1. HR-XML: An Introduction
Lon Pilot
Systems Consultant, Watson Wyatt Worldwide
President, HR-XML Consortium
[ THIS IS INTENDED AS A STARTING POINT FOR PRESENTATIONS HR-XML MEMBERS MAY NEED TO MAKE REGARDING THE CONSORTIUM. PLEASE EDIT AS NECESSARY FOR THE SPECIFIC AUDIENCE OR VENUE.
Send questions, comments, etc. to Please feel free to submit revised versions.]
Opening slide – Welcome, Introductions, etc. ]

2. Agenda An introduction to the HR-XML Consortium (HR-XML).
Technology.
Standards process.
HR-XML workgroups.
Mission and progress to date.
Organizing HR-XML internationally.
[TO PRESENTER:
1. BRIEFLY REVIEW THE SUGGESTED AGENDA ABOVE
2. THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO LEARN ABOUT THE AUDIENCE TO WHOM YOU ARE PRESENTING. YOU MIGHT ASK FOR A SHOW OF HANDS TO FIND OUT:
A. WHO AMONG YOU HAS SEEN A PRESENTATION ABOUT HR-XML BEFORE?
B. HOW MANY OF YOU ARE VERY TECHNICAL (WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPERS, DATABASE ADMINISTRATORS)?
AND HOW MANY OF YOU ARE ARE TECHNOLOGY DECISION MAKERS?
AND HOW MANY ARE PRIMARILY INTERESTED AS IN THIS TOPIC USERS OF HR TECHNOLOGY?
C. HOW MANY OF YOU ARE MEMBERS OF HR-XML?
YOU ALSO MIGHT ASK IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT IS NOT ON THE AGENDA THAT ATTENDEES HAD EXPECTED TO LEARN.]

3. HR-XML Goals in Japan Promote Adoption.
Be Influenced – Learn about, and respond to, Japanese requirements.
Assist in forming a local initiative to develop Japanese extensions based on the discovered requirements.

4. The Best Standards Are the Ones You Take for Granted….
Electricity: A common voltage and plug within most countries; known and standard means for converting voltages and adapting plugs when moving between countries.
Today I want to talk about the value of standards in general, and the value of standards for HR data interchange in particular.
What are standards good for? There are a wide range of standards, but the purpose of many standards is to simplify and tie together complex environments. In this regard, the best standards are the ones you take for granted. Once standards are implemented, we may benefit from them tremendously, yet we might not think much about them ever again. Good standards tend to fade into the background.
For example, imagine if you didn't have standard electric outlets and plugs in your house, and every time you bought a new appliance, you had to wire up the appliance to the wires in your wall. Without standards, you might not only have determine how to mechanically connect the appliance with the wires coming out of the wall, but you’d also have to determine if the voltage flowing over the wire was appropriate for the appliance. It is not too far-fetched to say that this is what its like to integrate different HR applications today.
(OPTIONALLY use one or both) Here’s a couple other standards examples to consider:
1. As bad as aviation is today, imagine air travel if international aviation authorities had not agreed on a common controlled vocabulary for pilots and air traffic controllers to use in radioing instructions. Fortunately, we don’t have this added worry. To reduce errors and ambiguity, pilots and air traffic controllers communicate in English using a carefully defined “controlled vocabulary”.
2. Finally, think about the role of Internet standards, such as TCP/IP, the networking protocol underlying just about everything we do on the Internet. As you know, the US Department of Defense had a significant role in the formation of what is today the Internet. TCP/IP was born out of the necessity of linking networks of “lowest bidders” on Government computer contracts. The common protocol ensured government computers could network with one another regardless of the system vendor. We seldom think about TCP/IP or other higher-level protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, or FTP when we use the Internet today – we don’t have to think about them because they exist.

