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Unifying HRMS for the India Team, Automated Compliance & Efficiency

Zoho People, Zoho Payroll & Zoho Expense Implementation for Novorise Fintech India Private Limited

overview

Payroll Automation & Expense Policy Controls for Novo’s India Team

About the Client

Novo is a fintech platform built for small businesses, offering online business banking tools such as business checking, credit card, funding, invoicing, reserves, bookkeeping and integrations. Novo’s official website positions it as an online business banking platform for small business owners and also states that Novo is a fintech, not a bank, with banking services provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC. 

Novorise Fintech India Private Limited required a scalable HRMS, payroll and expense management ecosystem for its India operations. The objective was to move away from partially manual HR processes and build a connected Zoho system for employee lifecycle management, payroll readiness, statutory compliance, reimbursements, approvals and reporting. 

Business Challenges

Novorise Fintech was managing HR activities across multiple tools and manual processes, leading to inefficiencies, data inconsistency and limited real-time visibility. The HR team needed a centralized system to manage employee data, onboarding, attendance, leave, payroll readiness, performance and compliance. 

Key challenges included:

  • Manual tracking of leave and attendance, and Lack of real-time employee data
  • Inconsistent approval workflows, Dependency on spreadsheets, , Limited HR reporting and analytics, and Need for payroll migration from Rippling
  • Requirement for India-specific statutory payroll compliance, and Need to manage Indian and US employee records differently Expense policy controls for travel, hotel, meals, per diem and LEAD
  • Expense policy controls for travel, hotel, meals, per diem and LEAD reimbursements
  • Need for role-based access and employee/manager self-service

our solution

Solution Delivered by A3CA

A3CA implemented a connected Zoho HR and payroll ecosystem covering:

  • Zoho People Professional Implementation
  • Zoho Payroll Implementation
  • Zoho Expense Implementation
  • Rippling to Zoho Payroll transition
  • Employee master data migration
  • Leave, attendance and shift management
  • India payroll statutory configuration
  • Bank integration for salary payouts
  • Expense policy automation
  • Travel and per diem policy setup
  • LEAD reimbursement policy setup
  • Multi-level approval workflows
  • Reports and dashboards

The project proposal covered Zoho People, Zoho Payroll and Zoho Expense implementation, including payroll data migration from Rippling, bank integration, integration between Zoho People, Zoho Payroll and Zoho Expense, UAT support, training and post-go-live handholding.

.01

Zoho People Implementation for HRMS Automation

Zoho People Professional was implemented as the central HRMS platform for Novorise Fintech India.

Key Zoho People Features Implemented

  • Legal entity setup for Novorise Fintech India Private Limited
  • Multi-location setup for Gurgaon, Bangalore and Ahmedabad
  • Department and organization structure setup
  • Employee database and master data configuration
  • Employee lifecycle workflows for onboarding, role changes and exits
  • Reporting hierarchy setup
  • Document management for employee records
  • Salary visibility restricted to leadership and HR only
  • HR forms and workflows
  • Document management for employee records
  • Document management for employee records
  • Employee and manager self-service
  • HR reports and dashboards
  • Role-based access control for HR Admin, People Manager, Finance, IT, External Consultant and Employee

The BRD defined Zoho People as the single source of truth for employee-related data, with automated workflows, role-based access and compliance-ready records.

.02

Attendance, Leave & Shift Management

A3CA configured leave, attendance and shift processes to reduce manual tracking and improve HR visibility.

Attendance & Leave Setup Covered

  • Attendance policy configuration, Leave types such as CL, SL, EL and LOP, Earned leave, sick leave and casual leave setup, Maternity, paternity, adoption and surrogacy leave configuration
  • Accrual rules, Carry-forward rules, Encashment rules, Leave approval workflows, Leave balance visibility, and HR-controlled backdated leave and cancellation rules
  • Shift definitions and weekly offs, Late and early rules with grace period, and Overtime tracking as view-only, where applicable
  • Location-based holiday lists, and Optional holiday configuration

This helped create a structured leave and attendance process with better transparency for HR, managers and employees.

.03

Zoho Payroll Implementation for India Payroll Automation

Zoho Payroll was implemented for India-based employees, while US-based employees were maintained only in Zoho People for reporting hierarchy and leave approvals. 

Key Zoho payroll features Implemented

  • Employee types setup: full-time employees, part-time employees, interns and contractors
  • LOP adjustment handling in subsequent payroll cycle, if not captured in the current month
  • Payroll setup for India-based employees
  • Payroll entity setup for Novorise Fintech India Private Limited
  • Payroll configuration aligned with current payroll practices
  • Salary structure template creation
  • Payroll cycle configuration
  • Salary payout on the last working day of the month
  • Salary advances and recovery schedules
  • Location-based employee tagging for India and US
  • Payroll filters for India-tagged employees only
  • Employee and employer PF setup
  • Professional Tax setup
  • Income Tax / TDS setup
  • Statutory reports as applicable under Indian payroll laws

The BRD also defined a parallel payroll run with Rippling and Zoho Payroll for five months to validate payroll accuracy, compare statutory calculations and ensure a smooth transition. 

.04

Rippling to Zoho Payroll Migration

A major part of the project was the transition from Rippling to Zoho Payroll.

