HR departments, and the professionals who staff them, are extraordinarily busy - but they always effective? Can that effectiveness be objectively demonstrated to senior management? It can be a cumbersome task trying to demonstrate effectiveness and the return-on-investment of an internal service centre, such as HR. A newly upgraded measurement and diagnostic tool from Mercer, the Operations Scanner, may provide an interesting measurement resource by capturing critical and quantifiable insights into how HR operates day to day.

First released more than nine years ago as an activity-based survey collecting quantitative data on more than 300 HR activities, Operations Scanner evaluated the time and resources spent by HR in order to identify areas of cost savings. The new and more comprehensive Web version provides a rich assortment of data indicating, among other things, how an HR organization allocates both its labour and non-labour resources. It also reveals the value employees and managers place on the services provided by HR, and how the function's complexity affects how it delivers services to these important customer groups.

According to Todd Kremer, global product manager for Operations Scanner, "The primary purpose of the tool is to help organizations identify whether the right people are doing the right things in the right way to support the HR function's ability to contribute to overall business success."

Kremer says that generally it takes four to six weeks to conduct a comprehensive analysis using Operations Scanner and link it to other data streams such as interview feedback and process/IT audits. During that time, Mercer works with companies to:

* customize the survey questions and administer it electronically to internal HR staff and their customers (management, employees, etc.) within the company;

* analyze the current-state findings;

* highlight opportunities for improvements by modelling 'what if scenarios'; and

* help the organization create an action plan to improve the HR function.

Operations Scanner has evolved into a comprehensive tool measuring the effectiveness of HR operations over time, continued Mr. Kremer. With the new version of the tool, Mercer is able to view the data in a number of different ways and base its analysis on reports that allow HR functions to evaluate their operations from a variety of angles.

The information developed through Operations Scanner includes a Job Redesign Report, which captures whether the HR organization has staff in the right job levels performing the appropriate activities. A Value and Effectiveness Report uses customer feedback to prioritize process redesign and new technology implementation to meet customer requirements and achieve the greatest return on investment. Mercer's exclusive Modeler capability helps to develop service delivery options and organization structure changes using real data. It also demonstrates how changes, such as outsourcing or a merger/acquisition, would affect the organization.

For more information about Mercer's Operations Scanner or to view a Flash demo of the upgraded tool, visit www.mercer.com/operationsscanner.