Automation - Overview & Use Cases

Automation - Overview & Use Cases

What is automation in Zoho People?

Automation in Zoho People helps in streamlining HR processes, reducing manual effort, and enhancing efficiency. Through automated workflows, mail alerts, checklists, and custom functions, it eliminates redundancy, ensures data accuracy, and enables the timely completion of tasks without requiring human intervention once configured. It can include simple data-based actions, such as sending reminders, to complex multi-stage workflows for employee query management. 


What automation can you perform in Zoho People?

  1. Workflows:
    Workflow automation helps you automate all your HR processes by eliminating most of the manual administrative work. You can preset and customize the workflow process, and full access control to the administrative processes will be given.
    Learn more
  1. Blueprints:
    Blueprint is a systematic flowchart of your HR processes, created digitally in Zoho People. It captures each and every stage in an HR process that you follow offline. 
    Learn more
  1. Actions
    1. Email Alerts
      Improve your workflow with automatic email alerts and be up-to-date at all times. Get instant notifications when specific actions, such as requests, status updates, edits, and approvals, are executed. Learn more.
    2. Checklists & Tasks:
      Checklists and tasks exist to ensure that all necessary actions are completed efficiently and on time. With checklists, users can list and organize tasks or action items, providing a clear overview of what needs to be accomplished. Tasks are individual action items assigned to specific owners, facilitating accountability and tracking of progress. By creating tasks and assigning them to responsible individuals, organizations can streamline workflow management, maintain records of completed activities, and enhance overall productivity and efficiency. Learn more - ChecklistsTasks.
    3. Field Updates:
      Field updates are used to dynamically update form fields through associated actions as part of a workflow, blueprint, or custom action. The field gets automatically updated in the related form when selecting or providing the specific lookup value in the form. This feature is very useful to avoid manual value entries in the related forms and thus saves time. Learn more.
    4. Webhooks:
      It communicates with third-party applications by sending instant notifications every time a user performs an action in the Zoho People organizational account data. Webhooks are so useful, flexible, and totally customizable. Learn more.
    5. Custom Functions:
      Custom functions let you create user-defined functions that can be reused anywhere in Zoho People. You can maintain and edit custom functions, and the script will be in one central location. These functions are mainly created to manipulate data, connect with third parties and internal applications, and update responses in Zoho People. Learn More.
    6. E-Sign Flow (Requires integration with Zoho Sign):
      Create pre-configured flows to get documents esigned from different recipients for varied official requirements. Learn More.
    7. Posts for Zoho Connect (People Plus or Zoho Connect integration required):
      Automated messages can be scheduled and posted in Zoho Connect using workflows from Zoho People/People Plus. This enables the automatic posting of periodic announcements, reminders, notifications, and other messages on walls and public groups within Zoho Connect.  Learn More.
  1. Schedulers
    1. Absent Scheduler (Attendance service only):
      Use a scheduler to automatically notify or mark the absence of employees who have forgotten to check-in.
    2. Compensatory Off Scheduler (Leave service only):
      The compensatory off scheduler records an employee's work done on a weekend or holiday automatically.
    3. Timesheet Scheduler (Timesheet service only):
      Add timesheet scheduler to collate time logs as timesheet and submit for approval automatically.
  1. Templates
    1. Email Templates:
      Use email templates to create ready-to-use emails that can be used in workflows, blueprints, and custom actions.
    2. Letter Templates:
      Letter templates are used to create standardized official letters for specific purposes, streamlining the process of generating official correspondence.
    3. Mail Merge Templates:
      Create templates to send standard HR documents such as probation letters and contracts to multiple employees at once.
  1. Reminders (Timesheet service only):
    Set timely reminders to remind your employees to log time and submit their timesheets.
  2. Present By Default (Attendance service only):
    It is used to mark selected users as present automatically.
  3. Shift Rotation (Shift service only):
    Automatically change the assigned shift for employees based on the specified frequency.
  4. Notifications (Performance, Onboarding, Cases service, Office Readiness, Employee Engagement services):
    Enable or disable default notifications and customize (if applicable).
Not all services support every automation feature. Select a service and go to the Automation tab to see the list of automation features supported. Some services may include preconfigured and editable automation.

Examples and Use Cases

Example 1) Leave Service - Notify team about employee leave

  1. Go to Settings > Leave > Automation > Workflows and click on Add Workflow.
  2. Enter the basic details and select New or existing record is approved radio button within "Action Based Events".

  3. Now head to the "Actions" space and select Email Alert. "Person performing this action" will be the "From" and "To" will be "Team email address of the person performing this action". This can be selected by using the () icon.



  4. The subject is also smartly composed using the prebuilt options.



  5. The body of the email alert is composed by inserting custom text and using the available merge/select field options. The final text used is:
    Dear Team,
    Leave information for - ${Employee_ID.FullName}
    Employee Details: 
    Employee ID : ${Employee ID.EmployeelD}
    Leave Type : ${Leavetype}
    From : ${From}
    To : ${To}
    Reason : ${Reasonforleave}




  6. Finally click Save.
  7. The workflow is now configured and team members will be automatically notified when an employee takes leave.








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