5. Standards for Human Resources?
Definitely a ‘heterogeneous’ environment – a growing number of software and service offerings.
A heterogeneous environment is good. Having software and service choices is good for employers.
HR was by-passed by early standardization initiatives (e.g., Finance, Purchasing, Insurance, Banking, Transportation).
The lack of standards makes connecting different systems difficult and expensive.
As I mentioned, standards are essential for tying together complex or heterogeneous environments. Human Resources management is definitely a heterogeneous environment.
Are there any standards to tie together the diverse range of systems used in HR management? Until recently, the answer would have been no.
The market for HR software and services is extremely competitive and there are many choices within every software and service category and at every market level. This level of competition and the range of choices is a good thing for employers! On the other hand, the lack of standards to tie together and connect systems within this heterogeneous environment makes integrating systems too expensive and time consuming. Ultimately, this is not good for employers or software/service providers.
“Who pays for the cost of integrating systems” frequently is a topic of negotiation in HR system acquisition. Sometimes the employer picks up the costs, sometimes the vendor picks up the costs. However, the root of the problem is that there is a lack of standards to tie together different systems. Unless this root problem is addressed, negotiations over integration costs can be much like “squeezing a balloon.” Costs may disappear on one side, only to pop-up somewhere else.
For employers, standards reduce overall costs and implementation time. For vendors, removing integration costs also lower barriers to acquiring new customers. Standards offer vendors a means to pursue opportunistic business partnerships. Standards also allow vendors to offer new service offerings without having to tightly bind themselves with external providers.

6. What Is Needed? A standard business vocabulary:
HR-XML, a data interchange vocabulary for human resources.
Standard implementation frameworks:
Web services
SOAP
ebXML
So what is needed?
A standard business vocabulary for Human Resource Management – This is what HR-XML is developing.
What also is needed are standard implementation frameworks. If HR-XML’s vocabularies are analogous to a standard current flowing over an electric wire, you can think of implementation frameworks as the standard “plug.” Some of those who are technically inclined may have heard of Web Services, SOAP, and ebXML. These are some of the implementation frameworks within which HR-XML vocabularies can be used.

7. CIO Magazine, February 2003
“…web services is promising to make the process of connecting best-of-breed applications simpler and less costly than it has been in the past, when complicated interfaces were required to integrate solutions from different vendors.”

8. Typical HR Transactions Today ‘The Spider Web’
Employers
Job Boards
Recruiting Solutions
Staffing/Recruiting Cos.
HRMS Vendors
Other Recruiting Solutions
What is the situation like today?
We call this our “spider web” slide. It represents the reality that to connect any one HR system or partner to another involves the development of a unique, custom interface. This is sometimes described as a “many-to-many” relationship since each system connections typically involves a custom, “point-to-point” connection.

9. There Has to Be a Better Way: End-User Laments
“Every time I add a new HR service provider, I have to learn another set of conventions for communication.”
“Even though we’re using XML, some of our trading partners aren’t using XML at all, while other trading partners are using their own flavor of XML.”
“I would like to try new HR services, but setting up our database to work with their systems is costly.”
Custom interfaces are costly and troublesome for end-users. Some of the end-user laments are: “Every time I add a new HR service provider, I have to learn another set of conventions for communication.”
“Even though we’re using XML, some of our trading partners aren’t using XML at all, while other trading partners are using their own flavor XML.”
“I would like to try new HR services, but setting up our database to work with their systems is costly.”

10. HR Transactions Tomorrow
Employers
Job Boards
Recruiting Solutions
Staffing/Recruiting Cos.
Standards
HRMS Vendors
Other Recruiting Solutions
This is how we envision HR transactions in the future. Instead of expensive, custom point-to-point connections, systems are linked by each system writing to and from a single, neutral standard between the systems. This reduces costs and creates resiliency and flexibility for trading partners. Brittle, custom interfaces are eliminated and replaced with interfaces based on standards.

11. The ‘n(n-1)’ Problem: Before
OAGI ( has a mathematical model for sizing the effort required to maintain an unbounded growth of interfaces.
The number integration points between objects (assumes two way integration) grows at a rate of n(n-1).
4 components = 12 interfaces 10 components = 90 interfaces 20 components = 380 interfaces
The formula looks like this: For n = 20 components: 20(20-1) = 380. Multiply 380 times FTEs (a half-day per month). The effort required to maintain the interfaces for 20 software components could be 9 fulltime equivalent persons.
White Paper: Plug and Play Business Software Integration The Compelling Value of the Open Applications Group,
For the mathematically inclined, you may want to consider how to quantify the savings from going from a situation in which you have an unbounded number of custom interfaces to one in which systems are connected through standards.
If you were to take a given number of components (n) and connect them to one another, the number of integration points between objects would grow at a rate of n(n-1). For example, if you were to connect 20 components, this would require a total of 380 separate interfaces, if unique interfaces were allowed to grow in an unbounded fashion. If you were to assume that each interface could be maintain by merely 2.5 percent of a full-time employee (e.g., a half a day a month), the effort required to maintain the interfaces for 20 software components would be equal to 9 full-time equivalent employees.

