First-Time Setup Checklist

After creating your organization account and logging in for the first time, you need to configure several foundational settings before your team can begin using Udyamo HRMS effectively. This chapter provides an ordered checklist of tasks, explains why each step matters, and links to the detailed chapter for every item.

Completing these steps in order ensures that dependent features — such as payroll calculations that rely on salary components, or leave accruals that depend on the fiscal year — work correctly from the start.

What You Will Learn

• The recommended order for setting up a new Udyamo HRMS organization
• What each setup step accomplishes and why it matters
• Where to find detailed instructions for every step
• How to track your setup progress

Prerequisites

Required: You must be logged in as an Administrator of the organization. Standard employees and managers do not have access to most configuration settings.

Required: Complete Chapter 2: Signing Up & First Login before proceeding.

The Setup Checklist

Follow these steps in order. Each step builds on the one before it.

Tip: Plan approximately 2-3 hours for the complete initial setup. You do not have to finish everything in one session — your progress is saved automatically. However, try to complete Steps 1-6 before adding employees.

Step 1: Complete Organization Profile

Navigation: Settings > Organization

Your organization profile establishes the identity of your company within Udyamo HRMS. This information appears on payslips, reports, and employee-facing pages.

What to Configure

Why It Matters

• The organization name appears on all official documents (payslips, offer letters, reports).
• The logo provides brand identity across the platform.
• The sidebar color helps users visually distinguish between organizations if they belong to more than one.

Action: Go to Settings > Organization, fill in all fields, upload your logo, and click Save. See Chapter 5: Organization Profile & Branding for detailed instructions.

Step 2: Set Work Week, Timezone & Date Format

Navigation: Settings > Organization

These settings define how Udyamo HRMS interprets dates, calculates working days, and displays times.

What to Configure

Why It Matters

• The work week determines which days are counted for attendance, leave calculations, and payroll.
• An incorrect timezone causes check-in/check-out times to appear wrong.
• The date format ensures consistency across all reports and employee-facing screens.

Warning: Set the timezone before adding any attendance records. Changing the timezone after employees have started checking in can cause data inconsistencies.

Action: Go to Settings > Organization, configure the work week, timezone, and date format, then click Save. See Chapter 8: Work Week, Timezone & Fiscal Year.

Step 3: Set Fiscal Year Start Month

Navigation: Settings > Organization

The fiscal year start month determines the annual cycle for leave accruals, payroll summaries, tax calculations, and financial reports.

What to Configure

Why It Matters

• Leave balances reset based on the fiscal year.
• Tax calculations (TDS) follow the fiscal year cycle.
• Payroll summaries and reports are grouped by fiscal year.

Warning: If you set this incorrectly, leave accrual calculations and tax reports will generate wrong data. Indian organizations almost always use April as the fiscal start month.

Action: Go to Settings > Organization, set the Fiscal Start Month to the appropriate month, and click Save. See Chapter 8.

Step 4: Create Departments & Designations

Navigation: Settings > Departments and Settings > Designations

Departments and designations form the organizational structure that every employee record references.

What to Configure

Departments — Create all departments in your organization:

Designations — Create all job titles used in your company:

Why It Matters

• Every employee must be assigned to a department and designation.
• Reports can be filtered and grouped by department and designation.
• Leave policies and salary structures can be targeted to specific departments.

Tip: Start with your current organizational structure. You can always add more departments and designations later.

Action: Go to Settings > Departments, add all departments. Then go to Settings > Designations and add all designations. See Chapter 6: Departments & Designations.

Step 5: Add Offices & Locations

Navigation: Settings > Offices

If your organization operates from multiple locations, each office should be created in the system.

What to Configure

Why It Matters

• Employees are assigned to offices, which determines applicable Professional Tax rules.
• GPS coordinates enable geo-fenced attendance (employees can only check in when near the office).
• Office-specific holidays can be configured per location.

Tip: Even if you have only one office, create it in the system. It is required for several downstream features, including attendance geo-tracking and Professional Tax.

Action: Go to Settings > Offices and add each office location. See Chapter 7: Offices & Locations.

Step 6: Configure Roles & Permissions

Navigation: Settings > Roles

Roles determine what each user can see and do within Udyamo HRMS. The system ships with default roles, but you may need to customize them.

Default Roles

What to Configure

• Review default role permissions and adjust as needed.
• Create custom roles if your organization requires different access levels (e.g., "Finance Manager" with payroll access but no employee editing rights).
• Plan which employees will receive which roles.

