If you’re buying or expanding Asana for HR, onboarding is your proof point. This guide shows exactly how to design a personalised, compliant onboarding programme in Asana—built once, reused forever, measured every week.

Why Asana for onboarding?

Asana gives HR teams a single place to standardise the process (templates), personalise at scale (forms, rules, relative due dates), and prove impact (portfolios & dashboards). Asana publishes an employee onboarding template and step-by-step how-tos you can adapt; the 2025 releases added AI-powered templates and automations to make setup faster.

What “good” looks like (outcome first)

• Consistent core + tailored tracks by role, location and contract type.

• No swivel-chairing: new hire, manager, IT, facilities and payroll see the same plan.

• Time-bound ramp: day 0, week 1, 30/60/90 checkpoints set automatically.

• Proof of progress: HR view shows who’s on track, blocked or overdue; leadership sees cohort-level KPIs. (Portfolios and dashboards do this natively.)

Design your onboarding architecture (the blueprint)

1. One project per new hire, spun up from a template

   • Use Asana’s employee onboarding template as your base.

   • Enable relative due dates so every task is scheduled from the start date (e.g., equipment 5 days before, probation review at +30/+60/+90).
     
     

2. A cohort portfolio for visibility

   • Add each new-hire project to a Portfolio for real-time status, throughput and blockers. Build a simple cohort dashboard (on-time completion %, average days to ramp, outstanding IT tasks).
     
     

3. A single intake form for HR

   • Create an Onboarding Intake form to capture start date, role, location, device needs, systems access, hiring manager and buddy. Map answers to custom fields; each submission creates a project from your template.
     
     

4. Rules to personalise at scale

   • Use Rules (if/then automations) to route tasks, update custom fields and assign owners when a form arrives or fields change. Manual rule triggers help when HR needs to force a step mid-flow.
     
     

5. Approvals where compliance matters

   • Make laptop provisioning, policy sign-off and ID checks explicit Approval tasks with “Approve/Request changes/Reject”.
     
     

6. Identity & security

   • Use SCIM provisioning (Okta + Asana) so users are added/removed centrally; this keeps projects and permissions tidy across HR/IT.
     
     

7. AI accelerators (optional)

   • 2025 releases introduced AI-powered templates/automations; pair these with Asana’s AI Teammates announcements if you’re piloting agentic workflows for status, reminders and summarised onboarding updates.
     
     

Copy-ready example: fields, rules, and tasks

Custom fields (project level)

• Start date (date) · Role (dropdown: Engineer, Designer, Sales, Ops) · Location · Contract type · Manager · Buddy · Device (Laptop/Mobile) · Access level (Standard/Privileged)

Core tasks (from template, all with relative due dates)

• Welcome email sent (−3d) → Approval

• Accounts created: Google/Microsoft/Slack/Asana (−2d)

• Laptop shipped & asset registered (−2d) → Approval

• Day-1 agenda confirmed (−1d)

• Orientation & handbook (Day 1)

• Meet your buddy (Week 1)

• Tool training (Week 1–2)

• 30-day check-in (Day 30) · 60-day review (Day 60) · 90-day goals & probation review (Day 90)

Rules (examples)

• When form submitted → Create project from “Employee Onboarding” with Start date = form.StartDate.

• If Role = Engineer → add section “Engineering Track”, assign IT environment setup subtasks, set due dates relative to Start date.

• If Location = UK (London) → add “Right-to-Work check” approval; notify HR-UK.
  If Device = Laptop → assign “Ship laptop” to IT with due = Start date − 2 business days.

Reporting & ROI (what leadership wants to see)

Use Asana’s Portfolios/Dashboards to publish a live HR scorecard; align metrics to a KPI template so they’re comparable quarter-to-quarter:

• On-time completion of Day-1 tasks (%).

• Ramp time to first deliverable (days).

• Policy & compliance completion (% by day 7).

• IT provisioning SLA (avg days).

• Manager engagement (check-ins completed by 30/60/90).
  Asana’s KPI resources offer a simple structure for selecting indicators and keeping them SMART.

30–60–90 day rollout plan (HR × IT)

Days 0–30: Build & pilot

• Finalise your template (core + role tracks) with relative dates; create the intake form and map fields.

• Connect IT and Facilities; add Approval steps for anything audited (laptop, access, right-to-work).

• Start a 10-hire pilot; add their projects to one Portfolio.

Days 31–60: Automate & measure

• Add Rules for routing and role-based tasks; turn on manual triggers for HR to fix edge cases.

• Publish a dashboard with four KPIs (on-time Day-1, SLA, ramp, compliance).

Days 61–90: Secure & scale

• Enable SCIM (Okta + Asana) so provisioning is automatic; document the offboarding mirror.

• Train managers on Approvals and 30/60/90 check-ins; lock your template and request changes via intake.

Evidence & examples you can cite internally

• Asana on Asana (Mar 2025): how the company standardises onboarding templates and improves manager visibility. Asana

• Case studies: organisations running onboarding/offboarding in Asana to keep HR & IT in sync; others cite improved new-hire clarity. Asana

FAQs

How do I create a customised onboarding template in Asana?
Start from Asana’s employee onboarding template, then add your fields and tasks. Turn on relative due dates so everything schedules from a start date. Asana

Can we personalise by role and location without creating dozens of templates?
Yes—use Forms + Rules to branch tasks by Role/Location and auto-assign owners; manual triggers let HR run fixes mid-flow. Asana

How do we keep approvals and audits tidy?
Use Approval tasks for policy sign-off, device provisioning and ID checks; reviewers get clear “Approve/Request changes/Reject” options. help.asana.com

What about provisioning and access?
Connect Okta + Asana to automate user provisioning/deprovisioning with SCIM; updates in the IdP keep Asana in sync. help.asana.com

How do we show ROI to leadership?
Build a Portfolio dashboard with four KPIs (on-time Day-1, IT SLA, ramp time, compliance %). Use Asana’s KPI template guidance to keep measures SMART. help.asana.com