Tracking onboarding progress

How to follow a new starter's onboarding, review what they have submitted, chase them, extend their access and cancel if you need to.

Once onboarding has started, everything you need to follow it sits in one place: the Onboarding tab on the candidate's profile. You can reach it from the candidate's profile, or from the Onboarding page in the main menu, where selecting a row opens that candidate's tab. Onboarding is kept for each application, so if the candidate has applied for more than one job, the tab shows the onboarding for the application selected on the profile. This article covers what the tab shows and what you can do from it.

Who can see and change what

System Admin and HR users can see everything on the tab and do everything described below.
Members can open the tab but only look at it. They see progress, task statuses and the activity list, with the message "You have view-only access. Only HR/admin can start onboarding or update task states." They do not see the form previews, the download button or any action buttons. The exception is an internal task assigned to them (or to their department), which they can complete from the My Tasks list on the Onboarding page.
Onboarding must be switched on for your organisation. If it is off, the tab and the menu item are hidden. See Turning on onboarding and general settings.

If your organisation has an HR system integration turned on but onboarding switched off, the tab is still there, labelled HRIS Sync. It then shows only the HR system card and none of the onboarding information described here. If neither onboarding nor an HR system is in use but an email export is set up, the tab is called Data export.

Finding an onboarding

The Onboarding page in the main menu has two tabs. Candidates lists every onboarding you can see, with the columns Candidate, Job Title, Started, Progress (a bar and a count such as 3/8) and Status. Status reads On Track, or Overdue when any task that is not finished, skipped or locked is past its due date. Search by name or reference number, or filter by job. The Status filter opens on In Progress; the other choices are Completed, Withdrawn/Cancelled and All. If the list looks empty, check the filter first.

The My Tasks tab lists internal tasks that are waiting on your team, with the candidate, job, due date and, for Admin and HR, who each task is assigned to. Members see only the tasks assigned to them or their department. Each row has a Complete button. Candidate names are masked on both tabs where your role does not allow you to see a candidate's personal details.

The top of the tab

The heading carries a status badge: Active, Completed or Cancelled. Underneath you will see:

The start date, for example "Started 12/10/2026".
A progress bar and a count in the form "3/8 tasks complete (38%)". Skipped tasks count as complete.
The completion date, once every task is complete or skipped.
A "Portal expires" date and the Extend portal access button. These appear only once the candidate's link has an expiry date, which is set when onboarding completes or when you extend it. See Extending portal access below.

Two buttons sit at the top right for Admin and HR: Download onboarding pack and, while onboarding is active, Cancel Onboarding. If your organisation has an email export set up, a System Admin also sees a Send candidate export button on this tab. It is covered in the article "Data exports".

Meet Your Team

If the job has people on its hiring team, a Meet Your Team card lists each of them with their role. It comes from the job's team, not from who is assigned to onboarding tasks, and it is left out when the job has no team members.

Phases and tasks

Tasks are grouped into cards by the phases in the onboarding template, in template order. A card for tasks that belong to no phase is called Other. Each card header shows how many tasks are done, for example "2 of 5 complete". Select a header to collapse or open the card.

Each task row shows the task name, its type (Content, Form, Email, Internal or Task), its due date if it has one, and a status badge:

Not Started: available, nothing done yet.
In Progress: started, for example when a new starter has saved a half-finished form.
Pending Review: submitted and waiting for someone on your side to approve it. The new starter sees this as "Under review".
Complete: finished.
Skipped: passed over. It counts towards progress and lets any task waiting on it open.
Locked: waiting on an earlier task, shown as "Waiting on prerequisite". A locked task cannot be changed by anyone. It opens by itself when the earlier task is complete or skipped.

Email tasks send and complete on their own, so you will normally see them as Complete without doing anything.

Changing a task's status

While onboarding is active, Admin and HR users get buttons on each task that is not locked. Which ones appear depends on the current status.

Not Started: Start, Complete, Skip.
In Progress: Submit for Review, Complete, Skip, Reset.
Pending Review: Approve, Skip, Reset.
Complete or Skipped: Reset, which puts the task back to Not Started.

