The history of human resource information systems stretches to the 1960s, when human resource data were separated from payroll systems. In the 1980s, researchers and practitioners became more interested in human resource information systems, and in the 1990s several studies, articles, user experiences, opinions and descriptions were published in journals, magazines and on the internet. Still, despite the number of literature, no survey or framework exists that constructs a synthesis of the fragmented issues of human resource information systems from both of these viewpoints, that is, information systems and human resource management. In this paper, an initial framework for human resource information systems is introduced to underline the importance and the need for consolidating the knowledge on the phenomenon.