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A fast-scaling edtech company wanted its recruitment platform first. Interloop recommended building it third, behind core HR and payroll, and set out the reasoning. The sequencing argument is the most transferable part of this engagement.
Client
Novatr
Location
Published
October 2026
Reading Time
8 min read
Deliver a complete Zoho People, Payroll and Recruit implementation across three deliberately sequenced phases — establishing a stable system of record before building the hiring engine that feeds it.
Novatr delivers career-acceleration programmes for architecture, engineering and construction professionals, partnering with organisations including NSDC and Autodesk to address the AEC skills gap. Backed by Y Combinator and operating in a fast-moving category, the company was growing quickly enough that hiring volume was its most visible operational pressure. Novatr engaged Interloop to implement Zoho People, Zoho Payroll and Zoho Recruit. Delivery ran across three phases — core HR first, payroll second, recruitment third — with the sequencing itself forming a substantive part of the consulting recommendation, and closing with admin enablement and post-go-live support.
A scaling company asks for the recruitment system first, and the request is a reasonable one. Hiring is where the pressure is felt, and at Novatr's growth rate the talent acquisition team was carrying a full pipeline through spreadsheets and email. The question worth examining was what a hiring engine would be pushing into. The value of connecting Recruit to People is that an accepted candidate moves into onboarding cleanly, through a custom function, without re-entry. That connection is worth having in proportion to how settled the destination is. Building the hiring system first would have meant candidates arriving into an employee structure still being designed — form structure, designation masters, the connection between the employee record and exit — and every record created in that period would need revisiting later. At Novatr's hiring velocity, the volume of records created during such a period is not trivial. Sequencing the core first meant the handoff worked properly the first time it ran.
Sequencing pressure against build logic: The most visible pressure was recruitment, and the stronger build order placed it last. Making that case and holding it was the engagement's central consulting task.
Record quality at hiring velocity: Candidates entering an employee structure still under design create records requiring later attention — a volume that grows with hiring rate.
Exit without a clearance structure: Exit consisted of a resignation form, without clearance workflow, stakeholder scoping or exit interview capture.
Probation outcomes without defined routes: Confirmation was handled manually and extension informally, with each outcome documented individually.
Offer-to-onboarding handoff: Accepted candidates were entered into HR by hand — the precise handoff that Recruit's custom function automates, once the destination is complete.
The statutory calendar: Payroll configuration anchors to the financial year, which constrained how late in the programme it could sit.
Interloop followed a structured, eight-step implementation across three delivery phases — core HR, then payroll, then recruitment — with discovery and process analysis, a policy blueprint, dependency-ordered configuration, data migration and validation, and phase-by-phase go-live with hypercare. The sequencing recommendation was made in discovery, argued against the client's stated preference, and accompanied by a costed interim approach for the recruitment gap. Getting the order right is what made each subsequent phase simpler.
Implementation Approach
This engagement reinforced a principle Interloop applies at scoping rather than at delivery: the build order is itself a consulting decision. Testing a client's preferred sequence, and setting out what each order would cost, is part of the advice rather than an obstacle to starting.
The right build order is worth more than a fast start.
| Aspect | Before | After (Interloop) |
|---|---|---|
| Build sequence | Recruitment first, as the most visible pressure | Core HR, then payroll, then recruitment — agreed at line level |
| Offer-to-onboarding | Accepted candidates entered into HR by hand | Pushed through a custom function into a completed structure |
| Exit | A resignation form | Full workflow with clearance, stakeholder scoping and exit interview capture |
| Probation | Confirmation manual, extension informal | Three defined routes with generated letters |
| Payroll timing | Unconstrained by the financial year | Configured inside the statutory window by design |
| Recruitment during the wait | No agreed interim approach | A lightweight tracker carrying coordination through the intervening phases |
Recruitment first, as the most visible pressure
Core HR, then payroll, then recruitment — agreed at line level
Accepted candidates entered into HR by hand
Pushed through a custom function into a completed structure
A resignation form
Full workflow with clearance, stakeholder scoping and exit interview capture
Confirmation manual, extension informal
Three defined routes with generated letters
Unconstrained by the financial year
Configured inside the statutory window by design
No agreed interim approach
A lightweight tracker carrying coordination through the intervening phases
Before vs. After
Novatr runs core HR, payroll and recruitment on a connected stack, with accepted candidates flowing into a finished onboarding structure automatically and payroll aligned to the statutory year. The sequence was the deliverable before any module was. For Interloop, the engagement demonstrated three-phase programme delivery in a high-growth environment and established sequencing discipline as a visible part of the firm's method — the judgement exercised before the first module is configured.
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