Why It Matters

• Proper role configuration protects sensitive data (e.g., salary information).
• Approval workflows depend on roles and reporting relationships.
• The principle of least privilege ensures employees only access what they need.

Warning: Do not give Admin access to users who do not need it. Create specific roles for specific job functions.

Action: Go to Settings > Roles, review and customize roles as needed. See Chapter 9: Roles & Permissions.

Step 7: Set Up Leave Categories & Policies

Navigation: Settings > Leave Categories (and related leave settings)

Before employees can apply for leave, you need to define the types of leave available and the rules governing them.

What to Configure

Why It Matters

• Leave categories define what types of leave employees can request.
• Policies control accrual rates, carry-over limits, and encashment rules.
• Misconfigured leave policies cause payroll errors (incorrect LOP deductions).

Action: Configure leave categories and policies before adding employees. This ensures new employees receive correct starting balances. See Chapter 21: Setting Up Leave Categories and Chapter 22: Leave Policies.

Step 8: Configure Salary Components

Navigation: Settings > Salary Components

If you plan to use the Payroll module, salary components must be defined before you can assign salary structures to employees.

What to Configure

Earnings:

Deductions:

Why It Matters

• Salary components are the building blocks of salary structures.
• Incorrect component configuration leads to wrong payslip amounts and compliance violations.
• Statutory components (EPF, ESIC, PT, TDS) must be configured correctly for legal compliance.

Warning: Review Indian statutory requirements carefully when setting up EPF, ESIC, Professional Tax, and TDS components. Incorrect configuration can result in compliance penalties.

Action: Go to Settings > Salary Components and define all earnings and deductions. See Chapter 26: Salary Components.

Step 9: Add Employees

Navigation: Employees > Add Employee

With the organizational foundation in place, you can now add your employees to the system.

Options for Adding Employees

Minimum Required Information per Employee

Why This Step Comes Last

Each employee record references departments, designations, offices, roles, leave policies, and salary components. If these are not set up first, you will have to go back and update every employee record after configuring the missing items.

Tip: For initial setup with many employees, use the bulk import feature to save time. Prepare a CSV file with all employee details and upload it in one operation.

Action: Add employees individually or via bulk import. Then send invitation emails so employees can set up their own passwords and begin using the system. See Chapter 10: Adding Your First Employee.

Step 10: Enable/Disable Feature Toggles

Navigation: Settings > Organization (or Settings > Features)

Udyamo HRMS uses feature toggles to let you activate only the modules your organization needs.

Available Feature Toggles

How to Enable or Disable a Feature

1. Navigate to Settings > Organization (or the dedicated Features section).
2. Find the feature toggles section.
3. Toggle each feature on or off as needed.
4. Click Save.

What Happens When a Feature Is Disabled

• The corresponding menu items disappear from the sidebar.
• Employees cannot access that module.
• Existing data is preserved — if you re-enable the feature later, all previous data is still available.

Tip: If you are not ready to use payroll yet, keep it disabled until you have fully configured salary components and structures. This prevents employees from seeing incomplete payroll data.

Warning: Disabling a feature does not delete its data, but it does hide it from all users. Make sure to inform your team before toggling off a feature they are actively using.

Action: Review each feature toggle and enable the modules you plan to use. You can change these settings at any time.

Setup Progress Tracking

Recommended Progress Approach

Since Udyamo HRMS saves your settings as you go, you can track your progress manually.

Tip: Print this checklist or copy it into a document. Check off each item as you complete it. Share the checklist with your co-admin if multiple people are setting up the system.

What to Do After Setup

Once you have completed all ten steps, your organization is ready for daily operations.

Recommended Next Steps

Tips & Best Practices

Tip: Complete the entire setup before inviting employees to the platform. This ensures a polished first impression — employees will see correct departments, office names, and leave balances from day one.

Tip: Document your configuration decisions (e.g., which salary components you created and why, how many leave days each category provides) in an internal reference document. This helps future administrators understand the rationale behind your setup.

Warning: Do not skip the fiscal year and timezone settings. These are foundational to payroll and leave calculations. Getting them wrong requires significant rework later.

Tip: If your organization has complex requirements (e.g., multiple pay structures, state-specific Professional Tax rules, or varied shift schedules), consider setting up a test organization first to validate your configuration before rolling it out to employees.

Quick Reference