Product Review: Halogen Software's eAppraisal

Product Review:  Halogen Software’s eAppraisal

I want to start a new type of post on Catapult HR – product reviews!  There are so many products sold to the HR function.  When selecting an HR product, it can be daunting to know what to choose from background screening services, applicant tracking systems, HRIS systems, talent management software, reference checking services and more.  I've had the fortunate experience to use several HR products in my career, and want to share what I've learned.

To start off the product review posts, I want to start on a positive note, and will be reviewing Halogen Software’s eAppraisal product.  In general, I would recommend this software to both small and large firms looking for robust appraisal software. 

Background on Halogen Software:  I’m unsure when Halogen was founded, but I believe they have been in business for more than a decade.  Halogen is a full talent management suite of products built from the ground up to work seamlessly together.  Halogen is not an HRIS system, and does not include payroll, time keeping or general HR information modules.  However, their offerings include just about everything else.  They are headquartered in Ontario Canada.  The available modules include:

• eAppraisal
• e360 Multi-rater
• eCompensation
• eLearning Manager
• eSuccession
• Job Description Builder
• eRecruitment

My interactions with products other than eAppraisal is fairly limited, but I do belong to the Halogen User Group on LinkedIn, and from the conversations I've seen, the feedback seems to be overwhelmingly positive for all of the modules, with the exception of eRecruitment.  eRecruitment is the newest module, and from my understanding, there is still some work to be done for it to be on par with other leading ATS offerings.

Perks:  One of the perks of eAppraisal is that it can be used for processes other than annual appraisals.  It’s actually a pretty powerful form builder and administrator.  I've actually used eAppraisal for a few other HR processes including onboarding and request forms.  Another perk of using Halogen in general is the efficiencies gained by having your talent management software full integrated.  The ability to seamlessly tie your appraisal process, compensation process, succession process, learning and development process, and hiring processes together gives you full insight into your talent management.  You can’t overlook the benefit of truly being able to calculate HR metrics such as your quality of hire, learning and training effectiveness on performance (ROI), or if your succession plan is fully supported by your training, performance and other talent management initiatives.  Halogen is one of the few pieces of technology that provides such a well-rounded and robust talent management offering.

Implementation:  I implemented Halogen on a fairly tight timeline – about 4 weeks.  Our implementation specialist was very helpful in ensuring the project adhered to our tight deadlines.  Configuration and customization was the most time consuming part of the implementation.  It was the reason we selected Halogen, but ultimately took almost half of the implementation schedule to ensure our appraisal forms and process looked exactly the way we wanted them to be designed.  Part of implementation was having a Halogen trainer come on-sight to train our HR staff on the system.  The training took the majority of one full work day, but was very comprehensive.  The trainer was not an employee of Halogen, but rather a retired HR professional who had used the product for many years, and not trained on it part-time.  Our trainer made himself available after the training for questions.  I utilized our trainer for weeks after the training, and he had a lot of great “insider” tips since he had been a user and customer of Halogen previously.

Customer Service:  Halogen has multiple methods to receive customer service, three of which I utilize.  First, they have a support website.  From the website you can place a ticket for technical support.  They respond to tickets you submit via the website very quickly.  I usually have a response within about 20 minutes, with the longest I've waited being about 2 hours.  They try to fix your issues quickly as well – only once have I had a ticket open more than 24 hours.  They also have a feature on their support website called the “Knowledge Base”.  This allows you to type in a question, and receive an instant, pre-determined answer.  This is a great place to go if you forget how to perform a particular function, or if you have a keyword you can use to search for your question, such as “Third Party Feedback” or “e-signature”.  True technical problems or questions are better handled by placing a ticket.  Lastly, you are assigned an account manager at Halogen.  My account manager rarely answers questions herself, but does a good job of pointing me in the right direction, whether it’s to tech support, or to other clients who I can talk to about best practices.

Halogen User Group (HUG):  Halogen has a group on LinkedIn specifically for Halogen users.  It’s an open forum where you can ask questions of other Halogen users, explain your situation to see if other companies had similar questions or situations, or peruse to find ideas for your own processes.  They also hold HUG meetings in larger cities each year for users of the system to come together and learn from one another.  The HUG meetings are usually a daylong event, where they setup discussions around topics the participants voted on prior to the meeting.  I actually found more learning value from my HUG meeting in 2013 than I did the annual national SHRM conference.  I also gained a network of Halogen users in my region that I can connect with if I have questions or want to learn further best practices from.

Configuration and Customization:  Halogen is a highly configurable software product.  It seems like there are endless options to choose from to make your forms look the way you want and to make your process run the way you want.  For configuration, I give Halogen two thumbs up.  With so many options, I’m sure all of their client’s forms and processes look entirely different.  When it comes to customization in Halogen, it’s slightly more challenging, but it can be done.  They typically charge a fee if you require extensive customization beyond the standard eAppraisal offering.  I've not been through the process, so I cannot attest to the price or time frame that such customization requires.  The good news is that the product comes with so many options already, that I think most organization can make their appraisal process align with the software’s capabilities, and vice versa.  The other good news is that your assigned Account Manager will take requests you have to make updates or changes to the software, and submit them to the technology team.  Not all requests make it onto every release (which happy 1-2 times per year), but it’s exciting when you see your requests as part of a future update.

Compatibility with other Software:  Halogen offers an “HRIS Connect” product which helps streamline the data transfer between your HR system and Halogen.  To manually update Halogen isn't the worst thing in the world, but it’s slightly cumbersome as might be expected.  I recommend obtaining the “HRIS Connect” product.  The annual fee is pretty minimal, and if you have a mid to large sized organization, it definitely makes sense.

Pitfalls:  So, what are the pitfalls?  While my review is generally a glowing one of the eAppraisal product, there are a few pitfalls, as with any software.

1. With so many options for configuration, you have to be incredibly detail oriented when setting up a form or process.  It’s easy to overlook one box to check, which can substantially throw off part of your form or process.  As someone who has experienced this, and because there are so many details to configure, I cannot emphasize the importance of testing, testing and retesting.  And when you’re done testing, test again!
2. Software updates typically happen once per year, maybe twice.  Each update is fairly significant since they occur infrequently, but when you put in a request, it’s a bit of a bummer when you must wait up to a year to see if it will be implemented.
3. I receive LinkedIn and email updates from Halogen.  Sometimes I will ask my Account Manager about something I see in my Halogen updates, and she’s not been briefed on the topic yet.  For example, I saw a press release that Halogen would be adding a module that facilitates the Myers Briggs type indicator personality assessment.  I was interested in it, but my Account Manager did not know the press release had gone out and had zero information on the new product or when information would become available.

Overall, I've been very satisfied with Halogen’s eAppraisal product, but more importantly, the managers I work with and associates I support find the software to be easy to use and an asset in managing performance.

I hope this is helpful to anyone considering appraisal or talent management software.  

Please let me know if you have questions about my experience with Halogen’s eAppraisal and if you have used the product, what your experiences have been.

If you like the product review posts, please let me know and I'll be sure to include them more often!