The Problem
HR and payroll data was spread across three separate platforms — an HR system (Elmo HR), a payroll and finance platform (Sage Intacct), and a set of Excel-based manual processes that had grown to fill the gaps between them. None of these systems talked to each other.
When executives needed headcount, payroll cost, or leave liability figures, someone had to manually pull data from each system, reconcile differences, and produce a report. It was slow, error-prone, and meant sensitive data was regularly being exported to spreadsheets with little control over who could see it.
What We Built
Unified Data Platform on Microsoft Fabric
We designed and built a centralised HR and payroll data platform on Microsoft Fabric, with OneLake as the unified storage layer. Data from Elmo HR and Sage Intacct is ingested automatically on a daily schedule using PySpark pipelines — no manual exports, no spreadsheet reconciliation.
Single Source of Truth
The platform implements a standard Medallion architecture:
- Bronze: Raw data preserved from both source systems, timestamped for full auditability.
- Silver: Cleansed and conformed data, with consistent employee IDs, cost centre mappings, and date logic applied across both systems.
- Gold: Business-ready HR and payroll models — headcount, FTE, leave balances, payroll cost by department — ready for reporting.
Role-Based Access Control
One of the core requirements was ensuring sensitive payroll data could only be accessed by people with a legitimate need. We implemented row-level security in Power BI and object-level permissions in Fabric — so a department manager sees only their team's data, and finance sees only what finance needs.
Four Executive Dashboards
We delivered four Power BI dashboards covering the organisation's key HR and payroll reporting needs: headcount and FTE trends, payroll cost analysis by department and cost centre, leave liability and accruals, and a compliance and governance overview for HR leadership.
Tech Stack
The Results
The organisation eliminated all manual data exports for HR and payroll reporting. Executives now access live, role-appropriate dashboards instead of waiting for someone to compile a spreadsheet. The security risk from uncontrolled data exports has been entirely removed.
Key Takeaways
- HR and payroll data is among the most sensitive in any organisation — security and access control must be designed in from the start, not bolted on after.
- When systems don't talk to each other, the gap is always filled by manual processes. Eliminating those processes is as much a risk reduction exercise as it is an efficiency gain.
- A single source of truth only works if everyone trusts it. Consistent definitions — headcount, FTE, cost centre — are as important as the pipeline itself.