Employee Auto-Provisioning (HRMS → LMS)

When HR creates an Employee record in Smooth HR, Smooth LMS automatically ensures the linked User can access the learning portal. This happens through a server-side hook—on_employee_created in lms.lms.hrms_integration—registered on the Employee record after_insert event. No manual role assignment, or IT ticket is required for standard hires.

Auto-provisioning is the first integration touchpoint in the hire-to-learn journey. It runs before onboarding mandatory enrollment (Onboarding Mandatory Training) and before HR assigns ad-hoc courses (Assign Training From Hr). Understanding this step prevents the most common support issue: "My new hire cannot log in to /lms."

Help URL: Employee Auto Provisioning

Prerequisite HR guides: People Overview, User Roles & Permissions

Table of Contents

1. What happens automatically
2. Prerequisites on the HR side
3. The LMS Student role
4. Hook behavior step by step
5. Employee creation paths in HR
6. Desk verification checklist
7. Bulk imports and migrations
8. Security and permissions
9. Troubleshooting
10. Related guides

What happens automatically

On Employee after_insert:

1. Smooth LMS reads doc.user_id on the new Employee.
2. If user_id is empty, the hook exits silently—no error is shown to HR.
3. If a User exists, LMS checks whether LMS Student is already in user.roles.
4. If missing, LMS appends the role and saves the User with ignore_permissions=True.

The employee can then sign in and see courses at /lms (subject to enrollments). Auto-provisioning does not enroll courses by itself—that occurs when Employee Onboarding is created (Onboarding Mandatory Training) or when HR/moderators assign training.

This design keeps HR workflows simple: create Employee with User ID, and LMS access follows. Refer to the integration overview at Overview for the full capability map alongside Documents & Compliance and Onboarding.

Prerequisites on the HR side

Creating User + Employee together

Typical flow from Employee Onboarding:

1. Recruiting completes in Recruitment.
2. HR submits onboarding from a Template.
3. HR clicks Create Employee (or equivalent) when ready.
4. Smooth HR creates/links the user account and Employee with matching email.
5. LMS hook grants LMS Student immediately on insert.

If HR creates Employee records manually from /app/employee/new-employee, ensure User ID is set in the same session—do not save an Employee "to fill in later" if you expect same-day LMS access.

The LMS Student role

LMS Student is the baseline learner role in Smooth LMS:

HR staff who also take training should have both HR roles and LMS Student. HR Manager alone does not grant LMS portal course access unless configured separately.

Cross-reference User Roles & Permissions when auditing role overlap between HR and L&D teams.

Hook behavior step by step

Source reference (lms.lms.hrms_integration.on_employee_created):

Employee after_insert
  → if not doc.user_id: return
  → load User(doc.user_id)
  → if LMS Student not in roles:
       append role LMS Student
       save User (ignore_permissions)

Idempotent: Re-saving Employee does not re-trigger after_insert. If provisioning failed silently (no user_id), fixing User ID and creating a new Employee is wrong—instead add LMS Student manually once, or use a one-off script.

Not triggered on update: Promotions, department changes, or manager updates on existing Employee do not re-run provisioning. Existing users retain LMS Student.

Employee creation paths in HR

For contractors vs employees, decide policy: if contractors need training but not full HR records, you may create simplified Employee rows or standalone Users—document your rule so compliance and LMS stay aligned.

Desk verification checklist

After creating a test Employee:

1. Open User from Employee → User ID link.
2. Scroll to Roles table → confirm LMS Student present.
3. Log in as that user → navigate to /lms.
4. Confirm portal loads (empty catalog is OK before enrollment).
5. Create Employee Onboarding → verify mandatory enrollments per Onboarding Mandatory Training.
6. Optionally assign a non-mandatory course via Assign Training From Hr.

For admins, LMS Settings (Lms Settings General) controls whether Show Employees appears in batch sidebars—useful when HR and L&D co-manage cohorts.

Bulk imports and migrations

Importing thousands of Employees via Data Import Tool:

• Include user_id column or map email → User creation first.

• after_insert fires per record—expect slower imports; run off-hours.

• Employees imported with ignore_links may skip Users—audit with:

  User list filtered by users missing LMS Student but linked on Employee.

• Historical hires already active: ask Smooth support to grant LMS Student access to existing employees who already have a linked login.

Migrated users from a legacy LMS still need Smooth LMS LMS Enrollment rows—provisioning only handles roles, not content migration.

Security and permissions

The hook uses ignore_permissions=True because HR Users creating Employees typically cannot edit arbitrary User roles. Only the LMS Student role is appended—never Moderator or System Manager.

Review role separation policies:

• HR should not self-assign Moderator without L&D approval.
• Terminated employees: disable User enabled flag in HR offboarding (Tenure)—LMS access stops at login, but enrollments remain for records.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• HRMS + LMS Integration Overview
• Onboarding Mandatory Training
• Assign Training from HR
• People Overview
• Employee Onboarding
• Onboarding Portal
• User Roles & Permissions
• Recruitment Overview
• LMS Settings — General

Last updated: May 2026

Day-in-the-life examples

Example 1 — Standard full-time hire

Acme Corp completes recruitment for a warehouse associate. HR submits Employee Onboarding from a template that includes I-9 upload tasks. When HR clicks Create Employee, Frappe creates User associate@acme.com and Employee HR-EMP-0042 with matching User ID. Within the same request, LMS appends LMS Student. The associate receives portal links for onboarding paperwork and /lms training. No L&D moderator touches role tables manually.

Example 2 — Rehire with existing User

A former employee returns; HR reactivates User instead of creating duplicate. New Employee insert still fires the hook—but role already present, so save is skipped. L&D assigns refresher courses via Assign Training from HR rather than relying on onboarding mandatory set.

Example 3 — Migration gap

Legacy HRIS import creates 500 Employees without user_id. Hook never ran. HR runs audit script, creates Users in batch, sets user_id, manually adds LMS Student—or re-insert is impossible; use data fix. Plan migration checkpoints with Getting Started staging site.

Governance checklist for HRIS admins

Publish checklist alongside Documents & Compliance audit calendar so learning access reviews coincide with compliance attestations.

FAQ

Does updating Department re-provision LMS? No. Only after_insert on Employee.

Can we remove LMS Student on promotion to manager? Yes manually, but managers often still take training—keep role unless policy forbids learner UI.

Does Applicant User get LMS Student before Employee exists? Not via this hook. Applicants are not employees; training starts post-hire.

What about employees without email? Rare; Frappe User requires email—align with People standards.

Smooth HR (HRMS)