HRIS, HRMS and HCM – what's the difference?

When looking for an HR technology for your business, you probably heard terms such as HCM, HRMS, and HRIS. If you have ever wondered what is HCM platform or what is HRMS, you will find the answers in this article.

In the times we're living, hybrid and remote work with their popularity has grown 10 times compared before and during pandemic times, online HR solutions are essential to maintain the proper functioning of your HR Department and the whole organization.

Choosing the right tool requires knowledge about the possibilities of various types of software. That's why, to help you understand the difference between HRIS, HRMS, and HCM, we have prepared this article.

In the article you will read about:

• What is HRIS – Human Resources Information System
• What is HRMS – Human Resources Management System
• What is HCM – Human Capital Management
• How can Calamari help your HR department

What is HRIS – Human Resources Information System

A human resource information system – so-called HRIS – is software or an online platform that allows managing HR processes in your business. It contains all the employees' data needed to manage those processes.

Inside the HRIS software, you can store information like full names, addresses, or work permits. Storing data in one place benefits with improving processes generating reports with employees data and HR metrics.

There are some typical features that HRIS provides:

• Attendance – tracking worked hours, PTO, scheduled, clock-in/out hours,
• Personnel Tracking – managing online employees directory with personal and contact data and position details,
• Payroll and Tax Compliance – processing payroll with calculated wages and salaries, managing taxes and benefits deductions,
• Self Service – giving employees access to the data and features such as changing their personal information or enrolling in benefits,
• Benefits Administration – managing benefits data, tracking compliance and allowing employees to online enroll.

Those functionalities allow HR specialists to be more efficient in their work and spend more of their time on other processes that need their attention like finding new talents for the company to hire.

What is HCM: Human Capital Management

Human Capital Management is software that helps in managing employees in the organization. It usually includes all the HRIS features and additional talent management capabilities.

It usually provides tools for talent management, organization, and acquisition to allow managing HR processes from onboarding to performance tracking, compensation to offboarding.

Thanks to holding all the documents, timesheets, and performance analyses, HCM makes it easier for the organization to track all the employee-related processes.

The main features typically available in HCM software are:

• workforce acquisition – recruitment process off- and online, applicant tracking system and onboarding,
• employee management – time and attendance tracking, company culture, employee life cycle, performance management,
• talent optimization – competency tracking, compensation, employee engagement, career pathing, budgeting.

HCM is also considered a help in a strategic approach to the people management and development processes.

What is HRMS: Human Resources Management System

Human Resources Management System is a software that contains all the features that are included in HRIS but in the case of HRMS – they play a bigger part in improving productivity. They're also designed to allow a better understanding of employees, their performance, and their behavior.

HRMS also includes the capabilities of the Human Capital System. They also include data management, payroll, recruitment, benefits, employee engagement, and talent management.

The most common features that are included in HRMS are:

• labor management,
• time management,
• payroll processing and wage calculation,
• HRIS & HCM capabilities.

Based on this knowledge it's not hard to see that HRMS is the most complex software of every HR tool we're talking about.

How can Calamari help your HR department?

Calamari is an HR management software that covers time and attendance tracking, leave management and Core HR features. It can be a part of HRIS, HRMS, and HCM systems in your organization thanks to its many integrations with the most popular business software like Slack, Jira, MS Teams of Google Workspace.

With the help of Calamari you can track our employees attendance, lateness, and other abnormalities in employee timesheets. It also facilitates the process of leave management which allows you to better your company’s work in time. Thanks to the Core Hr features, you can store all the data about the employees in one centralized platform which is not only easier but at the same time faster and more efficient.

If you want to know more about Calamari features, contact us! And if you want to know more about the HR management industry, follow our HR blog!