Migration scope:

  • Payroll and leave data migration from Rippling
  • Historical payroll data from April 2024 onwards as per BRD
  • Payroll data from April 2025 onwards as per proposal scope
  • Payroll reports in A3CA-provided templates
  • Employee salary details, and Statutory and deduction records
  • Data validation for parallel payroll run
  • No retroactive statutory filing through Zoho Payroll

This helped Novo validate Zoho Payroll against the existing Rippling payroll process before full transition.

.05

Bank Integration & Salary Disbursement

Zoho Payroll was configured for bank-integrated salary payouts.

Bank Integraation scope:

  • HDFC Bank preferred for payroll payouts
  • ICICI Bank available as an alternate integration
  • Native bank integration setup for salary payouts
  • Bank account details and approvals for salary, reimbursements and statutory payments

The BRD noted that HDFC bank integration was under development and ICICI integration could be used temporarily if required. 

.06

Zoho Expense Implementation for Travel, Per Diem & Reimbursement Controls

Zoho Expense was implemented to digitize employee reimbursements, travel claims, per diem claims and LEAD benefit claims.

Zoho expense features Implemented:

  • User invitation and role assignment
  • Submitter, approver and admin roles
  • Organization profile, base currency and time zone setup
  • Fiscal year, date format and numbering preferences
  • Department setup, Expense categories setup, and Expense types setup
  • Accounting code mapping, Per-day, per-trip and per-category limits
  • Location-based policy rules, and Policy violation alerts and blocking rules
  • Mandatory receipt capture
  • Expense form customization
  • Report and trip module configuration
  • Multi-level approval workflows
  • Auto-approval for low-value expenses, where applicable

The BRD covered India and international travel, hotel, meals, per diem and LEAD reimbursements under Zoho Expense. 

.07

LEAD Reimbursement Policy Setup

Zoho Expense was also configured to support LEAD perks and benefits reimbursement claims.

Lead Reimbursements Covered:

Monthly reimbursements

  • School tuition assistance
  • Child-care assistance
  • Health and wellbeing assistance
  • Commute to office assistance

Annual reimbursements

  • Separate LEAD expense categories
  • Claim frequency controls
  • Mandatory receipt upload
  • Policy violation alerts
  • Document validation, and Audit trail

Controls Implemented

  • Medical expense assistance
  • Travel assistance
  • Hobby assistance

This helped Novo manage employee benefit claims in a controlled and auditable manner.

.08

Travel, Hotel & Per Diem Policy Automation

A3CA configured travel and reimbursement policies in Zoho Expense as per Novo’s requirements.

Policy Control Configure:

  • Hotel expense category
  • Hotel policy with INR 7,500 per night limit for Indian cities
  • United States hotel bookings marked as pre-approved only
  • Mandatory attachment for hotel claims
  • Per diem category for meals and daily allowance
  • INR 1,000 per day travel per diem for India
  • USD 120 per day travel per diem for the United States
  • Daily limits based on country
  • Policy violation alerts where limits are exceeded

The BRD specifically defined hotel limits, India and US per diem amounts and category-wise policy configuration. 

Implementation Approach

Phase 01.

Requirement Validation

A3CA reviewed HR, payroll, attendance, leave, expense, reimbursement and statutory requirements with the Novo team.

Phase 02.

Zoho People Configuration

Zoho People was configured for organization structure, locations, employee database, roles, permissions, leave policies, attendance, holidays, forms and HR workflows.

Phase 03.

Zoho Payroll Configuration

Zoho Payroll was configured for India employees, payroll cycle, salary templates, statutory components, TDS, PF, PT, salary advances, recoveries and bank payout integration.

Phase 04.

Zoho Expense Configuration

Zoho Expense was configured for users, roles, categories, policies, travel limits, per diem rules, approval matrix, LEAD reimbursements and receipt validation.

Phase 05.

Data Migration & Parallel Payroll Validation

Payroll and leave data from Rippling was migrated and validated. Parallel payroll runs were planned to compare Zoho Payroll with the existing payroll system and ensure accuracy.

Phase 06.

UAT, Training & Go-Live

The project included UAT support, issue resolution, training for end users, go-live support and initial handholding after implementation.

Business Impact

The implementation helped Novorise Fintech India move towards a more structured, compliant and scalable people operations environment.

Centralized employee master data, Reduced spreadsheet dependency, and Better HR visibility across locations

Structured employee lifecycle workflows, and Automated leave, attendance and shift management

Role-based access control and restricted salary visibility

Improved employee and manager self-service

India-specific payroll configuration in Zoho Payroll

Rippling to Zoho Payroll transition with parallel validation

Better statutory compliance readiness for PF, PT and TDS, and Controlled salary advance and recovery handling

Bank-integrated salary payout readiness, Policy-driven employee expense management

Automated travel, hotel, per diem and LEAD claim controls, and Multi-level approval workflows

Better HR, payroll and reimbursement reporting

Why This Engagement Matters

For a fintech organization like Novo, people operations need to be fast, accurate, compliant and scalable. Manual HR processes, spreadsheet-based tracking and disconnected payroll systems can create delays, errors and poor employee experience.

By implementing Zoho People, Zoho Payroll and Zoho Expense, A3CA helped Novorise Fintech India create a connected HRMS, payroll and reimbursement ecosystem. The system supports India payroll compliance, employee self-service, controlled expense claims, approval governance and a smoother transition from Rippling to Zoho.

This case study is a strong example of how Zoho can support fintech companies looking for HRMS automation, payroll migration, employee expense policy automation, statutory compliance and scalable people management