Large companies with successful HR analytics projects featured prominently in sessions. One on how data and analytics will shape the workplace was moderated by David Gergen, an advisor to four U.S. presidents who is now a commentator for CNN. Panelist Steven Rice, executive vice president of HR at Juniper Networks, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., said his daily commute through Silicon Valley reminds him of the importance of gaining a competitive edge, as once-prominent companies fade and newer ones move to the forefront.

To get a complete picture of its workforce, Juniper tracks the job responsibilities, projects and compensation of each employee, among other data points. "I'm constantly looking at what's the turnover rate by job role and geography," then trying to determine why people leave, Rice said. He also uses HR analytics to calculate the productivity costs of losing talent.

Consultant John Sumser, who is also of online magazineHRExaminer in Bodega Bay, Calif., moderated a panel on applying HR analytics to operational decision making that included HR practitioners from Guitar Center, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. "You have a universe of people who are subjected to analytics that are irrelevant to their lives and existence," Sumser said afterward. "Those people up on the panel are trying to produce something that doesn't do that."

Chris Salles, director of e-learning at Guitar Center, a retailer based in Westlake Village, Calif., said his company uses predictive modeling on Ceridian Dayforce HCM data to optimize staff scheduling. The technology allows it, for example, to make note of nearby music festivals so it can bring in extra store workers with expertise in that style of music.

Sumser said Salles' story is a good example of using HR analytics not to collect traditional metrics in an attempt to control people, but to improve how business is conducted.

"He started the question with how do I make money, and then the analytics support [that]," Sumser said. "If you start with, 'Let's do some analytics,' you can get to novel insight, but there's no actual customer for novel insight. There are great customers for 'How do I make money?'"

That sentiment was echoed by Katherine Jones, vice president of HCM technology research at Bersin by Deloitte, a consulting firm based in Oakland, Calif. HR analytics tools should be able to sift through data and provide answers to important questions, such as where to build a new overseas plant based on different countries' labor and transportation costs, according to Jones.

And from her perspective, data quality isn't the impediment it once was. "Data about employees has gotten more accurate since we've had employee self-service," she said. "Before that, we had data-entry people," and transcription errors were more common.