Automating success: How A2Dominion cut HR admin time from days to minutes

For eight decades, UK-based housing association A2Dominion has been providing social and affordable housing to customers in need. Today, over 1,000 employees work to deliver services to over 70,000 customers in 38,000 homes across London and the South.

It’s a complex operation. For HR, managing this complexity without any automation was becoming an issue.

“All of our HR processes were manual and complex,” explains Alison Chapman, A2Dominion’s HR & Payroll Implementation Manager. “With no clear workflow, no parameters and a lot of back-and-forth, everything was slow and there were a lot of errors.”

When an employee was leaving, for example, managers had to complete forms on the intranet. IT staff would then fill out their own forms, before details were manually keyed into A2Dominion’s system. Letters were then created manually and sent out via email.

Change processes – such as promotions or working hours adjustments – were equally cumbersome. “Managers filled in long forms, approvals bounced between our HR and People Services departments, and letters were again created manually,” Alison says.

New starters presented further challenges. “If a new hire didn’t turn up on their first day, we often wouldn’t know for weeks,” says Alison. “That could cause payroll issues, overpayments, and a poor experience – both for the employee and the manager.”

Unleashing the potential of Power Automate

As a long-time user of Zellis HCM Cloud, A2Dominion was keen to leverage more of the platform’s capabilities. So when, at a Zellis user group meeting in Coventry, Alison saw a demo showing how Microsoft Power Automate could be linked to Zellis HCM Cloud to optimise key HR processes, she was keen for A2Dominion to become an early adopter.

Implementation was straightforward. “We went from the initial requirements definition stage to building and testing in just three months,” Alison says. “It was a seamless process.”

Alison worked with representatives from Zellis, who not only guided A2Dominion through setup and best practice, but produced personalised training videos and guides.

“The Zellis consultants are fantastic – very knowledgeable and supportive,” Alison says. “They walked us through everything in a collaborative way. They didn’t just build a solution for us; they taught us the right way to do things. Even now, we go back to the training videos to remind ourselves how we set things up.”

Working faster and smarter

By implementing Power Automate, A2Dominion has transformed its HR processes.

To deal with leavers, for example, managers now complete a form in Zellis MyView. This goes directly into a workflow in HCM Cloud, a letter is automatically generated, and Outlook reminders go into both the manager’s and employee’s calendars.

“It’s a complete game changer,” Alison says. “Previously, leaver processes could take hours or even days. Now, once the form is submitted, it takes about 15 minutes. The workflow and notifications just happen automatically.”

For new starters, automated alerts ensure HR is informed immediately if a start date is delayed or cancelled. “That’s had a huge impact,” says Alison. “We’re no longer overpaying people, and we’re making sure employees are paid correctly without those difficult conversations about reclaiming money.”

Change processes like working hours adjustments are also now managed easily. The employee simply submits a request, and it can be approved in a click. “If you’re changing your hours or your work pattern, you’re doing that for a reason,” Alison says. “It’s emotive. It’s personal. We want to get that right first time for our employees.”

Feedback from employees has also been encouraging. “Managers love the Outlook reminders,” Alison says. “We’ve also had a lot of comments about how much easier the forms are to use and how much better the processes are.”

Extending automation further

Having realised rapid results so far, A2Dominion is keen to automate even more processes using Power Automate.

“The big one is probation,” Alison says. “We want to overhaul the process completely, with reminders for line managers and employees, and automating records to confirm completion. We’re also looking at exit feedback, welcome emails for new starters, absence triggers and service anniversaries.”

Other areas under consideration include fixed-term contract alerts and sickness triggers. “We don’t always know when fixed-term contracts are ending. But, with Power Automate, we can ask managers a simple yes or no question – ‘Are you going to extend the employee’s probation or not?’ Managers just click their response, and we action it accordingly.”

This is just the start of things to come. With plans to completely overhaul its human capital management (HCM) solution, A2Dominion believes its use of Power Automate will strengthen its ability to evolve. “Whatever systems we adopt, we need to make sure we’re not transferring poor-quality data,” Alison says. “Streamlining processes now means we’ll be ready for the future.”

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