How a Toronto Company Connected Its HR Processes With Intelligent Automation

Project overview

A growing company in Toronto ran recruitment, onboarding, expense claims and HR questions through emails and spreadsheets. We connected them into one HR workflow. HR now spends its time on decisions while the system collects, checks and reminds.

The solution

We implemented five connected automations:

CV screening and ranking, with the evidence shown for recruiter review
Expense collection into a structured Excel table, with approval kept by authorized staff
Employee onboarding from confirmed hire to completed checklist
An HR assistant that answers routine questions from approved documents
Notifications and reports that tie the workflows together

Business impact

HR now runs recruitment, onboarding, expenses and employee questions through one connected workflow.

Recruiters start from a ranked shortlist with the evidence beside each candidate
Expense claims land in one Excel table with a clear status
Reminders replace manual chasing of documents and approvals

The challenge

Recruitment arrived as CVs in shared inboxes. Someone had to open each one, read it against the vacancy and note the result in a spreadsheet. When a candidate was hired, a second round of emails began: contracts, personal documents, and separate requests to IT and administration for accounts and equipment.

Employees emailed expense receipts to HR, who reviewed them one by one and re-entered the details into a workbook. Routine questions about leave, holidays and procedures reached HR by message and email, and the same answers were written again and again.

The result was scattered records, no single view of what was pending, reminders sent by hand, and an HR team that had little time left for the work that needed its judgment.

Individual automations

Each automation can be understood on its own, and each hands its result to the next. A confirmed hire from the recruitment workflow starts onboarding; the onboarding checklist and the expense table feed the reports.

AI-powered CV screening and candidate ranking

Recruiters used to read every CV in full before they could decide who deserved a closer look. We built a screening workflow that does the first pass and shows its reasoning, so the recruiter reviews evidence instead of starting from a blank page.

CVs arrive through the configured recruitment channels, such as the careers inbox and application form, and are collected into one place.
The workflow reads each CV and extracts education, experience, skills, qualifications and the other criteria set for the vacancy.
Each candidate is evaluated against the requirements of the relevant vacancy, using criteria that HR can configure for every role.
Applications are categorized and ranked for recruiter review, with the matching evidence listed beside each recommendation.
Candidate records and screening outcomes are stored in a structured format, so they can be searched and reported on.
HR receives a shortlist and can open the evidence behind each recommendation.
Candidates who need further assessment are routed to the appropriate recruitment stage.

The aim is to reduce how many applications a recruiter has to read in full before a first decision. We do not publish a screening rate for this solution, because none has been measured.

The screening supports HR decisions. It never rejects a candidate automatically on the strength of a score. Recruiters can review any application, change the criteria for a vacancy, and correct information the AI extracted wrongly; the corrected record is the one used from then on.

Automated expense collection and Excel reporting

Employees used to email receipts and supporting documents to HR, who reviewed each submission and re-entered it into a spreadsheet. We automated the collection and the tabulation, and left the approval where it belongs.

An expense submission arrives through the configured email address or submission channel.
The workflow extracts the employee name, submission date, expense category, supplier, amount, currency and receipt details.
The data is checked for missing fields, inconsistent values and possible duplicates.
The information is added to a structured Excel table with consistent columns and formatting.
Supporting documents are stored, or linked, in the appropriate location.
Submissions that need clarification are flagged for HR review.
Expenses that need approval are routed to the responsible approver.
HR tracks submitted, pending, approved and rejected expenses through one consistent record.

Extraction and tabulation are automated. Financial approval is not: every expense that needs approval goes to an authorized person, and HR can correct any extracted value before it is used.

Automated employee onboarding

Once a hire is confirmed, onboarding used to mean a series of separate emails. We turned it into one tracked workflow that starts from the hiring decision and ends when the onboarding checklist is complete.

HR confirms the new hire and enters or approves the employee's details.
A structured employee record is created.
Required documents and missing information are tracked against the record.
Contract documents are generated from approved templates for HR to review.
Contracts are sent for signature through the configured signing process.
IT and administration receive the tasks that apply to this particular employee.
HR receives reminders for outstanding documents and incomplete tasks.
The onboarding checklist tracks progress until it is complete, and authorized employee information is stored in the appropriate system.

This replaces repeated emails and manual coordination with one record that everyone involved works from.

HR stays in control of sensitive documents and approvals. Contracts are reviewed by HR before they are issued, and only authorized staff can see or change employee information.

HR chatbot and employee self-service

Employees asked HR the same routine questions repeatedly. We built an internal HR assistant that answers them from the company's own approved documents.

It answers questions about topics such as leave policies, holidays, expense submission procedures, onboarding requirements and internal processes, whenever that information exists in the company's knowledge base.
It retrieves each answer from approved internal information and gives a source reference or link where one is available.
It directs employees to the correct forms or submission channels.
It passes any question it cannot answer reliably to HR.

The assistant does not make up company policy and does not disclose another employee's private information. It does not approve leave, expenses or any other HR decision; it only explains the process and points to the right channel.

HR notifications, reminders and management reporting

The fifth automation connects the other four. It decides who needs to know what, and when, and it turns the records the workflows create into reports.

Events that trigger a notification:

A new candidate enters the pipeline: HR is notified.
An application waits for review: it is flagged to the recruiter.
An onboarding document is missing: the employee receives a reminder.
An expense is pending: the approver is alerted.
An onboarding task is incomplete: the responsible team is notified.

Information recorded for reporting: candidate stages and screening outcomes, onboarding checklist progress, and submitted, pending, approved and rejected expenses. These are consolidated into structured reports, and recurring summaries show workload, outstanding actions and process status.

Notifications and summaries inform people. They do not close tasks, approve anything or change a decision.

How the workflow operates

This is how the connected HR workflow runs, from the first trigger to the report.

A trigger arrives A CV reaches the careers inbox, an employee sends an expense, a hire is confirmed, or an employee asks the HR assistant a question. Each of these starts the matching automation.
The information is processed The workflow reads the CV, the receipt or the new-hire details and extracts the fields it needs into a structured record.
The record is validated Missing fields, inconsistent values and possible duplicates are flagged, and criteria set by HR are applied to candidates.
People review and approve Recruiters review shortlists, approvers decide on expenses, and HR approves contracts. These steps are never skipped.
Records are stored Candidate records, employee records, expense rows and supporting documents are stored in structured form and linked to each other.
Notifications go out The right person is told what needs attention: a missing document, a pending expense, an application waiting for review.
Humans take over where needed Anything unclear or sensitive is escalated to HR, and corrections made by HR are written back to the record.
Reports are produced Recruitment, onboarding and expense records are consolidated into recurring summaries of workload, outstanding actions and status.

Systems and integrations

The systems involved are the ones the company already works with. Each connection is set up for that company, and we only describe the ones that are configured.

Email: the recruitment inbox and the expense inbox are the entry points for CVs and receipts.
Excel: the expense table and the recurring reports are structured workbooks with consistent columns.
HR records: candidate and employee records are stored in the HR system or database used by the team.
Document storage: CVs, receipts and onboarding documents are stored or linked so that every record points to its source.
E-signature: contracts are sent for signature through the configured signing service.
Calendars and notifications: reminders and alerts reach people by the channels they already use.
Knowledge base: the HR assistant answers only from the approved policy and procedure documents it has been given.

Related services

Results

HR administrative time reduced: 62.5% typical month (Estimate)
Hours saved per month: 125 hours per month (Estimate)
Annual labour value released: $22,500 per year (Estimate)
Applications screened: 480 applications per month (Estimate)
Routine inquiries handled automatically: 70% typical month (Estimate)

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