First Steps of HR Manager

This article is relevant for HR Managers.

Welcome to Aptien. We'll guide you through the basics of HR work in Aptien so you can quickly work on your own and collaborate with others. So that you know what is possible in the system and what is not, what you can do and how you can do it, where it will help you, what it will make easier and where its limits are!

Aptien will help you in HR:

• keep HR information and documentation about your employees
• managing and coordinating onboarding and offboarding
• it also makes it easier to plan and develop employees and organize training
• active relationship management with employees - active and direct communication with employees
• maintaining information and documentation around job applicants
• maintaining information around job roles and job requirements
• maintain an organizational structure in the form of an organigram

Aptien will help you keep HR information, but it's not a payroll system - so it won't help you with payroll processing and payroll. It does allow you to keep HR records around people, making it easier to onboard them, communicate with them, and live in the company.

How will you work as an HR manager in Aptien?

Aptien helps you securely maintain HR information and administration, automate processes and maintain an active relationship with your employees. You will work mainly with personnel Organizers, these are your electronic binders. You as HR manager have access to them. Because they contain sensitive information, other employees don't have access. Your basic work area as an HR manager is:

• Employee organizer - this is where you keep all information about your employees, including employment contracts, and where you plan the personal development and training of your employees
• Applicants - list of applicants, summary information, interviews with candidates for a job in your company
• Vacancies - is an organizer for the creation of new and vacant jobs and job titles
• Training catalog where you keep a record of all the training and educational events you organize or offer for your employees
• Organization settings, catalog of job positions, job descriptions, and job requirements
  

Getting Started with HR

1. Import or add your employee list (HR roster) to the system
2. Customize employee profile fields (job title, department, employment type, pay type)
3. Set up employee training and development plans
4. Create onboarding checklists and new-hire workflows
5. Enable employee self-service so staff can view pay stubs, request PTO, and update personal information

Build a strong, ongoing connection with your employees

• Aptien helps you stay connected with your team through its intranet and employee portal. It enables clear, two-way communication you can manage—without getting stuck in endless email threads.
• Each employee sees only their own information in the self-service portal, where they can also update their personal details to keep communication accurate and up to date.

Where - what can you find? Get to know your workspace

Everything you need is in the left sidebar, which takes you to almost everything required to do your job. At the top left, you'll see colored tabs—this is a list of the organizers available for your work. These are the ones you see as an HR manager.

Your HR workspace

• Here you’ll find all the key organizers for managing your HR and employee records.
• You may also have access to other organizers, depending on how Aptien is set up in your company, such as PPE, benefits list, and more.

See what it looks like in this article: User Homepage

Your tasks and daily activities

• A dashboard of all your tasks
• Notifications
• Notes
• and other activities you do as an Aptien user, or that are related to other users and impact your work. Notifications can also be sent automatically—when you set up watchdogs (alerts) or a task deadline is approaching, the system will notify you.

Your company

• The wall is a great place for company-wide updates and communication. Information on the wall is easily accessible to everyone. It’s much better than sending all-company emails.
• Directory of all employees where anyone in the company can quickly find contact details for other colleagues. 

How and where do you keep basic personnel information

You can store and manage your employees’ information in the Employee Organizer. For each employee, maintain data in the employee profile, where you’ll find all core details such as personal and contact info, assigned equipment, compensation and salary history, benefits, training, identity and health-related records, and any other HR records you need to keep. You can also track onboarding, day-to-day employment, and offboarding. A job description or job classification is included as well. You will find here:

• Employee contact information
• Personal details including home address, insurance information, and other payroll essentials such as health insurance and bank account for direct deposit
• Job information, job description, and job title details
• Assigned work equipment and assets provided to the employee
• Compensation, pay, and employment agreement details; attach the employment agreement, addendums, and amendments
• Qualifications, education, and work history
• Employee health details, medical exams, and any work restrictions
• Employee identity details
• Records of medical examinations
• Other personal documents

Edit employee information as needed

• Aptien provides a standard employee data template based on best practices. Every business is different, and Aptien supports that flexibility. You can easily customize the fields and details to fit your company’s needs.

How you will work and communicate in the system

Communication with other employees in the company is similar to email. All the messages and discussions from your colleagues and all the notifications from the system will be gathered in one place in your Notifications tab, where they can't get stuck, lost, or fall into spam.