12. The ‘n(n-1)’ Problem: After
Going from many-to-many to many-to-one dramatically reduces integration costs. The formula is simplified to a flat n * 2.
For n = 20 components: 20 * 2 = 40. Where 40 is the minimum number of connections between 20 software components. Multiply 40 times FTEs and the result is 1.0 FTEs.
White Paper: Plug and Play Business Software Integration The Compelling Value of the Open Applications Group,
When systems are integrated using a neutral, standard, the situation changes dramatically. Even with standards, the number of interfaces still grows, but at a flat rate of n * 2.
Thus, taking the example from the previous slide – For 20 components, there would be 40 interfaces. Using the 2.5 percent FTE assumption, you can see that the maintenance effort is reduced to merely 1 FTE.
While in the real-world, you may seldom encounter a situation that exactly parallels the mathematical model I have set out on the last two slides, by any measure, going from unbounded, custom interfaces to standard interfaces dramatically reduces the cost and time required to integrate systems.

13. What Is XML?
eXtensible Markup Language is a language for creating “markup” languages or “vocabularies.”
Looks like HTML, but XML allows the definition of custom tags to describe information explicitly.
XML is a recommendation issued by the World Wide Web Consortium, February 1998.

14. Browser asks for document
How HTML Works…
Browser asks for document
Returns HTML describing how to display something:
<HTML>
<B>
<I>Lon</I>
Pilot
</B>
</HTML>
Lon Pilot
HTML defines how documents should be displayed; it does not describe what the data are. The tags are “hard coded” for display.

15. How XML Works… Program asks for data
Returns XML defining what is being sent:
<Employee>
<First>Lon</First>
<Last>Pilot</Last>
</Employee>
First: Lon
Last: Pilot
An XML document defines what the data are,
not how they are displayed.
Programs “parse” this XML data.

16. What Is HR-XML? Independent, non-profit corporation (Dec 1999).
Define standard vocabularies to streamline HR data interchange.
Open to users, vendors, consultants, standards bodies, employers and other end-users, and individuals.
100+ organizational members.
International – Mission to produce specifications that are relevant and useful across many country contexts.
[ Review points above ]

17. Why HR-XML?
“The issue of vocabulary is one of the most important questions surrounding XML today. Just because we obey the rules of XML doesn't mean we are creating messages that people outside our circles can understand.”
At best, XML makes it possible for businesses or developer groups to share data, provided they agree on the semantics of that data in advance. This is not to say XML is not an enormous advance. It plainly is. However, its advance lies in aiding data interoperability where shared semantics can be assumed. It does nothing at all to create semantic interoperability.

18. What Does HR-XML Deliver?
Transport (HTTP, FTP, SMTP)
Protocol (XP, SOAP)
HR-XML focuses on specifications for message payload, but aims to provide context and guidance to enable the entire exchange.
Framework (ebXML, BizTalk)
Payload (JobPositionSeeker)
Payload
Includes the information necessary to complete an
interaction within a business process.

19. Organizational Structure
Board of Directors
Business Steering Committee (BSC)
Technical Steering Committee (TSC)
Cross Process Object (CPO)
Recruiting &
Staffing
Payroll
Benefits
Enrollment
Stock
Competencies
Time Reporting
SIDES
Other Projects

20. Project Methodology Proposal in standard template
3 sponsor organizations
8 participants
Resources identified for major roles

21. Project Team
Team lead is responsible for determining the schedule and facilitating the project.
Secretary records all decisions and posts minutes to team web page.
Schema editor makes schema changes and provides graphical illustrations.
Document editor responsible for consolidating documentation.
Domain experts share knowledge of the business process, enabling team to build a comprehensive standard.
Team holds weekly conference calls utilizing the knowledge of the domain experts, implementers, and schema editors.
used for receiving feedback and comments.

22. Model a Business Process
Describe general business process
Identify roles and responsibilities
Identify interaction points
Use a UML activity diagram
NOT a prescriptive standard for the business process!

