> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.serval.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Serval for People Teams

> How People/HR teams can use Serval for onboarding, offboarding, employee support, and HRIS automation

Serval empowers People teams to automate routine tasks, provide instant employee support, and streamline critical processes like onboarding and offboarding.

***

## Top Use Cases

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Employee Self-Service" icon="comments">
    Answer employee questions instantly using your knowledge base—PTO policies, benefits info, handbook lookups, and more.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Automated Onboarding" icon="user-plus">
    Provision accounts, assign equipment, and send welcome materials automatically when new hires join.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Secure Offboarding" icon="user-minus">
    Revoke access across all systems, recover equipment, and complete exit checklists with a single request.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Quick Start

Get up and running in five steps:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Confirm IT foundations are in place">
    Before setting up People-specific integrations, your IT team should have already connected foundational systems to Serval—your identity provider (Okta, Google Workspace, etc.), Slack, and any core security tools.

    <Info>
      If these aren't set up yet, work with your IT team to complete the [IT team setup](/sections/documentation/team-solutions/IT/it-team-starter) first. Many People workflows depend on these foundational integrations for user provisioning and access management.
    </Info>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your HRIS">
    Navigate to **Applications** in Serval and connect your HRIS (BambooHR, Rippling, Workday, or others). This gives Serval access to employee data for automation.

    <Tip>
      Once connected, you can use Workflows, Knowledge Base, and Skills to build automations that react to employee changes and requests.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up your Knowledge Base">
    Upload or connect your People Ops documents—employee handbook, PTO policies, benefits guides, FAQs. Serval uses these to answer employee questions automatically.

    **Good sources to include:**

    * Employee handbook and code of conduct
    * Benefits and 401(k) information
    * PTO and leave policies
    * How-to guides (expenses, time off requests, etc.)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test Knowledge Base search">
    Ask Serval a few questions employees commonly ask:

    * "What's our PTO policy?"
    * "How do I submit an expense report?"
    * "When is the next company holiday?"
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create your first workflow">
    Start with a simple, high-value workflow. See [Create Your First Workflow](/sections/documentation/workflows/create-your-first-workflow) for step-by-step instructions. Here are some great first choices:

    **Onboarding:**

    * **New hire welcome message** - Send new employees a Slack message with links to the handbook and onboarding checklist
    * **Manager notification** - Alert managers when their new direct report starts
    * **Add to team channel** - Automatically add new hires to their department's Slack channel

    **Offboarding:**

    * **IT notification** - Alert IT when an employee's last day is approaching
    * **Equipment return instructions** - Send departing employees return instructions automatically
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Setting Up Your Help Desk

Serval can serve as a private help desk for your People team, handling sensitive requests securely while answering general questions in public channels.

### Private Requests (Sensitive Information)

For requests involving compensation, benefits changes, or personal information, employees should submit tickets privately:

* **Slack DM**: Enable the DM feature so employees can message Serval directly
* **Web Portal**: Employees can submit tickets through Serval's web interface

<Info>
  Ticket threads in public channels sync between Serval and Slack by default so users can follow along in either thread. For sensitive requests, users can start DMs with Serval or use the web portal to keep conversations private.
</Info>

### Public Channel (General Questions)

Route general inquiries to a public helpdesk channel like #ask-people-team:

* Policy and handbook questions
* PTO and holiday schedule lookups
* General onboarding questions

<Tip>
  A public channel builds a searchable knowledge base and reduces duplicate questions over time.
</Tip>

***

## Protecting Sensitive Information

People teams handle sensitive employee data. Configure Serval appropriately:

* **Restrict sensitive workflows** to private channels or DMs only—never expose salary, SSN, or personal contact information in public channels
* **Add identity verification** for high-risk actions using an "always used" Skill that requires verification via your IdP
* **Communicate clearly** to employees about where to submit sensitive requests

<Warning>
  Never configure workflows that return PII, compensation, or personal data to run in public channels.
</Warning>

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Create Your First Workflow" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/sections/documentation/workflows/create-your-first-workflow">
    Step-by-step guide to building workflows
  </Card>

  <Card title="People Team Workflow Examples" icon="list" href="/sections/documentation/team-solutions/People/people-team-examples">
    Detailed examples for onboarding, offboarding, HRIS automation, and more
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

Need help getting started? Contact **[support@serval.com](mailto:support@serval.com)** for assistance.