Workflows and forms
Business-process workflows that understand your organisation
Business process automation without code, for HR and beyond: design your own processes and forms. Sign-offs, decisions, forms, tasklists, generated documents and signatures, routed to the right people by your org structure and integrated with every other module.
Why it matters
Processes that run themselves, with a record of every step
Routed by role, not by name
A workflow sends each step to the direct manager, the position holder or a participant group, because the engine lives in the same database as your org structure. When people move, the process follows without touching a template.
Works even where a reporting line is missing
Nothing lives in e-mail
Every form entry, approval, task, document and signature lands on the workflow, with who did what and when. The e-mail and spreadsheet trail disappears.
One timeline per process
Built on the rest of HR Manage
An activity can load compliance documents, create training records, run a review, generate and sign a contract or create the employee, in the same system as the rest of HR.
Activities for every module, no custom code
What it does
What the workflow automation engine does
A visual designer, no code
HR designs templates in a drag-and-drop designer in the Windows application: activities, branches and groups, with text, shapes and images for documentation. Each activity carries its own description, and a template exports to PDF, SVG or an image for your procedure manual.
- Drag-and-drop designer with branches and containers
- Templates organised in categories with security per template
- Custom reference numbers per template
- Subscribers who stay informed without taking part
Forms with logic
Forms are built from headings, text, questions and fields from records, with conditional logic that shows or skips sections as people answer. Fields pre-populate from the employee’s record, and matrix questions and repeating groups handle the complicated forms.
- Visual form designer with a question library
- Conditional logic evaluated as the form is filled
- Pre-population from existing records
- Surveys with many respondents, including 360° reviews
Approvals, decisions and tasks
A sign-off approves or rejects and sends the flow down the matching branch, with comments. A decision evaluates data captured earlier and chooses the route without a human step. A tasklist assigns work to individuals and waits until all of it is done.
- Sign-off with approve and reject branches
- Decisions on captured data, no human step
- Tasklists from a template or created on the fly
- Batch approvals for managers on the web
Documents inside the process
Information captured in the workflow mail-merges into a Word or PDF template: a contract, a letter, a form. Participants complete PDF forms inside the workflow, and secure download links go to a group of internal and external people, such as sending a completed application to the medical aid.
- Generate Word or PDF documents by mail merge
- Complete PDF forms as an activity
- Send documents to internal and external recipients
- Electronic signing, internal and external
Workflows that start other workflows
A sub-workflow starts from the current one and runs in parallel, or the parent waits for it. A reference links a workflow already in progress. A timed pause waits for a date, for probation reviews, reminders and cooling-off periods.
- Sub-workflows, in parallel or awaited
- References to workflows already running
- Timed pauses until a target date
- A workflow for anything you would otherwise run on e-mail
Your processes, not ours
Clients design their own workflows or partner with our consultants to streamline and automate them. Where HR Manage does not already have a function, a custom plugin activity can talk to an external system and wait for its answer before the workflow continues.
- Onboarding, transfers and terminations
- Changes in conditions of employment and benefits
- Overtime approval, UIF processing and temporary staff movements
- Training requests with quotations and purchase orders
Spotlight
Every activity on this design is standard functionality
An unmodified screen print of the Windows workflow designer. The template shows forms, sign-offs, decisions, generated documents, requirement loading and a sub-workflow, drawn by an HR practitioner, not a developer.
Groups and notes on the canvas double as the documentation, and the design exports as a PDF or image for the procedure manual.
Building blocks
The activity types you combine
A template is an ordered set of activities. Each type does one thing; the designer lets you combine them freely.
Core
Sign-off, decision, decision that links people to an employee, complete a form, survey, tasklist, new sub-workflow, reference an existing workflow, and a timed pause.
Documents and compliance
Load requirements, save requirements to the compliance profile, generate a document, complete a PDF document, send e-mail to a group with secure links, and sign a document, internally or externally.
People, training and performance
Import from workflow, which creates or updates the employee from the data captured; create training records, for example onboarding e-learning; the training request action with approvals, quotations and purchase orders; and conduct a performance or competence review on any review template.
