HRIS Requirements Checklist: What to Define Before Vendors

An HRIS requirements checklist is a written list of what your new HR system must do, covering employee data, integrations, payroll, compliance, security, reporting, frontline access, budget and success metrics. You build it before any vendor demo, then turn it into an RFP and a weighted scoring sheet so every vendor is judged on the same terms.

This guide is for HR directors, HR operations leads and the IT or finance partners who sit on an HRIS selection team.

Key takeaways

• A requirements checklist should be finished and signed off by HR, payroll, IT and finance before the first vendor demo, not after.
• Every requirement should be tagged as must-have, should-have or nice-to-have, because only must-haves are pass or fail in scoring.
• US employers must keep payroll records for at least three years under the FLSA and employment tax records for at least four years under IRS rules, so retention belongs on the checklist.
• Integration requirements should name each system, the direction of data flow, the frequency and the owner, not just say "integrates with payroll."
• A weighted scoring sheet with fixed weights agreed in advance stops the most polished demo from winning by default.

What is an HRIS requirements checklist, and why write one before vendor demos?

It is the agreed definition of "fit" for your organization, written in your own words before sales teams start framing the problem for you. Without it, demos set the agenda and you end up comparing features you never needed.

A quick definition first. An HRIS (human resources information system) is the system of record for employee data such as job, pay, manager and status. If you need a refresher on how an HRIS works and who owns its data, start there. Vendors also use the labels HRMS and HCM for broader suites, and the difference between HRIS, HRMS and HCM matters when you decide scope.

A requirement is a testable statement of something the system must do, such as "Managers can approve time-off requests from a phone." An RFP (request for proposal) is the document you send vendors asking them to respond to those requirements with pricing. A scoring sheet is the spreadsheet your team uses to rate each response and demo against the same weights.

Writing requirements first settles internal disagreements early, gives vendors an identical brief, and leaves a record of why you chose what you chose.

What should an HRIS requirements checklist include?

At minimum, nine areas: core data, integrations, payroll, compliance and recordkeeping, security, reporting, frontline and self-service access, budget, and success metrics. Use the checklist below as your working draft and delete what does not apply.

1. Core employee data. List every field you track today (job, position, department, cost center, location, pay rate, manager, employment type, union status), where it lives now, and who owns it. The core HRIS modules and subsystems are a useful prompt for gaps.
2. Integrations. Name each connected system: payroll, benefits carriers, time clocks, ATS, learning, ERP or general ledger, identity provider, and any data warehouse. For each, record direction (in, out, both), frequency (real time, daily, per pay period), file or API, and the internal owner.
3. Payroll. Decide whether payroll is in scope or stays separate. Record pay frequencies, number of pay groups, states or countries, earnings and deduction codes, garnishments, retro pay, and off-cycle runs.
4. Compliance and recordkeeping. List the laws and retention rules you must support, the reports you file, and who signs off. More on this below.
5. Security and privacy. Role-based access, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, audit logs, data residency, encryption, and the vendor's independent audit reports.
6. Reporting and analytics. The ten to fifteen reports people actually use each month, who runs them, and whether they need scheduled delivery, ad hoc queries or data exports to another tool.
7. Frontline and self-service access. How employees without a company laptop or email will log in, view pay stubs, update details and request leave. Include languages and accessibility needs.
8. Budget. Subscription, implementation services, data migration, integration build, training, internal staff time and the cost of running old and new systems in parallel.
9. Success metrics. Three to five measurable outcomes with a baseline you record now, such as days to close payroll, number of manual data entry steps per hire, or HR tickets about pay.

How do you define data, integration and payroll requirements?

Map your current data and data flows first, then write requirements against that map. Most failed HRIS projects trace back to an integration or payroll detail that nobody wrote down.

Data

Export a sample of your current employee records and count the fields actually in use. Flag inconsistent values, such as five spellings of one location, because cleanup is part of the project either way. Decide how many years of history you will migrate.

Integrations

A table works better than prose here. One row per integration, with columns for system, data sent, direction, frequency, method and owner. Ask vendors to mark each row as delivered (standard connector), configurable, or custom build. Custom builds carry maintenance cost with every update.

Payroll

If payroll lives in a separate system, the HRIS to payroll link is the highest-risk integration you have. The step-by-step plan for integrating an HRMS with payroll shows what to test. In requirements terms, specify which system is the source of truth for pay rates, how retroactive changes flow, and how you will reconcile the two each pay period.

Which compliance and security requirements belong on the list?

Include every recordkeeping rule you are subject to, plus the security controls your IT team would ask of any system holding Social Security numbers and bank details. Write them as testable statements, not "must be compliant."

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the rules for your locations with counsel.

For US employers, two federal retention rules are a reasonable starting point. The Department of Labor's FLSA recordkeeping fact sheet says payroll records must be kept for at least three years, and records on which wage computations are based, such as time cards and wage rate tables, for two years. It also lists the data you must hold for each non-exempt worker, including hours worked each day, regular hourly rate, overtime earnings and all additions to or deductions from wages. The IRS employment tax recordkeeping guidance says to keep employment tax records for at least four years after filing the fourth quarter for the year. Your requirement might read: "System retains terminated employee pay and hours records for a configurable period of at least four years and can produce them by employee and date range."

