How PeopleForce helped QuartSoft automate key HR processes and integrate third-party services via API

As a business scales and explores various digital tools, it’s crucial to ensure that all processes are integrated and that departments interact effectively.

For the QuartSoft team, the solution to this challenge was partnering with PeopleForce. The company integrated the platform with third-party services through our flexible API. This integration automated key HR functions and established seamless connectivity across business tools like Jira, Power BI, DocuSign, and Microsoft Teams.

PeopleForce formed a single source of truth, where integrations allowed automation of the processes without the team's involvement. The HRM system eliminated the unnecessary workload for HR specialists and managers, saving 80% on routine work. Our flexible API is easily adapted to the specific needs of the company, delivering high results. 

We discussed this and more with Kateryna Slabko, Human Resources Operations Manager, and Vitaliy Kuzmin, CTO of QuartSoft. 

Learn more in this case study about how the HR platform and its additional capabilities can achieve operational efficiency and simplify processes at all levels.

About QuartSoft

QuartSoft is a holding of product IT companies that has confidently maintained its position in the market since 1999. The company’s story began with a small team of four people. Today, QuartSoft has grown into an international company with offices in Ukraine and Europe, uniting over 200 talented specialists. The team works from various corners of the world, allowing them to implement innovations and ensure high-quality products.

QuartSoft has several product lines, including Kadastr.UA, Soft Farm, QS Games, and eClients. Additionally, the company is developing its outsourcing division, and creating IT products for its clients.

From the PeopleForce tools, the team selected Core HR, Recruit, Perform, and Time, but one of the key advantages of the platform was the API functionality, which QuartSoft needed for custom integrations – but let’s take it step by step.

Why did QuartSoft choose PeopleForce?

The year 2022 was a turning point, forcing the company to significantly reconsider all processes due to the team’s relocation. This became one of the drivers for searching for a new automated solution to regulate the workflow.

Another major change was finding a replacement for a previously used CRM. The company needed a new platform that would align with the new realities, values, and needs of the business.

Clear requirements were set for the desired system:

• Simple and user-friendly interface
• Availability of an API for integration
• Functionality and customizability of all HRM system products
• Quick implementation of updates based on user requests
• Qualified technical support

Detailed overview of integrations: from assets management automation to Power BI analytics

Integration with Jira to streamline internal processes

Since Jira is the primary system for task management and internal processes at the company, QuartSoft's challenge was clear: to integrate Jira with PeopleForce for automatic access to employee data. The goal of the integration is to automate key HR processes, ensure convenience and speed in obtaining and displaying information, reduce manual work, and enhance transparency and efficiency within the team.

The team’s challenge

To achieve this goal, it was important for the technical team to have full access to employee information. Before the integration, this was challenging: the technical department often did not understand who was making requests for help or services.

Stages of integration development

1. Development of a proxy solution: Initially, a custom proxy solution was developed, allowing for controlled access to data and providing a convenient format for processing in Jira.
2. Implementation of aggregate functions: Functions were implemented that allowed the execution of a single request to retrieve data from various accounts in PeopleForce. For example, with one request, it was possible to obtain detailed information about an employee and their manager using only the employee's email address.

Functions needed for:

• Assets issuance/ management (HelpDesk)

To automate the request for assets, HR selects the employee and specifies the main requirements. All necessary information from PeopleForce (name, phone, address, position, work project) is automatically transferred to Jira for further processing of the request.

During execution, statuses change, triggering:

• Creation of a waybill based on the address from PeopleForce – for cases where the asset needs to be sent to the employee rather than issued manually. This eases the workload on the technical team.
• Generation of a transfer agreement for the asset – the act is automatically generated, considering all necessary data from PeopleForce. Signing is done through the DocuSign service for convenient and quick collection of electronic signatures from all participants in the process.
• Use of custom fields tailored to the company's specifics – to adapt the asset issuance process to the company’s specifics and policies, and to avoid manual data entry.

• Onboarding/preboarding/offboarding employees
  Before automation, the onboarding and offboarding processes were challenging for HRs: they had to fill out numerous spreadsheets, manage up to 30 tasks and subtasks, and constantly oversee where information was stored, the sequence of actions, and how to inform newcomers. This complexity increased the risk of errors.

Now, the company has an algorithm in Jira that automates the creation and sending of tasks based on custom fields and information from PeopleForce. The system sends ready-made tasks with checklists, links, and instructions to the responsible parties in just two clicks, outlining what needs to be done.