Internal tasks are simpler. They show only Complete, and Reset once complete. Completing or approving a task lets any task that was waiting on it open. Once onboarding is completed or cancelled, no task buttons are shown.

To send back a submission that came in wrong, select Reset. The task returns to Not Started and the new starter can fill it in again.

Reading what a new starter submitted

Form tasks have a Preview form button (Admin and HR only). It opens a side panel headed with the task name. The panel shows the status, due date and description, then a Submitted Responses section with every question and answer, grouped by page and, for repeatable sections, by entry ("Address #1", "Address #2"). If nothing has been submitted yet it says "No responses submitted yet."

For a task where the new starter uploads a document, Preview form shows a Download uploaded document button instead of answers. These tasks have no Submitted Responses section and no Download PDF button.

Once a form task is Complete, the panel also has a Download PDF button that saves that one form. If the download fails you will see "Failed to download onboarding form PDF".

Where your role does not allow you to see a candidate's personal details, the answers are masked in the panel and in every PDF. The questions still show.

Downloading the onboarding pack

Select Download onboarding pack to get one PDF containing every completed form for that candidate. It is available to Admin and HR in any state, including after onboarding has finished or been cancelled. Forms that are not yet complete are left out. If the candidate has no completed forms with answers, no file is produced and you will see "Failed to download onboarding pack".

Emailing the candidate

Every task that is not locked has an Email Candidate button while onboarding is active. Use it to chase an overdue task or answer a question.

Select Email Candidate on the task you are writing about.
In the Email Candidate window, edit the Message. It starts as a reminder that names the task, and you can replace all of it.
Select Send Email.

The email is titled "Message from your HR team", greets the candidate by first name, and ends with a View your checklist link to their portal. It is recorded in the Activity list, and you will see "Email sent and logged on the activity timeline." Leave the message empty and nothing is sent to the candidate, so always write something. The candidate also needs an email address on their profile.

This is also the way to get the portal link back to a candidate who has lost the original email. See Starting onboarding for a hired candidate for the emails that go out automatically, and Reminder settings for onboarding tasks for the chasers.

Extending portal access

A new starter's link has no end date while onboarding is in progress. When the last task is complete, it is set to expire 30 days later. At that point the tab shows "Portal expires" with the date and the Extend portal access button.

Select Extend portal access.
In the Extend portal expiry window, choose a New expiry date. Past dates cannot be picked. If the link has already expired, the date starts 30 days from today.
Select Extend portal expiry. You will see "Portal access extended".

The link does not change, and an expired link works again straight away. This applies to completed onboardings. A cancelled onboarding cannot be extended.

Activity

The Activity card lists the 12 most recent events, newest first, each with the date and time, who did it and what happened, for example "Emailed candidate" or a task status change. Actions taken automatically show as System. Older events are not shown in the list.

Cancelling onboarding

Only Admin and HR can cancel, and only while onboarding is active.

Select Cancel Onboarding.
Read the warning: "Are you sure you want to cancel this onboarding? This action cannot be undone."
Select Cancel Onboarding again to confirm, or Cancel to go back.

The badge changes to Cancelled, the task buttons and the cancel button disappear, and the new starter can no longer save or submit anything. Their link now shows an Onboarding Closed page with no task content. Task reminders stop. On the Onboarding page the candidate moves to the Withdrawn/Cancelled filter. This cannot be undone, and the link cannot be revived. To onboard the person again, start a new onboarding from their profile. Its tasks come from the template as it is at that moment.

Common problems

A new starter says their link has expired. Check the "Portal expires" date and extend it.
A new starter says their link shows Onboarding Closed. The onboarding was cancelled. If that was a mistake, start a new one from their profile.
A task shows Locked. Complete or skip the task it is waiting on.
A task has sat at Pending Review. Someone has to select Approve, or Reset to send it back.
The candidate says no email arrived. Check the Activity list for the "Emailed candidate" entry, confirm the address on their profile, then send it again with Email Candidate.
You cannot see any buttons. You are either a Member, or onboarding is no longer active.
There is no Onboarding tab. Onboarding is switched off for your organisation, and only a System Admin can turn it back on.