This use case highlights the benefit of data literacy in decision making.
In this context we will review how the organisation, would have exponentially benefited from data literacy in the selection of an HR performance management tool. This case reviews how the software was adopted and later withdrawn due to its misalignment with the organization’s goals and objectives. Furthermore, how the use of data literacy could have helped the organization avoid the misalignment.
Context
A global organization operating across multiple continents aimed to standardize its performance management processes with a new HR software solution. The goal was to track employee performance, streamline goal setting, provide structured feedback, and generate data to support workforce planning. The software’s sales team emphasized its ability to unify processes globally. However, upon rollout, it became clear that the platform was not a single cohesive system but rather three loosely integrated modules. This fragmentation complicated standardization across regions and significantly hindered adoption rates.
Despite the HR team’s experience and expertise, the lack of an intuitive design quickly became a major obstacle, limiting adoption and compromising data quality. The team soon realized that the software’s actual functionality fell short of the promises made during the sales process. A stronger foundation in data literacy during the selection phase could have helped the organization identify these usability issues, anticipate challenges affecting its effectiveness, and assess how well the software’s data capabilities aligned with the company’s needs before implementation.
Their goal was to implement a single, intuitive software solution to centralize performance management across all regions. Additionally, using a software that supports goal tracking, efficient feedback, and data insights would have enabled HR to better support employee development, align with organisational goals and support global HR decision-making.
Who were the project’s stakeholders?
Primary Stakeholders: Management at headquarters – responsible for the selection of the software, HR Team – responsible for implementation, regional managers and employees.
Secondary Stakeholders: IT departments in each region, software vendor, end-users – managers and employees.
What were the resources and data sources?
User feedback from global regions, data from the software’s reporting features, and insights into system navigation and data consistency.
Challenges
Management-Driven Software Selection
Management at headquarters led the software selection process, relying heavily on vendor assurance during the sales process. The vendor emphasized the software’s ability to standardize performance management globally, provide seamless integration and offer user-friendly experience.
A trial was conducted but this test did not include regional teams or access to tool’s scalability and adaptability for diverse needs. Although HR provided some input, the primary criteria for selection overlooked critical issues related to usability, system fragmentation, and regional workflows.
Software Rollout and Emerging Challenges
After the rollout, significant issues emerged:
Fragmented systems: The tool was divided into three interconnected systems, each handling specific tasks. The lack of integration made workflows cumbersome and undermined the promise of a unified platform. Key features promised during the sales process, such as seamless integration and intuitive navigation, were absent or underdeveloped, compounding the frustration for global HR teams.
Usability problems: The interface across the three systems were complex and unintuitive. Employees and managers found even basic tasks such as updating goals or providing feedback, time-consuming and difficult. This led to low adoption rates globally.
Communication gaps: Communication between vendor IT team and stakeholders (HR, managers and employees) was inconsistent. The IT focused on technical deployment without fully understanding the users concerns about usability or regional needs.
Impact on Global Standardization and Data Quality
Standardization Difficulties:
The fragmented systems and usability issues made it nearly impossible to standardize performance management processes across regions, Managers and employees in different locations adopted varying workarounds or delayed implementation due to varying processes. This not only created inconsistencies on how performance was recorded and tracked but also emphasized the fact that the global impact of the integration had not been critically assessed, while the regions continued to work in their silos.
Promised functionality:
The tool lacked flexibility to adapt to regional differences in performance management practices, such as informal feedback in some regions or compliance needs on others. This misalignment further discouraged adoption.
Incomplete data:
The usability challenges and poor adoption rates let to incomplete or inaccurate data entries, undermining the quality and consistency of the data. The global HR teams struggled with the integration, and this led to a deterioration in their adoption of the tool.
Retrospective Analysis and Role of Data Literacy
The challenges highlighted a lack of data literacy during the software selection and implementation:
- Insufficient evaluation of promised features:
The sale team’s assurances were not critically analyzed through a data informed lens. With stronger data literacy, HR and IT teams could have critically evaluated the vendors claims about integration, usability, global standardization, as well as lack of overview of all functional and technical requirements across all user groups.
- Limited testing scope:
The initial testing phase was too narrow, failing to account for the complexities of global operations and the need for seamless integration across regions. HR Teams gathered qualitative feedback from regional managers and employees, revealing widespread frustration with the system’s complexity and fragmentation.
- Poor collaboration:
The poor communication between the sales team of the vendor, IT and stakeholders were a significant barrier to a successful implementation. Limited communication between IT and stakeholder further exacerbated the challenges. Data literacy training could have equipped both groups to work collaboratively, ensuring a common knowledge base and that the technical implementation aligned with user needs.
Based on these findings, the following recommendations were developed:
- Strengthen communication:
Establish clear communication between IT teams and stakeholders, ensuring that technical decisions are clearly defined and address user needs. Requirements catalogue with functional and technical requirements as a result of the collaboration would have been sufficient to check these requirements against the software.
- Enhanced testing process:
Conduct comprehensive testing with several providers and HR to evaluate usability, scalability, and system integration meets global needs before full implementation. Furthermore, a PoC would need to be carried out to check the various software requirements.
- Prioritize usability:
Ensure that any future software prioritizes intuitive design, reducing the learning curve and encouraging user adoption. Furthermore, the regional usability should be taken into consideration for the global adoption of the software.
- Data literacy training:
Equip departments involved in the decision of the software selection with data literacy skills to evaluate software solutions critically and collaborate effectively during implementation.
Expected Outcomes from Enhanced Data Literacy and Future Selections
- Improved software selection:
A data-literate approach would enable departments to assess software usability, integration, and scalability, preventing fragmented systems and usability challenges. Additionally, it would help the organization select a truly unified, intuitive system that fosters easy adoption and enhances efficiency. - Holistic global insights:
With better data quality and consistency, the organization would gain a clearer view of global performance trends, enabling more informed decision-making at both regional and organizational levels. - Better collaboration:
Improved communication and collaboration between IT and stakeholders would ensure that technical solutions align with user expectations, driving higher adoption rates and greater system efficiency. - Support for local needs and cultures:
Software that adapts to regional variations would drive stronger engagement, enhancing the effectiveness of performance management globally. In a data-literate organization, regional needs and cultural differences would be proactively considered when making decisions, such as selecting new software.
Considerations
Balancing global and local needs:
Future software evaluations must include regional testing and input to ensure that the selected tool supports both global standardization and regional variations. A requirements catalog with functional and technical requirements as a result of the collaboration would have been sufficient to check these requirements against the software.
Investing in data literacy across teams:
To ensure future success, the organization should commit to enhancing data literacy for both global and regional teams, enabling them to speak the same language when it comes to understanding the requirements, critically evaluate and implement solutions that align with diverse needs. Data literacy would not only help employees to work with and understand data correctly, but also train them to define their needs for the software as a requirement, which in turn can be used as a basis for communication with IT and the subsequent test team to make coordination processes more efficient
Conclusion
The adoption of the HR software revealed significant misalignments caused by fragmented systems, regional as well as global usability challenges, and poor communication between IT and stakeholders. These issues undermined global standardization and data quality, ultimately limiting the effectiveness of the performance management process.
A more data-literate approach during selection and evaluation, combined with improved global IT-stakeholder collaboration, would have flagged the tool’s shortcomings and ensured alignment with organizational needs. By investing in data literacy, the organization can ensure better decision-making and that global software solutions meet the needs of all stakeholders, supporting efficient standardized performance management worldwide.