Onboarding
Part of HR software implementation
Planning support after the HR system goes live: a plan
Set up employee help, issue triage, escalation and handover so an Australian HR system remains usable after launch.
Plan support before employees start using the new HR system. Publish clear help routes, assign an owner to each issue type and set response, resolution and escalation targets.
Give urgent record or pay-related errors a route to the responsible specialist. Hand over the configuration, open issues and decisions to named operational owners.
Make help easy to find
Publish the exact portal, email address, phone number or chat route employees should use, including a route for people who cannot sign in. Explain what details to include, how to check request status, when to expect an update and how to reach a person if the system cannot complete the task.
Use an approved secure route for sensitive documents and record corrections. Do not ask employees to send passwords for diagnosis. For cloud software, confirm which security alerts, logs and incident support the supplier provides and what the employer must handle. The division of responsibility depends on the service. Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes guidance on the cloud shared responsibility model for individuals and small and medium businesses.
Triage by consequence
Record the affected task, first report, owner, next update and resolution. Route issues to the team able to act:
| Issue | Suggested first owner | Immediate question |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in or permission failure | IT or access administrator | Is an authorised person blocked, or is access too broad? |
| Unclear instruction | HR process owner | What was the employee trying to do? |
| Wrong employee detail | HR record owner | Which source and approval establish the correction? |
| Failed handover | Integration owner and receiving team | What was sent, accepted or rejected? |
| Possible pay impact | Payroll reviewer | Which period and employees could be affected? |
An employer may assign these roles differently. Each category still needs a recipient and escalation path. Preserve the original report and correction decision so the issue can be explained later.
Set priority by business impact, not by who reports first. Define response time as the time until a meaningful acknowledgement and triage begin; define resolution time as the time until the issue is fixed, service is restored or an agreed workaround is in place.
For a critical outage where the core application is unavailable and multiple users cannot work, set a P1 response target of 15 to 30 minutes at all hours. Escalate to a senior support owner within 15 minutes if it remains unresolved, and set a four-hour resolution target with work continuing throughout.
For a key function impaired or a single user completely unable to work, use P2: target a response within one hour and resolution within eight business hours. Escalate to a senior owner within one hour if unresolved, and update the affected employee every one to two hours.
For a single-user issue where a workaround exists, use P3: target a response within four business hours and resolution within two business days. For routine questions or change requests, use P4: target a response within one business day and agree when the work will be scheduled.
State the hours covered by each target and when its clock starts and stops. Record any pause, such as while waiting for information, in the request record so the employee can see its status.
If a possible pay impact puts a payroll cut-off at risk, route it directly to the Payroll reviewer through the urgent support route. Keep an employer-side owner responsible for the affected transaction and employee update, even when a supplier investigates.
Review support during rollout
During the initial rollout, hold recurring reviews of blocked transactions, repeated questions and open issues. Set the review interval around affected business deadlines, record the next review time and track unresolved issues by consequence and age as well as ticket count.
A lower ticket count alone does not show that people can complete their tasks; ask users where they still get stuck. Tell employees about known issues and controlled workarounds, and give urgent pay or record problems a route to the responsible specialist.
For P1 issues, provide regular updates while work continues. For P2 issues, update affected employees every one to two hours. Where a supplier must investigate a defect, keep an employer-side owner for the affected transaction and employee update.
Hand over to ongoing owners
Give the operational team the role map, workflow rules, integration contacts, known workarounds, training material, decision log and unresolved defects. Identify who may approve future changes and who checks their effect on records and downstream systems. Confirm supplier responsibilities against the actual support arrangement.
Agree the conditions for ending intensive launch support. Critical issues need a resolution or controlled route, recurring questions need updated guidance, ordinary tickets need owners and required records must remain retrievable.
Have the ongoing operational owner confirm acceptance of the role map and open items. Move unresolved work into the usual service process with its owner, next action and employee update intact.
