New iHRIS Manage Implementation in Georgia!
Since the iHRIS software is Open Source and available for free download, we don’t always know who is downloading or adopting it. For that reason, we get really excited when we hear about an individual or organization actively implementing it on their own.
Just recently, we received a hint this was happening via Launchpad, the site that hosts the iHRIS software code. From a few back and forth questions and answers, we learned that Rhett Davis, an IT specialist, is implementing iHRIS Manage at the behavioral health care organization he works for.
His organization, AmericanWork Inc., is located in the state of Georgia. It employees about 300 workers spread over 24 locations, including outpatient mental health clinics, day programs, supervised sheltered apartments, and employment acquisition and retention services.
Like many of the African countries implementing iHRIS, many of AmericanWork’s locations are in rural areas. There are other similarities too. “We have been using an undeveloped access database and paper records to manage our personnel,” says Rhett, “but as we have increased in size and complexity, this system no longer serves us very well.” With this in mind, Rhett started looking for a software solution that would allow his organization to track current and expected positions and salaries for budgeting, manage required training for different types of employees, and to be able to build, run, and save reports. Rhett describes finding iHRIS Manage online and being extremely impressed, “I have looked at a lot of HRIS and none of them had all of the elements I was looking for. iHRIS is a perfect fit as far as I can tell so far.”
To date, Rhett has set up a production site on a dedicated Ubuntu computer located in AmericanWork’s corporate headquarters office. He is currently customizing dropdown lists and tables and will soon enter all employee data.
While setting up the system, Rhett recognized a need in the software for his organization. He noted that several of the dropdown lists, specifically the facility type and position type, do not have a description field. “As I was setting these up, I considered that it would be very helpful to my HR director and others to have a description of each type when entering new positions or facilities, so they could better tell what types the new position or facility would best be assigned to.” Rhett relayed this new feature request to the HRIS team in Chapel Hill. The CapacityPlus iHRIS software developers said the description fields would be easy to add and plan to include them in the next release of the software.
“I am extremely excited about this software and this project,” says Rhett. “My office mates have begun to groan and roll their eyes, as I make them look at features or exclaim when I discover something else we will be able to do. They will be more excited, I am sure, once we get it implemented and it starts making their jobs easier.” We’re also excited about this new iHRIS Manage implementation and hope other organizations will find out about the software, customize it for their needs, and provide feedback. We’ll keep you posted about what’s happening in Georgia.