23. Standards with No Compromise!
Does not dictate a process or business model.
Encapsulates vast industry knowledge.
Includes ample built-in options.
Is extensible – Allowing implementers to meet custom requirements and to differentiate by building value on top of the standards.
Is aligned with emerging technologies.
XML is supported by IBM, Microsoft, Sun, and other technology leaders.
But is HR-XML merely producing a set of lowest-common denominator standards? No! Customers and vendors can reduce integration costs and time to market without necessarily having to compromise on the richness of their particular implementations.
HR-XML:
Does not dictate a process or business model
Encapsulates vast industry knowledge
Includes ample built-in options
Is extensible – Allowing implementers to meet custom requirements and to differentiate by building value on top of the standards
Is aligned with emerging technologies:
Web Services, UDDI, etc
Supported by IBM, Microsoft, Sun, and other technology leaders

24. Are Our Drivers, Your Drivers?
Delivering employee and manager self-service.
Moving from paper and batch processes to real-time.
Giving employees access to an integrated collection of information about pay and benefits from a single access point.
Flexibly integrating “best-of-breed” solutions with core HR systems.
Reaching ROI faster by reducing the amount of custom work necessary for solutions to become productive.
Outsourcing business processes.
What do customers hope to get out of HR-XML standards?
Here are some of the factors and priorities within the current HR systems domain that are motivating HR systems professionals to take a look at HR-XML. XML and HR-XML are not by themselves a solution for all these needs – but they are an important piece of the solution.
It is increasingly common to deliver employee and manager self-service through portals. However, it is much less common for changes submitted through portals (for example, address changes, changes to dependent information, etc.) to be reflected in real time in the downstream record keeping systems maintained by providers of benefits and HR services. Integrating data across systems is the very thing that XML-based standards are designed for.
Another business driver is moving from batch to real-time processing. Because changes submitted through a portal may be “out of synch” with the information maintained by a third-party solution provider a variety of service delivery problems occur: information reflected on the portal may be unreliable; retroactive adjustments to benefits might be necessary; employees can be inconvenienced by denial of benefits or delays; and inquiries to the HR department can increase. Again – XML is the technology of choice for setting up these real-time data exchanges.
Employers want flexibility! Employers have benefited from the availability of a wide variety of innovative ASP HR solutions. However, without close integration with core HR systems or other related systems, these innovative “best-of-breed” solutions are not nearly as valuable as they could be. Again, here is where HR-XML can help. Standard XML-based interface definitions will make it possible for employers to flexibly and opportunistically connect the systems they need to connnect.
Of course, reducing integration costs is an overriding issue. As we know, the upfront costs of software often accounts for only 30 to 40 per-cent or less of the total cost of of implementing a solution. Widely implemented standards can reduce the amount of expensive customisation required to make new implementations productive.
Finally – more and more employers are outsourcing at least some of their HR business processes. Outsourcing offers many efficiencies and service delivery advantages – if the systems of HR outsourcers can be flexibly integrated with employer and other trading partner systems.

25. Who’s Driving HR-XML?
Acord; Adecco Corporation*; ADP*; Aetna US Healthcare*; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com*; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria*; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI*; Ceridian*; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet*; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International*; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.*; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX*; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd*; Employease, Inc.*; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments*; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains*; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC*; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com*; HireCheck*; HireRight, Inc.; IBM*; Insurance Overload Systems*; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit*; J.D. Edwards*; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.*; Kelly Services*; Kenexa, Inc.*; Korn/Ferry International*; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.*; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft*; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group*; National Resume Writers' Association; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle*; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick*; PeopleSoft*; Personic*; ProAct Technologies, Inc.*; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding*; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.*; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP*; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation*; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation*; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin*; Transcentive; Ultimate Software*; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group*; Watson Wyatt Worldwide*; Workscape, Inc.
This slide is a little difficult to read – but the main point I want you to take away it this is that there are many industry leaders who are backing the HR-XML initiative. As I’ll show you on the next several slides, a variety of stakeholders are represented.
[ NOTE TO PRESENTER: The HR-XML Consortium’s membership is changes due to new members, merger, re-branding, dissolution, etc. The list above was compiled Dec and is useful in illustrating the broad representation within HR-XML. If you want an updated slides, please ]

