SaaS Visualization Software
From OrgChart.net
Overview
Software as a Service (SaaS), also referred to as software on demand, Web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software, is software that is deployed over the Internet and/or deployed to run behind a firewall on a local area network or personal computer. Instead of installing and maintaining software, it is accessed through the Internet, freeing users from managing complex software and hardware. SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider's servers, so customers have no hardware or software to buy, install, maintain, or update.
Advantages
The provider manages access to the application, including security, availability, and performance. With SaaS, a provider licenses an application to customers either as a service on demand, through a subscription, in a “pay-as-you-go” model, or sometimes even for free. This type of “cloud computing” delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers using a multi-tenant architecture.
Organizations can run SaaS software from a remote location that is managed by a third-part SaaS vendor, only needing to pay the subscription of that software. This greatly cuts down on expenses for hardware and professional services, since the hardware and the professional services will be managed by the SaaS vendor. Applications delivered over the Web or through “smart clients” place significantly less demand on a desktop computer than traditional locally-installed applications, which enables the end customer to extend the desktop technology lifecycle significantly.
Some companies may opt for SaaS for their HR data visualization because of the convenience of having the information hosted by an outside vendor. The amount of data for HR data visualization can be very large–especially with companies who have thousands of employees. Hence secure offsite storage can mitigate the risks of maintaining vast amounts of critical data in-house.
Desirable Features
An enterprise SaaS HR visualization package should ideally be integrated with any existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft or Lawson. This will leverage your ERP investment and provide context-sensitive organizational charts directly through a single sign-on.
User configurable views should enable administrator and user configuration capabilities, so that the HR SaaS application can easily be modified to address changing business needs, without relying on vendor consultants.
A SaaS package should bring together information from siloed systems in order to show a complete hierarchy, even if it doesn’t exist elsewhere. Ideally, data from Oracle, talent management, time and attendance and other systems should be consolidated to gain insights unavailable in any single system alone.
The best Saas solutions for HR data should include:
- Intuitive modeling for creating and comparing workforce change scenarios to simplify usage and impact on department financials, headcount, and other key metrics.
- Security driven access– enterprise HR SaaS solutions should be designed to provide business value to every user in the organization, whether a line employee seeking contact information or a manager analyzing compensation across the team.
- Data transformation– HR SaaS solutions should rapidly transform data to provide business insight. E.g., view hierarchy by cost center or geography instead of reporting structure. Additional information, such as facility cost, could then be layered on top to show valuable analysis in a hierarchical framework.