Integration
Send captured data to the payroll in a standard format, and custom plugin activities for anything else: fetch information from SAP into the workflow, or send data to an external system and wait for its feedback.
Document signing
Signatures inside the workflow, no per-envelope fee
Documents are signed where they are created, as part of the process, and the signed copy is saved back to HR Manage.
Tracked sign requests
A formal request with its own status, reminders and audit trail, for contracts, policies and letters that need a proper signature.
Simple sign-offs
An informal internal sign-off where the full ceremony is not needed, completed in the browser by the person the workflow assigns.
External signers
People outside the company, such as new appointees or contractors, sign on the public signing portal without an HR Manage account.
Stored signatures
Signatures and initials are stored securely for reuse, and every signed document lands on the person’s record.
Use cases
Business process automation, for HR and beyond
The engine runs any process made of forms, approvals, tasks and documents. These examples are drawn in the same designer from the same activities. If you can draw it, you can run it.
In HR
The everyday processes HR Manage was built for.
A new appointee who exists in HR and payroll, with a signed contract and induction booked, before the first day.
- Form The manager captures the appointment: position, unit, start date and conditions of employment.
- Sign-off HR approves the appointment, or sends it back with a comment.
- Generate document The employment contract mail-merges from your template with the captured details.
- Sign document The appointee signs on the public signing portal, without an HR Manage account.
- Import from workflow The captured data creates the employee record, in the right position and unit.
- Load requirements The compliance documents the position and site require load to the new profile.
- Create training records Induction and onboarding e-learning are scheduled for the new employee.
- Send to payroll The new engagement goes to the payroll in a standard format.
Contract, record, compliance, training and payroll from one process, with nothing re-typed.
Transfers and promotions approved by both sides, applied to the record and passed to payroll on the right date.
- Form The manager requests the move, with the employee's current details pre-populated: new position, unit and effective date.
- Decision A move that changes pay adds an approval by HR and the budget holder. A sideways move skips it.
- Sign-off The current and the receiving manager approve.
- Generate document The letter confirming the new position and conditions is mail-merged.
- Sign document The employee signs the letter in the browser.
- Import from workflow The employee record updates to the new position and unit.
- Load requirements The new role's compliance requirements follow the person.
- Send to payroll The change goes to the payroll with its effective date.
The move is on record once, signed, with the org chart and compliance already up to date.
Every exit handled the same way, so nothing is forgotten on the way out.
- Form The manager captures the termination: reason, notice date and last working day.
- Decision The reason chooses the route, for example an exit interview only for resignations.
- Survey The employee completes the exit interview.
- Tasklist IT removes access, facilities collects equipment and the line manager arranges the handover. The workflow waits until all of it is done.
- Generate document The certificate of service is mail-merged from the record.
- Import from workflow The employee record updates with the termination date and reason.
- Send to payroll The termination goes to the payroll for the final pay.
Access removed, equipment back, certificate issued and payroll told, with the whole exit on one timeline.
Probation that ends in a decision on time, not a forgotten date.
- Timed pause The workflow started at onboarding waits until a month before probation ends.
- Conduct a review The manager completes the probation review on your review template.
- Sign-off The manager recommends confirmation or an extension, and HR approves.
- Decision The outcome chooses the route: a confirmation letter, or an extension with a new review date.
- Generate document The confirmation or extension letter is mail-merged.
- Sign document The employee signs the letter in the browser.
Every probation ends with a recorded decision and a signed letter.
Overtime claimed, approved in batches and paid, without a spreadsheet in between.
- Form The employee claims the hours worked, with the date and reason.
- Decision Claims over your monthly limit add an approval by HR.
- Sign-off The manager approves, or clears identical claims in a batch on the web.
- Send to payroll Approved hours go to the payroll in a standard format.
Approved overtime reaches the payroll with the approval trail behind every hour.
Beyond HR
The same engine, applied to the rest of the business.
A purchase request that finds the right approver for its value and ends as a purchase order at the supplier.
- Form The requester captures the item, supplier, cost centre and amount.
- Decision The amount chooses the route: the line manager below your threshold, the financial manager above it, the CFO for capital items.