• The vast majority of your communication will take place in tasks where you will interact with your colleagues and solve work tasks through discussions. The calendar will also be important, where you will see all your events and minutes. If you need Aptien to keep track of important deadlines or tasks for you, you will set up a watchdog for that.
• You will communicate with your employees who use the intranet via messages and by sharing information on the noticeboard

Which HR processes does Aptien simplify?

Below are the HR processes that Aptien helps you automate and streamline.

Employee onboarding automation

• Onboarding new hires is a frequent HR task that can be significantly simplified through automation.
• There are many activities to plan, coordinate, and complete during onboarding—from preparing documentation to issuing work tools and access.
• See how to do this in the article Steps in employee onboarding

Training scheduling automation

• Scheduling and tracking attendance for required or recurring training takes time. With Aptien, you save time by scheduling, tracking, and confirming employee training.
• Learn more in the article Employee training schedule

Employee development plans

• Like onboarding and training plans, you can maintain an employee development plan in the employee profile.
• Plan development activities and confirm their completion.

Employee data updates

• We help you streamline updates to employee information.
• You can allow an employee to update certain information via self-service
• An employee can use a request form to notify you of changes to any information you hold about them and can attach a document to the request, if the document does not need to be stored in their personnel file.

Employee requests and notifications

• An employee can submit different types of requests and reports
• Common examples include PTO/leave requests, requests for work equipment, time off, or doctor’s appointments.
• With request forms, all requests can be automated and routed to the right person.

Employee offboarding automation

• Create a checklist of activities to complete when an employee leaves.
• As an HR manager, you can assign tasks to employees—for example, to remove system access or return company assets.
• Thanks to the employee profile, you can clearly see what assets and responsibilities are assigned, so you can easily review and remove them.
• With an automated offboarding checklist, you won’t forget anything and the process stays clear and consistent.
• Learn more about How to create an employee offboarding plan

Tracking deadlines and key dates

• Set up your own alerts for expiration dates, amendments, or start/end of substitutes—it’s quick and easy.
• Our alerts handle notifications for you, and you can configure them to fit your needs.
• Users create alerts as needed and can share them with specific coworkers.
• If needed, alerts can automatically create tasks for you or your colleagues to complete.

Training participation tracking

• Many companies manage ongoing employee education, training, and certifications. You need to track who attended which training.
• You can manage this using two organizers we’ve introduced: link information from the Employee organizer and the Training Catalog.
• If you are organizing training, create a new training in the Training Catalog organizer, add tasks to run it, and link registered participants. The information is also recorded on the employee’s profile.

Tracking issued personal protective equipment (PPE)

• For each employee, you can record the PPE issued at hire or during employment.
• You can also track history, including how often an employee requests new items (e.g., gloves).
• For each item, you can see a list of employees who have been assigned that equipment.

Job Description

• Writing a job description can be challenging. Start by listing the key duties, responsibilities, and tasks the employee is expected to perform for the role.
• Create a job description in the Job Description section. You can write a plain-text summary and/or attach a checklist of tasks and workflows that you’ve defined in your process catalog.
• If your company uses one, open Job settings and link your Process Catalog in the Job Description block.

Process Description

• The Process Libraty is both a source for building job descriptions and a central place to organize all company processes.
• You can also use the catalog to create new processes, which you can later reference in policies and procedures.

Organigram (organizational structure)

• Use this to visually display your organization chart.

Catalog of Job Requirements

• Designed to define and track the qualifications, skills, certifications, and other requirements needed for each role.

What is Aptien?

Aptien is an all-in-one workplace platform for small and midsize businesses (SMBs).
It brings together collaboration, communication, and company recordkeeping in one simple, flexible system. With Aptien, your team no longer has to juggle separate tools, spreadsheets, sticky notes, or long email chains. Everything lives in one secure, connected hub.

More than an HR system

Aptien goes beyond traditional HR software. It functions as your company’s digital filing cabinet, intranet, and team workspace in one. You can manage employees, projects, assets, contracts, and tasks—while keeping all related information connected, organized, and auditable.

Collaboration made simple

Think of it as the familiar feel of a company bulletin board and desk, combined with project, task, and asset management. Teams can share updates, stay informed, and work together smoothly—like a social feed, but purpose-built for business.

Why HR managers choose Aptien?

Unlike rigid, traditional software, Aptien is flexible and customizable. It adapts to your workflows, linking operational records directly to day-to-day tasks. Notes, documents, and activities are always at your fingertips—no more paper clutter, disconnected tools, or missing information.

Bottom line: Aptien gives your company a single home for communication, collaboration, and everyday work.