One of the most satisfying systems to build is onboarding that simply runs. Here's how I wired a client's new-hire flow so a person is added once and everything else takes care of itself.

The trigger

It starts in the source of truth — an HR record. When a new hire is created, a Zapier workflow picks it up and kicks off the sequence. No one files a ticket; the record is the ticket.

What provisions automatically

• Identity and mailbox in Google Workspace via the Admin SDK
• Group membership that assigns apps, shared drives and licences by role
• Slack channels and Jira projects, provisioned from those same groups
• A welcome message with first-day context and credentials

Why Zapier

Zapier is the connective tissue here. It watches the HR system, calls the Google Admin API, posts to Slack and creates Jira access — with retries and logging I can actually audit. For the pieces Zapier can't reach natively, a small Apps Script fills the gap.

The new hire logs in on day one to a mailbox, the right drives and the right channels — no waiting, no over-granting.

And offboarding

The same flow runs in reverse. Disable the person in the source of truth and access is revoked everywhere, data is handed over and licences are reclaimed — the day they leave, not months later.