How long does it realistically take to implement an HRMS for a 200-person company?

For a company of around 200 employees, a realistic HRMS go-live is roughly 6 to 10 weeks, though simpler structures can launch in 3 to 6 weeks and complex multi-entity setups can run longer. Vendor-quoted timelines are optimistic; rollouts slip far more often than not, and the cause is almost always data and process readiness, not the software.

Most of the time is consumed by three things: cleaning and migrating employee data from spreadsheets, configuring leave and payroll policies, and training employees and managers. You can compress the timeline by assigning a clear internal owner, locking your policy decisions before configuration starts, and running one full parallel payroll cycle before cut-over rather than switching cold.