The HRIS Playbook

Most HRIS purchases are made by people who will never have to live with them. The vendor demos for theCEO. The CFO signs the contract. The HR team gets handed a system that does not fit how the companyactually runs payroll, performance, or hiring.

Then comes year two. The Excel sheets come back. The implementation consultant ghosts. The system thatcosts $400,000 a year becomes a $400,000 filing cabinet.

When you don't have a decision framework - vendors run the evaluation. Slick demos win. Bad fits getsigned. The system you live with for five years gets picked in the meeting where you were the most tired.

When you do have a decision framework - you walk into the demo with a 12-page RFP that has alreadydisqualified four vendors. The fifth earns the contract by answering questions the others could not. Thesystem you live with for five years gets picked by the team who will live with it.

This book is the exact playbook I have used as HR Director at Preply, iDeals, and StarLightMedia, and as TotalRewards Lead at Wargaming. Real decisions. Real budgets. Real reversals.

Here's what you will learn:

• The 7-Module HRIS Architecture - the canonical map every vendor pitch traces back to
• The Buy-Build-Stitch Decision - pick the shape before you pick the vendor
• The Vendor Demo Audit - force vendors to demo your data, not theirs
• The 12-Page RFP - disqualify four vendors before the first demo
• The Data Migration Cleanup - clean before you move
• The Integration Stack Map - the 30-system reality every HRIS lives inside
• The 100-Day Adoption Roadmap - survive the rollout
• The AI Copilot Evaluation Grid - audit Workday Illuminate, SAP Joule, Oracle AI Agents without themarketing fog
• The Pay Equity Audit Workflow - meet the EU 5% threshold and the US state pay-transparency laws
• The Kill-Switch Decision - know when to replace, repair, or wait

57 ready-to-use templates - all inside the book:

• The HRIS / HRMS / HCM Decoder
• The 7-Module Architecture Diagram
• The Total Cost of Ownership Calculator
• The Tier-1 vs Mid-Market vs Point-Tool Map
• The 12-Page RFP Template
• The Demo Run Sheet
• The Demo Score Sheet
• The Data Migration Audit Checklist
• The Integration Stack Map
• The 100-Day Adoption Roadmap
• The AI Copilot Feature Audit
• The Human-in-the-Loop Decision Matrix
• The Vendor Exit Plan

No email walls. No resource pages. No broken download links. Every template is on the page.

The Kavanagh and Johnson HRIS textbook runs $77 to $156. Mercer's HRIS selection engagement startsat $50,000. An independent HRIS consultant charges $300 an hour. A failed HRIS implementation costs$250,000 at minimum. This book costs less than dinner.

Every framework tested across four real HRIS purchase cycles. Every template refined through 150,000+students of Mike Pritula Academy across 30+ languages.

Stop letting vendors run your decision. Start running your stack.