How Webinars Can Benefit OrangeHRM Community

Webinars are a type of web conferences. Although many times a webinar is a one way transmission of information, generally a slide show from a presenter to an audience who are attending over their personal computer, it can be designed to have elements of interactivity.

Webinars have been identified as the simplest and most cost-effective way to reach large audiences online. It enables individuals and organizations to easily present, train and demonstrate to large audiences online, significantly expanding the reach of their communication throughout the world. The following are the important advantages of webinars.

• Increase productivity: Hold Webinars, reaching up to 1,000 people at a time, without complicated prep work or special skills. Meet online instantly with easy on-the-fly meetings.
• Decrease costs: Reduce travel and save time. Train more people more easily. Hold unlimited Web events and meetings for one low flat rate.
• Generate revenue: Bring in more leads with compelling Webinars. Provide value-added training and other information.

At the moment OrangeHRM is evaluating the possibility of webinars to its large community. OrangeHRM has introduced the video training material as an online user guide and this will be the 1^st feature which will be implemented in the OrangeHRM webinars. According to the feedback from the users we will stretch our plans to do monthly presentations about OrangeHRM feature updates to regular OrangeHRM users. In addition, support via webinars is also a possible feature in the future OrangeHRM.

We hope to implement this in the most interactive way in order to facilitate a smooth transition of ideas between you and us.

Introducing the OrangeHRM video training material to the community

OrangeHRM has created video training materials providing hands-on instructions to using OrangeHRM. The videos will show in a fast and straightforward way how to get started with and use the different modules of the product. OrangeHRM video training materials will help you to:

• discover the application step by step with narrated on screen guidance
• learn about the different features provided to manage your organization’s human resources
• discover the system from the point of view of different user groups
• learn how to use OrangeHRM best matching your needs

The basic Getting Started instructions are freely available on the website to all community members. The guide instructs users with such basic steps as logging in and navigating in the system as well as setting it up according to your company’s HR requirements.

Customers subscribed to the Platinum Support plan have an extended access to the video training materials with more detailed instructions of the usage of all modules.

Data Migration in OrangeHRM

Data migration is a widely discussed topic today in the software world due to its extensive use.The word “data migration” in itself describes the true functionality it performs, which is transferring bulk data from one system to another, eliminating the need for entering them manually. This can be done through a Comma Separated Value file, which can be processed by all text editors.

This feature plays a major role in Management Information Systems and Payroll Systems, because it eliminates the possibility of data redundancy and loss.

In OrangeHRM we have implemented this feature due to the huge demand and request from our community. This was firstly implemented in the version 2.2.3 and looking forward for some more changes. The technical functionality of this feature within the OrangeHRM system can be described as follows.

• Custom Import Definitions

In order to import CSV data into OrangeHRM, you need to create an Import definition. This defines the format of the CSV file:

1. The fields (columns) in the CSV file
2. Order of the columns in the CSV file
3. Whether the CSV file contains a header.

• CSV File format

The CSV file can have an optional header row. The header row will contain the names of the columns in the file. This row is optional, and OrangeHRM simply ignores this and doesn't attempt to read or validate this row.

The rest of the rows in the CSV file contain data. Each of these rows should contain details on one new employee. If the name of the employee matches an existing employee in the system, that row will not be imported.

• Importing CSV Data

To import data you need to go to the menu 'Data Import/Export' -> 'Import' and select from the available import definitions. Then browse and select a CSV file and click Import. Once the import is complete, the status of the import with any errors will be shown.

In the same way the data can be exported from OrangeHRM to the other systems using the same technical functionality