26. Who’s Driving: HR Software/Services
Acord; Adecco Corporation*; ADP*; Aetna US Healthcare*; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com*; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria*; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI*; Ceridian*; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet*; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International*; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.*; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX*; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd*; Employease, Inc.*; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments*; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains*; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC*; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com*; HireCheck*; HireRight, Inc.; IBM*; Insurance Overload Systems*; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit*; J.D. Edwards*; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.*; Kelly Services*; Kenexa, Inc.*; Korn/Ferry International*; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.*; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft*; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group*; National Resume Writers' Association; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle*; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick*; PeopleSoft*; ProAct Technologies, Inc.*; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding*; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.*; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP*; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation*; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation*; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin*; Transcentive; Ultimate Software*; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group*; Watson Wyatt Worldwide*; Workscape, Inc.
As you can see, we have the leading HR software and service providers as members. [review some or all of the vendor names]

27. Who’s Driving: Staffing Cos.
Acord; Adecco Corporation*; ADP*; Aetna US Healthcare*; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com*; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria*; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI*; Ceridian*; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet*; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International*; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.*; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX*; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd*; Employease, Inc.*; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments*; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains*; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC*; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com*; HireCheck*; HireRight, Inc.; IBM*; Insurance Overload Systems*; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit*; J.D. Edwards*; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.*; Kelly Services*; Kenexa, Inc.*; Korn/Ferry International*; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.*; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft*; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group*; National Resume Writers' Association; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle*; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick*; PeopleSoft*; ProAct Technologies, Inc.*; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding*; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.*; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP*; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation*; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation*; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin*; Transcentive; Ultimate Software*; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group*; Watson Wyatt Worldwide*; Workscape, Inc.
We also have many of the leading staffing companies as members.
[ REVIEW NAMES OR SELECTIVE NAMES
USE THIS SLIDE ONLY IF SPEAKING TO A RELEVANT AUDIENCE. NOTE THE SAME TECHNIQUE OF HIGHLIGHTING SELECTIVE NAMES COULD BE USED TO SHOW OTHER RELEVANT CONSTITUENCIES – EG, BENEFITS/HR CONSULTANTS.]

28. Who’s Driving: Customers
Acord; Adecco Corporation*; ADP*; Aetna US Healthcare*; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com*; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria*; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI*; Ceridian*; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet*; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International*; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.*; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX*; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd*; Employease, Inc.*; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments*; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains*; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC*; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com*; HireCheck*; HireRight, Inc.; IBM*; Insurance Overload Systems*; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit*; J.D. Edwards*; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.*; Kelly Services*; Kenexa, Inc.*; Korn/Ferry International*; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.*; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft*; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group*; National Resume Writers' Association; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle*; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick*; PeopleSoft*; ProAct Technologies, Inc.*; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding*; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.*; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP*; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation*; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation*; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin*; Transcentive; Ultimate Software*; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group*; Watson Wyatt Worldwide*; Workscape, Inc.
And we also have many prominent end-user organizations who have joined the Consortium.
[REVIEW SELECTED NAMES ]

