Employee Onboarding

Goal

Automate the onboarding process for many new employees to boost efficiency, reduce manual tasks, and ensure a consistent, policy-compliant experience. This automation will streamline task management, minimize errors, and provide new hires with a smooth transition, helping them quickly jumpstart into productivity.

Scenario

NovaTech, a large multinational corporation, has been experiencing a surge in new hires, with approximately 150+ new employees joining due to rapid expansion. To efficiently scale up the onboarding process and reduce manual efforts, the HR department is looking to streamline tasks such as creating accounts in Local AD/Azure AD and O365, assigning licenses, managing hardware allocations, and handling multiple service requests.

The company decides to utilize SymphonyAI Service Automation to automate this entire process, ensuring new employees are onboarded efficiently and consistently across all locations.

This automated solution will reduce manual intervention, minimize errors, and provide a smoother, more efficient onboarding experience for new hires.

Solution

Implement an automated onboarding process using SymphonyAI Service Automation, which integrates with the HRMS to fetch new employee data, create service requests for tracking, automate AD and O365 account setups, assign necessary licenses, configure settings, and perform manual tasks for additional onboarding requirements. The process concludes by sending a Welcome Kit to the new employee.

Here's an exciting sneak peek into the Employee Onboarding flow!

Figure: Employee Onboarding - Steps involved

For an in-depth understanding of Employee Onboarding process with SymphonyAI Service Automation refer the below segment:

Step 1: Get New Employee Details

Goal: To fetch newly joined employee details from the HRMS at regular intervals.

Solution:

1. Use API integration to fetch (pull) the list of new employees from HRMS.

2. Schedule the API call to run at regular intervals (e.g., once or twice a day).

3. Post (push) the information back to HRMS app and trigger the onboarding workflow.

Step 2: Create Service Request (SR)

Goal: As a golden rule, it is advisable to generate an SR using SymphonyAI Service Management (current platform-using any of the releases from Alps to Elrbus SP3) or the new Apex Service Management to track the onboarding process.

Note

The Automation can be triggered through Service Request / Incident (Trigger event: ITSM on Create), and API Triggers.

Solution (Recommended approach-Standard Practice to track the SR):

1. Upon fetching new employee data, auto create an SR using Service Management.

2. Populate the SR with relevant details, such as the employee's name, department, designation, and location.

OR
Solution (Alternate approach-without creating SR):

1. You also have an alternate option to kickstart the onboarding process, where HRMS calls the Service Automation workflow. This occurs when Service Management is not available. Hence, SR cannot be created.

2. Workflows are initiated in Service Automation, after the HRMS calls the Service Automation workflow.

Step 3: Onboard the Employee

Local AD / Azure AD

Goal: To automate account creation and configuration in Local or Azure AD.

Solution:

1. Create an account in Local or Azure AD, with domain and Organization Unit (OU) path selection based on location, department, or designation.

2. Generate a password as per organizational policy.

3. Add the new user to relevant security groups based on predefined business logic.

4. Update extension attributes based on specific business rules.

O365 Integration

Goal: To set up the O365 environment for the new employee.

Solution:

1. Mailbox creation to complete the sync between AD and O365.

2. Assign an O365 license based on the employee's location, department, or designation.

3. Update O365 settings, such as enabling/disabling litigation hold, OWA, and auto-archival.

4. Enable/disable legacy protocols (POP3, IMAP, Authenticated SMTP) based on business requirements.

5. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) according to organizational policies.

6. Add the new user to relevant O365 distribution lists and security groups based on business logic.

Step 4: Manual Assistance

Goal: To ensure manual tasks are assigned and tracked efficiently.

Solution:

1. Create Work Orders/Tasks for manual assistance required during onboarding, such as:

   1. Admin Team: Issuing a company ID card.

   2. IT Team: Allocating and setting up a laptop/desktop.

Step 5: Resolve SR and Send Welcome Kit

Goal: To close the service request when all the onboarding tasks are completed.

Solution:

1. Ensure all automated and manual tasks are marked as completed.

2. Resolve and close the Service Request in Service Management  once the onboarding is fully completed.

Goal: To provide the new employee with all necessary account details and welcome information.

Solution:

1. On the joining date, send a welcome kit to the new employee’s personal email ID.

2. Mark a copy (Cc) to the employee's manager and HR.

3. Include details such as AD account information, email ID, and instructions for initial login.

Note

If a Service Request is not raised, the HRMS system can be updated with the response.