Put HR on the Same Phones Your Field Force Already Uses
Consumer goods field forces already live on apps for orders, beat plans and reporting, while HR tools lag behind and run on spreadsheets and chat. Plant and depot systems for shifts are separate again, and the distributor's people are in nobody's system. We help you decide what to automate, join what already exists and configure it so that employees and managers can use it from a handset.
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Share your requirementsThe starting point
Does HR Know Less About the Field Than the Sales App Does?
The sales app knows where a salesperson was and what was sold. HR knows who the person is and what they are paid. The two never meet, so questions that need both are answered slowly or not at all.
We help you choose the few workflows worth automating and put them on a light, mobile footing.
You may be experiencing:
- Field attendance recorded by the sales app and by HR in different places, with differences settled by phone.
- Incentive calculations held in spreadsheets maintained by one or two people.
- Leave and regularisation requests approved over chat and entered later, if at all.
- A plant shift system, a depot dispatch sheet and a head office HR tool that do not share a record.
- Employee records kept in several files, with the master unclear.
- Distributor and agency staff missing from any system.
- A tool bought for HR that field staff do not use because it is heavy on a handset.
What we can help with
Our HR Technology Services for FMCG and Consumer Goods
Systems and Data Review
A map of every tool and sheet that holds HR data across head office, regions, plants and depots, with the owner of each, what flows between them and what is retyped.
Single Employee Record
A design for one record for each person, with fields for territory, depot, plant, manager and employer, usable for direct, contract and distributor-employed staff.
Field Attendance and Beat Data Link
A design for joining attendance, leave and beat adherence from the sales app to the HR record, so that one day's work is recorded once.
Leave, Roster and Approval Workflows
Workflows configured for field, plant and depot staff, with approvals by the right manager, reminders and an audit trail, available on a handset.
Incentive Calculation Workflow
Your incentive rules set into a configured workflow with inputs, checks and approvals, replacing a spreadsheet that only a few can read. The rules and amounts are yours.
Payroll Input Workflows
A route for attendance, overtime, allowances and incentive inputs to arrive at payroll in a standard format and by the cut-off date.
Self-Service for Employees and Managers
Views in which a salesperson or an operator can see their balance, claims, payslip inputs and letters, and a manager can see and approve requests.
Implementation and Data Migration
Clean-up and loading of existing records, setup, testing, training and a period of support, on the GullyHR platform or in your own system.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, the work produces:
- A systems and data map showing where each fact lives and what is retyped.
- A single employee record design for all workforce types.
- An attendance and beat data link specification.
- Configured leave, roster, regularisation and approval workflows.
- An incentive calculation workflow with a review step.
- A payroll input format and cut-off reminders.
- Self-service views for employees and managers.
- A migration plan, test notes and training for users.
Step by step
How We Work
Map what runs where
We list the tools, sheets and apps in use for HR, and trace a few journeys, such as a leave request and a month-end incentive, from start to end.
Choose what to automate first
We pick the workflows where handwork, delay or error costs most. You decide the order and which stay manual.
Configure with your rules
We set up workflows, approvals, reminders and reports from the rules you have agreed, on the GullyHR platform or your own system.
Migrate and test with real users
We bring across the records, then test with a few salespeople, supervisors and HR staff on the devices they actually use.
Go live in stages
We start with one region and one site, then extend. Before work starts we record where you stand, and we report against it.
The difference
Records That Survive People, Approvals That Do Not Queue
Well-chosen automation helps you:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering approvals still run on chat, records held outside the master and the time spent assembling payroll inputs, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Record a field day once instead of in two systems.
- Move incentive calculation out of a single person's spreadsheet.
- Let employees see their own balances and claims.
- Give managers approvals they can act on from a handset.
- Keep a master record for every person who serves the brand.
- Reduce the retyping that creates errors at month end.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
HR Teams Running on Spreadsheets
Teams that carry attendance, leave and incentive in files kept by individuals.
Sales Operations Leaders
Heads who hold the sales app data and want it linked to people records.
