A checklist of questions to help you choose the right HRM system.
A demo shows the system's best day
In a demo everything works: the data is filled in, the network is up, the script is rehearsed. Your working day looks different — half the staff have no smartphone, the warehouse has no signal, and on timesheet-closing day everyone logs in at once. The questions below are built to surface that difference before you sign, not after.
Ask them of the person who will actually implement it, not the salesperson. Those two give different answers, and you need the second.
Ten questions before you buy
Treat "yes, that's configurable" as a no until you have seen by whom, in what timeframe and at what price.
- Who enters data every day, and how many minutes does it take a site manager? A system that needs half an hour a day won't survive.
- What happens when a site loses internet or power? "That doesn't happen" means nobody thought about it.
- Are our pay rules configuration or customisation? Customisation means depending on the vendor every time compensation changes.
- How do we export all our data if we leave? Ask to see the export on the demo instance, not a clause in the contract.
- Who owns the rollout, and is it in the price? As a separate line, implementation is often comparable to a year of licences.
- What happens on timesheet-closing day when everyone logs in at once? Ask to see it under load, not on three test employees.
- Is there a "site manager" role limited to their own people? Without it either everyone sees everything, or HR does everything.
- What does the change history look like — who changed what, and when? That is what you will need in the very first labour dispute.
- What does this cost in a year: licences, modules, support, upgrades? Work out the three-year cost, not the entry price.
- Which of your clients our size and in our industry can we talk to without you present? A refusal is itself an answer.
How to run the pilot
Don't pick the easiest site — pick the hardest: shift work, swaps and poor connectivity. A pilot in the model office proves only that the system works in the model office.
And agree in advance which numbers will make the pilot a success: days to close the timesheet, number of pay disputes, a manager's minutes per day. Without that the decision is made on feel — and feel always favours whoever ran the better demo.
💡 Key takeaway
You choose a system not by its feature list but by what happens on the most awkward day of the month. Ask the ten questions above and half the options fall away before the pilot.