Initial setup guide for myhrtoolkit

Welcome to the myhrtoolkit Initial Setup guide

This page is designed to help walk you through the process of configuring your toolkit for the first time.

Navigation through the pages is simple, choose the subject area on the left and you'll be guided through each of the sub-topics using the 'Next' (and back with 'Previous') links.

Note

• In line with the majority of modern websites, myhrtoolkit requires JavaScript to be enabled in your user's browser. Without JavaScript enabled, much of the application will work but we cannot ensure 100% functionality. We do not currently support accessing the site without JavaScript enabled.
• Depending on your organisation's firewall configuration, you may need to add these sites to your firewall whitelist:
  • ajax.googleapis.com
  • code.jquery.com
  • fonts.googleapis.com
  • fonts.gstatic.com
  • maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com
• Our home page and support also makes use of the following, but are not included in the myhrtoolkit application.
  • www.google-analytics.com
  • www.google.co.uk
  • www.googletagmanager.com

Where's my data?

It is worth spending some time in preparation for activating your myhrtoolkit. We recommend that you...

• Gather the data that you will require; the more that is already 'online' the better as this will greatly speed up your data entry.
• Think about where your holiday, sickness records are kept as well as employment documents such as contracts, CVs and job descriptions.
• Consider what level of data you wish to apply before going live. The system will allow you to go live with a minimum level of personal data. You can however upload a wealth of data and documents before going live.
• Decide how much historical data you will include; both before and after you go live.
• Remember, you can always add data, documents and change settings after you go live.

How can I speed up the upload process?

In order to accelerate the input of data into the toolkit, there are 4 automated upload forms.

Details about how to use them can be found in the guide 'How To – A Guide to Importing Data during Set-up.'

What other Support is there?

• Documentation There is a range of support material available by clicking on the First time setup - a guide link within the set up screen.
• Service desk The myhrtoolkit Service desk operates UK office hours Monday to Friday. To submit a query for resolution, click on the I've got an enquiry about setup link within the set up screen.

What else do I need to consider?

Think about your locations, departments and job titles. If you set these up before uploading your personal data you can include them on the personal details upload sheet.

If you have international locations (outside the UK) you can set up local public holidays. Check that we currently support your local currency units. If we haven't included it already, let us know and we'll add it for you.

How long will it take?

In many ways, it all comes down to how quickly you want to go live. There are a number of factors that will impact on the time it will take you to go live...

• The amount of resource you have available to do the work. How many people/ how much time will you allocate to setting up your toolkit?
• The number of users you will have
• The amount of data you choose to include – both at 'go live' and after

Who will be my Controllers?

This is a very trustworthy position, as your controllers will have access to all information about all of your people. Too few controllers and you might not have cover for absences, too many and there is a danger of confusion with system changes being made by one unknown to the others. Somewhere between 2 and 4 is probably best.

Setting up the system and adding the data is the best way for a Controller to really learn about the system. After all, they will be taking the responsibility for its smooth operation once it goes live.

Sign up to myhrtoolkit

• If you want to sign up to myhrtoolkit, it's a simple process. We will need some basic company details, and you can be set up very quickly, often within a working day.
• There are no upfront costs in getting started with myhrtoolkit, and prices are governed by the number of users you will have in your organisation, see our price list for further information.

Terms and conditions

Once your toolkit has been setup, an email will be sent with a link to log in for the first time. On following the link you will be asked to accept the myhrtoolkit Terms and Conditions.

Setting up the Controller Account

• After the Terms and Conditions, you will be asked to set up some informal details about yourself, setting up the initial Controller user account.
• This includes the need to confirm the date of birth given on the application form.
  
  
• Also providing a username and password. Whilst a default username is suggested, it is recommended that you personalise the username to something that you will more readily remember. Please be aware that some usernames may already be taken by users in other companies using myhrtoolkit.
• You will need to provide a password. It is recommended that you use a strong password, including mixed case letters and at least one number.
  

  

Organisation details

Provided all went well, you will see this confirmation –

You are now ready to collect and enter the organisational details required to run your toolkit. The next section of this guide will walk you through what will be required and what happens with your data.

