What is the Invitation Console?

The Invitation Console is used to administer a New Hire's onboarding process, including invitation actions, onboarding process actions, and process insights.

The following actions can be performed:

Who can access the Invitation Console?

In the Smart Onboarding product, users with HR Specialist, Recruiter, I-9 Specialist and E-Verify Specialist roles have access to the Invitation Console. In case of Smart I-9/E-Verify product, access to the Invitation Console is available to users with I-9 Specialist and E-Verify Specialist roles. 

The New Hire's invitation data is available in the Invitation Console at any time after the invitation is created and saved.  Actions that can be performed differ depending on the user's role and where the New Hire is in their process.

How do you access the Invitation Console?

The Invitation Console can be accessed in two different ways: 

2 Ways to Access the Invitation Console
Menu Icon: The Menu Icon is used to display all relevant actions the current user is able to perform
Quick Links: If you are User you are able to access this page through the Quick Link 'Invitation Console' *Note: Your organization can remove this link but it is provided as part of our delivered home page

Access via Menu Icon:

Every action a User is able to perform can be found by using the Menu Icon.  The Menu icon can be found in the upper left corner of the page.  

Click the Menu icon and select "Invitation Console" under Invitations.

Access via Quick Links:

From the delivered User home page, you can select "Invitation Console" through the Quick Links bar located below the banner.  

What are the contents of the Invitation Console page?

The Invitation Console page comprises several key sections, including the Search Filter, Quick Filter, the "Export to Excel" option and search results containing invitation details displayed for the selected search criteria.  The data displayed within the console is based on the user's security settings established by the System Administrator. Consequently, users will only have visibility to the data for which they have been granted access. For instance, if a user's access is restricted to "Research" Company data, they will exclusively view information associated with that particular company within the console. 

Furthermore, the availability of the "Export to Excel" button is dependent upon the configuration of the logged-in user's role. Specifically, the button becomes visible if the user's role has been enabled for data export capabilities. Users with multiple roles will have access to the data export feature in the Invitation Console as long as they hold at least one of the roles: HR Specialist, I-9 Specialist, or E-Verify Specialist, and if any of these roles is configured with such capabilities.

Each section of the Invitation Console page is discussed in detail below:

Search Filter 

When there are many New Hires in the system, you can use search filter options to quickly find transactions specific to a criteria. Next to the field, you can change the search option to specify how you want your text to be perceived.

Note: Please note that only 1000 rows are displayed in the Invitation Console with the most recent Invitation ID on the top. If more than 1000 rows exists and there is a need to access the earlier invitations, then you may have to specifically search for that transaction or use Keyword Search located at the top right of the window.

Quick Filter 

Quick Filter is another way to quickly find a specific invitation or to get a list of invitations matching specific criteria. 

A sample downloaded excel file is given below. For downloads from the Invitation Console, apart from the result columns displayed on the page, standard Attribute information (i.e. Company, Business Unit, Department, Location, Job Code)and invitation additional attributes will be as columns in the file. In the top row, the search filters applied in obtaining the results is also displayed.

Example of an invitation with additional attribute information:

If multiple filters are applied in the search, a sample downloaded file is given below:

Additionally, if the invitation has additional attributes which are added as the free-form attributes through the setup and these attributes have associated values, they will also be displayed on the Information tab. However, if no values are present for these attributes, the fields will not appear. The free-form attributes can be configured only by the service provider (Smart Onboarding Support Team) upon request by the customer. Click here for more details  

Below is an example of an invitation with additional attributes:

When values exist for these additional invitation attributes, the fields and their corresponding values will be displayed as shown below:

Navigating through search results 

The search results are displayed in pages with each page containing 10 rows by default. The rows displaying per page can be altered by selecting a different value in "Rows per page" drop-down.

To navigate through the search result pages, you can 

• use "Previous" and "Next" buttons
• click on the page number tab or select the page in the drop-down and click on the "Go" button.

Using this feature, it is easy to navigate to any page in the search results and review information for any New Hire's invitation.  

Below example shows navigating to page "9" of the search results by clicking on the "9" tab. To view the invitation details, and summary of new hire's Invitation, I-9 & onboarding, click on the desired invitation ID link and select the corresponding option. Similarly, you can view the process details and actions for the corresponding invitation by clicking on the respective links.

Another way to view the invitation details is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Note: An additional section named "Attribute Information" will appear on the invitation summary if the invitation has additional attributes which have been added as the free-form attributes through the setup and these attributes have associated values. For more details on the Attribute Information section, please click here. However, if no values are present for these attributes, the "Attribute Information" section will not appear on the Invitation Summary. The free-form attributes can be configured only by the service provider (Smart Onboarding Support Team) upon request by the customer. Click here for more details  

• Launch
• Process Simulator
• Process Insights
• Watch/Unwatch
• Resend Welcome
• Restart Process
• Terminate Process
• Restart Activity
• Consider Process Complete
• Set/View Important Dates

How do you perform Invitation Console actions?

