Everyone loves a good spreadsheet. But if you have more than a few hundred employees, it can be a nightmare to track performance, training and succession activities with real-time insight. Our clients share why they made the switch from spreadsheets to talent management software - check them out.

1. 8 Reasons to STOP
managing your people
with spreadsheets

2. Everyone loves a good spreadsheet. However, if you
have more than a few hundred teachers, staff, and
administrators, tracking performance, professional
development, and compensation is the stuff of
nightmares. Spreadsheets and paper-based
processes can’t give you deep, real-time
insight into how your employees are
performing or how to make them—
and your district—more successful.
A talent management
system can.
Our clients shared their reasons for making the switch from spreadsheet to software.
Which one tops your list?

3. …switching to a talent management system can significantly—and quickly—reduce the costs
and time spent associated with managing performance, development, and compensation.
Reason #1
We never had
enough time.
If you’re relying on spreadsheets to track professional
development, compensation, performance evaluations, and
classroom observations, you’re also spending a lot of time
finding and filing information. Manual tracking doubles
your administrative workload—which leaves far less time to
implement the programs and strategies that can catapult
your district to top tier status.
A talent management (TM) system slashes the hours
it takes to access employee data, which in turn reduces
administrative effort and saves money. In the corporate
arena, studies show companies using integrated talent
technology see 26% higher revenue per employee.1
How
does this apply to K-12 administrators, for whom reduced
budgets, not increased revenue, are key drivers? By taking a
page out of the corporate playbook, districts switching to a
talent management system can significantly—and quickly—
reduce the costs and time spent managing performance,
development, and compensation.
1
Bersin, Talent Management Systems 2013: Market Analysis, Trends and Provider Profiles, p.21.

4. Reason #2
We needed to
reduce data entry
mistakes.
With all the manual entry involved in spreadsheets and docs,
mistakes are bound to happen. Plus, it’s difficult to track reviews
and compensation plans that require approval from multiple
people, and there’s always a risk of compliance snafus if you
can’t prove that training’s been completed.
As your district grows—total public elementary and secondary
enrollment is expected to increase every year from now until
20202
—the potential for mistakes and compliance errors grows,
as well. With a TM system, however, you can eliminate duplicate
efforts and put the kibosh on human error.
2
Digest of Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, page 10,
accessed on January 6, 2014, at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012001.pdf

5. Reason #3
We couldn’t take action
on our performance
management results.
Performance management and professional development
plans should work in tandem. Yet creating plans from
spreadsheets and annual reviews doesn’t really work, does
it? Without a way to integrate evaluations and observations
with individualized development, annual performance reviews
simply aren’t actionable.
A TM system puts purpose and value back into the process.
It links performance with recruiting, onboarding, leadership
development, learning, and compensation—from week to
week, not year to year. According to the American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy Research, “More crucial than any
other element of school-system management may be human
capital operations. Dramatically improving the quality of
teaching requires that a system be able to monitor personnel;
gauge performance; and competently manage hiring, transfers,
benefits, employee concerns, and termination.”3
3
Frederick M. Hess and Jon Fullerton, The Numbers We Need: How the Right Metrics Could Improve K–12 Education, American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research, No. 2, February 2010, page 4, accessed on January 6, 2014, at http://www.aei.org/files/2010/02/18/02EduHessFeb2010g.pdf.

6. Reason #4
We couldn’t access data
quickly for administrators
and school leaders.
It takes time—hours and hours—to compile employee
information. Yet administrators and school leaders expect you to
deliver that information in mere minutes. With a TM system, you
can immediately access training records, reviews, and succession
opportunities—the whole kitchen sink. You’re always prepared
for audits and ready to meet with your school board and grant
funders with the info they require.
The result? Because you’re up to date on training and
development requirements and government regulations, you can
worry less about compliance audits. Because you can look across
and into your entire organization to determine future leaders,
you’re making long-term decisions that ensure the success—and
reputation—of your district. “The public and private sectors
already rely on quick access to performance and compliance
data to make smart day-to-day decisions and drive long-term
strategies; school districts can do the same by using a TM
system to look more deeply into the operational and instructional
leadership factors that directly affect student performance…
illuminating why those results look like they do and what might
be done about them.”4
4
Ibid, page 2.