What has been automated:

• Automatic task generation: The processes of onboarding, preboarding, and offboarding are no longer created manually. Tasks are automatically generated based on templates and data from PeopleForce. All necessary information about the employee, such as start dates, duration of the probation period, position, and department, is imported into Jira, allowing for quick task creation.
• Dates and deadlines: The system automatically uses the employee's start dates, as well as the beginning and end of the probation period, to determine task deadlines, ensuring that each stage of the process is completed on time.

• Workload and leave widget

The integration pulls data on all types of leaves from PeopleForce and combines it with task logging in Jira. This equips project managers with tools to monitor the team's current and planned workload, removing the need for manual data comparison with the calendar in PeopleForce.

Results of the integration

• Task automation: As a result of optimizing workflows, task completion time has decreased by 80%. There are no longer errors in task assignments, as all processes are standardized. Instead of manual entry, all onboarding, preboarding, and offboarding tasks are automatically generated based on data from PeopleForce, such as start dates, department, position, and employee personal information. This has also simplified the onboarding of new employees – if an HR or recruiter leaves, the new employee can easily get up to speed with clear and straightforward procedures.

• Centralized management and transparency of processes: All employee data and processes, including asset issuance and meeting organization, are synchronized with PeopleForce, enabling centralized storage of documents and information. This positions PeopleForce as the single source of truth for the entire company, significantly improving information accessibility.
• Monitoring and resource control: Project managers now have access to new tools, including a widget that displays the current and planned workload and leave status of their team members. Previously, they needed to generate separate reports in Jira and manually compare them with the PeopleForce calendar.
• Improved coordination between departments: Thanks to the integration, the workload on technical teams has decreased – they now process requests from other departments more quickly and clearly.

Integration with DocuSign to reduce manual work

Team request

With the help of DocuSign, the QuartSoft team signs NDAs and assets issuance agreements. Before automation, HR specialists had to manually fill out a draft of the act in multiple languages, entering the personal information of the signatories (employee and company) required for DocuSign – full name, registered address, tax identification number, email, position, grade, and start date.

HR would save the document, upload it to DocuSign, manually add signatories, etc. This entry frequently resulted in human errors, such as spelling and grammatical mistakes, as well as incorrect input sequences. The process was time-consuming, requiring multiple checks for accuracy.

Results of the integration

Thanks to the integration with PeopleForce, this process is now automated through Jira. PeopleForce acts as the database, providing up-to-date employee information. Agreements and documents are generated based on this data and sent to the responsible party, utilizing custom fields from PeopleForce throughout the process.

The responsible individual now simply receives a task to fill out one custom field and click "send for signature." This has cut the task completion time from 20-30 minutes to just 3 minutes, eliminating the need for drafting documents for DocuSign, as everything runs automatically. The HR team is no longer involved in the drafting process and saves time, only receiving copies of the documents signed by the employee and the technical team representative.

Integration with Microsoft Teams based on a similar Slack bot

The integration with Microsoft Teams was implemented to replicate the functionality of the PeopleForce Slack bot. The successful outcome garnered positive feedback from company managers, who can now quickly and conveniently receive notifications about employee absences, such as vacations and sick leaves. This significantly accelerates company processes without relying on email notifications, which are not the primary communication tool. Employees can also promptly request leave and receive confirmation without needing to log into the PeopleForce platform.

Integration with Power BI

The integration of PeopleForce with Power BI was designed to automate report and analytics generation using data from multiple systems. The main challenge was to stay within API request limits and avoid server overload during monthly uploads of employee and absence data for Power BI analysis. 

This integration provided access to more data, improving analytics and reporting. Power BI pulls key employee information from PeopleForce, such as full name, position, level, project, and manager, allowing for better visualization of analytics to meet different business needs.

PeopleForce acts as a single, reliable database for employee information at QuartSoft, facilitating the analysis of team and project effectiveness, the relationship between costs and profitability, and hiring costs, from recruitment to the end of the probation period. This enables managers to make informed, data-driven decisions.

QS Integration

As an official PeopleForce partner, QuartSoft offers companies the opportunity to create an integrated, automated ecosystem based on advanced HRMS with its own development – QS Integration. The company helps unify corporate systems to improve productivity and simplify decision-making, providing businesses with tools that fully meet their specific needs.

Feedback on PeopleForce

The biggest advantage of PeopleForce is its flexibility. While the platform isn’t perfect, its customization options, such as creating additional fields and tailoring leave policies for each team have allowed QuartSoft to streamline their processes and integrate the system with other services to meet the business needs.