A medium-sized organization struggled with onboarding consisting of emails, attachments, manual transcription, and unclear responsibilities. As the number of employee onboardings grew, so did the demands for clarity, traceability, and demonstrability (consents, introductions, signatures).
The solution was to implement SmartFP as a guided onboarding process, from a personal pre-boarding questionnaire to document generation and e-signature to familiarisation with the guidelines and e-learning.
(The customer wishes to remain anonymous, therefore his name is not mentioned.)
What did the introduction of SmartFP bring?
- Less manual work and mistakes thanks to questionnaire and pre-fill data
- Proof signatures and familiarisation without circulars and paper sheets
- Overview of onboarding status (who is in what step and what is missing)
- Traceability of changes via history/timeline in the employee’s card
- Connectivity to other systems via REST API (payroll/accounting is handled by the customer in their tools)
About the customer (wished to remain anonymous)
An organization with hundreds of employees that hires continuously and needs to keep onboarding simple, repeatable and auditable. It runs payroll and accounting in its own system, and wanted to handle onboarding separately, but in a way that the data flowed seamlessly.
“The goal was simple: less manual work and more overview. And most importantly, nothing would fit.” (says the company director)
What onboarding has struggled with
Prior to the introduction of SmartFP, onboarding most often encountered:
- manual transcription of data from questionnaires into employee records
- documents in different versions and multiple locations
- more complex forms that only accountants can fill in correctly (tax/payroll documents)
- lack of evidence of familiarity with the guidelines (who read, who confirmed, when)
- last-minute signatures and urgencies instead of controlled action
“Onboarding worked for us, but it was a mix of emails, spreadsheets and people’s memories. In an onslaught, it just falls apart.” (says the company director)
Why SmartFP was chosen
The customer chose SmartFP because they needed a process that:
- gives HR a simple step-by-step procedure,
- automates the routine part (transcription, document generation),
- handles signatures and consents,
- will allow you to get to know and learn in one place,
- and can connect to other systems.
How it works in practice
In-person pre-employment questionnaire
HR puts candidate on file, sends questionnaire, candidate fills out information online. HR checks and confirms the data, and SmartFP transfers it to the employee’s card with one click.
The result: fewer errors and no manual rewriting.
Paperwork-free documents and signatures
Documents are generated from templates to PDF, the more complex parts are helped by a pre-fill wizard and then everything is sent for e-signature via the usual services.
The result: fewer corrections and faster onboarding completion.
Familiarity with guidelines + e-learning
Notification, demonstrable compliance and review for HR. Onboarding courses and tests may be included.
The result: a clear overview of compliance in one place.
SmartFP can also be connected to other systems via REST API; payroll and accounting are handled by the customer in their own tools.
Implementation: quick deployment, standard IT setup only
The deployment took the form of a pilot. The only necessary step was to align the delivery of automated emails with the customer’s internal security policy (whitelist). After this setup, notifications and signature prompts were stably through.
“It was a routine IT formality. Once the sender was enabled, everything started working reliably.”
(says the company director)
Impact on daily work
- onboarding has a clear structure and is repeatable
- HR keeps track of the status of steps (questionnaire, signatures, introductions, courses)
- less manual intervention and fewer errors thanks to pre-filling and templates
- demonstrability of consents, signatures and acquaintance
- possibility of continuous data transfer to other systems
“The biggest change is in the calm. It’s no longer based on who remembers what, the system watches the steps and we just manage the exceptions.” (says the company director)
Next steps
The customer plans to expand onboarding further with additional follow-up steps after onboarding (e.g. contracts, attendance, etc.).