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Setup Wizard

When you first access the System Set Up, you will be in 'Stage 1,' as shown below. This dashboard acts as a wizard for the different tasks involves in getting a new toolkit prepared for use.

Locations, Department, Job titles, Holiday Year

From the links in the centre column of the wizard, enter the locations from which your organisation operates, the departments you use, job titles, and define your standard holiday year (the default follows a standard calendar year).

There are some additional items which can be configured, such as title and gender, but these are optional, and the toolkit has defaults.

Each of these are straight-forward processes, but form the basic framework upon which the rest of the toolkit structure operates.

Note – Details of mandatory and nice to have items setup during this stage can be found in the Mandatory myhrtoolkit Configuration support page.

Gender settings

Myhrtoolkit provides options for employees to self-identify as genders not limited to the standard binary Male/Female. Whilst the default options in a new myhrtoolkit system are Female, Male and Not Set, additional identities can be added as needed using the Gender Configuration option in the Employees sub-section in setup and admin.

The import spreadsheet can accept any genders. If gender identities are included in the spreadsheet but not yet in your myhrtoolkit system, they will be added during import. If there are spelling mistakes, these can be corrected later using Gender Configuration.

Note – The Not Set option is fixed and cannot be removed. It is the default for new employees.

Employee data

Once the basic organisational structure has been set up, the toolkit will be ready to have employees uploaded. This is done via the 'Import employee data from Excel' link in the wizard. The page contains instructions with a link to a downloadable spreadsheet which should be populated with employee information.

It is important that the structure of the file should be kept intact whilst the extra data is added. Additional codes used internally by the toolkit will be shown which should be used for Locations, Departments, etc.

Further information can be found in the Guide to Importing Data.

Holidays and absence

Existing holidays and absence information can be uploaded into your myhrtoolkit system; however, it is currently only available in Stage 1: Initial Set-Up.

• From the set up screen, click on the 'click here' link - either in employee holiday dates (as below) or sickness absence dates - the process is the same.
  
  
  
  Then click on the 'default spreadsheet' link - see below:
  
  
  
  
• Save the spreadsheet onto your computer - somewhere accessible, e.g. 'my documents.' The default spreadsheet is an empty spreadsheet with the column headings prepared. The columns in the spreadsheet are: [ User ID ] [ First Name ] [ Surname ] [ From ] [ To ] [ Time Off ]
• Cut and paste your data into the spreadsheet. You can leave columns empty, but you cannot create new headings. Please do not remove or change the numbers in the 'User Id' column.
• Make sure all dates are in the format dd/mm/yyyy. You must use exactly this format, with slashes, and all 'years' must have four digits (so don't put '15/01/15', it needs to say '15/01/2015')
• The amount of time off should be entered as a number, ie for 3 days off or 3 hours off please simply enter the number: 3
• Save the spreadsheet in 'CSV' format. To do this, when you save the document you need to select 'save as' and then use the 'save as type' pull-down selector to choose CSV. It might also say 'comma delimited'
• Having saved the spreadsheet on your computer, click on the 'Browse' button to select the spreadsheet and then click on 'Upload employee file' and follow the instructions.

Other data

Uploading Emergency Contact information is accessed from line 19 of the options within the wizard. It is very similar to the importing of Personal Details and comes with its own instruction sheet. Once again, ensure that the spreadsheet formatting remains intact.

Organisation settings and Config

With employee data loaded, there are various other settings which will need attention

• Set up the management structure - assign which employees are managers, and the management hierarchy
• Holidays
  • Assign the employee holiday entitlements
  • Update Hours Status for all employees, with history for at least the current Holiday Year
  • Assign holiday groups and the associated manager(s)
  • Set up any self-authorising-holiday employees
• Assign Absence manager(s) Note – these may be different from an employee's line manager or holiday managers
• Expiration periods of formal warnings, and historic formal warnings. (Some notes relating to formal warnings can be found in the Disciplinary Record support guide)

Hours Status is an indicator for each user in your system which affects the way in which holidays are managed and the pro rating of employee pay. For further information, see the Guide to Hours Status, and the more focussed Guide to Fixed Hours.

When setting up your new Toolkit you will need to update the Hours Status of all users. The page to set it available via the Hours Status link in the main Setup page.

