Available now is an easy to use add-on package - known as an "accelerator" - designed for improving productivity and performance by streamlining employee and manager-related Human Resources (HR) activities such as on-boarding a new employee, vacation planning, implementing a pay raise or other administrative tasks.

Based on a Services-Oriented-Architecture (SOA), IBM Lotus Workforce Management software, an IBM Self-Service Accelerator, is one of the new five accelerators offered with IBM WebSphere Portal software to help companies quickly implement solutions to specific projects. In late April IBM announced the accelerators for IBM WebSphere Portal, including the release of the IBM Dashboard Accelerator, which is quickly gaining speed in the marketplace with over 200 customers. The Dashboard KPI sample catalog continues to grow with new dashboards for local government, finance, and automotive – and has had hundreds of downloads in the three months since its launch.

Overworked HR organizations are required to deliver more service with fewer resources, impacting their ability to focus on important strategic items that help ensure the vitality of their workforce. Intense labor competition requires organizations to devote resources into strategic activities to attract the right people and retain them through employee development and growth.

IBM Lotus Workforce Management software helps organizations increase HR service delivery efficiency by providing employees with direct access to their HR information and transactions. This new tool also allows managers and HR administrators to directly engage in strategic HR functions.

Organizations are looking to cut down the cycle of costly and time-consuming issues such as getting a new employee up and running quickly. A recent study conducted by Forrester Research offered the following conclusions: "Companies agree that employee self-service is critical. Across companies of all sizes, the biggest business driver and perceived positive outcome from employee portals is improved employee self-service. Self-service includes a wide range of activities — such as benefits enrollment, managing personnel information, 401(k) tools, time and expense reporting, and performance reviews, among others," the report states.