For security, ask for the vendor's SOC 2 Type II report. SOC 2 is an attestation report from an independent CPA on a service organization's controls, and the AICPA's SOC 2 resources describe it as covering security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. If your IT team already uses the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to assess risk, map the vendor's answers to it so the HRIS gets reviewed like any other critical system. Spell out role-based security in detail, for example "Payroll admins can see pay data; HR business partners cannot see bank details."

How do you cover frontline access, reporting and success metrics?

Write requirements from the point of view of the people who will use the system least willingly: hourly staff, busy managers and executives who want one number.

For frontline workers, state how they authenticate if they have no corporate email, whether shared devices or kiosks are allowed, and which tasks must work on a phone. Accessibility should be specific: the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the international standard, with WCAG 2.2 the current version, so ask vendors which WCAG level their employee-facing screens conform to.

For reporting, list your must-have reports by name and ask vendors to build two of them live during the demo using your sample data. For success metrics, record today's baseline before you sign. The case for protecting the ROI of your HR tech investment depends on that baseline.

How do you turn the checklist into an RFP and scoring sheet?

Convert each requirement into a numbered line vendors must answer, group lines into weighted categories, and agree the weights before any response arrives. Then score responses and scripted demos on the same sheet.

1. Number and prioritize. Give every requirement an ID (DATA-01, INT-04) and a priority: must-have, should-have or nice-to-have.
2. Fix the response format. Ask vendors to answer each line as standard, configurable, third-party, custom or not available, with a short explanation.
3. Add commercial questions. Pricing model, implementation approach, who does the work, contract term, renewal caps, data export on exit and support levels.
4. Agree weights. The selection team sets category weights in a meeting and records them.
5. Script the demos. Send each shortlisted vendor the same scenarios, such as hire an hourly worker in two states, process a retro pay change and pull a turnover report, using your sample data.
6. Score independently, then discuss. Each evaluator scores alone before the group meets.

Here is an example scoring sheet structure. The weights are illustrative, not a recommendation; set yours based on what your organization needs most.

Category	Example weight	What a 5 looks like	What a 1 looks like
Core data and workflows	20%	All must-haves standard or configured, shown live in demo	Key workflows need custom build
Integrations	20%	Delivered connectors for payroll, time and identity provider	Flat-file only, vendor will not own maintenance
Payroll and compliance	15%	Handles all pay groups, retro and retention rules you listed	Gaps in multistate or retro handling
Security and privacy	15%	Current SOC 2 Type II, granular roles, full audit log	No independent report, coarse roles
Reporting	10%	Built your two test reports during demo	Reports require vendor services
Frontline access	10%	Mobile, no-email login, stated WCAG conformance	Desktop only or corporate email required
Total cost and terms	10%	Clear multi-year cost, renewal cap, free data export	Hidden services costs, no exit terms

Treat must-haves as a gate before scoring. A vendor that fails a must-have is out, however well it scores elsewhere. For a broader view of evaluation factors beyond the RFP, see key factors when selecting an HRMS.

Common mistakes when writing HRIS requirements

Most errors come from writing the checklist too fast or with the wrong people in the room.

• Copying a vendor's feature list. Only that vendor will meet it.
• Making everything a must-have. If 90 lines are pass or fail, nothing passes. Keep must-haves to what would actually stop the business.
• Leaving payroll and IT out until the shortlist. They find the blockers late, after you have emotionally picked a winner.
• Vague requirements. "Easy reporting" cannot be tested. "HR business partners can filter headcount by location and export to CSV without help" can.
• Underbudgeting migration and change management. Subscription price is the visible cost, not the full one. Our list of common HRMS selection mistakes covers more of these.

When this does not apply: a very small employer with one location, one pay group and no integrations may not need a formal RFP. A short checklist and two or three scripted demos can be enough. The discipline of writing requirements still helps.

FAQ

How long should an HRIS requirements checklist be?

Long enough to be testable, short enough that vendors answer carefully. For a mid-size organization that usually means a few dozen to a little over a hundred numbered lines across the nine areas. If you have hundreds of lines, you are probably listing features rather than outcomes, and evaluators will struggle to score consistently.

Who should be on the HRIS selection team?

At minimum: an HR operations lead as owner, payroll, IT or security, finance, and one or two managers who will use the system daily. Add a frontline supervisor if many employees work shifts. Give one person final decision rights so close scores do not stall the process.

Should we send an RFI before the RFP?

An RFI (request for information) helps when you do not know the market well. It is a short questionnaire that trims a long list of vendors to a shortlist. If you already know the five or six realistic options, skip it and send the RFP directly to save several weeks.

What happens to the checklist after we choose a vendor?

It becomes the backbone of your implementation scope and test plan. Each requirement ID turns into configuration tasks and test cases, so nothing promised in the sales cycle gets lost. Our guide to HRMS implementation best practices covers that next phase.

What to do next

• Book a 90-minute workshop with HR, payroll, IT and finance to fill in the nine checklist areas, and assign one owner per area.
• Build your integration table and record baseline numbers for your three to five success metrics this month.
• Draft the RFP with numbered requirements and a fixed response format, and agree scoring weights before you send it.
• Write two or three demo scripts using your own sample data and send the same scripts to every shortlisted vendor.

Sources

• US Department of Labor: Fact Sheet #21, Recordkeeping Requirements under the FLSA
• IRS: Employment Tax Recordkeeping
• AICPA and CIMA: SOC 2 resources
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: WCAG Overview

Last reviewed: October 2026.