Popay Core: the single record your whole HR runs on
At many organisations, employee data is still scattered across spreadsheets, an older system and separate files kept by different managers. Popay Core is the one governed record for every employee: personal data, contracts and organisational structure, kept accurate over time.
Sound familiar?
Before scattered data is a strategy problem, it's a daily one. At many organisations it looks like this.
Scattered data isn't just inconvenient: it's a liability
Pulling people data into one governed record isn't administration. Here is some of what it makes possible.
Data spread across spreadsheets and inboxes is data you can't protect, or prove. One governed record shrinks the exposure and makes GDPR and audit defensible.
Joiner, mover and leaver events trigger the right tasks themselves. No double entry, no chasing.
Approvals, payroll, leave. Any process that crosses domains needs one source, not five.
Any AI you adopt is only as good as the data beneath it. A clean, consolidated record is the foundation it will need.
One record, and it remembers every change
Popay Core is your operational system of record: every employee's data, contracts, positions and place in the organisation. No more wondering which spreadsheet is current.
Popay Core keeps every change, dated. A contract, an addendum, a suspension, an org move: each one is preserved with the date it took effect, so payroll, leave and reporting are correct for any point in time, and your history is defensible.
One record for every employee. Correct today, and correct for any date in the past.
Right for any point in time
Payroll corrections, retroactive changes, leave balances, audits: each needs to know what was true on a specific date. Popay Core records every change with the date it took effect, so the answer is always in the record.
Hired
Full-time contract. The starting point of the record.
Promotion
New role and salary, recorded with the date they took effect.
Career break
Recorded as a pause, not deleted.
Return
Picks up where it left off, full history intact.
And when a leaver comes back? Most systems treat a returning employee as a stranger: re-entered from scratch, seniority and history lost. Here the record already knows them: a rehire keeps its full history intact.
What makes it a record you can trust
Three things define the record. Everything else Popay Core does builds on them, and each capability gets a closer look below.
One employee record
One master record per employee, that the whole platform reads from and writes to.
Every change, dated
Effective-dated by design, so any past date is correct and your history is defensible.
Multi-entity, multi-country
One record across entities and countries, in English, Dutch, French and Arabic. Model your legal, functional and cost structure side by side, so access and ownership follow the structure instead of the person.
What Popay Core does, in depth
The record is the foundation. These are the capabilities that run on it. Each one has a closer look.
Employee lifecycle
Joiner, mover and leaver. Each employment event triggers the right steps, from hire data to access revocation, so nothing depends on someone remembering.
See how the lifecycle works →Request management
Every request to the right approver, every time. Structured processes with their own approval chain, instead of email threads and tickets nobody can trace.
See how a request flows →Asset management
Know what you own and who has it. Laptops, phones, badges and vehicles tied to the employee record, issued on joining and reclaimed on leaving.
Explore →Organisation management
Turn the org chart into the backbone for access and process ownership. Roles per process, and access that is granted, recalculated and revoked as people join, move or leave.
Get to know the structure →Validation framework
Every change is checked as it is entered, against data integrity, legislation and your own rules, so you correct it at the source instead of at the next audit.
See what it checks →Vetting
Certificates, references and background checks captured before day one, then monitored continuously so an expiry is flagged before it becomes a problem.
Explore →Payroll, without the re-keying
Popay Core holds the salary data, payroll elements and cost centres that payroll runs on. Statutory, country-specific payroll rules are maintained centrally and kept current, so the data that leaves is already right.
Three ways to run it, all reading from and writing to the same record.
Payroll Hub
Keep your own provider. Popay Core keeps it in sync, and errors are caught before the file goes out.
Popay Payroll
We run the gross-to-net ourselves, configured to local law, not bolted on.
See how it works →Managed payroll services
Hand the run over entirely. Same record, same data, we do the work.
See how it works →Begin with the record. Extend at your own pace.
The Popay HR platform is modular, and Popay Core is where most organisations start. Add the rest when you are ready.
Begin
Run Popay Core as your system of record: one accurate record, your org structure, and self-service from day one.
Add
Bring in Payroll, Time, Leave, Docs, Perform, Learn or Insight when it suits. New modules land on the same record.
Grow
Everything keeps running off one record, so nothing is re-keyed and reporting stays trustworthy as you add.
What it looks like in each role
Employees, managers and HR all work in the same record. Each sees what their own role needs, and nothing more.
For employees
For managers
For HR
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does the record hold?+
Personal data, contracts, positions, work schedule, salary data, payroll elements and cost centres. One master record per employee that the whole platform reads from and writes to.
Can we bring our existing employee data across?+
Yes. We migrate your existing employee and payroll data with our own migration tool, so you start with your history in place instead of an empty system.
How long does it take to go live?+
Activation is a licence switch and can be done in a day. What takes the time is your own data and configuration: the org structure, the contract types and the rules that apply to you.
How does it handle contract changes and history?+
Effective-dated. Every contract, addendum, suspension and org move is dated and preserved, so payroll, leave and reporting are correct for any point in time, and you can always show what was true, when.
What happens when someone leaves and comes back?+
Most systems treat a returning employee as a stranger, re-entered from scratch with seniority and history lost. Here the record already knows them: a rehire keeps its full history intact.
What happens when a change breaks a rule?+
Every change is checked the moment it is entered, against data integrity, legislation and your own rules. Some checks stop the change, some warn, some only flag, each with a clear reason.
Can employees and managers self-serve?+
Yes. Employees update their own address, bank account, emergency contact and dependants, and each change follows the route you configure, straight through or with approval. Managers see their team, not the whole organisation, and approve changes in one place. What a manager can see follows the org structure and can be narrowed further where you need it.
Does it work across countries, entities and languages?+
Yes, one record across multiple entities and countries, in English, Dutch, French and Arabic, giving you a consolidated group view instead of a patchwork of local systems.
Does it connect to our payroll provider?+
Yes. Payroll Hub keeps Popay Core and your payroll provider in sync, such as Attentia, ADP, Prisma or SD Worx. Salary data, payroll elements and cost centres flow through without re-keying.
Can it connect to the rest of our stack?+
Yes. The systems you already run keep their place instead of being replaced: employee data, org structure and contract changes flow to the applications that need them.
Where is data hosted, and is it GDPR-compliant?+
Data is hosted in the EU on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, with role-based access, GDPR-aligned processing and a full audit trail.
Can we get our data back out?+
Your data stays yours, and we take it back out with the same migration tool we use to bring it in. Switching payroll provider, adding a country or moving a market between models does not mean starting over either.
The foundation the whole suite stands on
Every module reads from and writes to the same record.
Start with a record you can trust
Whether you're coming from spreadsheets or replacing a system that can't keep up, Popay Core gives you one accurate record, correct today and for any date in the past, that everything else runs on.
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