For the selected Invitation ID, click on "Info and Actions".

Select "Actions" tab. This displays the list of actions that you can perform.

Another way to perform these actions is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Launch

Launching an onboarding process is the next step after creating an invitation for a New Hire.  This will send an email that allow them to create a User ID and Password and begin their onboarding process.

For the selected Invitation ID, click on "Info and Actions". Select Actions tab and click "Launch".

Click "OK" on the message to confirm invitation launch.

This message confirms the process has been launched for the invitation.

Once the onboarding invitation is launched, the following email will be sent to the New Hire.

By clicking on "Start Onboarding" link in the email, the user can create their login User ID and Password

Another way to launch the invitation is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Resend Welcome

This option will be available in invitation actions after the New Hire invitation has been launched. Resend Welcome will resend self registration email to the New Hires with self registration link to create their User ID and Password. This option can be used if the New Hire did not create their Smart Onboarding account before the allotted time ran out. 

Click on Info and Actions, and select "Resend Welcome" under Actions tab. 

Click on "Yes" to continue.

The confirmation message displays after the welcome email has been sent.

The New Hire will receive a Re-launched/Resend welcome email that will allow them to create a User ID and password and start their onboarding process. 

To self register, the New Hires should use the "START ONBOARDING" link provided in the Relaunched/Resend welcome email.

Note: Once the Relaunch/Resend Welcome email is received, the self registration link from the previous welcome email(s) is no longer valid.

Another way to resend welcome email is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Process Insight is a utility which can be helpful in analyzing a New Hire's onboarding process.   

Points to note when accessing this utility:

• Users with "Recruiter" and "Help Desk Analyst" exclusive roles cannot access this utility.
• The Administrative Users (System Administrators/Process Administrators/Content Administrators) can access this utility only through Keyword Search invitation category. However, the admin actions are not accessible by these users. For more details, please click here.

An example of how it can be used is shown below.

Select an invitation and click "Info and Actions". Select "Process Insight" under Actions tab. 

The Process Insight page displays as below. 

Process Instance History:

This link can be used to view the process instance details.

Admin Actions:

Use the "Admin Actions" link to view or perform the process actions. By clicking on this link, users can perform actions like restart the New Hire's process or any particular activity, terminate the process or force the New Hire's process to completion. However, these actions cannot be performed on a process completed invitation. Though the Business Users with HR Specialist, I-9 Specialist and E-Verify Specialist roles can access this link from the Process Insight, only the HR Specialists can perform all the admin actions. 

Click on the "Admin Action" link to see the list of actions. By clicking these links, the actions an be performed on a New Hire's process. The procedure to perform these actions are discussed in detail in the following sections.

When any of these actions are performed the updated status will reflect in both Invitation Console and Keyword Search "Invitations" category. For more details on each of these actions, please click on the corresponding links: Restart Process, Restart Activities, Terminate Process, Force Complete Process.

Activities:

Click on each step to expand the activity details.

Another way to access Process Insight is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Process Simulator

This feature can be used to simulate the process. You can view which activities will be routed to which user without actually launching the process.

(Note: This feature can be accessed only through the invitation console and is not available in Keyword Search)

For the selected invitation, click on Info and Actions and select "Process Simulator" under Actions tab.

The Process Simulator page displays as follows. Here, you can view the process variable values as well as the User and State details.

Click on "Process Variable Values" to expand the details.

Under "User and State Details", click on the User ID type and select a value.

For the selected User ID Type, enter User ID, State and click on "Simulate".

The process details will be displayed as follows. It presents a complete overview of the process, outlining the activities within each step along with their corresponding details. You can expand or collapse the grid for each step by using the arrow located on the right side within the grid.

To see the information about users who can access the activity, click on the "View Participants" link.

For expanding and collapsing the grids, you'll find "Expand All" and "Collapse All" buttons available at the page's bottom.

Unwatch/Watch

The user who created or launched the invitation will be automatically added to the watch list. Other users can choose to watch/unwatch any specific invitation.

For any selected invitation, click on Info and Actions, and select "Unwatch/Watch" under Actions tab. 

The message displays as below when the invitation is removed from the watch list.

Another way to access watch/unwatch is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Restart Process

Restart Process will help if something in the process went wrong, but it isn't a specific activity that you can trace. When "Restart Process" action is used, the onboarding process restarts from New Hire's first activity. This option can be used for invitations which have a status of "Invitation Launched" or "Invitation in Progress".

In the Invitation Console, identify the transaction which needs restart of process.

