Generated: 2025-11-22
Source References: docs/000-core-hr.prd.md, docs/backlog/EPICS.md, story files, docs/release-estimation-core-hr.md.
1. Executive Summary
Deliver a multi-tenant SaaS platform foundation plus Core HR capabilities (employee profiles, leave basics, recruiting visibility) to achieve rapid tenant activation and early daily/weekly engagement, enabling iterative expansion toward performance management and advanced billing.
2. Release Goals
| Goal |
Metric |
Target |
| Fast Activation |
Signup→Dashboard time |
< 2 minutes end-to-end |
| Early Engagement |
Weekly active employees after week 4 |
> 60% of onboarded users |
| HR Value Realization |
Profile completion within 14 days |
> 80% |
| Leave Utilization |
Monthly employees submitting ≥1 leave request |
> 40% |
| Hiring Visibility |
Jobs with at least 5 applicant views |
> 70% of published jobs |
3. In-Scope (MVP Slice)
- Architecture baseline: modular monolith boundaries, tenant isolation, messaging adapter (no full service decomposition).
- User & tenant management: signup, invite, magic link activation, tenant switcher (SSO deferred).
- Employee profiles: read/edit core fields, custom fields (limited types), directory & basic org chart deferred.
- Leave management: type configuration, monthly accrual job, employee balance view, request submission + manager notification.
- Recruitment: job posting & public listing, static 4-stage pipeline, feedback notes.
- Document management: secure upload & metadata (contracts) with signed URLs.
- Billing: static plan read view only.
4. Out of Scope / Deferred
- Advanced RBAC editor, audit export tooling.
- SSO integration (Keycloak) & multi-factor auth.
- Performance management (OKRs, reviews, 1:1 agendas).
- Complex leave (carry-over, partial-day, accrual tiers).
- Candidate conversion automation & onboarding task portal.
- Usage-based billing, self-serve upgrades/downgrades.
- Virus scanning / DLP for documents.
5. User Personas (Release Focus)
- Sarah (Small Business Owner) – initial tenant creator.
- Priya (HR Manager) – config, employees, leave setup.
- Mark (Employee) – profile, leave request, goals (future).
- Hiring Manager – pipeline management & feedback.
- Support/Super Admin – basic oversight (privileged flows minimally scoped).
6. High-Level Requirements (Condensed)
| Ref |
Description |
| REQ-ARCH-1 |
Define modular monolith boundaries & tenant isolation enforcement |
| REQ-ARCH-2 |
Provide messaging adapter (async readiness) |
| REQ-USER-1 |
Self-service signup & tenant provisioning |
| REQ-USER-2 |
Email invite & magic link activation |
| REQ-USER-3 |
Tenant switch UI component |
| REQ-EMP-1 |
Employee profile read/edit core fields |
| REQ-EMP-2 |
Custom field registry (text/number/date/dropdown) |
| REQ-LEAVE-1 |
Leave type CRUD + monthly accrual job |
| REQ-LEAVE-2 |
Leave balance display & request workflow |
| REQ-RECRUIT-1 |
Job posting & public listing |
| REQ-RECRUIT-2 |
Static pipeline board + feedback notes |
| REQ-DOC-1 |
Upload API + signed URLs + metadata |
| REQ-BILL-1 |
Static plan view |
7. Epics Mapping
| Epic |
Release Slice |
Rationale |
| EP-CORE-ARCH |
Foundation |
Enables multi-tenant & future scaling |
| EP-CORE-USER |
Activation |
Essential for tenant growth |
| EP-HR-EMP |
HR Data |
Core employee value & dependency for other HR features |
| EP-HR-LEAVE |
Engagement |
Drives recurring employee interactions |
| EP-HR-RECRUIT |
Growth |
Supports hiring pipeline visibility |
| EP-DOC-MGMT |
Support |
Secure contract storage & platform reuse |
| EP-CORE-BILLING (subset) |
Transparency |
Communicate plan status early |
8. Milestones & Indicative Timeline
| Sprint |
Milestone |
Key Stories |
| 1 |
Platform & Signup |
REQ-ARCH-1, REQ-USER-1, REQ-USER-2 (partial) |
| 2 |
Activation Completion |
REQ-USER-2, REQ-USER-3, REQ-ARCH-2 (adapter), REQ-EMP-1 |
| 3 |
HR Data Expansion |
REQ-EMP-2, REQ-LEAVE-1 (types + accrual) |
| 4 |
Engagement + Hiring |
REQ-LEAVE-2, REQ-RECRUIT-1, REQ-RECRUIT-2, REQ-DOC-1 |
| 5 |
Hardening & Billing View |
REQ-BILL-1, performance tuning, isolation tests, polish |
9. Non-Functional Requirements (Targets)
- Performance: p95 profile read < 400ms; invite creation < 300ms; leave request create < 500ms.
- Security: tenant isolation test suite 100% pass; tokens short TTL & single use.
- Availability: MVP baseline 99% (non-critical services degrade gracefully).
- Observability: traces for signup, invite, accrual, leave request, pipeline stage change.
- Data Protection: password hashing (Argon2/Bcrypt), object storage encryption at rest.
- Scalability: ability to onboard 100 tenants & 10k employees without re-architecture.
10. Analytics & Instrumentation
| Funnel |
Events |
| Activation |
SignupStarted, TenantProvisioned, InviteCreated, InviteAccepted |
| HR Data |
ProfileViewed, ProfileEdited, CustomFieldAdded |
| Leave |
LeaveTypeCreated, AccrualRun, LeaveRequestCreated, LeaveRequestStatusChanged |
| Recruitment |
JobPublished, ApplicantStageChanged, FeedbackAdded |
Dashboards: Activation conversion, profile completion %, leave request cycle time, stage conversion rates.
11. Risks & Mitigations (Release Focus)
| Risk |
Impact |
Mitigation |
| Over-scoped custom fields |
Delays & complexity |
Limit initial field types & count; monitor usage |
| Messaging complexity |
Integration slowdown |
Adapter abstraction; progressive enablement |
| Isolation defect |
Data leak |
Automated isolation tests + code reviews with security checklist |
| Accrual job performance |
Slow balances |
Batch processing & profiling; idempotent design |
| Pipeline performance |
Poor hiring UX |
Virtualization threshold; caching |
| Activation drop-off |
Lower tenant conversion |
Instrument failures; UX iteration sprints |
12. Compliance & Privacy (Initial)
- Identify PII fields (name, email, contact info) & apply access controls.
- Log access events for profile edits & document retrieval.
- Prepare DPIA draft post-MVP for expansion markets.
13. Success Criteria (Release Gate)
-
60% invite acceptance within 72h of initial invite.
- Profile completion >80% within 14 days on ≥70% tenants.
- Leave request submission by ≥40% active employees monthly.
- Pipeline board in use (≥1 stage change) for ≥70% published jobs.
- Zero critical security findings in isolation test suite.
14. Open Questions
- SSO introduction target (which sprint or post-MVP phase)?
- Minimum custom field limit baseline (25 vs 50)?
- Document virus scanning required pre-launch or Phase 2?
- Should we enforce email verification at signup for MVP?
- Billing disclosure: show trial expiry countdown?
15. Appendices
- See
docs/release-estimation-core-hr.md for velocity & capacity assumptions.
- See
docs/backlog/EPICS.md for complete epic listing.
- Story details:
docs/stories/US-*.md.
Document Version: 1.0 (Skeleton)