Entries are added by specifying a start date for the Hours Status setting, then adding the extra details on the following page. The system will follow the timeline you use to ensure that the correct Hours Status for each user is used at each point in any calculation.

Note – To ensure correct calculation of Holiday Entitlements it is important to be certain that employees have their current Hours Status assigned, and any other Hours Status that was applied during the current holiday year, input into the Toolkit.

End of initial set up

Once you have completed the initial set up screen and clicked on the 'I've finished the set up process' link, you will see the message below confirming that you have input sufficient employee details and that the system has enough information to function. If there is critical information missing, the system will not allow you to proceed and will instead advise you of the area needing attention.

When you click on the 'click here to continue to upload your company and employee documents' link shown in the above image, you will see the screen below. As a controller you now have full access to the system, but none of your employees do.

Add documents

In the Document Upload Stage you can add documents, or allow users onto the system, known as Broadcast. If you choose to broadcast, you will still be able to add documents later via Management > Document library.

Myhrtoolkit has provision for a wide range of document types, including:

• Any company handbook or policies;
• Any other rules or procedures relevant to the various departments;
• The signed contract of employment for each employee (you may need to scan these in);
• The blank "pro-forma" contracts that you will use for your future staff;
• Any induction materials you have.
• Any "general documents" your organisation uses (for instance expenses sheets etc).

For further information on uploading and managing your document library, see the Document Library FAQ.

When you are ready to allow users to log in to your system, simply click on the blue 'click here' link at the top of the management tab – shown above.

This takes you to the page below, where you are asked to check that all the system email addresses are correct. This is important as these will be used by myhrtoolkit to communicate with your employees.

Once you are satisfied that all the email addresses are correct, press the button shown at the bottom of the screen shown above.

The emails sent will contain a time limited link for each user to click to log in, creating their username and allowing them to choose a password. The link will remain active for 7 days.

• Technically everyone is 'live,' but only those to whom emails were sent will be aware of the fact.
• The option above can be used with an already live system. If someone is showing as 'Give access' within Setup & admin > System Access, but has yet to receive their login details, you will first need to change them to 'No access' and press submit. You can then follow the above.
• In order to create managers in the 'initial set up' stage, the individual must be set to 'Give Access' within Setup & admin > System access.
• Links sent to users giving access to the system are time limited and will expire after seven days.

Broadcast with only selected individuals

How to allow only a limited number of people access, perhaps key managers, to give them an opportunity to get to grips with the new HR tool.

• Within Setup & admin > System access, ensure that only those people that you want to have initial access are set to 'Give access' and all others are set to 'No access'
• Follow the 'Broadcast' steps given before, this will make your system live and send out email notifications to your selected group
• As you choose to make others live, go to Setup & admin > System access, and tick 'Give access' for all those you want to make live.
• People with previous access will not be affected

Notes

• The option above can be used with an already live system. If someone is showing as 'Give access' within Setup & admin > System Access, but has yet to receive their login details, you will first need to change them to 'No access' and press submit. You can then follow the above.
• In order to create managers in the 'initial set up' stage, the individual must be set to 'Give Access' within Setup & admin > System access.
• Links sent to users giving access to the system are time limited and will expire after seven days.

Ongoing support with your myhrtoolkit

Once your toolkit is live and your employees are using it, we recognise that there may still be questions about how to do things, or 'what happens when I press this button?' We remain available for all your queries, and are always happy to help.

• We have an extensive library of support documents available via the website and from inside the app.
• If you have a more specific support question, you can log a request using our ZenDesk page, and one of our support team will be in touch to help.

Note – Our office hours are Monday - Friday, 9am to 5pm (UK time).

The Toolkit MOT

Incorrect settings can make things harder then necessary and can even lead to unexpected results. With this in mind, three months after your toolkit goes live we will contact you to book a time to conduct a free Toolkit MOT. This is a 30 minute consultation, during which we will:

• Review your settings
• Check your progress with using the toolkit
• Advise you about features which you may not be using yet, and highlight new features
• See if you have any outstanding questions

This is a comprehensive review, areas examined in the Toolkit MOT are...

Note – The Toolkit MOT and any recommendations do not constitute HR Advice.