Workflow-based process design for legacy HR

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 9 minutes to read

    • You can design a new workflow-based HR process when the predefined processes are not sufficient, in the non-scoped version of HR. You can create an entirely new workflow or use existing components in your HR process.

    To design a new workflow or customize a predefined workflow, you typically work with someone in your organization who has experience with workflow design and customization.

    The following components can be used or customized for HR processes.
    • The predefined processes provided for onboarding, offboarding, and information change.
    • The IT Employee Onboarding Action and IT Employee Offboarding Action script actions.
    • Workflows that create HR and IT tasks.
    • The order guide that creates catalog item requests.
    • Record producers, known as catalog items, that launch HR automated processes.

    The following items work by default with HR processes. You can modify them as needed. For example, you can extend the HR Profile table to capture additional information.

    • HR Profile [hr_profile] table
    • HR Case [hr_case] table
    • Script includes

    The following list outlines the tasks you perform to design a new automated HR process.

    1. Design the process stages, outlining the process flow at a high level. An example is shown in the table.
    2. Create or customize a catalog item that creates the HR case.
    3. Create the workflow to process the request, including any of the following relevant configurations.
      Approval rules
      Review and approve, or reject the request. For example, to approve a request for a leave of absence.
      Assignment rules
      Assign the request to a specific individual or group. For example, to assign benefits change records to a specific benefits administrator. HR groups, skills, and locations can all be considered for auto-assignment.
      Email notifications
      Alert an HR team member or group about the request. For example, to send a notification to the HR agent a case is assigned to.
      Fulfillment tasks
      Create HR tasks and requests for items that other departments fulfill. For example, an HR task to reactivate a user's email account when a leave of absence ends.
    4. Customize profile information, if required by the new process. For example, you can extend the HR Profile table to create a Dependents table, which may be required for processing employee insurance claims.
    5. Select an event to launch the workflow when the HR case is created.
    Table 1. Example of the typical stages for an onboarding process
    Stage Description
    Capture information
    • When an employment offer is accepted, capture basic information about the new employee.
    • Create an HR case and HR profile for the employee with the captured information.
    • Request approval for onboarding.
    Approval Approve the onboarding request, then generate the tasks for this work, such as:
    • HR tasks, such as performing reference checks.
    • Non-HR requests, for example, relevant hardware and software that generate service catalog requested items. Non-HR departments fulfill these requests.
    Fulfillment Fulfill the generated tasks required for onboarding.
    Start date When the employee joins, perform actions such as:
    • Reset a password or unlock the Active Directory account for an employee.
    • Add roles to the employee.
    • Send a welcome email to the team.

    Employee onboarding workflow in legacy HR

    Review detailed overview of the predefined HR automated process for employee onboarding to ensure that it meets the needs of your organization. Optionally, customize the onboarding workflow or design a new workflow.

    To design a new workflow or customize a predefined workflow, you typically work with someone in your organization who has experience with workflow design and customization.

    The onboarding process begins when an HR manager submits an onboarding request from the HR catalog or HR service portal, which enters an employee data management case.

    An HR employee is assigned the case, approval must be granted before any work can be done. After approval, the HR employee defines the onboarding tasks for onboarding the new hire.

    The new hire uses the HR Service Portal to complete the onboarding tasks.

    The system first checks for an existing HR profile based on the first name, last name, and personal email address of the person being onboarded. For example, an existing HR profile exists if the person is a previous employee. If a matching HR profile is found, the system adds relevant information to the profile and updates the employment status. If an existing HR profile does not exist, then an HR profile record is created for the new employee. The record is populated with the personal information entered in the catalog form.

    HR profiles are created before the approval flow is triggered, to enable the recording of confidential comments and work notes in the secure HR profile record. Sensitive information is captured at an early stage.
    Note:
    If the onboarding request is created from the New record form, the user must begin by selecting the HR - Employee Data Management category. The user can click New, complete the information, and then submit the HR case.

    After the request is submitted:

    1. A new user record [sys_user] is created for the employee and populated with the information entered in the HR profile.
    2. The user record is linked to the HR case, and the name appears in the Opened for field in the Employee Data Management Case page.
    3. The state of the HR case is set to Ready.
    4. The Employee Onboarding HR Workflow sends an email to approvers to request approval to onboard the new employee.
    Note:
    Your instance must be configured to email approvers with a notification that an approval needs their attention.
    1. The hr_case.approved fulfillment event occurs. The following subflows and order guides are launched.
    2. An HR tasks workflow to generate tasks for the HR team to perform.
      • Employee information change
      • Employee offboarding
      • Employment verification letter
      • New hire onboarding
      • New employee payroll setup
      • New employee background checks
      • New employee anti-corruption policy acceptance
      • New employee benefits set up
      • New employee training requirements
    3. An IT tasks workflow generates a service catalog request for the IT team. The IT Employee Onboarding Action script action triggers and runs an order guide using the Scriptable Order Guide activity.
      • The order guide uses rules to specify which items are requested based on questions answered on the onboarding request. These answers populate variable values, and determine which requested items the order guide generates. For example, all employees receive an email account, but only some employees receive a laptop. The questions are Employment type, Department, and Location type.
      • The Requested for field is set to the new employee.
      • An approval request for the service catalog items is generated and a notification is sent to the IT approver.
      • After approval is received, the service catalog request is set to Approved and the requested item state is set to Open.
      Note:
      If the onboarding case is canceled, requested items are also canceled.
    4. On the day before the employment start date, a welcome email is sent to the manager of the new employee. To introduce the new employee, the manager can modify and send this email to the team.
    5. When an onboarding request is approved, the following actions occur.
    6. When all generated HR tasks and requested items are completed, the following actions take place.
      • The HR profile and HR case are updated to set the employment status to Employed.
      • The HR case is closed.
        Note:
        The HR case cannot be closed when there are incomplete HR tasks or requests.
    If the onboarding request is rejected, the following actions occur.
    1. The HR case is closed, and the HR profile is set to Inactive.
    2. A work note is added to the HR profile to note the rejection.
    3. An appropriate notification is sent to the creator of the onboarding record.
    4. Requested items are canceled.
    5. The onboarding process terminates.

    Employee offboarding workflow in legacy HR

    Review detailed information about the predefined HR offboarding workflow process to ensure it meets the needs of your organization. You may need to customize the offboarding workflow or design a new workflow.

    To design a new workflow or customize a predefined workflow, you typically work with someone in your organization who has experience with workflow design and customization.

    The default offboarding process starts when an offboarding request is submitted. This creates an HR case for the terminating employee and triggers the Employee Offboarding HR Workflow. If the employee does not have an HR profile record, it is created when the workflow is triggered.

    An approval to offboard the employee is requested and an approval request is sent to members of the HR Leadership group. When an offboarding request is approved, the following actions occur.

    1. The Employment status for the HR case and the employee's HR profile are both set to Offboarding.
    2. The state of the HR case becomes Work in Progress.
    3. The hr_case.approved fulfillment event occurs. This triggers:
      • The Employee Offboarding HR Tasks Workflow to add HR tasks to the HR case. The offboarding workflow dynamically generates tasks from the template just like onboarding.
      • The IT Employee Offboarding Action script action to retrieve the employee's assets by generating tasks for each asset assigned to the employee.
    4. When the employment end date is reached and the Employee Offboarding HR Tasks Workflow is completed, the following actions occur.
      • The state of the HR case is set to Closed Complete.
        Note:
        The HR case cannot be closed when there are incomplete HR tasks or requests.
      • The employment status for the HR case and HR profile are both set to Previous employee.
      • The HR case and HR profile are both set to inactive.
    If the offboarding request is rejected, the following actions occur.
    1. The employment status is set to Employed on both the HR case and HR profile.
    2. The state of the HR case is set to Closed Incomplete.
    3. The users assigned to the HR case are notified.

    Employee change workflow in legacy HR

    Review detailed information about the predefined Employee Change HR Workflow to ensure it meets the needs of your organization. The Employee Change HR Workflow is used to request updates to HR profile information that employees and their managers are not authorized to edit.

    Typically, organizations allow employees to update certain personal information, but not employment information, which is changed by an HR agent or the employee's manager. For example, the manager updates the profile when the employee is promoted to a new position.

    In the Human Resources Configuration, you can select which HR profile fields can be edited. You can select fields for personal and employment information, and other sensitive information. Employees can update any editable personal information field directly in their HR profiles.

    The employment information fields that you enable for edit allow the manager of an employee to update the field. However, the manager cannot open the HR profile of the employee. The manager must submit an employee information change request with the updated information. When the request to change the editable fields is submitted, the HR Employee Change Workflow takes the following actions.
    • Opens an HR case.
    • Updates the HR profile of the employee.
    • Closes the HR case.
    To update HR profile fields that are not editable, employees or their managers submit an employee information change request. If the specified user has an HR profile, the record producer places the available data into the corresponding fields. The requester updates the fields to be changed and submits the request which launches the following Employee Change HR Workflow.
    • Opens an HR case.
    • Sends an approval request to members of the HR group. The notification lists the changes that are being requested and contains links to approve or reject the changes.
    • If approval is given, the HR profile is updated and the HR case is closed. Because this is a simple HR profile update, no further notifications are sent.
    • If the requested changes are rejected, a comment is added to the HR profile to specify who rejected the request, the HR case is set to Closed Incomplete, and HR agents assigned to the case are notified.

    When an HR agent submits an HR employee change request, such as when an employee or manager calls the HR agent, the HR profile is updated and the case is closed. No notifications are sent.