29. What Has HR-XML Accomplished?
HR-XML is approaching its 4th anniversary (Oct kickoff meeting).
Our initial set of specifications approved in 2000 included only 3 schemas (dtd syntax).
HR-XML has made steady progress since.
HR-XML’s forthcoming release is a library of more than 80 interdependent major schemas and component schemas.
The pace of adoption is increasing.
In a few short years, HR-XML has built an impressive portfolio of work. Our initial set of specifications approved in 2000, included a mere three schemas. Our next release of our library expected in early June, will include more than 80 interdependent major schemas and component schemas.
1.1          Adoption
Based on product announcements and other public representations it appears that adoption in proceeding in several areas.
1.1.1          Resume Parsers Using SEP's JobPositionSeeker
There appears to be a strong trend toward adoption of HR-XML’s JobPositionSeeker specification among companies with resume-parsing solutions. Most of the offerings in this category appear to support SEP’s JobPositionSeeker as an output format. Furthermore, it appears that there are a growing number of applicant tracking systems that allow the import of the results in the JobPositionSeeker format. Resume parsing solutions offering at least some level of support for JobPositionSeeker include:
Resume Mirror/Revsolutions
TextKernel
Burning Glass
Tempworks
Kalki Resume Manager
mohoResume Extractor
Magnaware
1.1.2          Benefits Enrollment
There is a significant amount of interest in this specification. However, the requirement that insurers accept enrollment and maintenance information using certain EDI transaction sets administrative simplification provisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has created a confusing landscape for benefits software and service providers that would like to develop XML-based interfaces. Nevertheless, adoption of the Benefits 2.0 specification released in July has begun. Early adopters include:
§         TriZetto
§         Cargill
§         United Health Care
§         APD
1.1.3          Other SEP Implementations
There is growing support for at least some portions of HR-XML’s Staffing Exchange Protocol within a variety of applicant tracking and recruiting software and solutions:
Allegis/CareerBuilder/Dice
Volt Implementation
MPS Group/CareerBuilder Interface
Beeline
SAP/Brassring
PeopleClick/HR.Net
HireAbility - Sarah
Professional Resource Screening, Inc./directExchange
Oracle's iRecruitment module
Humananique
1.1.4          Background Check
Oracle/Hireright
HireCheck Partners With J.J. Keller & Associates
MERit Systems
MERit Systems has announced its intention to support the credit-reporting schema within the forthcoming background checking specification. MERit has prepared and submitted a case study.
European Public Employment Services
We have significant support from European Public Employment Services
§         Swedish Labor Board has implemented a version of SEP with Swedish extensions
§         German Labor Board uses SEP-based DTDs.
§         Forem/Belgian Public Employment Service maps to SEP messages
1.1.5          SIDES
Anecdotally, we know that several major integration projects are underway, but no SIDES implementers have yet committed to doing a case study.
Adecco/Workcard:
1.1.6          Other
SAP and Kronos indicate they are developing offerings that HR-XML’s timecard specification. SAP also indicates that it has a 3Qtr “Enterprise Extensions” release that will support the Stock Plan Interface specification.

30. What Has HR-XML Accomplished?
Major Specifications
Staffing Exchange Protocol
Benefits Enrollment
Payroll Benefit Contributions/Payroll Instructions
Time-Expense Reporting
Background Checks
Employee Stock Options/Stock Purchase
Staffing Industry Data Exchange Standards
Specifications have been developed broadly across the HR domain – recruiting and staffing; benefits enrollment; payroll; time and expense reporting background checks and screening; and stock purchase and stock option plans. Of course, we also have developed SIDES -- a very comprehensive suite of specifications for the procurement of temporary staffing.

31. What Has HR-XML Accomplished?
HR Components
EducationHistory
EmploymentHistory
MilitaryHistory
DemographicDetail
Competencies
LicenseOrCertification
SecurityCredential
PublicationHistory
PatentHistory
Reference (Personal/Professional Reference)
Achievements
Associations (Professional, Industry, Civic, etc.)
In addition to our major schemas, we have increased the number of reusable component schemas. As you can see, by putting these together you have a very rich human resource description.
[Name, review some of the above.]

32. What Has HR-XML Accomplished?
CPO’s – A Broader Set of Reusables
Person Name
Postal Address
Organization (Organizations, OrganizationalUnits, and their members)
DateTime Data Types (provides ability to require or prohibit the Time Zone designation for date, time, and date/time values)
Effective Dating
Contact Method
Entity Identifiers
We have also have developed a set of well-designed common reusable components that we call “Cross-Process Objects”. These are getting recognition outside the Consortium for their well-thought out design.
Groups such as the Telemanagement Forum, a standards group representing more than 340 of the world’s largest telecommunications companies have adopted HR-XML’s PersonName and PostalAddress specification based on their broad international suitability.
[name and review a few from above]

33. Continuing Work… Competencies (version 2) Assessments
Staffing Exchange Protocol (version 2)
SIDES Enhancements
Stock Plans
Data Dictionary
Background Checking

