An Event-Driven HRIS-to-ITSM Framework for Secure Employee Onboarding and Offboarding

Abstract

Employee lifecycle transitions remain largely manual in most enterprises, despite being widely recognized as top IT operational and security challenges. This paper presents an event-driven framework that connects a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) to an IT Service Management (ITSM) platform, using employment events as authoritative triggers for provisioning and deprovisioning workflows. Unlike SCIM-based provisioning, which addresses account creation but not workflow orchestration, or commercial Identity Governance and Administration platforms, which require dedicated connectors and licensing investment, the proposed framework achieves full-lifecycle orchestration using HRIS, ITSM, and directory tools that organizations already operate. Following a Design Science Research approach, we ground the framework in six published industry surveys and evaluate it through a six-month pilot deployment at an enterprise running Dayforce, Zendesk, and Active Directory. Pilot results show a 78% reduction in provisioning time and an 88% reduction in offboarding effort, with deprovisioning SLA compliance rising from 34% to 91%. The paper contributes a threat model, a comparison with SCIM-based and commercial identity governance alternatives, and seven transferable design principles derived from the case experience.