Personnel management is a very complex process that is well suited to computerisation. Software can be used to automate many routine tasks and to store and keep track of the wide range of data needed in a personnel management system. Some of the tasks that such a system can perform include:
- storing data related to each staff member
- storing descriptions of each staff position
- storing pay scales
- assisting with the recruitment process by storing lists of persons who have applied for employment and identifying applicants with suitable skills (particularly where large numbers of casual staff need to be employed for election purposes)
- generating offers of employment and employment contracts
- recording time worked by staff
- calculating payments owed to staff, including salaries, overtime payments, travel and accommodation allowances and other employment awards, and deductions for tax and superannuation
- generating payments to staff, including automatic funds transfers to bank accounts or production of cheques
- generating annual statements of payments and deductions for taxation purposes (known as "group certificates" in some countries)
- calculating leave entitlements and recording leave taken and leave due
While there are many off-the-shelf software programs available to perform these functions, care should be taken to ensure that the program adopted can address the often complex needs of election management bodies (EMBs). In particular, a personnel management program used by an EMB needs to be flexible enough to include employment of a great number of casual staff for election purposes as required. Such a system also needs to allow for any applicable government requirements on payments and deductions related to taxation, retirement contribution and other relevant employment awards, deductions or allowances.