34. Where Is There Interest?
SIDES France: Adecco, Adia, expectra, Kelly, Manpower, VediorBis.
European Union is funding an “openXchange” pilot program that will implement SIDES within ebXML.
Dutch ECP.NL group, implementing EU project, has signed an MOU with HR-XML to promote SIDES within the Netherlands and Europe.
Growing interest in Japan.
Presented at “eHR China” in 2002; invited to “eHR China” 2003.
There is interest and participation in HR-XML from around the World. HR-XML has members in more than 22 countries.
The Consortium is committed to the idea of operating HR-XML as single, international organization that produces and approves HR-related specifications of broad international relevance.
The Consortium wants to address country and regional requirements of importance to HR-XML members and wants to find practical and effective ways of involving relevant stakeholders wherever they live.
The Consortium is reviewing and revising its architecture, to be able to more flexibly support the diverse country and region-specific requirements it receives from around the World.
Noteworthy among HR-XML’s localization initiatives, is a project to develop extensions to SIDES that are necessary and appropriate for France. This began in June 2002 and is continuing.
HR-XML also has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dutch ECP.NL group. ECP.NL is implementing a European Union-funded “openXchange” pilot project that will implement SIDES within the ebXML framework.
HR-XML also is attracting increasing interest in Japan. Several Japanese staffing companies have been carefully following the Consortium’s recruiting and staffing initiatives and have participate in HR-XML meetings.
There also is interest in China. HR-XML recently presented at the first conference ever in China on the topic of e-HR.

35. Look for the Logo
How do you find HR-XML solutions? Over the next few months, we’re going to make it easier. We will be certifying companies with HR-XML solutions. So look for the logo on your vendor’s website. Ask your vendors if their solutions are certified. For further information, see:

36. HR-XML Workgroups

37. Stock Plan
Objective: Develop schemas for employee stock option and employee stock purchase plan data exchanges. These exchanges may involve employers, plan administrators, brokers, and stock plan participants.
Project Participants: Oracle, SAP, Transcentive, PWC, Charles Schwab & Co, Authoria, Commerzbank, Peoplesoft, Deutsche Bank, eTrade.

38. Stock Plan
Project started 2002 Feb 20; version 1.0 approved 2002 Oct 7.
Version 1.0 included support for Stock Option programs and included five schemas: StockPlan; StockPlanParticipant; Grant; ExerciseRequest; and ExerciseConfirmation.
Version 2.0 is in progress (2003 July target date); includes support for Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP).

39. Recruiting and Staffing
Goals for next version of Staffing Exchange Protocol:
Address problems identified by early adopters.
Learn from global base of experience.
Modularize key components.
Support a wider range of business processes.
Make the SEP more flexible.
Support globalizations such as demographics.
Incorporate CPO objects.
Maximize re-usability and consistency.

40. Recruiting and Staffing
Finalizing resume 2.1 recommendation – New modules include:
Licenses and Certifications
Security Credentials
Patent History
Publication History
Speaking Events
Associations
References
Languages
Supporting materials
Resume additional items

41. Recruiting and Staffing
Finalize CandidateProfile
Candidate Preferences
Remuneration
Travel
Relocation
Desired Position
Language
Hire message
Interface from a hosted recruiting or applicant tracking system and a core HR system.
Contains additional data such as start date, and starting salary, among others.

42. SIDES
Currently reviewing French recommendations for modifications to the following specs:
StaffingOrder
StaffingPosition
PositionHeader
WorksiteEnvironment
HumanResource
Resume
EducationHistory
Rates
StaffingShift
Asssignment
Frame Agreement
TimeCard
StaffingAdditionalData
StaffingAction
Organization
StaffingCustomer
StaffingSupplier
OrganizationUnit

43. Metrics New project proposal.
Many ideas discussed, but scope narrowed to developing:
A generalized schema to enable the exchange of HR measurement data.
A metrics data dictionary.

44. Payroll
Payroll Instructions 1.0 enables requests for pre-payroll adjustments and deductions to employee pay. Allows benefit providers to affect employee pay.
Payroll Benefits Contributions 1.0 enables post-payroll reporting of earnings and contributions to third-party benefits administrators/providers.
What’s next? Post-payroll register? Payrolls are batch – Batch Response?

45. Enrollment Initial design focuses on US-coverage types:
Tier-based coverages -- such as medical, dental, and vision.
Spending accounts -- more commonly known as flexible spending accounts (FSA).
Rate-based coverage -- such as life insurance, short-term disability, and long-term disability.
Adding additional coverage types:
EmployeeStockPurchasePlan
Examining localization strategies.
Examining relationship between HR-XML and ASC X12N EDI formats.

46. CPO “Cross Process Objects” work group.
Develops schemas for common HR elements.
Reviews schemas from other work groups for compliance with the above.