Finance Teams Receiving Late Inputs
People who wait for attendance and incentive data every month.
Founders Replacing an Old System
Owners moving to a tool that the field force will actually use.
How it usually shows up in fmcg and consumer goods
FMCG field forces already use apps for orders, beat plans and reporting. HR tools lag behind. Attendance for field staff is often self-reported, with location captured only by the sales app. Beat adherence is visible to the sales team and not to HR. Incentive calculations sit in spreadsheets maintained by a few people. Plant and depot systems for shifts and attendance are separate again. The company has data on where people were and what they sold, but not joined to who they are, what they are paid or whether they stay. Distributor staff are in nobody's system. The data to connect these exists already in the sales app, and mostly goes unused by HR.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in fmcg and consumer goods
Attendance and beat data are separate
Sales apps know where people were, and HR does not.
Incentives are in spreadsheets
One clerk's file decides what people earn.
Plant, depot and field systems are separate
There is no common record.
Distributor staff are invisible
They are not in any HR system.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Join attendance to the sales app
Use the app's check-in as the attendance record for field staff. The HR process automation work starts here. Check the data against a sample of beat plans for a month before relying on it.
- 02
Put incentive rules in a system
Rules and calculations visible to the person and checkable by others.
- 03
Create a common employee record
One record across plant, depot and field.
- 04
Add distributor staff on a light record
Name, distributor, territory and dates. GullyHR software supports this.
What to check this week
- Ask whether field attendance and the sales app's check-ins agree.
- Find who can check the incentive calculation.
- List how many systems record people across plant, depot and field.
- Check whether any distributor staff appear in an HR system.
- Ask a salesperson what he would want from an HR app.
What this looks like in fmcg and consumer goods
The parts of hr technology and automation that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Systems for Plant, Depot and Field
Three operations that rarely share a system.
What this coversHide
Systems for Plant, Depot and Field
Three operations that rarely share a system.
What this coversHideFMCG businesses typically run a plant system, a depot process and a field-force app that do not reconcile, so headcount and cost are assembled manually every month.
Plant and depot
- Shift and skill capture
- Contract labour handled distinctly
- Statutory records and registers
Field force
- Mobile attendance and beat adherence
- Territory and beat assignment on the record
- Incentive and claim processing
- Expense settlement without paper
Expense and claim settlement is the field-force capability with the clearest return, because delayed claims are a leading cause of field attrition and the delay is almost entirely process.
Questions on this, in fmcg and consumer goods
That depends on what your sales app can export or share. We review it with you and design the link, using a file or an agreed interface where available. We do not promise a connection before we have seen what your app supports.
No. We can configure workflows, records, approvals, reminders and reports on the GullyHR platform, or set them up in the system you already own. The choice is yours.
We design for a handset with a light interface, in the local language where needed, and test it with field staff before rollout. Adoption also depends on managers using the approvals, so we train them as well.
We help you clean it and bring across what is needed, with a note of what was changed. You keep your originals and approve the load before it goes live.
No. It applies the rules you set and records the result. Pay decisions, incentive slabs and approvals stay with your managers, who remain accountable for each decision the system carries out.
Yes, in many cases. A check-in at the first outlet, matched to the beat plan, records presence and location. HR needs the data shared with it.
So the calculation is visible, checked and explained to each person. A spreadsheet held by one clerk cannot be.
Yes. It lets you see the whole workforce, compare attrition and manage moves between them.
With a light record of name, distributor, territory and dates, supplied by the distributor and checked against the company's own visit data.
Tools that need a desk, a fixed schedule or a constant connection. Choose phone-based, offline-capable and simple.
Join the Data You Already Have
Tell us which tools your field force, depots and plants use today. We will discuss which HR workflows are worth putting on them.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
The general method — what hr technology and automation covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the hr process automation page. What is above is the part that differs for fmcg and consumer goods.
To run this in a system rather than on paper, see gullyhr software.
Other HR topics for fmcg and consumer goods
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for fmcg and consumer goods, or another industry.