, my focus is to investigate, offer solutions, and resolve the issue. Other days, I like to call wild card days, when anything can happen while supporting my clients and being part of the team at HRchitect.
Configuring an HCM System from Scratch
My specialty is building (configuring) time and attendance (T&A) environments from scratch. It is an excellent opportunity to see the beginning of the life cycle of HCM technology. Our team begins the process by gathering business requirements directly from our client’s stakeholders. It is an extensive process that involves several workshops with clients to understand the present state and, specifically, the desired future state of their T&A system.
We ask questions and gather information such as:
- How many groups of employees will this implementation have?
- What pay codes will they use? (Pay codes are used to track and report pay and compensation for an employee).
- How will each group accrue vacation or sick time?
- Are there error messages that the system should display for different scenarios?
These workshops are a great way to understand where all the system’s moving parts are located and their expected functionality. It may involve weeks of meetings, sometimes several times during the week, but it’s essential to have this engagement to build the system per the business requirements documents.
Break/Fix, aka Client Support Services
Another important role I have is supporting a client and their HCM system after it goes live and is being used by the organization. Clients come to us for client-side support if they are tight on internal resources or desire the technical expertise we offer here at HRchitect.
We help with many types of issues our clients may encounter, including:
- Is there an issue with how overtime is being calculated for a specific group of employees?
- Is vacation accruing as expected for a new hire?
- More commonly, “that feature has never worked correctly in the system. Help!”
There are a multitude of issues or enhancements that can occur in T&A systems during the pay period. As an Application Consultant, you are the point of contact with the client to gather details of what happened and what should’ve happened. You get to investigate why, when, and how did it happen to implement the solution. In the process, you help staff complete their tasks and ensure that employees are paid accurately and in a timely manner.
Wild Card Days
Wild card days can involve many different tasks for an HCM Application Consultant. Part of my day may include meetings with support clients to discuss the status of their open tickets (items that need our assistance), collaborating with teammates on a system integration issue, or resolving an urgent request with end-of-period processing.
On occasion at HRchitect, the end of my day may conclude with a gathering on Zoom for an optional organization-wide Disney or 90s Era Trivia Night. (Those are fun!)
In a single day, I may switch gears, focusing on one client’s needs or the needs of multiple clients. Our clients get a whole team of consultants when they hire HRchitect. I appreciate that I can always turn to any team member to collaborate on complex issues or learn more about new functionality. We spend time staying current on system functionality to provide top-tier expertise to each of our clients.
Sometimes, I go for a walk during the day when I need to step away from the screen for a while. Work-life balance is essential and always encouraged at HRchitect.
Does your organization need additional support for your HCM systems? Contact HRchitect to learn how our consultants can become part of your team through Client-Side Support.
Further Reading: Find out what white glove service means at HRchitect in our Tech Trends Blog “White Glove Service: The Cornerstone of a Lifetime Partnership.”
About the Author
Chelsa Williamson is a Senior Application (Technical) Consultant
in our WorkForce Software practice. Chelsa joined HRchitect in 2022 and has
over eight years of HCM experience. Her goal is to help others whenever
possible, which she has been able to do both personally and through over 14
years of business experience in the private sector and over seven years in the
public sector. She has a bachelor’s degree in leadership in the Public Sector from NC State University.
Learn more about Chelsa on LinkedIn.