47. CPO Specifications EmploymentHistory MilitaryHistory
ISO Utilities (Gender, Language, Country Codes)
EntityIdentifier / IdentifierTypes
Organization
TaxonomyTypes
WorkSite
PersonName
PostalAddress
ContactMethod
New Work: LocationSummary

48. Time Card
Simple, flexible mechanism to transmit working time and certain expenses between systems.
Capable of describing “raw” time worked data (e.g., timestamp data marking beginning and ending points) or “processed” time worked data (e.g., summary data for a day, week, or pay period) and piecework amounts.
Accommodates expenses such as those that might be incurred by temp staff/contractors, but not generalized expense reporting (e.g., not intended to handle travel expense reporting).

49. TimeCardConfiguration
TimeCards contain various elements for which sender and receiver have to know the allowed values (e.g., person identifier, time interval types, additional information such as cost center identifiers, project identifiers).
TimeCard Configuration allows for “setup information” (e.g., list of person identifiers, list of time interval types, list of project identifiers) to be downloaded to a time capture system.

50. Organizing HR-XML Internationally

51. Internationalizing HR-XML
HR-XML has received numerous requests from individuals and organizations interested in forming country-specific HR-XML “chapters.”
The HR-XML leadership wants the Consortium to continue to operate as a single organization that produces and approves HR-related specifications of broad international relevance.
Leadership wants to find effective, responsive, and practical means to involve stakeholders wherever they live.

52. Organizing Local Chapters
A first step in working with local initiatives is the identification of local requirements and an assessment of the breadth of support.
Can the project can be best supported through an HR-XML workgroup or through an on-going, locally-supported initiative?

53. Organizing in France
Initiative to channel French input into SIDES standards and to develop extensions appropriate for France begun in May 2002.
French have completed review of all SIDES specs and have delivered their requirements/recommendations.
Most of the recommendations are changes to core specs – not additions of French-specific content.
A significant number of the changes involve making “required” components “optional.”

54. Organizing in France/Europe
French project is initially of limited scope – organized within HR-XML’s conventional workgroup formation methodology.
Some interest in a broader, European-based, self-supporting initiative, perhaps with EU funding. Board of Directors will be exploring this “European Chapter” with the interested constituencies later this year.
Other country-specific initiatives: ECP.NL, a Dutch group working on a SIDES demonstration project with EU funding. Swedish Labor Board uses data exchange specifications based on HR-XML’s staffing exchange protocol.

55. Organizing in Japan
Much work has been done to identify areas of interest and to identify stakeholders who might be willing to support a Japanese chapter of HR-XML.
A “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) has been drafted to establish a framework of cooperation and coordination between a local Japanese chapter and the HR-XML Consortium.
Interest in the Japanese chapter operating as a centre of activity for:
The identification of Japanese requirements for HR data interchange.
The development of extensions to HR-XML’s core specifications.
The development of specifications of local interest not yet addressed by the Consortium.
The promotion of HR-XML within Japan.

56. Extensions/Specifications
Country-Specific
Extensions/Specifications
When are country-specific extensions/specifications necessary?
When legal requirements dictate. Examples: French employment contract requirements; U.S. requirements with respect to health care continuation coverage (“COBRA”).
When support for country-specific business practices are missing from base specifications produced by the Consortium.
In some cases, components in the base schema may need to be removed or made optional for legal reasons.

57. Overall Goals Involve and engage local consistencies.
Have local groups organize and fund themselves as appropriate under local law.
Establish a framework of cooperation and coordination between local chapters and HR-XML.
Work together to produce and approve HR-related specifications of broad international relevance.
Publish country-specific specifications and extensions as necessary.
Have local groups cover their direct costs and cover local group’s share of overhead – e.g., maintenance of international standards; promotion of HR-XML; protection of HR-XML “Brand.”

58. Next Steps: Call to Action!
Support HR-XML.
Support HR-XML Japan.
Get started! Download and pilot one or more of the HR-XML specifications.
Ask your vendors and IT suppliers whether they are implementing HR-XML standards.
Finally, let’s consider what you need to do to benefit from HR-XML.
Support HR-XML
Support HR-XML in Japan!
Get started! Download and pilot one or more of the HR-XML Specifications
Ask your vendors and IT suppliers whether they are implementing HR-XML standards

59. Questions? Lon.Pilot@WatsonWyatt.com hr-xml.org
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about HR-XML. I’d be happy to take any questions. If you don’t have a chance to ask me your question today, feel free to follow-up with me afterward at the above address.