In this guide 6 sections
Check four things first. Are client companies kept apart? Does a payslip open only for its own employee? Do leave requests reach the right approver? Can you export every record when a client leaves? Test each one with a dummy client before you load real people.
Can one client ever see another’s people?
You will load many client companies into one portal, so the first test is separation. Create two dummy clients that each employ a Suresh Kumar, then sign in as one and search the other’s name. Nothing should appear.
Names collide more often than you expect. A search box that spans clients is a leak waiting to happen, and your own coordinator who covers three clients on one login is the weakest point of all.
Ask whether logo, sender name, holiday calendar and leave policy are set per client. A change for one company must never rewrite the rest.
- Two clients sharing one employee name
- Your coordinator’s login covering several clients
- Holiday calendar and leave policy set per client
- Separate logo and sender name for each client
Who can open a payslip, and when?
A payslip carries earnings, deductions and the tail of a bank account. It should open only after the client’s payroll lock, never while arrears are still being corrected. Test that gap deliberately.
Then test the login. Employees forget passwords, change SIM cards and leave without telling anyone. Find out how a reset is verified and how access closes on the relieving date.
Try an awkward case. A person who left and rejoined the same client should see both spells of payslips under one identity, with the old relieving letter still downloadable. Two logins would be a defect.
Do leave and document requests reach the right person?
Leave looks simple until you map the approvers. A supervisor passes casual leave, a plant head passes a month away, and the client’s HR clerk only records it. The portal must route each type its own way.
Document requests need the same care. Staff ask for experience letters, address proof letters, salary certificates and copies of Form 16. Each needs a template, an approver and a dated stamp.
Check the absent approver. A request unseen for a week is the first complaint your helpdesk will hear, usually at month end, when the employee needs a salary certificate for a bank loan.
- Approval route for each leave type
- Delegate when the approver is away
- Letter templates on client letterhead
- Request status the employee can see without calling
- Reminder after a set number of days
What does the employee record hold?
The portal is only a window on the record behind it, so open the record. Look for joining date, designation, reporting manager, nominee, bank details and scanned identity proofs, each with a change history.
When an employee edits a bank account, the change should wait for your approval. Otherwise one typing slip sends a month of salary to a stranger. It happens.
Ask where attendance and the closed month come from. If the portal merely displays what the payroll engine produced, get that said in writing, because two systems claiming one figure always drift apart.
What happens when a client leaves you?
Contracts end. Before you sign, ask for an export of one dummy client’s whole history, covering payslips, letters, leave balances and the audit trail. Open the files on a plain laptop.
Settle retention with each client. How long do records stay, and who deletes them afterwards? Put the answer in your service agreement.
Finish with a pilot. Run one small client through a full month, log every helpdesk call in a sheet, and read that list before the second client joins.
Portal selection scorecard
Scorecard on a single sheet. Every check above gets its own line, and four columns follow: what to test, what you saw, pass or fail, and the vendor’s reply. A second block records pilot findings by week, with the helpdesk call count for the first client.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How many clients should a pilot include?
One small client for a full pay cycle is enough. You see a lock, a payslip release and a leave month without risking several relationships at once.
Should employees edit their own bank details?
Only if each change waits for your approval and leaves a log. Direct edits are how salary lands in the wrong account.
Does the portal replace payroll software?
Usually not. It holds records, requests and payslips. Ask the vendor plainly whether any salary calculation happens inside it.
What if an employee has no smartphone?
Ask for a plain browser login and a printable payslip. Shop floor staff often share one office computer.