7. Reason #5
We needed scalability
to manage increasing
enrollments and hiring.
If you’re struggling with manual tracking now, imagine the
paperwork you’ll have as your district grows. Growth is a given:
according to the US Department of Education, total public
elementary and secondary enrollment is expected to rise every
year from now until 2020.5
Unfortunately, the number of
spreadsheets and the growth of enrollment have an ugly one-to-
one relationship. Many clients sought us out when they realized
their manual processes simply wouldn’t be able to keep up with
increases in hiring.
The right system will allow you to manage more employees
thanks to more visibility into compliance tracking, workforce
planning, and recruiting. According to a joint study by IBM and
the Human Capital Institute, the education arena was least
likely to use “enlightened talent management practices.”6
And
yet, studies of school districts that incorporate integrated talent
management practices “reveal an association between such an
approach and more successful reform efforts, including more
ambitious instruction.”7
5
Digest of Education Statistics, page 10.
6
Ellen Behrstock, PhD, Talent Management in the Private and Education Sectors: A Literature Review, January 2010, page 2, accessed on January 6, 2014, at
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509967.pdf.
7
Ibid, page 4.

8. Reason #6
We needed to retain our top
teachers and administrators
for quality performance.
Your people are a powerful resource, and recognizing top
teaching and administrative talent is key to keeping them.
If you’re relying on paper-based tracking, you’ll never know
who your top talent is. Half of today’s beginning teachers will
voluntarily leave the profession within their first five years.8
40% of the nation’s veteran teachers are now 50 years or older
and will likely retire in the next five years.9
With tools designed to identify and incentivize high performers,
a TM system helps you hold onto your superstars. Studies have
found that organizations with tightly aligned talent processes
experienced 40% less turnover of high performers.10
Vanguard
districts have the opportunity to do the same by integrating
talent management processes to ensure great performers stick
around for the long haul.
8
National Education Association, “Research Spotlight on Recruiting Retaining Highly Qualified Teachers,” accessed September 30, 2013,
at http://www.nea.org/tools/17054.htm.
9
National Public Radio, “Record Number of Teachers Set to Retire,” accessed on September 30, 2013, at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18583812.
10
Bersin, Talent Management Systems 2013: Market Analysis, Trends and Provider Profiles, p.21.

9. ...organizations with an integrated talent approach have an ‘87% greater ability to hire
the best people’
Reason #7
We needed to find the
right talent quickly.
As a result of the growing skills scarcity, the fight for top talent
can be brutal. Add the impending talent shortage thanks to the
Baby Boomer exodus, and sourcing talent can feel like a scene
out of the Hunger Games.
Taking advantage of social recruiting is critical to nabbing
the best and brightest new hires. Yet connecting candidate
networks with career opportunities while capturing referrals can
be difficult—unless you’re using a TM system. Studies show
organizations with an integrated talent approach have an 87%
greater ability to “hire the best people.”11
A TM system helps you
use your networks, social media, and employee referrals to find
top talent in less time—and with less paperwork.
11
Bersin, Talent Management Systems 2013: Market Analysis, Trends and Provider Profiles, p.21.

10. Reason #8
We’re sick of slugging
it out with our core
HRIS/ERP provider.
Love is a battlefield—and so is the talent management arena.
Our education clients who relied on HRIS/ERP systems found
them good at payroll and recording information but woefully
ineffective at talent-specific processes like identifying their next
principal or assistant superintendent.
There’s a big difference between an HR generalist—most ERP
providers—and a true TM specialist. Only a specialist’s tools
are designed to help manage talent and performance in a
simple, easy way. Clunky ERP solutions disengage and frustrate
employees to the point they stop using them altogether. Our
clients were relieved when they discovered they could get
solutions that were both tailored for talent management and
easily integrated into their existing HRIS/ERP.

11. csod-industry-brief-education-2014
Spreadsheets can’t bridge the gap between people management and
your district’s goals. An integrated talent management system helps you
find and keep the best teachers and administrators, plan for succession,
and spend less time on data gathering—and more time on improving
classroom performance. But where do you start? Check out Cornerstone.
For more than a decade we’ve helped 1,500 clients source, develop, and
retain their talent with tools that are both powerful and easy to use. Start
the conversation at csod.com/k12.
Cornerstone OnDemand is a leader in cloud-based applications for talent
management. Our solutions help organizations recruit, train, manage and connect
their employees, empowering their people and increasing workforce productivity.
To learn more, visit csod.com/k12.