Hawaii Moves Critical HR System to the Cloud
The last system any state wants to see on its high-risk list is the very technology needed to manage and retain thousands of employees.
Until recently, human resources professionals in Hawaii were stuck using an old system that was at the end of its life and no longer supported by vendors, James Nishimoto, director of the state’s Department of Human Resources Development, said in a statement. “We faced the risk of a complete system failure that would have jeopardized essential functions.”
Last month, the department teamed with multiple state agencies, including the CIO’s office, to launch the new human resources management system (HRMS) in Hawaii’s private cloud.
“With approximately 300 servers implemented on the Hawaii GPC [Government Private Cloud] to date, cloud technology is helping to reduce spending on infrastructure, increase system reliability and enhance the security of the state’s information resources,” said CIO Keone Kali. “Launch of the HRMS upgrade in the Hawaii GPC is an excellent example of how this environment can securely, efficiently and cost-effectively host our most critical systems.”
The CIO’s office oversees and maintains Hawaii’s Government Private Cloud. Hawaii’s cloud-first policy requires agencies to use the state’s governmentwide private cloud, when feasible, for all new IT projects and to house existing applications. The GPC provides all state entities with Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings that meet statutory and policy requirements for state IT systems, including information security, privacy and federal compliance mandates.
The $1.57 million human resources project included design, software, licenses and database updates; technical implementation assistance; and training costs, according to a news release from Gov. David Ige’s office. Infrastructure established as part of the project may become available as an enterprise service offered by the Hawaii GPC.
“The upgrade provides a secure and reliable human resources system that will improve the way we conduct business,” Nishimoto said.
More than 200 HR professionals rely on the system to recruit, manage and retain some 16,000 employees. Moving the system to Hawaii’s private cloud means cost savings from not having to procure implementation and support services for ongoing database maintenance as the state trains staff and builds capacity, said Keith DeMello, the state’s senior communications manager.
“Overall, the real savings was with the server hardware, operating systems and infrastructure because DHRD [Department of Human Resources Development] would have had to build a stand-alone system,” he said.