Note: To view how far the onboarding process is progressed, you can click on "View Process" link for the invitation and verify the process viewer.

In this case, the process viewer shows the process is routed to Biographic Information activity for the New Hire.

To perform "Restart Process" action for the invitation, navigate to "Info and Actions" and click on "Actions" tab. 

Select a reason and enter the comments. Click on "Submit".

Click "OK" to confirm the process restart.

You will notice the New Hire's onboarding process is restarted from Electronic Disclosure activity.

Process viewer for the restarted process:

Also, the New Hire will receive the following email confirmation: 

Note: In case, if New Hire is simultaneously working on any activity and completes the activity after the process has been restarted, then the following message displays on the page.

By clicking on the "Click here" link on the message, the New Hire can open the activities for the restarted process.

Another way to restart the process is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Terminate Process

This action can be performed on a transaction when there is a need to terminate an in-progress process. To perform this action, the invitation status of the transaction must be either "Invitation Launched" or "Invitation in Progress".

Note: After the process is terminated, no further actions can be performed on the transaction. 

For example, consider an invitation currently in the "Invitation In Progress" status.

Click on "Info and Actions" link for the selected invitation.

The "Information" tab of Info and Actions opens as below. Here, you can verify the current Business Process Status and Onboarding Status of the invitation. 

Click on "Actions" to open the invitation related actions. Click on the "Terminate Process" link.

Enter the following details on the terminate Process page.

Select a reason from the dropdown, enter a comment and click on the "Submit" button.

On the confirmation message, click "OK" to continue.

This confirms the process is terminated.

The terminated status will be updated for the transaction in the Invitation Console.

After termination, the Business Process Status and Onboarding Status of the invitation under the "Information" tab will also be updated.

Since no additional actions can be carried out on terminated transactions, the "Action" tab for this specific transaction will not display any options related to actions.

After the termination, the user whose process has been terminated will receive an email in the following format.

There is also another way to terminate the process via Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Consider Process Complete

This option allows you to have the invitation status to be marked as complete. A sample scenario where this is useful is when the New Hire completes their onboarding process offline or in person instead of using the online onboarding system.

To perform this action, the invitation status of the transaction must be either "Invitation Launched" or "Invitation in Progress".

For the selected invitation, click on "Info and Actions" link. 

This will open the "Information" tab as given below. Under this tab, the employee's job details and the onboarding status of the invitation are shown. After process completing the transaction through this console action, these statuses will change.

To force complete the invitation process, navigate to "Actions" tab and select "Consider Process Complete".

Click "OK" to continue.

After confirming this action, the invitation will be process completed and the status will get updated to "Invitation Completed".

Invitation Console

The Business Process Status and the Onboarding Status under "Information" tab will show the updated data.

Another way to perform this action is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Restart Activity

Restart Activity allows for a specific Onboarding activity to be redone in case there is a mistake or new information to be added. This action is available for invitations which are in progress status. The activities showing in the Restart Group vary depending on the user role type and how far the New Hire process is in progress, which is how many activities have been completed.

An example of a restarted activity for HR Specialist role type is discussed in detail below:

Consider a New Hire process which is in progress with "Verify Information" activity completed. 

Note: You can view the pending activities for the invitation in My Tasks Console

For the selected invitation in the Invitation Console, click on "Info and Actions" link.

The onboarding status of the invitation before activity restart can be seen under the "Information" tab. After activity restart this status will be updated. 

Click on "Restart Activity" from Invitation Console actions as shown below:

Select an option in the Restart Group drop down depending on which activity you want to restart.  Each option in the Restart Group is a collection of different activities that was previously configured.  

Options showing in the Restart Group drop down for a HR Specialist role:

After selecting an option in the Restart Group, enter a comment and click "Submit".

Click "OK" to continue.

This confirms the activities have been restarted.

The New Hire receives the following email about the restarted activity. By clicking on the link given in the email, the New Hire can login to their onboarding process and complete the pending activities.

The restarted status will be updated in Info and Actions under "Information" tab as shown below.

The pending activities for the restarted invitation can be seen in My Tasks Console as shown below.

Once the New Hire completes their pending activities and submit the process to HR, the HR Specialists can complete their tasks by clicking on the activity link showing up in My Tasks Console. 

Another way to perform restart activities is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.

Set/View Important Dates

This action allows admin users to set important dates for a specific New Hire. The dates entered here are automatically shown on the candidate's homepage. 

For the selected invitation, click on "Info and Actions" link and select "Set/View Important Dates" under Actions.

The page displays as below:

Enter values in the fields as shown and click Save. The saved values are available for editing later.  The date(s), time and description entered here are shown on the candidate's home page.

Another way to set/view important dates is through Keyword Search. For more details, please click here.