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Chapter 1
Tasks related to employee hiring, benefits, training, and government compliance are
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all the responsibilities of a human resources department. Human Resources staff need
accurate forecasts of personnel needs from all functional units. In addition, Human
Resources needs to know what skills are required to perform a particular job and how
much the company can afford to pay employees. These data also come from all
functional units.
State and federal laws require companies to observe many governmental regulations
in recruiting, training, compensating, promoting, and terminating employees—and these
regulations must be observed company-wide. Usually, it is also Human Resources’
responsibility to ensure that employees receive training in a timely manner and that they
get certified (and recertified) in key skills, such as materials handling and equipment
operation. Human Resources must also disburse wages, salaries, raises, and bonuses. For
these and other reasons, corporate Human Resources needs timely and accurate data from
other areas.
Human Resources must create accurate and timely data and reports for management
use. For example, Human Resources should maintain a database of skills required to do
particular jobs as well as the prevailing pay rate for each position. When the company
evaluates employees’ performance and compensation, analysis of these data can help to
prevent the loss of valued employees because of low pay.
To summarize, inputs for Human Resources could include the following:
• Personnel forecasts
• Skills data
Outputs for Human Resources could include the following:
• Regulation compliance
• Employee training and certification
• Skills database
• Employee evaluation and compensation

As shown in Figure 1-4 through Figure 1-7, a significant amount of data is maintained
by and shared among the different functional areas. The timeliness and accuracy of these
data are critical to each area’s success and to the company’s ability to make a profit and
generate future growth. ERP software allows all the functional areas to share a common
database so accurate, real-time information is available. In Chapter 2, we will trace the
evolution of data management systems that led to ERP.

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