- Sign-off Each approver approves or rejects with a comment. A rejection goes back to the requester.
- Generate document The approved request mail-merges into your purchase order template.
- Send to a group The order reaches the supplier and accounts as a secure download link.
One timeline per purchase: who asked, who approved at what amount, and the order that went out.
New suppliers vetted once, with the agreement signed and the checks done before the first order.
- Form Procurement captures the supplier's registration, tax, B-BBEE and banking details. Conditional logic adds the extra questions for a foreign supplier.
- Tasklist Finance verifies the bank account, procurement checks the B-BBEE certificate and legal checks the tax status. The workflow waits until all three are done.
- Sign document The supplier signs your supplier agreement and code of conduct on the public signing portal, without an account.
- Sign-off The procurement manager approves the supplier.
- Plugin activity A custom plugin activity creates the supplier in your ERP and waits for the vendor number.
Every approved supplier has a signed agreement and three completed checks on record.
Access granted per system by the people who own each one, and removed again on the date it should end.
- Form The manager requests access for a team member, with the person's details pre-populated from their record, the systems needed and an end date for temporary access.
- Sub-workflow One approval per system starts in parallel, each with that system's owner.
- Tasklist IT receives a task per approved system and closes it when the access is set up.
- Timed pause For temporary access, the workflow waits until the end date.
- Tasklist IT receives the removal tasks, and the request closes.
Who approved whose access, and when it was removed, is on record for the auditors.
Contracts drafted from your templates, reviewed where the risk calls for it, and signed by both sides.
- Form The business owner captures the counterparty, value and term, and answers the risk questions. Follow-up questions appear only when an answer calls for them.
- Decision High value or non-standard terms send the contract to legal review. Standard contracts skip it.
- Generate document The contract mail-merges from the approved template with the captured details.
- Sign document Your authorised signatory signs internally and the counterparty signs on the public portal. The signed copy is saved back to HR Manage.
- Timed pause The workflow waits until three months before expiry, then starts the renewal review.
No contract renews by accident, and every signature is on file.
Faults reported once, routed by site and urgency, and closed only when the person who reported them is satisfied.
- Form Anyone reports the fault with the site, the location and the urgency.
- Decision Urgent faults go straight to the site's facilities manager. Routine ones go to the maintenance team.
- Tasklist The technician receives the job and marks it done.
- Sign-off The person who reported the fault confirms the repair, or sends it back.
Every site's maintenance history in one place, with how long each fault took.
Works with
Part of one HR system
People management
Import from workflow creates the employee; compliance documents load straight to the profile.
Self-service web app
Every task, form and signature arrives on the person’s home page.
Incident reporting
Incident types run as workflows with their own forms and investigations.
Training & learners
Training requests and onboarding e-learning scheduled from inside a process.
HR Manage is a marvelous system that allows full customisation in order to suit the real needs of the business.
Do we need a developer to build a workflow?
No. Templates are designed in the drag-and-drop designer by HR, from standard activity types. Developers only come in for a custom plugin activity that talks to another system.
What happens when an employee has no manager on record?
The organisational unit carries a default manager, so the workflow still finds a recipient, and participant groups and subscribers keep the right people informed.
Can a workflow create an employee?
Yes. The import-from-workflow activity turns the data captured during onboarding into the employee record, and other activities load their compliance documents and schedule their training.
Where do employees and managers do their part?
In the web application: tasks, forms, approvals and signatures arrive on their home page and in their e-mail, and managers can clear identical approvals in a batch.
Can we automate processes outside HR?
Yes. The workflow engine is not limited to HR. Any process built from sign-offs, decisions, forms, tasklists and generated documents can run on it, routed by the same org structure and recorded step by step.
Book a demonstration
See your own process running in HR Manage
Bring one process you run on e-mail today and we will show you how it looks as a workflow, with the people who build the engine.
- A demonstration takes about 45 minutes, online or on site
- We answer the pricing and implementation questions on the call
- Prefer e-mail or phone? All contact details →
Book a demo or ask a question
We get back to you within one working day.